Among the most socially and personally vocal archaeological remains on the North American continent are the massive and often complexly designed earthen architecture of Hopewellian peoples of two thousand years ago, their elaborately embellished works of art made of glistening metals and stones from faraway places, and their highly formalized mortuaries. In this book, twenty-one researchers in interwoven efforts immerse themselves and the reader in this vibrant archaeological record in order to richly reconstruct the faces, actions, and motivations Hopewellian people in their social and ritual life. Using a personalized and locally contextualized approach, the authors explore Hopewellian leadership, systems of social ranking and prestige, animal-totemic clan organization, kinship structures, sodalities, gender, community organizations, strategies of intercommunity alliance, and interregional travels for power questing, pilgrimage, healing, tutelage, and acquiring rituals.
>"Gathering Hopewell is, by any measure, an outstanding contribution to knowledge about one of the most important, but least understood, cultural developments in eastern North America. This authoritative, comprehensive, and provocative book will no doubt prove to be a much-welcomed watershed in Hopewell-related research." - George Milner, Professorof Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University
"Gathering Hopewell is remarkable in its humanizing of Hopewellian archaeological records and synthesis of Hopewellian life. Its represents a major advance in archaeological mortuary theory and analysis and their potential for understanding past societies." - Robert Mainfort, Professor of Anthropology, Arkansas Archaeological Survey

General Introduction.- The Gathering of Hopewell.- Historical Insight into the Directions and Limitations of Recent Research on Hopewell.- Social and Political Organizations of Northern Hopewellian Peoples.- Salient Issues in the Social and Political Organizations of Northern Hopewellian Peoples.- Community Organizations in the Scioto, Mann, and Havana Hopewellian Regions.- The Nature of Leadership in Ohio Hopewellian Societies.- The Question of Ranking in Havana Hopewellian Societies.- The Tripartite Ceremonial Alliance among Scioto Hopewellian Communities and the Question of Social Ranking.- Animal-Totemic Clans of Ohio Hopewellian Peoples.- Gender, Status, and Ethnicity in the Scioto, Miami, and Northeastern Ohio Hopewellian Regions, as Evidenced by Mortuary Practices.- Gender and Social Differentiation within the Turner Population, Ohio, as Evidenced by Activity-Induced Musculoskeletal Stress Markers.- Gender, Role, Prestige, and Ritual Interaction across the Ohio, Mann, and Havana Hopewellian Regions, as Evidenced by Ceramic Figurines.- Ritual Gatherings of Northern Hopewellian Peoples.- Scioto Hopewell Ritual Gatherings.- Estimating the Sizes and Social Compositions of Mortuary-Related Gatherings at Scioto Hopewell Earthwork-Mound Sites.- Smoking Pipe Compositions and Styles as Evidence of the Social Affiliations of Mortuary Ritual Participants at the Tremper Site, Ohio.- Ceramic Vessel Compositions and Styles as Evidence of the Local and Nonlocal Social Affiliations of Ritual Participants at the Mann Site, Indiana.- Hopewellian Ritual Connections across Eastern North America.- Rethinking Interregional Hopewellian "Interaction".- Hopewellian Copper Celts from Eastern North America.- Hopewellian Panpipes from Eastern North America.- Hopewellian Copper Earspoolsfrom Eastern North America.- Hopewellian Silver and Silver Artifacts from Eastern North America.