Adena culture

Pre-Columbian Native American culture

Adena culture

Geographic distribution of the Adena (800 BCE–100 AD), Hopewell (200 BCE–500 AD), and Fort Ancient (1000–1750 AD) cultures.[citation needed]

Geographical range| Midwestern United States
Period| Early Woodland period
Dates| c. 800 BCE to c. 1 CE
Type site| Adena Mound
Major sites| Criel Mound, Grave Creek Mound, and Miamisburg Mound
Preceded by| Archaic period
Followed by| Ohio Hopewell

The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE[1] to 100 CE,[2] in a time known as the Early Woodland period.[3] 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.[3]

## Importance[edit]

The Adena culture was named for the large mound on Thomas Worthington's early 19th-century estate located near Chillicothe, Ohio,[4] which he named "Adena".

The culture 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[5] The Adena culture 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.[6][7][8]

## Art and religion[edit]

### Mounds[edit]

Lasting traces of Adena culture are still seen in 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 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 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.[5]

### Prominent mounds[edit]

Main article: List of Adena culture sites

Site | Image | Description

|
|

Adena Mound |  | The Adena Mound, the type site for the culture, is a registered historic structure near Chillicothe, Ohio.
Biggs site |  | Also known as Portsmouth Group D, the site is located in next to the Ohio River in Greenup County, Kentucky. It is a concentric circular embankment and ditch surrounding a central conical burial mound with a causeway crossing the ring and ditch. It is connected to the Portsmouth Earthworks directly across the Ohio River in Portsmouth, Ohio.[9][10]
Criel Mound |  | A 35-foot (11 m) high and 175-foot (53 m)-diameter conical mound, it is the second largest of its type in West Virginia. It is located in South Charleston, West Virginia. P. W. Norris of the Smithsonian Institution oversaw the excavation. His team discovered numerous skeletons along with weapons and jewelry.[11]
Enon Mound |  | Ohio's second largest conical burial mound, it is believed to have been built by the Adena.
Grave Creek Mound |  | At 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter, it is one of the largest conical-type burial mounds in the United States. It is located in Moundsville, West Virginia. In 1838, much of the archaeological evidence in this mound was destroyed when several non-archaeologists tunneled into the mound.[11][12]
Miamisburg Mound |  | Once serving as an ancient burial site, the Miamisburg Mound is the most recognizable landmark in Miamisburg. It is the largest conical burial mound in Ohio, and remains virtually intact. Located in a city park at 900 Mound Avenue, it is an Ohio historical site and serves as a popular attraction and picnic destination for area families. Visitors can climb to the top of the mound via stone-masonry steps.
Wolf Plains Group  |  | A Late Adena group of 30 earthworks including 22 conical mounds and nine circular enclosures.[13] It is located a few miles to the northwest of Athens, Ohio.

### Stone tablets[edit]

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.[14] It is possible that they were used to outline designs for tattooing.[15]

### Timber circles[edit]

Main article: Timber circles

Artists conception of Mt Horeb Site 1

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.[16] 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 a circle of "paired-posts" inside of the embankment ring and ditch.[17][18] The 48.5 feet (14.8 m) circle was made up of sixty two "paired" post sets and eight single posts.[19]

### Pottery[edit]

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 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.[20]

## Domestic life[edit]

### Settlement patterns[edit]

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 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.[21]

### Food sources[edit]

Their sustenance was acquired through foraging and the cultivation of native plants.

* Hunted deer, elk, black bear, woodchuck, beaver, porcupine, turkey, trumpeter swan, and ruffed grouse.
* Gathered several edible seed, grasses, and nuts.[22]
* Cultivated pumpkin, squash, sunflower, goosefoot, and erect knotweed.[23][verification needed][24]

### Tools[edit]

Adena culture stone gorgets and points

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 the marine conch. A few copper axes have been found, but otherwise the metal was hammered into ornamental forms, such as bracelets, rings, beads, and reel-shaped pendants.[20]

## See also[edit]

* Hopewell tradition
* Old Copper complex

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Adena culture | North American Indian culture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
2. ^ "American Indians - Ohio History Central". ohiohistorycentral.org. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
3. ^ a b "Adena Culture". Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection.
4. ^ "Identifying Flint Artifacts/Early Woodland People". Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
5. ^ a b "Native Peoples of North America–Adena". Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
6. ^ "Civilizations Of The Americas, The Peoples To The North". Archived from the original on 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2008-09-11.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
7. ^ "Early Woodland: Northeastern Middlesex Tradition". Retrieved 2008-09-11.
8. ^ "Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex". Retrieved 2008-09-11.
9. ^ "Portsmouth Earthworks-Ohio Central History". Retrieved 2008-09-11.
10. ^ Lewis, R. Barry (1996). Kentucky Archaeology. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-1907-6.
11. ^ a b "Mounds and Mound Builders". Archived from the original on 2008-06-23. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
12. ^ Hemmings, E. Thomas (1984). "Investigations at Grave Creek Mound 1975-1967: A Sequence for Mound and Moat Construction". West Virginia Archeologist. 362: 3–49.
13. ^ "The Archaeological Conservancy-2008 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
14. ^ Power, Susan (2004). Early Art of the Southeastern Indians-Feathered Serpents and Winged Beings. University of Georgia Press. pp. 29–34. ISBN 978-0-8203-2501-9.
15. ^ "Virtual First Ohioans". Archived from the original on 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
16. ^ Purtill, Matthew P.; Norr, Jeremy A.; Frodge, Jonathan B. (2014). "Open-Air "Adena" Paired-Post Ritual Features in the Middle Ohio Valley". Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. 9 (1): 59–82. doi:10.1179/2327427113Y.0000000010. JSTOR 26599891. S2CID 129300799.
17. ^ Clay, R. Berle (1998). "The Essential Features of Adena Ritual and Their Implications". Southeastern Archaeology. 17 (1): 1998. JSTOR 41890386.
18. ^ Carbone, Cristina. "Society of Architectural Historians : Mount Horeb Earthwork". SAH Archipedia. University of Virginia Press.
19. ^ Sizemore, Judy (2008). "Mt Horeb : Adena People Teacher Companion Guide" (PDF). Kentucky Heritage Council. p. 16.
20. ^ a b "Adena Site". Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
21. ^ "The Adena Mounds". Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
22. ^ "NA Archaeology : Adena". Archived from the original on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
23. ^ Whitaker, Alex. "The Mound Builders". www.ancient-wisdom.com. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
24. ^ Mueller, Natalie G. (2018-03-01). "The earliest occurrence of a newly described domesticate in Eastern North America: Adena/Hopewell communities and agricultural innovation". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 49: 39–50. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2017.12.001. ISSN 0278-4165.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adena culture.

* Ohio Memory
* Ohio Historical Society's Archaeology Page
* Virtual First Ohioans's webpage on the Adena
* Introduction to North America's Native People: Adena people
* Ancient Earthworks of Eastern North America Photo Galleries

* v
* t
* e

Adena Culture

* List of Adena culture sites
* Woodland period
* Mound Builders
* List of archaeological periods (North America)

Ohio sites|

* Adena
* Austin Brown
* Arledge
* Beam Farm
* Clemmons
* Conrad
* Coon Hunters
* George Deffenbaugh
* Enon
* Fortner
* Great Mound
* Hartley
* Highbanks Metro Park
* Hillside Haven
* Hodgen's Cemetery
* Horn
* Hurley
* Jackson
* Karshner
* Kinzer
* Luthor List
* McDaniel
* Miamisburg
* Mound Cemetery
* Odd Fellows' Cemetery
* Old Maid's Orchard
* Orators
* Carl Potter
* Raleigh
* Reeves
* D.S. Rose
* Ross Trails Circle
* Short Woods Park
* Shrum
* Snead
* Spruce Run
* David Stitt
* Story (Cincinnati)
* Story (Chillicothe)
* Williamson
* Wolf Plains
* Wright-Patterson
* Zaleski

Kentucky sites|

* Biggs
* Gaitskill
* Jim King Mound
* Mound Hill
* Mount Horeb
* Ramey
* Round Hill

West Virginia sites|

* Camden Park Mound
* Cotiga Mound
* Cresap Mound
* Criel
* Goff Mound
* Grave Creek
* Lynden Reynolds Farm Mound
* Neibert Mound
* St. Albans Site
* St Mary's Mound
* Turkey Creek Mound

Indiana sites|

* Mounds State Park

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Native Americans in Ohio

Prehistory of Ohio – History of Ohio – Northwest Territory – Ohio Country – Native Americans in the United States – History of Native Americans in the United States

Historic tribes|

* Chalahgawtha (Shawnee)
* Delaware (Lenape)
* Erie people (Iroquois)
* Honniasont
* Huron (Wyandot)
* Miami
* Mingo (Iroquoian speaking)
* Mosopelea (Siouan speaking)
* Ojibwe (Anishinaabe)
* Odawa (Anishinaabe)
* Pekowi (Shawnee)
* Piankeshaw (Miami)
* Shawnee
* Wyandot
* See also Western Confederacy

Languages|

* Algonquian languages

Former reservations|

* Blanchard's Fork Reserve
* Moravian Indian Grants
* Nawash-Kinjoano Reservation
* Two Mile Square Reservation
* Upper Sandusky Reservation
* See also Indian removals in Ohio

Historic figures|

* Blue Jacket (Shawnee)
* Cornstalk (Shawnee)
* Egushawa (Odawa)
* Joseph Brant (Mohawk)
* Buckongahelas (Delaware)
* Egushawa (Ottawa)
* Little Turtle (Miami)
* Roundhead (Wyandot)
* Tecumseh (Shawnee)
* Tenskwatawa (Shawnee)

Historic communities|

* Hell Town, Ohio
* Lenape settlements
* Lower Shawneetown
* Muskingum (village)
* Pickawillany

Prehistoric cultures|

* Adena (Early Woodland)
* Fort Ancient (Late Prehistoric)
* Glacial Kame culture (Archaic)
* Hopewell (Middle Woodland)
* Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands
* Monongahela culture (Late Woodland)
* Whittlesey culture (Late Prehistoric)

Prehistoric communities or sites|

* Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
* Archaeological sites in Ohio
* Mounds in Ohio
* Petroglyphs in Ohio‎
* Tower Site
* See also Ohio River – Wilderness Road

Culture|

* Birdstone (sculpture)
* Mounds in Ohio
* Petroglyphs in Ohio‎
* Thunderbird (mythology)
* Underwater panther

Museums|

* Flint Ridge State Memorial
* Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio)
* Fort Hill State Memorial
* Fort Recovery
* Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
* Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum
* New Indian Ridge Museum
* Shawnee Woodland Native American Museum
* SunWatch Indian Village
* Zane Shawnee Caverns

Other topics|

* Native American place names in Ohio
* Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794)
* Beaver Wars
* Indian removals in Ohio
* Lord Dunmore's War (1774)
* Nanfan Treaty (1701, 1726)
* Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)
* Pontiac's War (1763)
* Raid on Pickawillany (1752)
* St. Clair's defeat (1791)
* Siege of Fort Recovery (1794)
* Treaty of Camp Charlotte
* Treaty of Greenville (1795)
* Treaty of Grouseland (1805)
* Yellow Creek massacre (1774)

* v
* t
* e

Pre-Columbian North America

Periods
Lithic
Archaic
Formative
Classic
Post-Classic

Archaeological
cultures|

* Adena
* Alachua
* Ancient Beringian
* Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi)
* Baytown
* Belle Glade
* Buttermilk Creek complex
* Caborn-Welborn
* Calf Creek
* Caloosahatchee
* Clovis
* Coles Creek
* Comondú
* Deptford
* Folsom
* Fort Ancient
* Fort Walton
* Fremont
* Glacial Kame
* Glades
* Hohokam
* Hopewell
* List of Hopewell sites
* La Jolla
* Las Palmas
* Leon-Jefferson
* Maritime Archaic
* Mississippian
* List of Mississippian sites
* Mogollon
* Monongahela
* Old Cordilleran
* Oneota
* Paleo-Arctic
* Paleo-Indians
* Patayan
* Plano
* Plaquemine
* Poverty Point
* Red Ocher
* Safety Harbor culture
* Santa Rosa-Swift Creek
* St. Johns
* Steed-Kisker
* Tchefuncte
* Troyville
* Weeden Island

Archaeological
sites|

* Angel Mounds
* Anzick site
* Bandelier National Monument
* Bastian
* Benson
* Blue Spring Shelter
* The Bluff Point Stoneworks
* Brewster
* Cahokia
* Candelaria Cave
* Casa Grande
* Chaco Canyon
* Coso Rock Art District
* Crystal River Archaeological State Park
* Cuarenta Casas
* Cueva de la Olla
* Eaker
* El Fin del Mundo
* El Vallecito
* Effigy Mounds National Monument
* Etowah Indian Mounds
* Eva
* Folsom site
* Fort Ancient
* Fort Center
* Fort Juelson
* Four Mounds
* Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
* Glenwood
* Grimes Point
* Holly Bluff site
* Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
* Horr's Island
* Huápoca
* Key Marco
* Kimball Village
* Kincaid Mounds
* Kolomoki Mounds
* Lake Jackson Mounds
* L'Anse aux Meadows
* Lynch Quarry Site
* Marksville
* Marmes Rockshelter
* Meadowcroft Rockshelter
* Mesa Verde
* Moaning Cavern
* Moorehead Circle
* Morrison Mounds
* Moundville
* Mummy Cave
* Nodena site
* Ocmulgee National Monument
* Old Stone Fort
* Orwell site
* Paquime
* Parkin Park
* Pinson Mounds
* Plum Bayou Mounds
* Portsmouth Earthworks
* Poverty Point
* Pueblo Bonito
* Recapture Canyon
* Roberts Island complex
* Rock Eagle
* Rock Hawk
* Rosenstock Village Site
* Russell Cave National Monument
* Salmon Ruins
* Serpent Mound
* Sierra de San Francisco
* Spiro Mounds
* SunWatch
* Taos Pueblo
* Town Creek Indian Mound
* Turkey River Mounds
* Upward Sun River site
* Velda Mound
* West Oak Forest Earthlodge
* Wickiup Hill
* Windover
* Winterville
* Wupatki National Monument

Human
remains|

* Anzick-1
* Arlington Springs Man
* Buhl Woman
* Kennewick Man
* La Brea Woman
* Leanderthal Lady
* Melbourne Man
* Minnesota Woman
* Peñon woman
* Spirit Cave mummy
* Vero man

Miscellaneous|

* Aridoamerica
* Black drink
* Ceremonial pipe
* Chanunpa
* Chunkey
* Clovis point
* Container Revolution
* Eastern Agricultural Complex
* Eden point
* Effigy mound
* Falcon dancer
* Folsom point
* Green Corn Ceremony
* Horned Serpent
* Kiva
* Medicine wheel
* Metallurgy
* Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing
* Mound Builders
* N.A.G.P.R.A.
* Norse colonization of North America
* Oasisamerica
* Piasa
* Projectile point
* Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
* Stickball
* Three Sisters agriculture
* Thunderbird
* Transoceanic contact
* Underwater panther
* Water glyphs

Related
Genetic history
Pre-Columbian era
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