formerly Mound Builders
Most notable ancient Indian culture of east-central North America.
It flourished 0441; 200 BCAD 500, chiefly in the Illinois and Ohio river valleys. (The name derives from a U.S. farm where the first site was explored.) The Hopewell Indians built earthen mounds for enclosure, burial, religious rites, and defense. Hopewell villages lay along rivers and streams. The inhabitants raised corn and possibly beans and squash but still relied upon hunting and gathering. They produced pottery and metalwork. Trade routes were evidently well developed. After AD 400 the distinctive features of the Hopewell culture gradually disappeared. See also Woodland culture .