Getting Your Hands a Little Less Dirty: An Exercise in Using Geophysics to Understand Hopewell Earthwork Construction

Hopewellian earthworks are extremely complex in their make-up and indicate precise and planned soil placement by participants in the Hopewell culture. As such, recent research at the Hopeton Earthworks in Chillicothe, Ohio has focused on understanding how earthworks were constructed. Eight backhoe trenches excavated through the earthwork walls have revealed intricate and diverse soil stratigraphy. However, researchers do not yet know where the soils originated; this study aims to answer that question. To accomplish this, magnetic susceptibility testing was conducted on soil cores taken from in and around the earthworks. These results are compared to susceptibility testing results done on trench profile walls in order to identify where soil matches occur. This paper outlines the methods and results of this study.