the "Hopewell Interaction Sphere" -- a region in the river valleys of what is now Central Ohio (active between 100 BC and AD 500)
"the Hopewell heartland appears to break down into a Tripartite Alliance, three great clusters of sites"
Hopewell culture appears to have no "permanent elites," although burials reflect "the existence of a developed clan system": analysis of burials reveal that "the clans most familiar from later North America-- Deer, Wolf, Elk, Hawk, Snake, and so on--were already represented" (461)
a "culture area" that covered "the entire span of a great river system" (comparable to the 'Ubaid village societies of Mesopotamia)
"the establishment of regular cultural interaction on such a scale, across sharply contrasting landscapes and environmental niches, [...] marks an important turning point in history," ultimately establishing "a shared idiom for personal diplomacy, a common set of rules for interacting with strangers"