Nearly 2,000 years ago, American Indians gathered in this meadow to build elaborate earthen enclosures for ritual ceremonies, feasts, and burials. They came from small scattered settlements along the rivers and in the uplands. This ancient culture, now known as Hopewell, flourished across the Ohio Valley region between 2,000 and 1,500 years ago. The earlier Adena culture had built burial mounds and earthen rings, but Hopewell earthworks became increasingly grand in scale and more complex and precise in their geometry. At Junction, the geometric figures included circles, the quatrefoil, squircles, and crescents. At Mound City, deceased kin were cremated in fire-hardened clay basins, accompanied by elaborate rituals and exotic artifacts, and the remains of these ritual buildings were typically covered with mounds.