Wright Earthworks

When Europeans first arrived in the Licking River Valley, they found a large and complex series of earthworks created centuries prior by the Hopewell culture. Built between 100 B.C.E and 400 C.E., the Newark Earthworks covered more than four square miles of ground and were composed of a variety of geometric shapes. These shapes included circles, squares, and octagons along with mounds and embankments. They are the largest geometric earthworks in the world. The original function of the site is unknown, though a sacred purpose connected to lunar and astronomical charts is the most likely. Some structures within the complex functioned as astronomical calendars and markers of celestial movements. Unfortunately, many of these features have been destroyed over the last two centuries through agricultural use, as well as transportation and urban development projects. What remains, however, is a striking testament to the ingenuity and mathematical skill of the ancient Hopewell. Two large structures are still extant today in the Newark area: the Great Circle Earthworks, southwest of downtown Newark and abutting Ohio state route 79, and the Octagon Earthworks, south of Ohio state route 16, on property leased to Moundbuilders County Club. The Wright Earthworks State Memorial preserves an outward-facing corner of one of these lost structures. The Wright Earthworks were once a small part of a twenty-acre, square enclosure with sides running more than nine-hundred feet in length. The surviving corner includes a portion of one side of a lost, parallel embankment running northeast. It gives a taste of the grandeur of this complex series of structures, as well as a reminder of how much has been lost.

Image 1: Nineteenth-century drawing of Newark Earthworks and surrounding prehistoric sites.

Image 2: Detailed drawing from 1911 of earthworks, embankments and mounds near Newark, Ohio.

Image 3: Detail of Wright Earthworks, now lost, and the nearby Great Circle Earthworks.