The materiality of spiritual engagement: art and the end of Ohio Hopewell

Abstract

This paper addresses the question, ‘If art makes society, under what conditions does society cease to make art?’ The answer, I suggest, lies in art's loss of social efficacy. The case I use to explore the cessation of art is that of the Ohio Hopewell. In southern Ohio, between AD 1–400, a ceremonial system known as Ohio Hopewell developed, flourished, and was then entirely abandoned. This ceremonial system was characterized by elaborate material objects (art) made from exotic materials, communal rituals involving pageantry and burial of the dead that were held in large geometric earthwork enclosures, and large-scale offerings of objects in these ceremonial precincts. After AD 400, art, the large earthen enclosures, and elaborate offerings ceased to be made for a considerable period of time in the Midwestern US. This paper draws on theoretical, historical, and ethnographic information to make the argument that the collapse of Ohio Hopewell and its art represents a radical transformation in how people perceived materiality. The paper argues that the cessation of art represents a widespread and active rejection of ritual authority and of the power of material objects to mediate with the spiritual world.