COLUMBUS, Ohio — Long before modern surveying equipment, computers, or blueprints existed, ancient Native Americans utilized sophisticated geometry to construct monumental earthen architecture across southern Ohio. Now, that ancient mathematical mastery is taking center stage for a national audience of young learners.
The Ohio History Connection announced that Ohio’s World Heritage-designated Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks will be featured in the upcoming second season of How It’s Math, an educational public television series produced by Doodles & Digits.
Designed for students in third through fifth grade, the series bridges classroom lessons with real-world applications to answer a question teachers hear daily: “When am I ever going to use math?”
In the featured segment, viewers go behind the scenes at the earthworks to explore how Indigenous builders constructed massive, mathematically precise geometric enclosures—including circles, squares, and octagons—between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago. Beyond their structural precision and proportional ratios, several of the monuments were engineered to track complex celestial patterns, aligning seamlessly with the sun’s solstices and the complex 18.6-year lunar cycle.
“Math is everywhere, from daily life to the ancient earthworks,” said Brad Lepper, Senior Archaeologist for the Ohio History Connection’s World Heritage Program. “Learning math helps us better understand everyday life, and, in the case of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, it also helps us learn the history, habits and lives of those who were here before us.”
The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks—comprising eight sites across Chillicothe, Newark, Heath, and Oregonia—were inscribed as Ohio’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site due to their status as global masterpieces of landscape architecture.
Broadcast Information
- Season Premiere: Tuesday, September 1, 2026
- Featured Episode: Episode #204 (“Aquarium, Set Design, Hopewell Mounds, and Pediatrician”) airs Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
- Where to Watch: Viewers can watch the episode on public television or stream it online at pbs.org/show/doodles-and-digits-how-its-math. A preview segment is currently available on YouTube.
