The Ohio Hopewell Episode: Paradigm Lost and Paradigm Gained

4. The Newark World Renewal Ritual Center

Name /uap04/22015_u04 04/28/04 01:49PM Plate # 0-Composite pg 77 # 16 ⫺1 0 ⫹1 77 Chapter 4 T H E N E W A R K W O R L D R E N E W A L R I T U A L C E N T E R A major component of the Newark site is the Newark CircleOctagon as depicted in the upper left of fig. P.1. This feature displays the central set of attributes of the High Bank C-R Configuration. Except for the larger size of the Octagon, it is almost a mirror image of the High Bank Circle-Octagon. If the Newark Circle-Octagon were to be placed over the High Bank site without changing the current axial orientations of the two sites, Newark’s southwest-northeast axis would be at an angle of 90 degrees to High Bank’s northwest-southeast axis.1 Despite the similarities in form and layout that link these two spatially distant earthworks (separated by about 100 linear miles), there are a number of differences. One of the most important differences is that, while the High Bank and Newark Circles are effectively the same size, the Newark Circle has a large mound constructed at a tangent across the southwest sector of its perimeter. This large semi-platform mound is about 50 m long by 5 m high. It is commonly referred to as the Observatory Mound, and the associated circular embankment earthwork is often referred to as the Observatory Circle. No feature equivalent to this Observatory Mound exists at High Bank. There are two additional features unique to the Newark Circle-Octagon: these being two low, parallel embankments that jut southwest from the base of this mound. The mound and these two low embankments will be Name /uap04/22015_u04 04/28/04 01:49PM Plate # 0-Composite pg 78 # 17 78 t h e w o r l d e m b o d i e d ⫺1 0 ⫹1 treated as a single complex that will be termed here the Feature A/ Observatory Mound Complex (fig. 4.1). The central aim in this chapter is to present and demonstrate the World Renewal Model of the Ohio Hopewell embankment earthworks. To do this it will focus on the claim that the Feature A/Observatory Mound Complex is the consequence of an avoidance action that emerged as a result of a change in the construction program of the Circle-Octagon. In accordance with the view of intentionality as structured presented in the last chapter, the material residue of an avoidance action entails the exercise of a proscription that might be expressed as “Under condition X, do not do Y.” From this finding, it will be argued that the particular proscriptive rule being implemented could only exist given a particular core belief principle that guided the work of those who were responsible for this construction. the world renewal model of ohio hopewell embankment earthworks The World Renewal Model of the Ohio Hopewell embankment earthworks is summarily presented below as four major postulates, two characterizing the core of Ohio Hopewell cosmology (Cosmology 1 and Cosmology 2), and two characterizing the core ideology underwriting the construction and use of the earthworks (Ideology 1 and Ideology 2). Cosmology Postulate 1: The builders took the cosmos to be immanently sacred. This will be expressed as the Sacred Earth Principle. Cosmology Postulate 2: The immanently sacred cosmos was structured vertically into at least three strata, the Heavens, the Middle World, and the Underworld, and horizontally into at least four quarters. The builders also took it to be ordered into at least two cyclic phases, the Lunar and the Solar. Ideology Postulate 1: The way the earthworks were built ensured that their formal properties would make it “fit” or be congruent with the cosmological categories, thereby constituting them as monumental Name /uap04/22015_u04 04/28/04 01:49PM Plate # 0-Composite pg 79 # 18 w o r l d r e n e w a l r i t u a l c e n t e r 79 ⫺1 0 ⫹1 iconic warrants of world renewal ritual, that is, their construction was itself what can be termed a congruency ritual; Ideology Postulate 2: They served as the ritual context by which to transform all subsequent collective behaviors performed in these locales into the types of world renewal and related...