Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/171

 SHETRONE] CULTURE PROBLEM IN OHIO ARCHAEOLOGY 159

earlier habitat. The more important exceptions are those above noted, namely, the extension northward of artifacts apparently of Hopewell manufacture, probably denoting migration in that direction of bands marginal to the Hopewell proper in Ohio, rather than indicating northwestern origin of the group; the use of the Algonquian pottery decoration, dental or roulette; and the resem- blance with respect to ceremonial structures as between the Hope- well and the Cherokee.

The Hopewell group was resident in the Scioto valley, from Columbus southward, with important isolated seats at the head- waters (Newark) and at the mouth of the Muskingum; along the lower course of the Little Miami and on the site of Cincinnati, with some evidence of occupation across the Ohio river to the south; and along the belt extending northwestward from Ohio, across Indiana and Iowa.

THE ADENA GROUP

One hesitates to characterize the builders of the Adena mound, of Ross county, and of other similar tumuli, as representatives of a distinct culture ; yet the traits displayed therein appear sufficiently distinct to indicate, if not to warrant, such a classification, parti- cularly from the localized point of view. Much depends, of course, on the interpretation given the term culture, or culture group, a designation so elastic in its application that it may be construed as indicating a few broad and well-defined social divisions or, as it is here employed, it may be taken as almost synonymous with the terms tribe or nation, as of historic use. Of such minor divisions there doubtless were a number in the Ohio area in prehistoric times, and it is in this localized interpretation that place as a distinct culture variety is bespoken for the Adena group. In his report of the exploration of the Adena mound, 1 Professor Mills makes no attempt to designate the culture to which it belongs, but with the fuller evidence afforded by the Westenhaver mound and after consideration of the data pertaining to various others of the same type he is inclined to fix their status as of the early Hopewell

��1 Mills (2). ii

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