BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[indian site]](/editions/1998/10/19/hopewell1_180x130.jpg)
Dr. Frank Cowan walks past large post holes discovered during an excavation of a Hopewell Indian site.
(Gary Landers photo)
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MORROW -- This week, bulldozers and back-hoes will rumble into southern Warren County and begin to bury an anthropological wonder -- a place where prehistoric Hopewell Indians gathered 2,000 years ago.
The heavy equipment will overturn what experts believe is part of Southwest Ohio's last known large "geometric earthwork" -- an ancient gathering place used by the Ohio Valley's earliest settlers.
Also unearthed at the 86-acre site are six temporary dwellings used by the Hopewell Indians, who, experts believe, had gathered near what is known today as the Little Miami River to build and use the earthwork. Their architecture is unlike any ever seen before from this time period or region, says Dr. Frank Cowan, a nationally recognized anthropologist.
"I could easily spend another 10 years of intensive and extensive excavation from this site and still have questions," said Dr. Cowan, the assistant curator of anthropology with the Cincinnati Museum Center. "The truth of the matter is it's not going to happen. We'll have to vacate this area very soon."
That's because this week, the owner of the site -- the Little Miami Local School District -- will begin to clear land to make room for a new high school. A groundbreaking ceremony at the site is planned for Wednesday.
The historic dig cannot be saved, which means Dr. Cowan and a colleague are running out of time to discover mysteries about the ancient Hopewell Indians that lay hidden for centuries at the U.S. 22-Ohio 3 and Morrow-Cozaddale Road site.
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THE DILEMMA
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Anthropologists and Little Miami Local School District officials each have a stake in the 86-acre site in Warren County.
District leaders say they need to build a school there because:
Its current school is overcrowded.
Enrollment could almost double in five to seven years; 27 subdivisions -- or 5,892 homes -- have been approved for development in the district.
Anthropologists are interested in the site because:
They found six temporary dwellings used by Hopewell Indians who, experts believe, had gathered to build and use the earthwork.
They found evidence of Ohio's second and largest "woodhenge," a large circular structure surrounded by 172 wooden posts with a circumference of 741 feet.
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School officials and scientists, however, have struck a deal: Anthropologists have access to the site until construction starts and the district hopes to use the significance of the site in its curriculum.
"You have two worlds colliding, as far as the ancient world and the modern world," said Michael Virelli, Little Miami's superintendent. "We just felt we didn't want to stand in the way of their exploration efforts while we were designing the building. Once we start construction, explorations are going to have to cease."
When the school's construction ends in two years, the dirt foundation of temporary prehistoric housing now to be excavated and gingerly examined will be covered and tread upon by boys in cleats when it becomes a high school football practice field.
The dig is significant because it reveals new details about the life and actions of the prehistoric Hopewell Indians, who are renowned for their earthen mounds and ridges. But the new Warren County discovery shows anthropologists these Hopewells used more than just dirt for some of their structures.
"One of the things that's becoming very clear from this excavation is there is an immense range of wooden architecture which also occurred at this site and the earthen architecture, earthen mounds and ridges may have represented some of the late phases of the use of the site," Dr. Cowan said.
Just three weeks ago, field archaeologist Ted Sunderhaus, a research associate at the Cincinnati Museum Center, discovered evidence of the state's second and largest "woodhenge." Meticulous digging revealed the Indians pounded 172 wooden posts into the ground in a large circle.
Dr. Cowan said he does not know what the Indians did inside the woodhenge, which has a circumference of 741 feet and a diameter of 240 feet.
Scientists have found no evidence of human remains at the site, and no group has stepped forward in a bid to stop the school's construction.
Forced discovery
But one thing is certain: Dr. Cowan is amazed by what they have found during the excavation, which began in June.
"(It's) one of the most exciting sites I've had the pleasure of excavating," he said.
Anytime something is built, something is destroyed.
That is what Dr. Cowan has come to accept as an anthropologist. He gracefully sidesteps holes that once held wooden posts in the massive woodhenge while a mowing tractor putters nearby to clear the weeds for construction.
"You're looking at a life-sized blueprint of architecture," Dr. Cowan said.
Dr. Cowan knew he didn't have much time when he approached district officials to see if they would let him excavate the site after a bond issue was passed last fall to build the school.
School officials who purchased the property nearly 10 years ago were aware two parcels had been preserved because of its archaeological significance -- including a mound, officials said.
But no one, including scientists, knew its significance.
Little Miami is committed to leaving those preserved easements untouched and plans to build a large circular driveway around the mound, Dr. Cowan said.
The school also has agreed to create a larger buffer around the preservation easement than it has so further exploration can be done near the mound, he said.
"We don't know what's there, but we have some clues that something is there around the area that the preservation easement is protecting," Dr. Cowan said. "We're going to rescue as much of that information as we can before it's destroyed."
Dr. Cowan said he has no legal grounds to try to stop the project since it is not a federally funded building project.
The National Historic Preservation Act requires a physical survey of any areas where federal dollars are being spent that may affect historic properties. Federal law protects remains that can be culturally identified and returned for a modern tribe for burial.
If the archaeologists had not been "pressed to the wall" because of the school building project, they may never have made their discovery. "There's an awful lot of information that could be learned from that property that will never be learned because of the building and the building schedule," Dr. Cowan said.
"On the other hand, had this property not been scheduled for this building project, I probably would have been too busy doing too many other things to invest the incredible amount of time and energy that I've put into it the last couple of months."
The district and the Cincinnati Museum Center have forged a "very positive" relationship, Mr. Virelli said.
District in need
The district is in dire need of a new high school, he said, to relieve "tremendous overcrowding." Plans for the property also include baseball and softball diamonds, a football stadium, an all-weather track, soccer fields and tennis courts.
The high school is being built to house 800 students with room to expand for another 800 students if needed, Mr. Virelli said. The ancient discovery may be buried beneath the future high school complex, but officials say learning from it doesn't have to stop.
They hope to use what they've gleaned from the dig to help educate students.
The new high school will feature an exhibit about what was discovered, and Dr. Cowan plans to give lectures to science classes to help integrate it into the curriculum.
"This site is going to be destroyed. To an extent, it should become part of the school's identity, to the point where they're interested in what went on before on that particular ground," Dr. Cowan said.
"No one knew, or could know, until you do the excavation, what lies below the surface. That's what we've been finding all summer. It's extraordinary; it's very exciting."
Rewriting history
The excavation is hardly noticeable from the road.
Anthropologists and a handful of volunteers worked tenaciously in a dug-out pit Saturday morning, scouring the earth for any last hidden artifacts in the middle of a deserted field.
But archaeologist Jack Blosser, site manager of Fort Ancient State Memorial in Warren County, the site of a large Hopewell earthwork, understands the importance of the Morrow discovery.
"They're opening up a whole new way of looking at Hopewell," Mr. Blosser said. "The school is going to be put on this wonderful site, yes, but the . . . greater benefit must be looked at, and that is without that (project), we wouldn't know what we know now." Dr. Cowan and Mr. Sunderhaus have "unearthed and excavated more Hopewell houses than anybody," Mr. Blosser said.
The information gathered will be used for generations to come since they've found architectural forms never found before in this region, he said.
The scientists are taking soil samples back to the museum to be processed for "small-scale artifacts," like charcoal, Dr. Cowan said.
They also have found shards of broken pottery, tool flakes, pieces of burnt animal bones and pieces of mica, a mineral found in North Carolina.
"What we're finding is really cool stuff; it's the kind of stuff we've never found before," Dr. Cowan said.
And there may be a lot more of it hidden all around us.
"Anywhere you look and see bulldozers in action . . . you have to ask yourself, "What was there before?' " he said.
"Given the fact humans have occupied this state for over 12,000 years, there's evidence of human past over an awful lot of the landscape."
Hopewells were hunters, builders
![[indian site]](/editions/1998/10/19/hopewell1_550x397.jpg)
![[indian site]](/editions/1998/10/19/hopewellmap_160x186.gif)