Ohio
Travel: Ohio artifacts can be seen in England
Many travelers and history buffs are aware that the British Museum in London is, controversially, the repository for the ancient Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, removed from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, and brought to England in the early 19th century.
But the museum also holds many other historic items from around the world, including some of the most important archeological artifacts from Ohio.
In a glass display case in the British Museum’s Room 26, visitors will find more than two dozen exquisitely fashioned pipes, as well as bowls and other objects recovered from mounds built by the prehistoric Hopewell people of the Scioto Valley.
The display, though small, is the most comprehensive in the world, and is only a small fraction of the Ohio Hopewell items the museum owns.
The pipes, carved some 2,000 years ago from various types of soft stone, known collectively as “pipestone,” were used to smoke tobacco, perhaps during ritual ceremonial observations.
Though some of the pipes are simple bowls, many are exquisitely detailed effigies of birds, frogs, beavers, turtles and other creatures from the Scioto Valley. They demonstrate a level of artistry that offers an intriguing glimpse into the culture of a people we still know relatively little about.
Most of the stone is also native to the area around modern-day Chillicothe, although a few pipes were carved from rock from as far away as Minnesota, indicating a surprising level of travel and trade at the time.
How the items made their way from the vicinity of Chillicothe to England is a fascinating tale in itself.
Although the prehistoric mounds of Ohio were objects of curiosity and speculation since the time of the earliest European trappers and traders in the area, the first real attempt at a scientific exploration of the earthworks was conducted from 1845 to 1847 by Ephraim Squire and Edwin Davis, who surveyed and excavated many of the earthworks in the vicinity of Chillicothe.
Their findings were detailed in the very first volume of the “Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,” published in 1847 by a brand new scientific organization called the Smithsonian Institution.
Of course, Squire and Davis had gathered quite a significant collection of about 1,300 artifacts from the mounds and in those days, well, finders keepers.
Davis later decided to sell the artifacts, hoping to place them with the Smithsonian which, unfortunately, didn’t have the funds. And so, the Ohio Hopewell collection was purchased by the owner of a private museum in England for $10,000 and sent across the sea.
In 1931, the collection was purchased by the British Museum, which has been its home ever since.
Of course, travelers who are interested enough to stop by the British Museum to view the Hopewell collection (and a whole, whole lot of other great stuff) may also want to see some of the prehistory of England, itself. There’s no better place for that than out on the Salisbury Plain, the home of Stonehenge, as well as a large number of Bronze Age burial mounds that almost perfectly resemble the many prehistoric mounds found in Ohio.
And even though the Hopewell collection is in England, the original Hopewell mound sites are much, much closer to home.
The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe is, like Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of just 25 in the United States. The park includes the Mound City group of earthworks and several other earthworks in the Chillicothe area.
The Mound City site also offers a small visitors center and museum that tells the story — at least as much of it as we know — of the Hopewell people and their culture. The park is a can’t-miss destination for history buffs and for anyone intrigued by Ohio’s enigmatic prehistoric peoples. Just don’t expect to see a lot of original artifacts.
For more information about the British Museum’s Hopewell collection, including an interactive online walk through the museum’s Room 26, visit britishmuseum.org.
Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.
PERRY TWP., Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a Monday morning crash involving a semi-truck that resulted in a woman’s death.
Yolanda Medina Matos, 58, of Campbell, died at the hospital Monday as a result of injuries from a crash around 10 a.m. Monday. The two-vehicle crash happened on state Route 344 at the intersection of Cunningham Road.
A release from authorities states the other driver, a 51-year-old Salem man, was taken to the hospital as a precaution with no apparent injuries.
The release states a car driven by Matos failed to yield at a stop sign at the intersection and was hit by a semi-truck.
In its news release, OSHP reminded drivers of the importance of coming to a complete stop at stop signs and only proceeding through an intersection when it is clear of traffic.
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Antonio Brent, a second grader at St. Peter’s School in Mansfield, has won third place in the 2026 Imagine Engineering Coloring Contest.
Brent’s drawing was selected from a record-breaking 10,269 entries from second graders across Ohio, according to a community announcement. He will be recognized at an awards luncheon June 13 in Columbus.
Brent’s drawing depicts an engineer visiting a construction site. The central figure, wearing personal protective equipment, reviews plans and specifications while a crew works with heavy equipment in the background.
As a third-place winner, Brent will receive a National Geographic Mega Science Lab with 75 STEM experiments.
Imagine Engineering program introduced in 1999
The Imagine Engineering program was founded by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in 1999. Since then, the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers has enlisted its members to visit local classrooms and explain what engineers do for a living.
The program is designed to help second graders understand what engineering is and how it impacts their everyday lives. It also aims to inspire students to consider careers in engineering by introducing them to real engineers and hands-on experiments.
In 2021, EFO updated the program by adding an educational resource video titled “Imagine Engineering.” The video features Ohio professional engineers who explain engineering at a fundamental level and demonstrate hands-on experiments that support the second-grade curriculum.
In 2023, EFO received a grant from the P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to expand the program to include Ohio’s Spanish-speaking second graders. The Spanish translation of the video includes a Spanish-speaking engineer to narrate the lesson and subtitles for the experiments.
“Imagine Engineering is a children’s program that is unique to Ohio, having been created by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in the late 1990s,” EFO President Joe Cherry said in the announcement. “Over the last quarter of a century, Imagine Engineering has helped ignite the imaginations of tens of thousands of children statewide, encouraging them to focus on math and science – and perhaps a career in engineering.”
For more information about the Imagine Engineering program, visit ohioengineer.com.
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Miami has moved up in the Rivals Industry national team recruiting rankings.
The Hurricanes added a big piece to the puzzle when Top 100 Dothan (Ala.) High cornerback Ai’King Hall flipped his commitment from Oregon to Miami on Sunday afternoon.
With Hall now in the fold, Miami jumped up one spot from No. 7 to No. 6 in the rankings.
Miami surged past Ohio State and boasts the No. 1 recruiting class in the ACC.
The Hurricanes are less than a point behind No. 5 ranked Notre Dame.
At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Hall is ranked as the No. 7 cornerback and No. 39 overall prospect nationally, per Rivals. He is also ranked as the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Alabama this cycle.
Miami now has 12 commitments in the 2027 recruiting class — Hall, five-star Long Beach (Calif.) Poly cornerback Donte Wright, five-star Miami (Fla.) Carol City wide receiver Nick Lennear, Top 100 Lombard (Ill.) Montini Catholic quarterback Israel Abrams, , Rivals300 Houston (Texas) Langham Creek defensive lineman Ezekiel Ayangbile, Rivals300 Poplarville (Miss.) High running back Ty Keys, Rivals300 Fort Pierce (Fla.) John Carroll offensive lineman Sean Tatum, four-star Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons tight end Demarcus Deroche, four-star Davie (Fla.) McArthur defensive back Jaylyn Jones, three-star Gainesville (Ga.) High offensive lineman Tyler Ford, three-star Key West (Fla.) High defensive lineman Josh Johnson and three-star Davie (Fla.) McArthur defensive back Sherrod Gourdine.
Miami will have a chance to keep moving up the rankings as it gears up to host several top targets for official visits this summer.
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