Archaeology Eastern Woodlands Final

Adena Cultural Area (location)

Near the Ohio River Valley (Chillicothe, Ohio)

Adena Cultural Area MAIN takeaway

Burial mound building, the first evidence of extensive large trade network (copper working, obsidian, and beads)

Adena Cultural Area (significance/what was found at the site mounds)

-100s of large conical mounds in the Ohio river valley, some 60 feet tall

-Burial Mounds: single or lineage mounds, elaborate burial rituals and inequality, gathering places and ceremonial sites, signs of inequality for burial goods

-often part of larger complexes of raised earthworks

-wooden houses were sometimes inside the burial mounds, burnt to signify the person who lived there had died

Adena Cultural Area (significance/what was found at the site g&tgoods)

Grave and trade goods: - grave goods involved trade goods like copper objects, mica objects, stone tablets, obsidian tools, carved pipes

Exotic items (copper, mica, obsidian) were evidence of a large trade network across the Great Lakes and the Northeast

concentration of motifs and artifacts, some evidence of influence beyond

Bird Motif

Very distinctive traditional artwork often on pipes

The Adena Culture

• Large burial complexes with similar cultural traits: shared burial mound ceremonies

• Semi-sedentary

• chiefs and ceremonial leaders that played a crucial role in abundance management. The evidence given is based on burial practices with copper, beads, and other valuable items compared to other burial items in the area

• lived in extended family groups 15-25

• large raised-earth circles believed to have ritualistic significance

Augustine Mound (location)

New Brunswick, Canada

Augustine Mound (period)

Early Woodlands period 3,000-2,200 BP

Early Woodland Period

• increased use of materials like pottery and soapstone container

• foraging

• adapted pottery style: mixed minerals in the clay for increased strength

Augustine Burial Mound (similar)

• Burial mound, 13 individuals

• Rich burial goods

  • Copper beads, stone pipes, textiles, basketry

• Similar to Adena style burials

  • Similar in style of mound, how people were being buried, and what they were being buried with

Augustine Burial Mound (different)

• Different bc mounds in this geography were usually natural, this one was man-made

• Site holds materials from Ohio River Valley and Lake Superior which indicates far-reaching trade networks

• 38 feet in diameter

Draper Site Description

• major Iroquoian village

• 35 longhouses housing 2,000 residents over 4 hectares of land

• built within multiple rows of palisade fortifications (safety+security)

• occupation occurred at the same time as the depopulation of surrounding areas

• indication of people from the region drawn to Draper in search of security from raids and warfare

Draper Site (period)

Late Woodland Period, 600-400 BP

Hopewell Cultural Center (period)

Middle Woodland Period 2,200-1,600 BP

Hopewell Cultural Center Description

Represented a hunter-gatherer civilization that evolved from the earlier Adena Culture. Characterized by significant population growth and an expansive trade network.

Hopewell Cultural Center (location)

Southern Ohio, culture spread from Ohio throughout the Mississippi River Valley

Hopewell Cultural Center Key Features

Earthworks and Mounds: Construction of complex geometric embankments and large rounded burial mounds with ceremonial and astronomical purposes.

Artistry and Trade: Widespread adoption of high-quality pottery and the exchange of exotic goods, including mica, copper, silver, and obsidian blades.

Social Structure: Use of mortuary sites where varying burial types and grave goods indicate a established social hierarchy

Newark Earthworks (location)

In Newark (Heath, Ohio) - east of Columbus, Ohio

Newark Earthworks (period)

Middle Woodland into Late Woodland 2,100-1,500 BP

Newark Earthworks Description

3,000 acres, geometrically raised earthworks, circles and squares, lined up with astronomical events, could have been used as a calendar or lunar observatory. Largest set of connected prehistoric geometric earthworks.

Newark Earthworks Minerals

Mica - the Carolinas

Obsidian - the Rocky Mountains

Copper - Great Lakes

Old Copper Culture (period)

Early Woodland Period 7,000-6,000 BP

Old Copper Culture (location)

Great Lakes area

Old Copper Culture Description

• Large-scale copper mining

  • cold-hammered copper artifacts

  • integrated into trade networks

• Evidence of copper in

  • Adena grave goods

  • Hopewell grave goods

• Works

  • Masks, ear spools, plates

Poverty Point (period)

Late Archaic Period, 4,200-2,700 BP

• Peaked ~3,600-3,000 BP

• Mostly abandoned by 1100 BC (3,000 BP)

Poverty Point (location)

Lower eastern valley of current northeastern Louisiana, 15.5 miles from the Mississippi River

Poverty Point Description

• Largest village site of the period - 4,000-5,000 people

• Most elaborate mound complex of the late archaic

• Large open plaza

  • Evidence of huge wooden posts in the western plaza

Poverty Point Mounds

• 6 semi-circular rings of mounded earth

• 6 mounds outside of the semi-circle

• Mound A - largest mound at site, second largest in eastern North America, 72 ft tall

• After a recent group added another mound in 700 AD (1,200 BP) the site was occupied on and off until the arrival of Europeans

  • mostly abandoned due to social and environmental changes

Poverty Point Functions

• Settlement

• Trading center

• Ceremonial/Religious Complex

Poverty Point Subsistence & Technology

• No domestication and minimal pottery

• Hunter-gatherer society rather than agriculture

  • stone spear points

• Diet consisted of large mammals (deer), small mammals (possum), various fish and turtles, mollusks, nuts, fruits, berries, and aquatic roots

Poverty Point Culture

Cultural and religious center with influence over a considerable area

- Surrounding ‘satellite sites’ with similar material culture

- Major trade center

- Stone + stone objects, seashells, copper, quartz

- Artifacts discovered at Poverty Point that originate hundred or miles away

- Constructed by successive generations over a considerable period of time, as early as

3,800 BP to as late at 3,200 BP

Red Ochre Burials Definition

A burial tradition in the great lakes and midwest region that covered bodies in red ochre, a red iron pigment. They used this because it had symbolic meaning like life, blood, and rebirth. The graves also included many grave goods like copper and stone tools, beads, and ornaments.

Red Ochre Burials Location

Tradition in the Great Lakes and midwest region of the US (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana)

Red Ochre Burials Importance

Recognized as evidence towards increasing sedentism as more cultures adopted the burial practice (and cemeteries getting bigger) and it was seen across the Great Lakes/midwest region.

Red Ochre Burials (period)

Late Archaic Period 5,000-3,800 BP

Red Ochre Burials Details

• Mixed with exotic grave goods

• Showed a regionally shared belief system and interregional trade

• Also showed increasing social stratification/hierarchy: rich grave goods and child burials, difference in burial practices between men and women

• See tradition again with Meadowood culture: 2,700-2,200 BP which combines mound tradition - shared belief system and rituals across Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Valley

Riverton Site (location)

South East Illinois - North, by Northeast of St. Louis

Riverton Site Features

Riverton Site Importance

First evidence of the complete EAC (squash, goosefoot, sunflower, marshelder). We know this because of the charred seeds found there. The thinner shells and larger seed size indicate domestication of the crops in the EAC. The domestication is a response to a population boom.

Riverton Site (period)

Late Archaic Period 3,800 BP

Watson Brake (period)

Middle Archaic 5,400 BP

Watson Brake Description

11 earthwork mounds from 3-25 ft tall arranged in a circle next to the village. The mounds took over 500 years to complete, with significant labor and planning. The village was a hunter/forager basecamp and the mounds had ceremonial uses. Very early example of mound building and marks shift towards sedentism.

Watson Brake Subsistence

Evidence of goosefoot and marshelder being gathered as well as shellfish.

Mound Types

• Domed

• Platformed

• Flat-topped

Effigy Mounds

Designed to look like an animal from an aerial view, spiritual purposes

Mound Uses

• Ceremonial/ritual purposes

• Burials of relatives

• Astronomical purposes (stargazing?)

• Residential (Houses elevated at center of villages)

Mound Cultural Significance

Larger mounds associated with social hierarchy. The size of the mound defines the status of the settlement as it is within.

Early and Middle Archaic Pottery

No pottery yet, some groups used soapstone vessels.

Late Archaic Pottery

First pottery appears around 4,500 BP at Stallings Island along the Savannah River, making it the earliest ceramic production in North America. It spread across the Southeast, reaching Florida by 4,000 BP and the Northeast by 3,000 BP.

Early Woodland Pottery

Pottery was widespread throughout the region by 3,000 BP, made from local clay and used for cooking and storage.

Middle Woodland (Hopewell) Pottery

Higher quality than earlier periods. Two types: utilitarian with crosshatch designs and ceremonial designs and ceremonial pottery with figural bird motifs, the latter used as grave goods.

Mississippian Pottery

Potters began tempering clay with ground mussel shells, producing thinner and stronger vessels. Known for intricate swirl designs and widely traded.

NE/Iroquoian Pottery

Decorated with linear lines, dots, and diagonal patterns. Featured raised effigies of human faces or maize ears. Ceramic pipes are also common.

Pottery Importance

Pottery enabled cooking liquids over fire, secure food storage, and seed processing. It is directly linked to sedentism and facilitated the Eastern Agricultural Complex cultivation, often called the container revolution.

Early Archaic Lithics

Diverse hunting and foraging toolkit, reflecting mobile lifestyles.

Middle Archaic Lithics

Toolkit becomes more specialized. Includes ground stone axes, woodworking tools, grinding stones, flaked lithic tools, net weights, and fish hooks, reflecting increased sedentism

Early Woodland (Adena) Lithics

Obsidian tools and stone tablets appear as exotic grave goods, indicating long distance trade.

Middle Woodland (Hopewell) Lithics

Obsidian blades and stone pipes among the richest grave goods.

Late Woodland (NE) Lithics

Bow and arrow technology spreads into the Northeast from the west, facilitating both hunting and warfare.

Lithics Importance

Changes in the toolkit reflect broader shifts toward sedentism and specialization over time. Exotic lithics in burials are direct evidence of trade networks and social hierarchy.

Late Archaic Exotic Materials and Grave Goods

Red ochre and exotic goods concentrated in the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes. Poverty Point served as a major trade center for stone objects, sea shells, copper, and quartz.

Early Woodland (Adena) Exotic Materials and Grave Goods

Stone tablets, mica, obsidian, and carved stone pipes appear in burial contexts.

Middle Woodland (Hopewell) Exotic Materials and Grave Goods

The richest assemblage of the Woodland period. Includes mica, silver, bone, obsidian blades, shell bowls, and stone pipes, often decorated with animal motifs.

Mississippian/SEC Exotic Materials and Grave Goods

The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is defined by copper earspools, copper plates, pipes, and shell gorgets with bird iconography.

Exotic Materials and Grave Goods Importance

Exotic materials are the clearest evidence of long distance trade networks. Differentiation between rich and plain burials, including rich child burials, is strong evidence of hereditary social inequality and elite status.

Early Woodland (Adena) Motifs and Iconography

Bird motif is the defining artistic tradition.

Middle Woodland (Hopewell) Motifs and Iconography

Bird and other motifs appear across exotic grave goods and pottery. Animal motifs broadly signal shared ceremonial traditions.

Mississippian (Cahokia) Motifs and Iconography

Bird man is the dominant copper plate motif. Serpents and birds represent the underworld and sky in a mythical pantheon. Sun oriented ceremonialism and maize iconography also central.

SECC Motifs and Iconography

Shared iconography including birds, copper plates, and shell gorgets spread across the entire Mississippian world.

Motifs and Iconography Importance

The persistence of the bird motif from Adena through the Mississippian period across enormous geographic distances is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for regional integration and shared belief systems. Motifs are not just artistic choices but markers of political and religious authority.

Wampum

Late Woodland, Iroquoian context: white and purple shell beads made from quahog and whelk shells.

Wampum Importance

Wampum functioned simultaneously as a trade currency, a marker of political authority, and a record of important ceremonies and treaties. It is unique to the Northeast context and reflects the sophisticated political organization of Iroquoian peoples.

Mississippian (Cahokia) Sport and Ritual Objects

Chunky was a stone disc game invented at Cahokia and played in the large central plaza. It was highly competitive and a major focus of gambling, linking it to political prestige and social life.

Late Woodland (Iroquoian) Sport and Ritual Objects

Lacrosse was a team sport with clear ritual uses and was used to settle disputes between tribes.

Sport and Ritual Objects Importance

Both sports were embedded in political and ceremonial life, not purely recreational. They reflect how material culture extended into performance and social competition as expressions of power and community identity.

Middle Archaic Toolkit

Changing toolkit. Wide array of lithics such as ground stone axes, woodworking tools, grinding stones, lithic flaked tools, net weights, and fishhooks.

Haudenosaunee “People of the Longhouse” (period)

Late Woodland 900 BP

Haudenosaunee Social/Political Organization

Founding constitution + grand council. Constitution outlined shared laws.

How is the Grand Council Chosen?

Women’s and Men’s council advise 3 clan mothers who choose and advise Hoyaneh who represent clan at council.

Wampum

• white and purple shell beads

• quahog and whelk seashells

• markers of authority, for trade, and recording of important ceremonies and treaties

• relied on Three Sisters means of agricultural base

• crops planted close together on mounded soil, beans grew up the stalk of the maize, squash outcompetes weeds

Haudenosaunee Architecture and Settlement Patterns

Permanent villages with 100-200 people per village, 4-5 longhouses each housing extended family on the mothers side. Longhouses were made of saplings and bark, 100s of ft long, 20 ft high, 20 ft wide. Wood stockade fortifications and villages surrounded by garden p

Origin of lacrosse

• team sport

• ritual use

• settle inter-tribal disputes

Cahokia (location)

Illinois

Cahokia (period)

Late Woodland period 1,200-600 BP. Estimated population of 20,000 people by 1150 AD. By 900 BP, dominant Mississippian culture.

Cahokia Description

Highly stratified city and religious center with suburbs and markets. Made light, thin, portable, more technologically advanced pottery and mussel shells.

Cahokia Agriculture

Farmed massive floodplains of the Mississippi river. Using slash and burn technique to create rich soil for crop growth. Consumed a massive amount of maize with communal storage facilities for surplus. Considered “City of the Sun”.

Cahokia Planning

Monumental platform style mounds, each center was defined by a large main platform in the city center, houses raised according to class. Highly stratified socio-political culture with a powerful elite class.

Cahokia Culture

Copperworking, chunky (disc and spear game), religion: ceremony centered on sun and maize. Hammered and worked copper into ceremonial objects, masks, ear spools, copper plates, only excavated copper workshop in North America. Birds, serpent, and maize were important religious symbols.

Cahokia Mounds

Platform mounds and burial mounds. 120 mounds. Monk’s Mound: Largest mound in North America, paramount chief lived on top. 40 acres mound, elite neighborhood surrounds, large walled compound.

Woodhenge

Circle of wooden stakes, sun calendar.

Eastern Woodlands Interaction Sphere Description

A widespread network of trade, interaction, and shared cultural/religious practices among distinct, localized societies. A dominant culture over a large area where there are many independent cultures being influenced by it. Transition in interaction sphere - Adena culture to Hopewell interaction sphere (Hopewell decline) to Mississippian interaction sphere.

Eastern Woodlands Interaction Sphere Why?

To define and analyze broad, interregional networks where distinct societies shared ideologies, exchanged prestige goods, and participated in common, often ritualistic activities without merging into a single culture. These systems explain the spread of specialized artifacts, such as Hopewell materials or Mahan beads, over large geographic areas. Rivers/prebuilt trade networks.

Trade (Hopewell Sphere)

The Hopewell sphere (100 BCE–500 CE) involved the exchange of exotic raw materials,

goods, and ideologies, not solely trade. Prominent centers in Ohio and Illinois gathered

items such as obsidian from the Rockies, copper from Lake Superior, mica from the

Appalachians, and marine shells from the Gulf.

Trade Items

Copper, silver, obsidian, Mica, Marine shells, and Galena were key trade items.

Trade Network and System

The exchange system was closely tied to major waterways, which served as the primary,

high-volume, long-distance transportation routes. The network of trade facilitated the exchange of ideas, religious practices, and stylistic traditions, which is why similar earthworks and burial goods are found throughout the region.Often caused by sedentism, due to the need for exotic materials while not being able to travel far.

Early Archaic Subsistence (9,000-8,000 BP)

Significant regional variation and diverse hunting and foraging diet.

Middle Archaic Subsistence (8,000-5,000 BP)

A more specialized toolkit: fishing, hunting, and grinding stones. Foodway diversification: increased use of aquatic and botanical resources. Evidence of foraging marshelder and chenopod-start of EAC pre-domestication.

Late Archaic Subsistence (5,000-3,000 BP)

Agriculture present, but sites like poverty point show that many people are still using hunting and gathering subsistence methods.

Early Woodland Period Subsistence (3,000-2,200 BP)

Agriculture becomes more important as pottery becomes widespread for cooking and storing food. EAC really arises here and gives rise to permanent sedentary villages oriented around garden plots as well as earthen mounds.

Middle Woodland Period Subsistence (2,200-1,600 BP)

Shows much of the same as early woodland subsistence. Maize appears but is not very significant. Focus on small scale agriculture combined with hunting and gathering.