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Map of the Adena and Hopewell cultures |
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The Adena culture emerged in the north-eastern corner of today's USA around 500 BC to encompass Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and parts of Pennsylvania and New York. The type site is the Adena mound which is located near Chillicothe, Ohio, which was named by the local nineteenth century AD landowner, Thomas Worthington. The people of the Adena buried their dead upon the bones of their ancestors, in the process building up high conical mounds in one of the earliest iterations of what would be a long-standing cultural tradition in eastern and central North America. The Hopewell culture of about 100 BC to AD 400 continued the moundbuilding tradition, but without the conical finish of earlier Adena mounds and across a vastly increased territorial distribution. An increasingly sedentary lifestyle was adopted, with farming and pastoralism now less supported by hunting. The moundbuilding tradition temporarily declined after about AD 400 before being picked up by the Mississippian cultures. A clickable version of this map is available for desktop displays. To select a culture for further information, click on its name or within its borders.
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Original text and maps copyright © P L Kessler, Mick Baker, and the History Files. An original feature for the History Files. Go back or return home. |
