(ONN) – In a first for Ohio, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks have been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

It highlights eight of Ohio’s prehistoric monumental earthworks that were built 2,000 years ago by Hopewell Native Americans in Licking, Ross, and Warren Counties.

Experts say the mounds show the Native American Earthwork builders were “not just geniuses, but uncommon geniuses.”

The announcement puts the sites on an elite list that includes the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids of Giza, and Machu Picchu in Peru to name a few.