NEWARK, OHIO
If academics, students and supporters at the Newark Earthworks Center at The Ohio State University have their way, the Newark Earthworks will be listed among the likes of England’s Stonehenge and Mexico’s Teotihuacán in terms of international archaeological and cultural importance. Dr. Richard Shiels, director of the newly founded center and Dr. Marti Chaatsmith, program coordinator, envision the site will become a “must see” for those touring international cultural sites.
]
The center, approved in 2006 by university trustees as an interdisciplinary program, is poised to reap the academic rewards from growing interest in the mounds. Their hope is that the center will become the heart of scientific and cultural inquiry into the Earthworks, drawing academic and public attention. Earlier this year, the center hosted a conference sponsored by the American Indian Studies Consortium on the theme “Native Knowledge Written on the Land,” which included faculty and students from the Big 10 universities and others.
Located in the Baker House on the Newark campus, the center has a full calendar of seminars on the archaeology and history of the site including Newark Earthworks Day, which features a celebration of American Indian culture related to the site. History, archaeology and education classes about the Earthworks are also held in the center throughout the academic year.
The Newark Earthworks, located about 30 miles east of Columbus, in the city of Newark, is the world’s largest set of geometric earthen enclosures. It was built nearly 2,000 years ago, between 100 B.C. and A.D. 500 by the Hopewell Indians using sticks, clamshells and baskets to sculpt millions of cubic feet of dirt into walls of earth forming a huge lunar observatory sprawling over several miles. Although the Earthworks was named a National Historic Landmark in 1964, the site has, until recently, languished in quiet obscurity. In the 1800s, many of the rambling mounds were destroyed by development and farming.
