History
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The two earthen walls are remnants of the Newark Earthworks, the largest set of geometric enclosures ever built and a focal point for the social and religious activities of the Hopewell people about 2000 years ago. The southern wall was part of a square earthwork enclosing 20 acres, and this location lay inside that square near its northern corner. The northern wall belonged to a set of parallel embankments that originally formed ceremonial roads linking the enclosures of the Newark Earthworks, including a grand avenue to an oval enclosure surrounding about twelve burial mounds, as well as routes from the square to the Great Circle Earthworks and the Octagon Earthworks. Farming, excavation for the Ohio Canal, and the construction of Newark's streets and houses destroyed much of this ancient earthen geometry. Mrs. Frances Rees Wright donated these surviving remnants to the Ohio Historical Society in 1934.
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Newark, Ohio · United States
