Primer of Ohio Archaeology: The Mound Builders and the IndiansShetrone, H. C.
History
Primer of Ohio Archaeology: The Mound Builders and the Indians
Shetrone, H. C.
Indians of North America -- Ohio; Mound-builders -- Ohio; Ohio -- Antiquities
Having met the archæologist, we may now get an insight into the
interiors of the mounds, cemeteries and village-sites of the
Mound-builders. Let us go ahead of our story for a moment and explain
that archæologists, as a result of their explorations, have found that
there were numerous kinds, or cultures as he calls them, of
Mound-builders. While all of them were closely related, and belonged to
the same race, they differed greatly among themselves in manners and
customs. Some of them were rather highly advanced in their civilization,
while others were rather backward, just as is true of the various tribes
and nations of Indians of later or historic times. With some of them the
trait or habit of building mounds was very important while with others
it was only a sort of “side-line.” Some of them merely placed their dead
upon the surface and piled earth above the remains to form a Mound,
while others prepared carefully made tombs of logs within the Mound for
the dead. Some were skilled in the use of copper and silver, the weaving
of cloth and the making of potteryware, while others contented
themselves with only flint and stone and the simpler arts of living.
VARIOUS KINDS OF MOUND-BUILDERS
In Ohio alone there were three outstanding kinds or cultures of
Mound-builders, besides several less important ones. These three are
known as the Fort Ancient, the Adena and the Hopewell cultures, taking
their names from the places where their Mounds were first examined and
identified. The Fort Ancient peoples were the least advanced of the
three, yet they were the most numerous and prosperous of the prehistoric
peoples of Ohio. Their old village-sites are numerous in the southern
half of the State, as at the Baum, Gartner and Feurt sites, and always
are accompanied by burial Mounds and cemeteries. A number of them have
been explored by the Ohio State Museum where the relics are on display.
They used no metals and had but little art, but they made many useful,
practical things of flint, stone, bone, shell, clay and wood.
Adena peoples were more highly advanced than the Fort Ancient but were
not nearly so numerous. They worked copper into ornaments and were
highly artistic in carving stone and bone. They are noted for their
large shapely mounds, the great Miamisburg Mound being an example.
[Illustration: Fig. 6—The Seip Group of Earthworks, Ross County,
Ohio.]
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