Dig Into the Many Pieces That Comprise the EarthWorks Project

Interactive Video Navigation Program
The electronic component of EarthWorks – including the virtual reconstructions of once-extant sites in four states – is organized into three layers. When a user first accesses the touch screen computer in the exhibit hall, he can select among virtual tours of several river valleys with their restored earthworks sites.

From that level, the user can then select individual site features and stories. And on a third level, visitors discover an array of general cultural and interpretative topics, including interview segments with archaeologists, anthropologists and experts from many other disciplines, along with interpretations of the works by Native American leaders and scholars.

If using the main station, the project user’s progress through virtual reality, multi-media offering and video documentary will be visible on a large screen that is also part of the exhibit. Thus, the user’s journey will serve as a conversation starter among visitors.

Kiosks
Two touch-screen kiosks will allow visitors to explore a “virtual artifact gallery.” Many of the artifacts found at earthworks’ sites are extremely fragile and would not withstand the rigors of travel and handling. Thus, the artifacts have been rendered into photo-real, 3-D computer models. Visitors can zoom in, turn and examine these virtual objects from any angle and read about their origins, features and significance.

Exhibit Space

Large walls define the 500-square-foot EarthWorks traveling exhibit. Two of these walls are covered – one with a large-scale cross-cultural timeline consisting of text, diagrams and photos detailing the Native American cultures responsible for the earthworks and orienting that material with information corresponding to other world cultures of the time. The other wall is a giant map of the Ohio River Valley (from Pittsburgh to Louisville) indicating the locations of earthworks. It allows visitors to immediately grasp the extent of the region’s earthen constructions.

Five topographic models – featuring differing types of earthworks – will also be featured. These models will depict the Mt. Horeb Ring near Lexington, Ky.; the High Bank Earthworks near Chillicothe, Ohio; Fort Ancient near Lebanon, Ohio; the Marietta Earthworks in Marietta, Ohio; and the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio.

Other panels will specifically address

• The geometry of the earthworks, how the Hopewell used squares, circles, parallel lines and octagons, while comparing these Native American efforts to large-scale, earth-moving projects in other cultures.

• The cultural significance of the earthworks, how they very likely were used in relation to trade, marriage, death and burial. The structures also convey social and cosmological ideas of order, served as astronomical tools and marked territorial boundaries.

• The astronomical functions of the earthworks: the Hopewell tracked a complex moon cycle and marked time with as least as much precision as England’s Stonehenge. The calendar function likely guided events, festivals, rituals, hunting and agriculture.

• Settlement patterns and ways of life will be illustrated by plans from key excavation sites such as the Murphy site near Newark, Ohio. Though the earthwork builders lived in small, extended-family hamlets and did not have cities, they sill managed to construct structures on a monumental scale equal to other, more concentrated cultures of the ancient world.

• Artistry and precious materials were interlaced with the construction of the earthworks. Networks of trade and tribute transported such materials as Rocky Mountain obsidian and Gulf Coast shells to these Midwest cultures which then crafted these – as well as local materials – into ceremonial objects and other forms of art.

• Modern native perspectives are offered in the form of interpretations of the earthworks by members of tribal groups associated with the Greater Ohio Valley region. These include information on building practices, creation stories as well as divergent views about the use, meaning, ownership, preservation and significance of the earthworks.
   

The DVD
This take-home version of “EarthWorks” will actually provide even more depth of content than does the Interactive Video Navigation Program. The museum visitor experience is expected to last from ten to 45 minutes for each user. It’s expected that the DVD explorations will last longer. The DVD will more than twice as many scenes plus text screens, map resources, and other hypertext features. The disc can be played in home computer ROM drives. It will be available at the museum locations during each “EarthWorks” display and will eventually be available from the Web site of the Center for the Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites at http://cerhas.uc.edu/

The Web Site
The “EarthWorks” Web site is under construction and will provide a sampling of images taken from animations, summaries, and general reference resources, including links to other Internet sites. It will also feature resources like teacher guides and curriculum outlines targeting several subject areas – science, math, art, history and social studies.

Symposium: Re-Imaging the Earthworks
The event, co-sponsored by the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Museum Center, will explore issues of interpretation and visualization in regard to the project. Participants will include contributors to the “EarthWorks” project, scholars, Native Americans, designers, technical professionals and others. “Re-Imaging the Earthworks” is set for June 19, 2006, at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

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