Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/170

 158 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920

of the culture centering in Ohio. While comparatively little pottery of the Hopewell group has been found, sufficient has been taken from the various mounds explored to show that it is decidedly superior to the ware of the Fort Ancient culture, and perhaps but little inferior to the pottery of the southern area, although much more restricted as to variety and use. The characteristic decora- tion, aside from stamped designs is the dental, or zig-zag roulette marking, corresponding exactly to the markings found on the pottery of the New England archaic Algonquian group. This slight clue may be significant, since the design is characteristic of much of the eastern Algonquian pottery, but probably is not found in the Iroquoian ware. 1

The deductions of Professor Cyrus Thomas, who found evidence in the then available data for a very strong argument in favor of Cherokee origin of the Hopewell mounds, may be passed over at this time, since more recent developments have changed the char- acter of the evidence. However, in view of the present knowledge with respect to the fact that many Hopewell mounds cover the sites of pre-structures or buildings, it is interesting to note Thomas' statement that "In the south, houses were built upon mounds, then burned and mounds erected over them." 2 The same strong resemblance in this particular direction is found in the record that "Cherokee ceremonial houses, or temples, for sun worship, in which were perpetual fires, (were) set upon mounds." 3 The strong analogy of these Cherokee ceremonial proceedings to the ceremonial structures covered by the Hopewell mounds, in which even the perpetual fires appear to have been kept, is most striking.

With deference to opinions based upon early explorations, it can be said that the Hopewell culture group, from the more recent evidence, appears to be a definite and distinctive variety, with but little apparent relationship to any known group of the native race or to any observed archaeological area, and that scant evidence has been adduced that can be taken as indicative of its origin or

1 Willoughby: p. 84.

2 Thomas (6): p. 17.

3 Wissler: p. 223.

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