Hopewell on the Sandusky: Analysis and Description of an Inundated Ohio Hopewell Mortuary-Ceremonial Site in North-Central Ohio
Northern Ohio has traditionally been placed at the “periphery” of Ohio Hopewell interaction. The recent discovery of an inundated mortuary-ceremonial site in Sandusky Bay with characteristic Hopewell artifacts, burial treatments, and deposits has stimulated a reexamination of the relationship between northern Ohio Middle Woodland societies and the Ohio Hopewell core. From this locality, known as the Pumpkin site, amateur archaeologists salvaged burials; Flint Ridge chert bifaces, Lowe cluster points and bladelets; a copper celt and beads; and other distinctive Hopewell funerary and ceremonial objects. Pumpkin site burial treatments and artifact forms also show considerable similarities to the Esch Mounds component located just to the east. A single AMS radiocarbon determination of 1840 ± 40 BP (Beta-221575) on human bone collagen places the Pumpkin component securely within the Middle Woodland period. Information from this unique site indicates that local Middle Woodland ties to the Ohio Hopewell heartland were more significant than previously perceived.