Hopewell Culture Copper: A Sacred Metal
Why the Hopewell valued copper and how they got it. This excerpt uses part of one sentence from the opening and the paragraphs on how copper was valued, collected, and used. It leaves out the opening comparisons to copper today, the section on Ojibwa tradition about the copper protector, and the closing museum note.
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For the people of the Hopewell culture in the Scioto River Valley 2,000 years ago, copper was a sacred metal. They used this beautiful metal to make some of the ceremonial objects that archeologists found in the earthworks here at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.
Copper is one of just a few metals that can be found in a form that people can use. The people of the Hopewell culture valued it for its many qualities. Like many materials used in Hopewell ceremonial art, it was shiny when polished. It could reflect sunlight or the glow of a fire. The metal can also be shaped by hand. Ancient artists folded, hammered, drilled, and rolled copper using stone and bone tools. Just like today, the metal was used to make jewelry and decorations. But the decorations made in the Hopewell tradition were part of ceremonial regalia. This included beautiful earspools, headdresses, buttons, tinklers (rattle-like ornaments), axes, plates, and many other shapes and patterns. It included the falcon effigies that are the park’s symbol.
Collecting copper was no small feat. The people of the Scioto River Valley had to travel over 300 miles by foot and boat to mine copper. They went to either Lake Superior or the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Most of the copper found in the earthworks in the Scioto River Valley came from sources in and around Lake Superior. That was a journey of nearly 800 miles, one way! Some came from sources in the Appalachian Mountains. These ancient Ohioans could have collected quartz crystal, mica, and other exotic materials in these mountains. It was kind of like how we collect souvenirs from vacations and special events. Some of the copper from Ohio mounds could have been carried here in glacial ice and meltwaters. These ancient travelers likely met other groups across the eastern United States. They formed close connections and relationships, which allowed their Hopewellian beliefs and practices to spread.
Hopewell copper objects were made especially for religious ceremonies. They likely played roles in bringing myths to life, and were used in song and dance. The material in its final form was seen as a living thing with a spirit. It was given ceremonial burials in the mounds here at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.