The Great Circle, Moundbuilders State Memorial, Newark, Ohio  
Two thousand years ago, the Ohio River valley held one of  the largest concentrations of geometric earthen architecture in the world: effigies, embankments, mounds, roadways, and enclosures, all of monumental scope and remarkable precision. Today only a few of these survive, most so subtle and fragmentary that they are hard to see and even harder to understand. Like the cultures that made them, these earthworks remain little known outside specialized academic circles.
 
             
 
Hopewell period settlement reconstruction
 
Through virtual computer reconstructions, we are making these hidden or vanished sites visible again, as never before since they were conceived in the imaginations of their builders. By revealing anew the magnificence of their sacred architecture, EarthWorks is restoring these ancient native cultures to their rightful place in the public consciousness as part of our North American heritage.
 
             
  The Aveue, Octagon State Memorial, Newark, Ohio  
Using our digital restorations of the earthwork complexes, we at CERHAS create exploratory, interactive video productions for exhibitions, documentaries, the Internet, and other resources. Developmental and production funding has come from several sources, including the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
             
  Fort Ancient earthworks reconstruction, Warren County, Ohio  
A highly immersive interactive-video exhibit, funded by the NEH, is now traveling: the first comprehensive, visually engaging publication on ancient mid-America in well over a century. We've developed an expansive, multi-disciplinary approach, with immersive graphics, multi-voiced interpretations, interviews, and a variety of hypertext resources which will be included on the companion DVD-Rom.
 
             
  Hopewell Newark Shaman  
Also Available is our Award-winning CD-Rom (for Windows) presenting 89 minutes of interactive video exploring the Newark EarthWorks.

 

CERHAS
and EarthWorks have been funded by the University of Cincinnati and by the Ohio Board of Regents Capital Investment Fund, as well as by the Ohio Arts and Humanities Councils, and the NEH.
           
       
"This is an especially exciting project, as it brings together our most ancient heritage with our most advanced technology."
--William Ferris, Former Chairman,
National Endowment for the Humanities, 1998.

"The first visually-rich, thorough, and engaging treatment of this important topic in many decades: the best thing since Squier and Davis' Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley of 1848!"
--Roger G. Kennedy, Director Emeritus,
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

"Wow, that's really cool!"
--Anonymous 8-year-old audience member,
Tenth Annual Woodland Conference (October, 2000), Chillicothe, Ohio.

"Amazing. Outstanding. Everything that interactive media should be."
--The Judges,
54 th annual Columbus International Film and Video Festival (Interactive Division), 2006.

 
           
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