World Heritage Matters

Espada Aqueduct

For Americans, indeed for people around the world, there is no more potent symbol of individual freedom than Independence Hall. This World Heritage Site is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the dream of a free country of independent citizens became fact.

Nihoa and Mokumanumanu (Necker) Islands contain heiau (temples), living sites, and agricultural terraces. Recent studies that unite archeological analyses with oral histories have uncovered the roles these islands played within Hawaiian rituals of the past.

This article introduces Hopeton Earthworks, on of the eight ancient American Indian earthwork complexes being nominated to the World Heritage List as “Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks.”

The ongoing effort to nominate “Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks” to the World Heritage List includes eight ancient American Indian earthwork complexes: the Octagon Earthworks and Great Circle in Licking County; the Fort Ancient Earthworks in Warren County; and five earthworks included in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio.

The High Bank site is one of five earthwork complexes included in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe, Ohio (not to be confused with the Highbanks Metro Park north of Columbus). These National Park sites are being nominated to the World Heritage List as “Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks” alongside three other earthworks managed by the Ohio History Connection.

One of the wonders of the ancient world lies just 12 miles west of Chillicothe, Ohio. Seip Earthworks is one of five monumental American Indian earthwork complexes included in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. These National Park sites are being nominated to the World Heritage List as “Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks” alongside three other earthworks managed by the Ohio History Connection.

The extensive caverns of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico lie in the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains in the southeastern corner of the state. This large underground system formed 25,000 years ago and consists of more than 100 limestone caves within the national park.

The largest subtropical wilderness in North America is located in south Florida within Everglades National Park, the only site in the US to have been designated as globally significant by three different international initiatives.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the largest federally protected upland landmass east of the Mississippi River. No other region of equal size in a temperate climate zone can match the park’s amazing diversity of plants and animals. Over 17,000 species are documented in the park and researchers believe an additional 30,000 – 80,000 species live here.