Newark Octagon Earthworks

The Newark Octagon Earthworks were constructed by the Hopewell culture, a network of Native American societies that thrived in the Ohio River Valley. They built these massive geometric enclosures between approximately 200 BC and 500 AD. The Hopewell are renowned for their precise astronomical alignments and monumental earthworks.

The octagon's design features a precise alignment with the lunar standstill, an 18.6-year cycle of the moon's rising and setting points. The earthworks act as a massive lunar observatory, aligning perfectly with the moon's northernmost rising point. This suggests that the Hopewell people possessed advanced knowledge of celestial movements.

The Newark Earthworks are primarily managed as a public golf course, though they have recently been incorporated into the Ohio state park system and UNESCO World Heritage sites. Visitors are allowed to walk the grounds and observe the massive geometric shapes, though access can sometimes be restricted by golfing activities. Preservation efforts are ongoing to protect the site's historical integrity.

The Newark Earthworks complex originally encompassed about four square miles, making it one of the most extensive earthwork complexes in the world. The Octagon Earthworks section itself encloses a massive area, with walls that are several feet high. Constructing such a large space required moving thousands of baskets of earth by hand.