The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period . The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system. The Adena culture was centered on the location of the modern state of Ohio , but also extended into contiguous areas of northern Kentucky , eastern Indiana , West Virginia , and parts of extreme western Pennsylvania .
41-532: The Goodall focus was a Hopewellian culture from the Middle Woodland period peoples that occupied Western Michigan and northern Indiana from around 200 BCE to 500 CE. Extensive trade networks existed at this time, particularly among the many local cultural expressions of the Hopewell communities. The Goodall pattern stretched from the southern tip of Lake Michigan , east across northern Indiana, to
82-681: A circle form from 15 to 45 feet in diameter. The walls were made of paired posts tilted outward, that were then joined to other pieces of wood to form a cone shaped roof. The roof was then covered with bark and the walls may have been bark and/or wickerwork. Their sustenance was acquired through foraging and the cultivation of native plants. The Adena ground stone tools and axes. Somewhat rougher slab-like stones with chipped edges were probably used as hoes. Bone and antler were used in small tools, but even more prominently in ornamental objects such as beads, combs, and worked animal-jaw gorgets or paraphernalia. Spoons, beads and other implements were made from
123-406: A circle of "paired-posts" inside of the embankment ring and ditch. The 48.5 feet (14.8 m) circle was made up of sixty two "paired" post sets and eight single posts. Unlike in other cultures, Adena pottery was not buried with the dead or the remains of the cremated, as were other artifacts. Usually Adena pottery was tempered with grit or crushed limestone and was very thick; its decoration
164-557: A kame are necessarily from the same time period, those which reflect similar methods and are associated with similar materials are related to some degree. Ceramics tend to come from middens and contain expanding and contracting stemmed projectile points and obsidian flakes. Research has been on-going through the 1990s at sites in northwest Indiana, the Galien River Basin, the Kalamazoo River Basin and
205-730: A new mortuary structure would be placed atop the new earthwork. After a series of repetitions, mortuary/earthwork/mortuary/earthwork, a quite prominent earthwork would remain. In the later Adena period, circular ridges of unknown function were sometimes constructed around the burial earthworks. The Adena also carved small stone tablets, usually 4 or 5 inches by 3 or 4 inches by .5 inches thick. On one or both flat sides were gracefully composed stylized zoomorphs or curvilinear geometric designs in deep relief. Paint has been found on some Adena tablets, leading archaeologists to propose that these stone tablets were probably used to stamp designs on cloth or animal hides, or onto their own bodies. It
246-571: A round body, and lines of decoration with cross-etching on rim. The Havana style found in Illinois had a decorated neck. One of the major tools unique to this era was Snyders Points. These were quite large and corner-notched. They were made by soft-hammering percussion, and finished by pressure flaking. Although many of the Middle Woodland cultures are called "Hopewellian", and groups shared ceremonial practices, archeologists have identified
287-526: A variety of mortuary gifts, many of which were not local. Among the traded materials were copper from the Lake Superior deposits; silver from Lake Superior and especially Ontario; galena from Missouri and Illinois; mica from the southern Appalachians; chert from various places including Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; pipestone from Ohio and Illinois; alligator teeth from the lower Mississippi Valley eastward to Florida; marine shells, especially whelks, from
328-435: A variety of other small and large mammals were hunted also, including beaver , raccoon , and bear . Shellfish formed an important part of the diet, attested to by numerous shell middens along the coast and interior rivers. Coastal peoples practiced seasonal mobility, moving to the coast during the summer to take advantage of numerous marine resources such as sea mammals and shellfish, then moved to interior locations during
369-757: Is believed to have been core to the Meadowood Interaction Sphere, in which cultures in the Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence region, the Far Northeast, and the Atlantic region interacted. The large area of interaction is indicated by the presence of Adena-style mounds, the presence of exotic goods from other parts of the interaction spheres, and the participation in the "Early Woodland Burial Complex" defined by William Ritchie Pottery
410-459: Is especially true for the middle woodland period and perhaps beyond. C. Margaret Scarry states "in the Woodland periods, people diversified their use of plant foods ... [they] increased their consumption of starchy foods. They did so, however, by cultivating starchy seeds rather than by gathering more acorns." Smith and Yarnell refer to an "indigenous crop complex" as early as 3800 B.P. in parts of
451-641: Is possible that they were used to outline designs for tattooing . Postholes from a number of timber circles have been found during excavations of Adena culture causewayed ring ditch sites in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and adjacent regions of Ohio and West Virginia . A notable example was found by archaeologist William S. Webb during the excavations of the Mount Horeb Site 1 in Fayette County, Kentucky in 1939. Webb discovered
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#1732772314115492-504: Is seen as the precursor to the traditions of the Hopewell tradition , which are sometimes thought as an elaboration, or zenith, of Adena traditions. The Adena were notable for their agricultural practices, pottery, artistic works, and extensive trading network, which supplied them with a variety of raw materials, ranging from copper from the Great Lakes to shells from the Gulf Coast. Lasting traces of Adena culture are still seen in
533-627: Is the most prominently known of a number of similar cultures in eastern North America that began mound building ceremonialism at the end of the Archaic period . The geographic range of the Adena sites is centered on central and southern Ohio, with further sites in contiguous areas of the surrounding states of Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The importance of the Adena complex comes from its considerable influence on other contemporary cultures and cultures that came after it The Adena culture
574-627: The Grand River basin. This article relating to the Indigenous peoples of North America is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Woodland period In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America , the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeologists distinguishing
615-597: The Gulf of Mexico . This period is variously considered a developmental stage, a time period, a suite of technological adaptations or "traits", and a "family tree" of cultures related to earlier Archaic cultures. It can be characterized as a chronological and cultural manifestation without any massive changes in a short time but instead having a continuous development in stone and bone tools , leather crafting , textile manufacture , cultivation , and shelter construction. Many Woodland peoples used spears and atlatls until
656-731: The Orange culture and in Georgia with the Stallings culture . Nevertheless, these early sites were typical Archaic settlements, differing only in the use of basic ceramic technology. As such, researchers are now redefining the period to begin with not only pottery, but the appearance of permanent settlements, elaborate burial practices, intensive collection and/or horticulture of starchy seed plants (see Eastern Agricultural Complex ), differentiation in social organization, and specialized activities, among other factors. Most of these are evident in
697-782: The Southeastern Woodlands by 1000 BCE. In some areas, like South Carolina and coastal Georgia, Deptford culture pottery manufacture ceased after c. 700 CE . In coastal regions, many settlements were near the coast, often near salt marshes, which were habitats rich in food resources. People tended to settle along rivers and lakes in both coastal and interior regions for maximum access to food resources. Nuts were processed in large amounts, including hickory and acorns , and many wild berries, including palm berries, blueberries , raspberries , and strawberries , were eaten, as well as wild grapes and persimmon . Most groups relied heavily on white-tailed deer , but
738-602: The 1000 CE ending of the Late Woodland period is traditional, in practice many regions of the Eastern Woodlands adopted the full Mississippian culture much later than that. Some groups in the north and northeast of the current United States , such as the Iroquois , retained a way of life that was technologically identical to the Late Woodland until the arrival of Europeans. Despite the widespread adoption of
779-957: The Archaic period in limited amounts, was now widespread across the Eastern Interior, the Southeast, and the Northeast. The Far Northeast, the Sub-Arctic, and the Northwest/Plains regions widely adopted pottery somewhat later, about 200 BCE. The Adena culture built conical mounds in which single- or multiple-event burials, often cremated, were interred along with rich grave goods including copper bracelets, beads, and gorgets , art objects made from mica, novaculite, hematite, banded slate, and other kinds of stone, shell beads and cups, and leaf-shaped "cache blades". This culture
820-512: The Late and Terminal Archaic periods, including extensive mound-building, regional distinctive burial complexes, the trade of exotic goods across a large area of North America as part of interaction spheres, the reliance on both wild and domesticated plant foods, and a mobile subsistence strategy in which small groups took advantage of seasonally available resources such as nuts, fish, shellfish, and wild plants. Pottery, which had been manufactured during
861-616: The Mississippian period, from 1000 CE to European contact as a separate period. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic term for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the agriculturalist Mississippian cultures . The Eastern Woodlands cultural region covers what is now eastern Canada south of the Subarctic region, the Eastern United States , along to
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#1732772314115902-529: The Ohio border, then northward, covering central Michigan, almost reaching to Saginaw Bay on the east and Grand Traverse Bay to the north. The culture is named for the Goodall site in northwest Indiana. Glacial Kame is a widespread of the northern late archaic cultural manifestations. Cemeteries were customarily made in sand and gravel ridges formed by glacial outwash called " kames ". Not all human burials in
943-649: The bow and arrow during this time, the peoples of a few areas appear never to have made the change. During Hernando de Soto 's travels through the Southeastern Woodlands around 1543, for instance, his expedition noted the groups living at the mouth of the Mississippi river who still preferentially used the spear. Adena culture The Adena culture was named for the large mound on Thomas Worthington's early 19th-century estate located near Chillicothe, Ohio , which he named "Adena". The culture
984-632: The communities and some clans resorted to raiding others for resources. Alternatively, the efficiency of bows and arrows in hunting may have decimated the large game animals, forcing the tribes to break apart into smaller clans to better use local resources, thus limiting the trade potential of each group. A third possibility is a colder climate may have affected food yields, possibly affected by Northern Hemisphere extreme weather events of 535–536 , also limiting trade possibilities. Lastly, it may be that agricultural technology became sophisticated enough that crop variation between clans lessened, thereby decreasing
1025-556: The cultivation of domesticated crops. In fact, it appears that hunting and gathering continued as the basic subsistence economy and that subsistence horticulture/agriculture did not occur in much of the Southeast for a couple of thousand years after the introduction of pottery, and in parts of the Northeast, horticulture was never practiced. This research indicated that a fiber-tempered horizon of ceramics greatly predates 1000 BCE, first appearing about 2500 BCE in parts of Florida with
1066-805: The development of distinctly separate cultures during the Middle Woodland period. Examples include the Armstrong culture , Copena culture , Crab Orchard culture , Fourche Maline culture , the Goodall Focus , the Havana Hopewell culture , the Kansas City Hopewell , the Marksville culture , and the Swift Creek culture . The Center for American Archeology specializes in Middle Woodland culture. The late Woodland period
1107-569: The development of the Eastern Agricultural Complex , consisting of weedy seed plants as well as gourd cultivation, also meant that groups became less mobile over time and, in some times and places, people lived in permanently occupied villages and cities. Intensive agriculture characterizes the Mississippian period from c. 1000 –1400 CE and may have continued up to European contact, around 500 years ago. The Early Woodland period continued many trends begun during
1148-421: The earth of the earthwork was piled immediately atop a burned mortuary building. These mortuary buildings were intended to keep and maintain the dead until their final burial was performed. Before the construction of the earthworks, some utilitarian and grave goods would be placed on the floor of the structure, which was burned with the goods and honored dead within. The earthwork would then be constructed, and often
1189-430: The end of the period, when they were replaced by bows and arrows ; however, Southeastern Woodland peoples also used blowguns . The most cited technological distinction of this period was the widespread use of pottery (although pottery manufacture had arisen during the Archaic period in some places), and the diversification of pottery forms, decorations, and manufacturing practices. The increasing use of horticulture and
1230-429: The entire region (referred to as the "Hopewellian Interaction Sphere"). Such similarities could also be the result of reciprocal trade, obligations, or both between local clans that controlled specific territories. Access to food or resources outside a clan's territory would be made possible through formal agreements with neighbors. Clan heads would be buried along with goods received from their trading partners to symbolize
1271-412: The following Mississippian period, the beginning of serious cultivation greatly supplemented the traditional gathering of plants. Late Woodland settlements became more numerous, but the size of each one (with exceptions) was smaller than their Middle Woodland counterparts. The reasons for this are unknown, but it has been theorized that populations increased so much that trade alone could no longer support
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1312-570: The need for trade. As communities became more isolated, they began to develop in their own unique ways, giving rise to small-scale cultures that were distinctive to their regional areas. Examples include the Baytown , Troyville and Coles Creek cultures of Louisiana ; the Alachua and Weeden Island cultures of Florida ; and the Plum Bayou culture of Arkansas and Missouri . Although
1353-581: The region. The beginning of the Middle Woodland saw a shift of settlement to the Interior. As the Woodland period progressed, local and inter-regional trade of exotic materials greatly increased to the point where a trade network covered most of the Eastern Woodlands . Throughout the Southeast and north of the Ohio River , burial mounds of important people were very elaborate and contained
1394-611: The relationships they had established. Under this scenario, permanent settlements would be likely to develop, leading to increased agricultural production and a population increase. Ceramics during this time were thinner and better quality than earlier times. Examples show pottery also was more decorated than Early Woodland. One style was the Trempealeau phase, which could have been seen by the Hopewell in Indiana. This type included
1435-647: The remains of their substantial earthworks . At one point, larger Adena mounds numbered in the hundreds, but only a small number of the remains of the larger Adena earthen monuments still survive today. These mounds generally ranged in size from 20 feet (6.1 m) to 300 feet (91 m) in diameter and served as burial structures, ceremonial sites, historical markers, and possibly gathering places. These earthen monuments were built using hundreds of thousands of baskets full of specially selected and graded earth. According to archaeological investigations, Adena earthworks were often built as part of their burial rituals, in which
1476-547: The south Atlantic and Gulf coasts; Knife River chalcedony from North Dakota; and obsidian from Yellowstone in Wyoming. The most archaeologically certifiable sites of burial during this time were in Illinois and Ohio . These have come to be known as the Hopewell tradition . Due to the similarity of earthworks and burial goods, researchers assume a common body of religious practice and cultural interaction existed throughout
1517-416: The use of fast rotation such as a pottery wheel. Some were slipped or brushed with red ochre. Pottery, agriculture, and permanent settlements have often been thought of the three defining characteristics of the Woodland period. However, it has become evident that, in some areas of North America, prehistoric cultural groups with a clearly Archaic cultural assemblage were making pottery without any evidence of
1558-434: The winter where access to deer, bear, and anadromous fish such as salmon could see them through the winter. Seasonal foraging also characterized the strategies of many interior populations, with groups moving strategically among dense resource areas. Recently evidence has accumulated a greater reliance on woodland peoples on cultivation in this period, at least in some localities, than has historically been recognized. This
1599-464: Was a time of apparent population dispersal, although populations do not appear to have decreased. In most areas construction of burial mounds decreased markedly, as did long-distance trade in exotic materials. At the same time, bow and arrow technology gradually overtook the use of the spear and atlatl . Agricultural production of the " Three Sisters " ( maize , beans , and squash ) was introduced. While full-scale intensive agriculture did not begin until
1640-403: Was largely plain, cord-marked or fabric marked, although one type bore a nested-diamond design incised into its surface. The vessel shapes were sub-conoidal or flat-bottomed jars, sometimes with small foot-like supports. The large and elaborate mound sites served a nearby scattering of people. The population was dispersed in small settlements of one to two structures. A typical house was built in
1681-702: Was widely manufactured and sometimes traded, particularly in the Eastern Interior region. Clay for pottery was typically tempered (mixed with non-clay additives) with grit (crushed rock) or limestone. Pots were usually made in a conoidal or conical jar with rounded shoulders, slightly constricted necks, and flaring rims. Pottery was most often decorated with a variety of linear or paddle stamps that created "dentate" (tooth-like) impressions, wavy line impressions, checked surfaces, or fabric-impressed surfaces, but some pots were incised with herringbone and other geometric patterns or, more rarely, with pictorial imagery such as faces. Pots were coiled and paddled entirely by hand without