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Uncovering the Newark Earthworks

With OSU's Newark Earthworks Center

Learn about the history of the history of the Newark Earthworks, recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the stories of the ancient Hopewell culture and Ohio Indigenous peoples.

November is National American Indian Heritage Month. Explore the the history of the Newark Earthworks, which were recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the stories of the ancient Hopewell culture and Ohio Indigenous peoples. Dr. Brad Lepper, Curator of Archaeology at Ohio History Connection, and Dr. John Low, Director of the Newark Earthworks Center and an enrolled citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, will co-present this program, providing an archaeological perspective of researching the Newark Earthworks as well as the cultural significance and accomplishments of the Indigenous peoples who constructed these spiritual earthworks.

Join us in person, or live stream this program on BPL's YouTube channel.

About the Presenters:

Dr. John N. Low received his PhD. in American Culture at the University of Michigan, and is an enrolled citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. He is also the recipient of a graduate certificate in Museum Studies and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan. He earned a BA from Michigan State University, a second BA in American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Professor Low previously served as Executive Director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois, and served as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Indians of the Midwest Project at the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library, and the State of Ohio Cemetery Law Task Force. He has presented frequently at conferences including the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)), American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He continues to serve as a member of his tribes’ Traditions and Repatriation Committee.

Dr. Brad Lepper earned his BA degree from the University of New Mexico and his MA and PhD degrees from The Ohio State University. His primary areas of interest include the Ice Age peoples of North America, Ohio's magnificent mounds and earthworks, and the history of North American archaeology. Dr. Lepper has written extensively on these subjects for both technical journals and magazines intended for a general audience. He is the author of the book, Ohio Archaeology: an Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures, published in 2005 by Orange Frazer Press. He also writes a monthly column on archaeology for the Columbus Dispatch.

Dr. Lepper was born and raised in northeastern Ohio, and now lives in Newark, in the vicinity of the extensive ancient earthworks of that region, with his wife Karen, two children, one dog, and three cats.

Dr. Lepper has been visiting professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Denison University in Granville and the Department of Anthropology at The Ohio State University at Newark.

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