THE NEWARK EARTHWORKS

Great Circle Earthworks

Octagon Earthworks

Wright Earthworks

Lunar Observatory

Aerial View of the site, can you make out any of the earthworks?

Aerial view with a partial overlay of the 1892 map

Just the map on it’s own

The Great Circle



The archaeologists discovered different layers within the earthwork that showed the different stages in the construction of the enclosure wall. The deepest level was a dark brown soil layer representing the original ground surface on which the ancient people walked.



The first stage of construction was the building of a circle of small mounds. The single mound cut through by the 1992 excavations was made of tan-colored silt.



In the second stage of construction, the builders dug a ditch inside the circle of mounds and piled up the dark brown topsoil on top of, and in the gaps between, the mounds. This buried the circle of mounds under a dark brown circular enclosure.



In the final stage of construction, the builders dug deep pits nearby and used the yellowish-brown earth from deep underground to cover the inside of the circular enclosure. At the end of this stage, the outer surface of the Great Circle would have been dark brown, but the inside surface of the circle would have been bright yellowish-brown

Photo showing a segment of the Great Circle’s wall and moat

The Eagle Mound



In the centre of the Great Circle there is a low mound called Eagle Mound. Perhaps it once was a effigy mound resembling an eagle but today, it just appears to be a cluster of low mounds.



Eagle Mound, at the centre of the Great Circle, covers the remains of a structure which may have served as a charnel house (Lepper 1989). Although no human remains were encountered in Greenman's 1928 excavations, Smucker (1881) refers to earlier excavations which did encounter "...an altar built of stone, upon which were found ashes, charcoal, and calcined bones..." (Smucker 1881:266).



The postmold pattern Greenman uncovered is the remains of a large rectangular structure almost 100 feet long by about 23 feet wide with walls like wings extending outward on each side at a forty-degree angle from the main axis.

The Wright Earthwork

Map and image detailing portion of Square Monument still in existence

The Cherry Valley Mounds



The Cherry Valley Mounds is the name given to about a dozen mounds in the middle of an oval enclosure, about 550 meters across. The mounds themselves contained several human burials with deluxe grave goods, including sheets of mica between one-half and one inch in thickness. Unfortunately, the Cherry Valley Mounds, located at the east edge of the earthworks have been largely destroyed by the urban expansion of the city of Newark.

It is not known precisely when the Hopewell Indians created the Earthworks, so we can only surmise they were constructed between 100 B.C and 400 A.D. I’ve already mentioned their impressive size; however it’s only from the air that you can really begin to grasp how big this complex really was. There are three main features, known as the, theand the. The Earthwork complex was used for the burial of Hopwell dead, ceremonial purposes, and most interestingly the Octagon Earthworks was an elaborate, which I’ll be covering in more detail further on in the thread.I’m going to overlay an 1862 map of the earthworks by Newark residents James H. and Charles B. Salisbury, this will give you an idea of their size. They surveyed the site before the area was settled and ravaged by modern construction and infrastructure development. At this point I'll say that the images below detail an area around 3.5 km by 2.5km, I told you this complex was HUGE!The Great Circle is a huge earthwork with a diameter of 360 meters, its walls are an impressive 2.4 meters high and they lay in front of a moat that is 1.5 meters deep! It is widely believed that this was the ceremonial centre of the site.Archaeologists excavated the Great Circle in 1992 in an attempt to discover how the Hopewell built this amazing monument.One can only wonder what significance these colours held for the Hopewell.As explained by Bradley T Lepper, in 1996:In 1928, Emerson Greenman excavated the Eagle Mound and discovered evidence of postholes and a wooden structure, suggesting a large covered ceremonial enclosure.Although highly similar to Hopewell mortuary areas, the dig gave up no human remains, so the exact purpose of the Eagle Mound is a mystery.The Entrance:The entrance/exit walls to the outer feature are in fact larger than in other parts which would have made approaching the Great Circle an awe inspiring experience for the Hopewell. On exiting the Circle 2,000 years ago, a Hopewell Indian would have found himself walking on a walled path leading to the next monument in this complex.Connected to the Great Circle by a walled pathway, this monument has been mostly destroyed by modern construction. All that remains is a 15 meter section, a sorry remnant of a near perfect square, detailed below in the 1862 survey.Using the 1862 map as a guide, we can see that the Wright Earthwork Square had sides 290 meters in length, very impressive in my opinion. It is just immensely sad that more of this Earthwork hasn’t survived.Finally I can talk to you about the main attraction at The Newark Earthworks, as if the Great Circle wasn’t “Great” enough! Anyone who is interested in Ancient Astronomy will enjoy the next part of the thread.[edit on 14-2-2010 by kiwifoot]