FORT HILL,
PAINT VALLEY
THE NEW CIRCLE
In 2001, a National Park Service team was using their new remote-sensing equipment out here, near the center of the Hopewell enclosure. One afternoon, this startling image appeared: it was a long-lost earthen ring and ditch, completely invisible to the naked eye. It was 100 feet across, and perfectly circular, with a gateway pointing east. It is typical of earlier, Adena-era earthen rings, so may have already been here before the larger, enclosing earthwork was built.