Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is pleased to host the summer archeological lecture series, Robert L. Harness Lecture Series.

Hopewell Food Ways: Microscopic Evidence for Eastern Agricultural Complex Crops

Presented by Andrew Weiland. The ways in which prehistoric people of eastern North America obtained their food changed over time, cultivating more of the weedy plants and domesticates known as the Eastern Agricultural Complex. These crops and their presence at archaeological sites represent a long coevolution between humans and plants – a result of “domesticating the landscape.” It is thought that this intensification of land use and weedy crops increased during the Hopewell period (A.D. 1-400). A model of this process is presented, along with a research design involving phytoliths (silicified plant cells) and micro-charcoal in an archaeological survey proposed for Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.