**Hopewell Archeology:**

**The Newsletter of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley**

**Volume 6, Number 2, March 2005**

2\. Design and Layout of the Newark Earthwork Complex

By William F. Romain, Ph.D.

The Newark earthwork complex is the largest and most complicated
geometric complex of its kind in the world. **(Figure 1)** shows the
complex as represented by Squier and Davis (1848: Pl. XXV).

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="6.0in" height="4.489583333333333in"}

Figure 1. Squier and Davis's (1848: Pl. XXV) map showing the Newark
earthwork complex.

**(Figure 2)** shows what remains of the complex today -- i.e., the
restored Octagon and Observatory Circle and the Great Circle. Also shown
is Geller Hill. The likely location of the Great Hopewell Road (Lepper
1995) and Wright Square are also indicated, based on surviving remnants
and aerial photographs (Reeves 1936).

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="5.739583333333333in" height="6.25in"}

Figure 2. USGS 7.5-minute series topographic map showing part of the
Newark earthwork complex. Wright Square and Great Hopewell Road drawn by
the author based on information from aerial photographs and surviving
remnants. (The oval earthwork and most of the parallel walkways shown on
the Squier and Davis map are no longer visible.)

Looking at the Squier and Davis map, a casual observer might think that
the large geometrically shaped earthworks, such as the Octagon, Great
Circle, and Wright Square were arbitrarily located on the Newark
landscape. As demonstrated below, this was not the case. Each earthwork
is situated at precise coordinates and in a fashion that follows an
internally consistent logic.

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="3.6458333333333335in" height="4.375in"}

Figure 3. Schematic plan showing geometric and astronomic

relationships among various features of the Newark earthwork complex.

With reference to **(figure 3, above)**, the following exercise shows
how the Newark complex might have been designed and laid-out.

1\. Point A is the apex of Geller Hill. Draw line A-B at an azimuth of
52.2, which is equal to the moon's maximum north rise position as viewed
from the top of Geller Hill (A.D. 100, lower limb tangency, apparent
horizon elevation of 0.5, corrected to 1.34.)

2\. Draw an arc having a radius of 7 OCD from point A. (One OCD is equal
to 1,054 feet -- which is the diameter of the Observatory Circle -- see
Hively and Horn 1982.)

3\. Construct a circle having a diameter of 1,178 feet - equal to the
size of the Great Circle. (Note that the diameter of 1,178 feet for the
Great Circle is equal to the hypotenuse of a right triangle whose sides
are equal to 1 OCD and ½ OCD, respectively.)

4\. Draw line, D-E. Make line D-E, 7 OCDs in length. Situate line D-E so
it is perpendicular to lunar azimuth line A-B, bisected by line A-B, and
589 feet from the 7 OCD radius line as measured along line A-B. The
distance of 589 feet is one-half of the Great Circle diameter -- which
in step 3, was shown to derive from the OCD unit of length.

5\. Position the center of the Great Circle on the 7 OCD radius line so
its circumference meets line D-E at D.

6\. At point E, construct a square having sides equal to 1 OCD. Orient
the square so its diagonal falls on line D-E.

7\. Construct an octagon around the square. Do this by drawing a series
of arcs, each having a radius equal in length to the diagonal of the
square. (Diagonal of square = 1,490 feet) Use each of the square's
corners as the center for each arc. Connect the intersection points of
the arcs by straight lines, thereby creating an octagon.

8\. From Octagon point F, draw a line perpendicular to line D-E. Label
this new line F-G. Line F-G is parallel to line A-B. Thus the Octagon is
lunar-aligned. (See Hively and Horn \[1982\] for a further discussion of
this lunar alignment.)

9\. Locate the center of the Octagon and label it point H.

10\. Locate points on line F-G that are 1 and 2 OCDs, respectively, from
point H. Label these points, I and J.

11\. Construct a circle on line F-G, using points I and J to establish
its diameter. The diameter of the resulting circle will be 1 OCD - equal
to the diameter of the Observatory Circle.

12\. Establish the center of the Observatory Circle. Label the center of
the Observatory Circle, point K. From point K, draw an arc having a
radius of 7 OCDs.

13\. Likewise, from point E on the Octagon, draw an arc having a radius
of 7 OCDs. Mark the point where the two arcs intersect, point L.

14\. Construct the Wright Square, oriented to the cardinal directions,
using point L to situate the south corner of the Square. Note that each
side of the Wright Square is 925 feet in length. This length is related
to the OCD in the following manner. As mentioned, the diameter of the
Great Circle is equal to the hypotenuse of a right triangle whose sides
are 1 OCD and ½ OCD, respectively. The diameter of the Great Circle
therefore is 1,178 feet. From this it follows that the circumference of
the Great Circle is 3,700 feet. If the Great Circle circumference is
divided by 4, the result is 925 feet. Thus, the 925-foot length is
related to the OCD.

15\. The azimuth and location of the Great Hopewell Road are established
in the following way. From point A on Geller Hill, draw a line to point
N on the Octagon. The azimuth of this line is 26.2. From point N, draw a
line 1 OCD in length perpendicular to line A-N. Mark the end of this
line, point O. The reciprocal of 26.2 (the azimuth of line A-N) is
206.2. From point O, extend a line for a distance of 13,040 feet. along
the azimuth of 206.2. This line represents the length and azimuth of the
Great Hopewell Road as far as Ramp Creek.

The above representations are idealized geometric constructions. The
actual Newark earthworks vary in a few minor respects from the ideal --
see **(figure 4)**. The Great Circle earthwork, for example, is not
quite a perfect circle. Its diameter varies between 1,163 feet and 1,189
feet, for an average of 1,176 feet (Thomas 1894:462). So too, certain of
the actual Octagon's walls vary from the geometric ideal in both length
and azimuth - possibly to bring the walls in closer alignment with
significant lunar positions. The azimuth of the major axis through the
actual Octagon and Observatory Circle extends along an azimuth of 51.8,
while the geometric ideal, based on the moon's calculated azimuth is
52.2 - for a difference of 0.4. Thomas (1894:466) gives the lengths of
the Wright Square walls as 926 and 928 feet -- which differs by 1-3 feet
from the geometric ideal of 925 feet. Also, the major axis of the Wright
Square is skewed about 2 from the ideal, perhaps taking into account
ground observations referenced to the distant horizon elevation.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="5.739583333333333in" height="6.25in"}

Figure 4. Ideal geometric design shown in figure 3 overlaid onto USGS
7.5-minute series map for the Newark area.

As for the Great Hopewell Road, remnants are still visible today at
point O. These remnants are about 3 feet in height, extend for dozens of
feet, and are located near the northeast walls of the Octagon. Sections
of the south half of the Road can be identified in early aerial
photographs (Reeves 1936). Reeves's (1936:fig. 4) representation of the
Road, drawn based upon his aerial photographs, shows the Hopewell Road
intersecting a modern-day road just south of the Newark-Heath airport.
From these data, the azimuth of the actual Road can be plotted and is
found to be 206.9. This differs from the azimuth of 206.2 for the
geometrically plotted Road by 0.7.

**Several conclusions derive from this exercise:**

1\. The location of each earthwork is geometrically and astronomically
related and dependent upon other earthwork components. Each earthwork is
an integral part of a larger design.

2\. The entire complex is, in effect, generated from Geller Hill -- the
suggested *axis mundi* for the Newark complex.

3\. The complex was laid-out based on the moon's maximum north rise
point and multiples of the OCD unit of length. The significance of the
lunar maximum north rise for the Hopewell may have been based in the
recognition that that event defines a temporal and spatial maximum in an
18.6-year cycle. Maximum nodes in any cycle imply a complementary
opposite -- to include, for example, a lunar maximum south rise. Notions
of complementary opposites, bilateral symmetry, and cosmic dualism
appear to have been important to the Hopewell and are expressed in a
wide range of scales, from the structure of their earthworks, to designs
incorporated in their artwork.

4\. The most commonly used multiple unit of length was 7 OCD. Seven is
considered an important number by many Native Americans. In Indian
belief systems, the number 7 derives from the 4 cardinal directions,
plus the center, zenith, and nadir.

# **References Cited:**

Hively, Ray, and Robert Horn.

1982\. Geometry and Astronomy in Prehistoric Ohio. *Archaeoastronomy
(Supplement to Vol. 13, Journal for the History of Astronomy)* 4:S1-S20.

Lepper, Bradley T.

1995\. Tracking Ohio\'s Great Hopewell Road. *Archaeology* 48 (6):52-56.

Reeves, Dache M.

1936\. A Newly Discovered Extension of the Newark Works. *Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly* 45:187-193.

Squier, Ephraim G., and Edwin H. Davis.

1848\. *Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley; Comprising the
Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations. Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge Vol. 1*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution.

Thomas, Cyrus.

1894\. Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology for
the Years 1890-1891. In *Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology*. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.