Earthworks

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Brutus Buckeye and students walking in the Columbus Pride Parade. Image courtesy of The Ohio State University.

Proud Buckeyes at the Pride Parade in Columbus, Ohio.

Walk with the Ancients at Ohio earthworks in 2009.

Students, leaders of the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (NAICCO), and the Newark Earthworks Center at Ohio earthworks as part of the Walk with the Ancients 2009.

Gallery opening at the LeFevre Art Gallery of the Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Basket Exhibit. Image courtesy of The Ohio State University.

Gallery opening at the LeFevre Art Gallery of the Pokagon Potawatomi Black Ash Basket Exhibit.

Student interviewers of the Oral History Project in front of the RV where some of the interviews took place. Image courtesy of Dr. Lucy Murphy.

Student interviewers of the Oral History Project in front of the RV where some of the interviews took place.

Students on an Equinox earthworks pilgrimage, 2011. Image courtesy of Timothy E. Black.

Students on an Equinox Pilgrimage class, 2010.

"The earthworks exemplify Indigenous accomplishment, collaboration,
extensive planning, and the application of scientific understanding
in which American Indians can find inspiration for future generations. "

-Associate Director Marti Chaatsmith [Comanche Nation, descendant of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma], Newark Earthworks Center.

Marti Chaatsmith wearing a blue scarf. Image courtesy of Marti Chaatsmith.

Highlighted Ohio State Classes

Students and members of the public walking at the Great Circle, part of the Newark Earthworks, Heath OH. Image courtesy of Timothy E. Black.

Selected undergraduate and graduate classes offered by The Ohio State University.

Featured Majors and Minors
Highlighted Classes at Ohio State!

"Without collective traditional ways, the earthworks would not exist. The builders’ knowledge enfolded in the everyday and the story of the everyday was passed down generation to generation; connecting who they were to who we are becoming."

-Director of American Indian Studies Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris, The Ohio State University.

Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris speaking at the World Heritage Celebration at the Great Circle earthworks, Health, Ohio. Image courtesy of Timothy E. Black.

American Indian Studies

 

American Indian Studies

 

Indigenous people have been coming to what is now the state of Ohio for thousands of years, and the series of large-scale geometric, boundary and effigy earthworks still visible in central and southern Ohio bear witness to our region's historical importance as a center for economic, spiritual, artistic and intellectual endeavor and exchange. Central Ohio is a traditional homeland of the Shawnee Nation; Delaware, Wyandot and other Indigenous nations also have strong ties to these lands. Over one hundred years ago, in October 1911, the Society of American Indians (SAI), the first American Indian activist association organized and run by Native people themselves, held its first meetings on the campus of The Ohio State University. Today, individuals from a broad range of Indigenous backgrounds call Columbus and central Ohio home.

American Indian Studies

Scholarships

Students at commencement with their families. Image courtesy of The Ohio State University.

Jobs at Ohio State

Overhead view of a student typing on their laptop at The Ohio State University. Image courtesy of The Ohio State University.

"Forty-two current sovereign American Indian Nations have a historic connection to Ohio. They were scattered and fled north to Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and/or Mexico during the removal period that followed, or they were “relocated” onto reservations west of the Mississippi, primarily in what is now Oklahoma. But the citizens of these tribal nations remain stakeholders in the management and care of these “monuments of the Ohio River Valley.” "

-Director Dr. John Low [Pokagon Band of Potawatomi], Newark Earthworks Center.

Dr. John Low speaking at the World Heritage Celebration at the Great Circle earthworks, Heath, Ohio. Image courtesy of Timothy E. Black.

Connect with Our Research

Stepping Out & Stepping Up Social Justice Project logo of two ears of corn centered around three heads of grain.

 

 

 

Our projects and research are centered around the American Indian cultures that produced the monumental Midwestern earthen architecture in order to advance the understanding of the cultural and scientific achievements of American Indians to the world.

We respect, recognize, preserve, celebrate and promote Indigenous peoples and their achievements, past, present and future, in and about Ohio.

Research

Resources at The Ohio State University

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