Mound City: The Earthworks of the Ancient Hopewell Culture

Along the banks of the Scioto River near Chillicothe, Ohio, lies a remarkable ancient site called Mound City. Built more than two thousand years ago by Native Americans known today as the Hopewell culture, this location features dozens of large earthen structures. From high above, Mound City looks like a series of rounded grassy hills enclosed by a continuous wall made entirely of dirt. These impressive structures, known as earthworks, give us a fascinating window into the past.

Constructing these massive earthworks required incredible planning, skill, and teamwork. The Hopewell people did not have modern tools, trucks, or metal shovels. Instead, workers dug up soil and stones using wooden tools, animal bones, and shells. They filled woven baskets with heavy dirt and carried them on their backs to the building site, dump by dump. Over many years, millions of basketloads of soil were piled up to create precise geometric shapes, including huge circles, squares, and domes.