Harebrained hypotheses prove invaluable to scientific debate Tuesday, December 19, 2006 BRADLEY T. LEPPER Archaeologist Richard Michael Gramly, in the current issue of Ohio Archaeologist, offers a startling explanation for the rise of the Hopewell culture in Ohio and neighboring regions 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists defined the Hopewell culture predominantly on the basis of gigantic earthen enclosures, such as the Great Circle and Octagon Earthworks preserved at Newark, as well as dazzling works of art crafted from materials, such as mica and obsidian, brought from distant lands. For Gramly, this remarkable florescence of art and architecture was the result of...