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There is abundant archaeological evidence of native people who lived in central North America during the "Middle Woodland" period of 200 BC to 500 AD, approximately the same years the Nephites occupied the land and recorded their history.
Anthropologists called them "Hopewell."
From Encyclopedia Brittanica:
"Hopewell culture, notable ancient Indian culture of the east-central area of North America. It flourished from about 200 BCE to 500 CE chiefly in what is now southern Ohio, with related groups in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and New York. The name is derived from the Hopewell farm in Ross county, Ohio, where the first site—centring on a group of burial mounds with extensive enclosures of banked earth—was explored."
"Hopewell culture, notable ancient Indian culture of the east-central area of North America. It flourished from about 200 BCE to 500 CE chiefly in what is now southern Ohio, with related groups in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and New York. The name is derived from the Hopewell farm in Ross county, Ohio, where the first site—centring on a group of burial mounds with extensive enclosures of banked earth—was explored."
Map by Heironymous Rowe - Creative Commons
"The Indian Point Site contains the remains of a prehistoric Native American earthen enclosure built around 140 BC. Archaeological digs have uncovered many artifacts here, including pottery, tools, pipies and beads."
Indian Point Park near Painesville, Ohio. Ohio Historical Society
"The Hopewell were unique in North America in their use of geometric shapes on a grand scale. Four other Hopewell complexes nearby have identical shapes and sizes, implying that the Hopewell developed a common unit of measurement."
Seip Mound State Memorial,
Bainbridge, Ohio
"Sauls Mound at 72 feet tall is the largest Middle Woodland [Hopewell] mound in the US. It was built in a series of stages beginning 2000 years ago, aligned with other mounds along the line of the summer solstice sunrise"
Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, Tennessee
"The Hopewells have achieved fame for their burial mounds and for the abundance of grave goods found in them. . . The variety of grave goods from such great distances certainly indicates a well-developed trading pattern with other AmerIndian groups."
Cleveland Natural History Museum
Hopewell peoples left evidence of earthwork walls built around their cities, which could have been the type of wall Samuel the Lamanite spoke from (see Helaman 16:1-7 [LDS] 5:109-119 [RLDS]).
Artist: Susan A. Walton; Ohio Natural History Museum. Photo Credit Jonathan Neville
"The largest complex of geometric mounds in the world, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are notable for their precise geometry that provide astronomical alignments with the moon"
From Ohio State University-Newark. Mural from Newark Earthworks. Artwork by Steven Patricia/Art Institute of Chicago
Copper Mountain Goat Horn
found in Ohio and displayed in the museum at the
Seip Mound State Memorial,
Bainbridge, Ohio
The presence of arrowheads indicates that bows and arrows were used in the Early Woodland period. (See examples of how Nephites used bows and arrows, such as in Alma 49:2, 19 [LDS] Alma 21:150, 171 [RLDS])
Museum of the Cherokee Indian,
Cherokee, North Carolina
This Wolf Effigy Pipe is about 2000 years old and was found in 1869 by Edward Travers Cox of the Indiana Geological Survey.
Indiana State Museum
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