VIII. Eastern Woodland Traditions

As the name implies the Eastern Woodlands is a deciduous woodland area east of the Mississippi River. However, the woodland aspect varies from semi-tropical cypress swamps in the south to temperate birch/beech and coniferous forest in the north. The middle was a combination of some of the best deciduous hardwood forests in the world with some coastal barrens of southern pine. Unfortunately, 90% of the primary American deciduous forest is gone. The best remnant remains in the Great Smokey Mountains N.P. and the Vanderbilt Estate in western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee/Kentucky. Some scholars divide the Eastern Woodlands into subareas like the Southeast, Northeast, Great Lakes, etc. We will cover the entire Eastern Woodlands and discuss some regional variation in terms of the prehistoric traditions. The Eastern Woodlands and its cultures are generally stereotyped as being solely H&G, partly out of ignorance and partly as propaganda to justify the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The truth is the Woodland people were all a combination of H&G augmenting various intensities of local domestic plants and CBS farming. Also, horticulture and agriculture developed rather slowly (similar to Western Europe) in the East due to fresh and salt water resources and indigenous semi-domestic plants; especially nuts and seeds. As the Moundbuilder Debate was resolved it was realized that the various mounds represented different traditions and time periods.

Throughout the Eastern Woodlands these traditions have varying influences in different areas and on different people.  Thus at any given time there is what we would refer to as a sphere of influence, such as a Hopwellian sphere. Some of these even spread into the Plains  The chronologies are somewhat dated and have been re-calibrated (see Fagan  p.352).

The Archaic tradition in the East is recognized by a shift from Clovis points to smaller stemmed points and a shift from Pleistocene megafauna to smaller game and small plant gathering around 9,000 BC. However, Early Archaic (9,000-6,000 BC) sites are sparse. The evidence does show that the game (deer, elk, bear, opossum, raccoon, rabbit, and squirrel) became smaller. The atlatl was still being used on the larger animals with traps and snares used to take small game. Atlatl weights or bannerstones were being used and became a trade resource. The fish and shellfish from fresh and saltwater sources were used extensively. Eventually, along the rivers huge waste shell mounds became more abundant. The wild plants included many nuts (hickory nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, pecans, acorns), greens (pokeweed), fruit (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums), and root plants (Jerusalem artichoke). By the Middle Archaic (6,000-4,000 BC) these resources became more intensely exploited with seasonal patterns of following game and ripening plants from the river bottoms up into the upland forests by Fall; with winters being spent in between for optimal access and weather. The increase of exotic artifacts, early pottery, population density, local domestic plants and cemeteries all indicate a more sedentary lifestyle by the Late Archaic (4,000-1,000 BC). Regional variation also became more marked by the Late Archaic. Poverty Point above the Mississippi River floodplain near Monroe, LA  revealed the potential of these combination of resources to produce earthworks and trade networks that were a forecast of the sedentary traditions in the later Woodland and Mississippian traditions.

The Woodland Tradition is best distinguished by the proliferation of burial mounds and geometric/zoomorphic effigy earthworks. The Early Woodland (Burial Mound I 1,000-300 BC) is referred to as the Adena Tradition with its influential sphere in the Ohio River Valley. It is not clear why this area became a center and who the people were. Some scholars believe that a different people came from the Lower Mississippi River areas (Poverty Point?); others feel that new ideas spread from north and south into the Ohio River area. Domestic plants, like the gourd and squash (Cucurbita sp.), spread from Meso-America; while local domestic plants like sunflower (Helianthus annus), Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), marsh elder/sumpweed (Iva annua), goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), knotweed (Polygonum erectum), and tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) became more important during the Early Woodland. The burial mounds revealed a differentiation of mortuary customs that is indicative of increasing social stratification. The Middle and Late Woodland (Burial Mound II 300BC-AD 700) is often just referred to as the Hopewell Tradition and can be divided into various regions and phases. Generally, the Hopewell was centered in Ohio River Valley again but spread with a larger sphere of influence. Whether Hopewell emerged directly from the earlier Adena Tradition or came from somewhere else is not clear. This is always a problem in dealing with archaeological data and figuring out who the people of a cultural/archaeological tradition are. Are these Hopewell tradition folks connected to historic cultures, do they move or actually disappear? The Hopewell Tradition established an elaborate trade network that reflected the influence of considerable economic/socio-political power. Hopewell influence is centered in the Ohio River Valley, but they also influenced cultures as far as New York, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Arkansas and out into the Plains. This is seen in the sourcing of 'exotic' trade goods that are present in the Ohio sites, especially in the burials of important individuals.

Stamped and incised pottery varied with the sub-regions that were influence by Hopewell such as areas out of the Ohio River Valley sphere like Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, New York, etc. Also, polished stone celts, fresh water pearls, pipes, ceremonial monolithic polished stone axes and other odd objects included in the assemblies of important burial artifacts. Sometime around AD 750, the Ohio Hopewellians went into decline. In fact the old Adena/Hopewell area of the southern part of Ohio along the Ohio River was abandoned forever, and it was an area that was not contested by American Indian people when Europeans invaded. Hopewellian influenced areas north and south  remained relatively intact.

The Mississippian Tradition arose around AD 700 in the lower Mississippi River valley and again is a tradition of ideas and lifestyles that spread up the Mississippi River. Thus, are these influences or people overlapping the various Archaic and Woodland influenced peoples? The major change is a shift to far more intensive CBS agriculture, painted ceramics and dramatic platform mounds housing structures (temples) of the elite. Thus, these platform mounds (truncated pyramids)  are called temple mounds. Some Woodland traditions like burial mound practices continued, but they are overshadowed by palisade walled religious centers with multiple temple mounds. A distinctive genre of artistic motifs that emphasize transformational bird-men and the process of death formulated a religious cult influence often referred to as the Death Cult, Buzzard Cult or Southern Cult. Influences from Meso-America are certain but specific links are poorly documented. This influence spread as far north as Southern Indiana (Angel Mound) and Southern Wisconsin. Also, the Mississippian Tradition spread east as far as North Carolina (Town Creek Mound). There were probably two influential spheres; one deep in Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana and the other in the American Bottoms around St. Louis, where the Ohio River and Missouri River flow into the Mississippi River. Many of these sites have been destroyed especially in the St. Louis area. However, across the river in Illinois is Cahokia (Case Study #5) or Monk's Mound. This actually the largest platform mound on the North American continent. Trade networks became more elaborate and exotic goods came from even greater distances. The variety of lithic sources of flint was phenomenal with delicate tri-notched arrow points produced in great numbers.

The Mississippian Tradition collapsed in the American Bottoms around AD 1500, but continued until AD 1750 down in the lower Mississippi River. The Natchez people were the last of this cultural tradition and were documented by French explorer/colonists in the late 1600s.

Copyright © S. J. Crouthamel