Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville will present the documentary film “Searching for the Great Hopewell Road” at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 14. The one-hour film is free and open to the public.
The documentary follows the investigations of Dr. Bradley T. Lepper in an exploration of the monumental earthworks built by the Ohio Hopewell people in the central Ohio Valley approximately 2,000 years ago. The film leads viewers into the mysterious legacies of the Hopewell with aerial videography, computer animation, rare archival images and interviews with archaeologists, historians and Native Americans.
The most well-known earthworks are the Octagon earthworks at Newark and the Mound City Group at Chillicothe. The film examines the evidence for existence of an arrow-straight 60-mile-long ancient highway connecting these two major ceremonial centers. Possible astronomical alignments at the Newark earthworks are also discussed.
Lepper is a curator of Archaeology for the Ohio Historical Society and an occasional visiting professor of sociology and anthropology at Denison University in Granville, OH. His primary areas of interest include North America’s Ice Age peoples, Ohio’s magnificent mounds and earthworks and the history of archaeology.
The award-winning 1998 documentary was produced by Pangea Productions, Ltd., and distributed nationally by American Public Television.
For more information about activities and programs at Grave Creek Mound, contact Andrea Keller, cultural program coordinator, at 304-843-4128 or andrea.k.keller@wv.gov or visit www.facebook.com/gravecreekmound and www.twitter.com/gravecreekmound.
Operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex features one of the largest conical burial mounds built by the Adena people between 250 – 150 B.C. and ranks as one of the largest earthen mortuary mounds anywhere in the world. Exhibits and displays in the Delf Norona Museum interpret what is known about the lives of these prehistoric people and the construction of the mound. The complex also houses the West Virginia Archaeological Research and Collections Management Facility.
Admission to Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex is free. The Delf Norona Museum, located at 801 Jefferson Avenue, Moundsville, WV, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday. Outdoor access closes at 4:30 p.m., and may be closed all day during inclement weather.
