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Written by John Thornton
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Tuesday, 05 June 2007 05:59 |
Native American Earthworks & Appalachian Cove Forest Going to Auction June 14th, 2007
Dear Friends,
We are asking for your creative and financial help to save Spruce Hill—a 2000 year old Hopewell* earthworks site, a worthy natural area, and a potential World Heritage site. We plan to stand before the auction block on June 14th to bid on this site with private funds. We are mounting a NATIONWIDE grassroots campaign to save Spruce Hill. Please, we need your share in making this miracle happen. (Hopewell is a regrettable but popular term for a prehistoric culture, please see explanation and apology at the bottom of this page.*)
Four organizations: The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System, Archaeological Conservancy, Wilderness East, and Ross County Park District are working together to BUY AND PROTECT these 238 acres, a task which requires raising an estimated of $600,000 in just a few weeks. Ironically the stone walls that were erected 2000 years ago to define this ancient ceremonial site, may have enough lingering power to stop a housing development from being built inside the enclosure today.
Spruce Hill wasn't built in a day—but it can be lost in a matter of minutes on the auction block. We need your help two ways to save it:
HELP RAISE IMMEDIATE FUNDS through gifts or loans l
PASS THE WORD ON TO OTHERS in your personal and professional networks. Please act quickly.
Coming up for sale too fast for the National Park Service to Save.
The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park based in Chillicothe, Ohio has been hoping to incorporate Spruce Hill Earthworks into the park system ever since the 1980's. Unfortunately, time has run out. With Spruce Hill going to auction in a few weeks, strict laws prevent the Park Service from diverting the slow Congressional process of park expansion, procedures that often take many years before consummating in a sale. The reality is — without immediate action from the public sector — the historically significant site will be permanently lost, like most of our nation's Hopewell sites before it.
What is so critical about saving the Spruce Hill Earthworks?
The earthworks at Spruce Hill are nearly as intact today as they were back in 1848, when the site was described by early Ohio historians, Squire and Davis. Of the major ceremonial sites identified in the Hopewell heartland of southern Ohio, most were geometrical earthworks built in the level fertile floodplains of rivers and creeks (precise squares, octagons and circles). Of the 41 primary Hopewell earthwork enclosures that were found intact 200 years ago (the vast majority of them in southern Ohio)—nearly every one has since been obliterated by agriculture or development. Spruce Hill belongs to a category of unusual sacred enclosures known as large hilltop "fortresses" (though likely ceremonial as opposed to defensive), of which less than a dozen have ever been found of similar scale. These large hilltop enclosures are non-geometrical in shape, their walls following the natural contours of flat-topped hills having steep sides.
Spruce Hill earthworks encloses an astonishing 150 acres—acreage which for the most part has never been investigated archeologically. The Spruce Hill site is unique in that its walls are made entirely of stone. The site is furthermore unique because of the clear evidence that high-temperature fires once burned along sections of its walls. Findings of molten slag and glazed bedrock have led to controversial debates as to whether metal-smelting furnaces might have operated on the property, either in historic or prehistoric times, debates which beg for additional research. (consider Googling ancient blast furnaces to tap into the controversy) Lastly, Spruce Hill lies in the same region as two lowland geometrical earthworks— Baum Earthworks and Seip Earthworks, and is the only hilltop enclosure in the Chillicothe Hopewell heartland.
Spruce Hill is one of the nation's most important intact archeological treasures that is currently unprotected, likely hiding the answers to many longstanding questions currently posed by Hopewell archeologists.
Why are Native American Eastern Earthwork Sites so Important?
The indigenous history of the Eastern North American continent IS THE MOST UNDER-RATED AND UNDER-APPRECIATED story in American history. Archeology and anthropology in the western half of the United States have often taken precedence in the hearts and minds of the American public. In the East, Native American earthworks were usually destroyed before our culture awakened to their importance. Of the many people inhabiting the Eastern Forest, the culture knows as the Hopewell, living between 2,200 and 1,500 years ago, were one of the most artistic and geographically influential to have ever lived on the entire continent.
If those of us living in the East are ever to establish a deep sense of place and pride in our landscape, we would do well to commit to recovering and honoring the history of our land, and the long history of people who lived upon it. Spruce Hill as a Natural Area Located in the Arc of Appalachia Ohio's most intact bioregion
Spruce Hill lies in the five county area of southern Ohio called the Arc of Appalachia. This geographic region contains the densest canopied forests left in all of Ohio. The Arc region contains more zoological and botanical diversity than any other equal sized region in the state. Spruce Hill lies in the exceptionally scenic ARC region known as Paint Valley -- ten miles west of Chillicothe. Together with the nearby lower Scioto River, Paint Valley has more prehistoric mounds and geometric earthworks than any other place in Ohio and quite possibly the world.
Spruce Hill is not only an earthworks site, but a natural area worthy of protection, including over 70 acres of wild-flower strewn Appalachian hardwood forests, open fields sheltering rare grassland birds such as Grasshopper Sparrows and Henslow's sparrows, and a swamp white oak wetlands where native salamanders, wood frogs, and wood ducks breed. Click here for more information on Spruce Hill's natural history.
Long-term management and ownership—linking nature and history preservation together
The long-term vision for Spruce Hill is to manage the site as a nationally significant historical and nature preserve, offering public access via hiking trails. The plan is to formally contract the National Park Service's expertise in stewarding, managing and preserving the historic earthworks. Conservation easements and deed restrictions will be strategically put into place so that preservation into perpetuity can be assured. Archeological Conservancy and the Ohio non-profit Wilderness East are serving to temporarily hold co-ownership of the property until funding from permanent owners fall in place. The Ross County Park District and the non-profit the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System will be the long-term co-owners of the property, both with extensive experience in natural area preservation. All of these organizations are making heroic sacrifices to save Spruce Hill.
Other Supportive Organizations
In addition to the organizations listed above, financial support has been received from: Ohio Archeological Council, the Archaeological Society of Ohio, SunWatch Indian Village and the Miami Group of the Sierra Club. Endorsements have been received by the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, the Tri-Regional Indian Organization, the International Crop Circle Research Association, the Society for American Archeology, and the Scioto Valley Bird and Nature Club.
Media reporting on Spruce Hill has been covered by Native American media: the Native America Calling radio show, and Indian Country newspaper (for article click here).
Access to the site for Gatherings
Site managers are committed to welcoming small-scale gatherings who wish to visit the site for personal, spiritual, and scientific purposes, so long as the native earthworks and natural landscape are preserved, undisturbed and respected.
Creative Solutions Needed: Large & Small Donors, Large Pledges and Short-term Loans
To succeed at this endeavor in such a short period of time will take a wide range of supporters: both small and large donors. In a very short window of time the campaign has already raised at least half of the necessary funds with $300,000 in donations and no-interest loans. We have enough to know we are heading to the auction, but we need a lot more funds to strengthen our position. Donors of ALL sizes are welcomed and needed. If you are a large organization exploring a partnership or a generous benefactor considering a low-interest loan, please contact us with your creative proposals, and please share this vision with others who may be financially able to commit to expanding preservation work in the East.
On behalf of the natural and cultural history native to Eastern North America, we are asking for your help. The fate of Spruce Hill lies in our collective hands. THIS IS A GRASS-ROOTS CAMPAIGN. Whether you can give $10 or $10,000 -- please give. Your help is critical.
You are invited to attend:
Site Tour on June 9th
Four Helpful Reference Maps How to Make a Tax Deductible Donation Answers to Common Donor Questions
Who Were the Hopewell? Spruce Hill Worthy Natural Area Detailed Progress Report
****Though convenient and widely used, the word Hopewell is an unfortunate term for a number of reasons. One, the name Hopewell is of English descent rather than Native American, coming from the name of a Euro-American family who owned a famous and extensively excavated earthworks site. Hopewell is therefore not the name these peoples called themselves, as that knowledge has been lost to time. Secondly, we don't know if Hopewell peoples were one tribe, clan, or nation; or if they even all spoke the same language. The Hopewell Culture represents one chapter of our country's first people, our indigenous ancestors. We hope that one day an alternative name will emerge for this chapter of history that is more appropriate and respectful to the lineage of these Native Americans.
Who to Contact with Questions:
For tour registration:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
937-365-1935
For information on creative solutions, private tours, stock-giving and large donations:
Larry Henry & Nancy Stranahan, Co-Directors
Larry 937-365-1600
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Nancy 937-365-0101
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For more information on the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System www.highlandssanctuary.org
For more information on the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park www.nps.gov/hocu 740-774-1126
For more information on Ross County Park District
Gary Mercamp, Park Director, 740-773-8794
For more information on Archaeological Conservancy, www.americanarchaeology.org Paul Gardner, Midwest Director, 614-267-1100
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