Note 12 — THE HOPEWELLIAN CIVILIZATION[12] (500 B.C.-500 A.D.)

Civilization, as used in this paper, signifies exhaustive exploitation of the natural resources and accompanying significant elaborations of the social and spiritual aspects (as exemplified by ceremonies, regalia, insignia, art and extensive architectural structures), accomplished by means of specialization of the existing tools and technologies, with or without fundamental inventive developments. Artisans of the Initial and Final Woodland cultures seem to have practiced all the crafts employed by Hopewellians but failed to produce the beautiful chipped spearheads, “pipes of pan”, excellent sculpture in stone and pottery, etching in bone, the extensive earthworks and the mounds with timbered burial chambers. Perhaps some additional stimuli—the introduction of maize or the intensification of its cultivation, a satisfying new religion with stirring ceremonies together with intergroup competition—gave the spiritual impetus that produced the Hopewellian fluorescence.