Abstract
The North American indigenous civilization known as the Hopewell culture, part of what archeologists identify as the Middle Woodland period in Eastern North America, flourished from roughly 100 BCE to about 500 CE. While much is known about the material culture of the Hopewell, less is known with certainty about Hopewell religious or spiritual beliefs. Nevertheless, Hopewell culture is one of the earliest North American examples of what can be called a sustainable ecological approach to life. In light of the knowledge of the religious and spiritual beliefs of other indigenous societies around the world, I argue that what is known about the material culture of the Hopewell allows us to infer some important similarities between these broader indigenous beliefs and Hopewell religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. What’s more, these beliefs can embody certain metaphysical or ontological commitments which carry with them moral implications for social life, as well as how to live within a wider ecological reality, and what we might call an indigenous sense of sustainability. In light of this, the Hopewell serve as an early exemplar of a sustainable human lifestyle, one that aligns with contemporary philosophies of sustainability and current movements that seek to bring about a greater alignment of human values and ways of life with the natural rhythms of broader ecology and biological realities of life on Earth.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Indigenous Spiritualities in Global Perspective
KEYWORDS
Hopewell culture, Sustainability, Ecology
