"The Adena were a
loosely associated series of semi-tribal groups that formed
a more-or-less homogeneous culture that dominated central
and eastern North America for close to 1,000 years, from
1000-100 b.c. Their culture, and all of the major Woodland
Period cultures that were to follow, was centered in the
area that would later become known as the state of Ohio —
specifically, southern Ohio. The Adena were named after the
mansion of Ohio Governor Worthington, who presided over the
state around 1800. The first mound that was traced to this
culture was located on the governor's property, near his
mansion, "Adena", and was thus called the Adena Mound. In
the process of excavating this mound, it was found that it
was filled with layer after layer of burials, some of which
were laid out in wooden sepulchers that had been, at the
time of burial, seven feet wide, ten feet long, and tall
enough for a man to stand in. The evidence uncovered by this
excavation made it clear that the Adena had made further
social and technological advances than had the Archaic
Period Native Americans, engaging in increasing amounts of
interregional trade, agriculture, accumulation of exotic
materials, and the development of complex mortuary practices
involving the use of mound burials. The Adena, like their
cultural descendants, the Hopewell, were centered around the
region of southern Ohio and northern Kentucky, and were
particularly associated with the watershed of the Ohio River
between." (from mysteriousworld.com,
Spring 2003) |
