The Adena

The people we call the Adena lived in what is today southern Ohio, northeastern Kentucky, and parts of West Virginia, from about 800 B.C. to 1 A.D. They were hunters and gathers, but also grew squash, pumpkin, sunflowers, goosefoot, and marsh elder for their seeds. Wild game, such as buffalo, deer, bear, turkey, and squirrel, not only provided food, but also hides for clothing and bones that served many uses, such as tools, utensils, needles, and hair and clothing pins.

The Adena cooked their food in clay pots. Sandstone tablets, small enough to hold in the hand, have also been found at Adena sites. These tablets were carved with images, some of which seem to represent birds. Traces of red pigment are found in the carved areas, and they might have been used as a sort of stamp. The Adena also carved stone pipes, including effigy pipes that depict a human or an animal. Pipes are used by Native peoples for prayer in ceremony.

stone tablet human / effigy pipe

The Adena were the earliest people in the Woodlands to build mounds. Before a mound was constructed, a circular enclosure was erected. These structures were probably used for burial ceremonies. The largest of these were over 100 feet in diameter and could hold about 175 people. The enclosures were dismantled or burned before a mound was built on the same site. The mounds were cemeteries for the dead.