The central point of contention regarding the “Hopewell” name: , the illustrations are of Mound 25 at the North Fork site, probably the largest repository of Adena burial treasures until looted by Warren K. Moorehead in the 1890s. Graphic 1 is a drawing of the central mound group, with Mound 25 as the large triple-mound, that appeared in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Graphic 2 is a photo of Mound 25 taken by the Moorehead team in 1891 prior to looting. Graphic 3 is the overall site map from Moorehead
The evidence suggests that Moorehead had his eyes on this protected site, a few miles west of Chillicothe, for years, until the Clark family placed it up for sale, whereupon Moorehead arranged for purchase of the site by his friend and fellow white supremacist Mordecai Cloud Hopewell. Hopewell agreed to the looting quickly after purchase of the property, in exchange for which Moorehead named the fake new “culture” after Hopewell. Moorehead initially argued that the so-called “Hopewell” had been a “white race,” in contrast to the local “red race” that came to be called “Adena.
The artifacts looted from Mound 25 were fittingly displayed by Moorehead at the “White City” (actual name) built on the grounds of the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s subjugation of the western hemisphere on behalf of the white race.
We are asked to believe that no racism is involved here.
The US National Park Service, which now owns the site, has named it the “Hopewell Mound Group,” the titular central site of the so-called “Hopewell” nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Methinks this might run a bit contrary to the spirit of the times. The H-word name needs to bite the dust.
