Hopewell Hierarchy or Heterarchy?

Chapter 11, part retrospective and part meta-analysis, takes a critical look at the bioarchaeological evidence of Hopewell social organization spanning much of Eastern North America from 200 B.C. to A.D. 500. Past archaeological work considered Hopewell as generally heterarchical and egalitarian. This synthesis of funerary pattern variation and a host of biological data discern patterns consistent with embodied social inequalities, with evidence of better health and diet associated with those of inferred high status. While acknowledging the substantial heterarchical dimensions of Hopewell social organization, Cook et al. suggest that the pendulum has swung too far from hierarchical models and any archaeological conception of the Hopewell tradition must engage the evidence of hierarchy visible in the remains of its people.