Clermont County's greatest mystery is "What happened to the Hopewell people?" The Hopewell, named after Mordecai Hopewell, upon whose lands the culture was first found, lived in the Great Miami, Little Miami and Scioto River Valleys from approximately 100 B.C. to 400 A.D. They established a sophisticated civilization based upon agriculture and an extensive trade network running from Canada to the Gulf Coast and to the far west. Copper from Canada, conch shells and shark teeth from Florida and grizzly teeth from the Rocky Mountains have been found in Hopewell burial mounds. Large geometric and animal-shaped enclosures, characteristic of the culture, have been found in Clermont County at Miami, Union, Ohio Townships and in the City of Milford.
Early settlers, confounded by the earthworks, couldn't accept the idea that the native people possessed the technical and organizational skills necessary to build the structures. They offered several fanciful theories about who built the mounds. Some suggested that displaced Mexicans, Persians or refugees from Atlantis were responsible for them. Reverend Philip Gatch, who lived near one of the enclosures, suggested that the builders were members of the "Lost Tribe of Israel". A local antiquarian claimed that a femur bone of an eight foot tall man was found in a Miami Township mound, suggesting that it was a race of giants who built the structures.
It seems as though the Hopewell culture blinked out about the time Rome fell. Archaeologists have long argued that the disappearance was caused by war, disease, climate change or most likely a combination of reasons.
In February 2023 archaeologist Dr. Kenneth Tankersly of the University of Cincinnati offered a radical and fascinating explanation. The article, published in a scientific journal, claims the Hopwell people were destroyed sometime between 252 AD and 352 AD when a comet exploded with a force equal to 15 thousand kilotons of TNT right over where the City of Milford is located today. The blast ignited a firestorm, scorching an area the size of New Jersey. A cosmic event of this magnitude would have had catastrophic consequences.
To support its theory the Tankersly team investigated 11 Hopewell sites. The scientists took soil samples at each site. The tests revealed the existence of charcoal deposits (caused by intense heat), traces of iridium and platinum (substances common to meteorite fragments). These findings led the U.C. team to conclude the disappearance of the Hopewell was caused by an extraterrestrial calamity.
Tankersly puts a cultural fine point on his theory by providing examples of tribal lore that.describe cosmic events. The Miami tribe share a story "of a horned serpent that flew across the sky and dropped rocks onto the land before plummeting into a river". The Shawnee speak of a "sky panther" that streaked through the heavens and blew down forests. The Ottawa tell of a "day when the sun fell from the sky".
In the 1840's, Ephraim Squires and Dr. Edwin Bates published their book entitled Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. The book contained maps of the indigenous earthen enclosures. Among those charted was "The Milford Earthworks". It features a twenty-one acre square with an attached circle. Many scientists believe that this structure was an astronomical observatory and ceremonial center associated with the changing of the seasons. Much of the works have disappeared over the centuries due to farming and development. It was located on the grounds of Milford's Green Lawn Cemetery.
Of particular importance to the U.C. team's theory is another Milford enclosure attached to the circle. It consists of a quarter-mile long circle with a half-mile long triangular structure growing from it. Flaring from the triangle are six earthen walls. Some researchers believe that the entire structure is an effigy of a great blue heron. Not so, says Tankersly. He argues the structure more closely resembles a comet with the circle forming its head, the triangle its body and the six walls its fiery tail.
The article sparked a controversy within the archaeological world. Tankersly found few defenders. A committee of researchers, headed up by Dr. Kevin Nolan of Ball State University, reexamined the Tankersly report and disputed its findings and conclusions. The Tankersly article was withdrawn from publication
So where does that leave us? What happened to the Hopewell?
According to Professor Nolan, DNA testing of Hopewell remains have shown that the Shawnee, Miami, and other native tribes descended from the Hopewell. As to why the Hopewell so drastically changed their centuries old cultural patterns, this question still remains unanswered.
