VIII. Eastern Woodland Traditions

As the name implies the Eastern Woodlands is the Woodland area east of the Mississippi River. However, the woodland aspect varies from semi-tropical cypress swamp 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 is the Smokey Mt. 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 particular 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 CBS. 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. The Eastern Woodland Traditions were partly developed as a solution the Moundbuilder's Debate and the realization that the various earthen mounds represented different traditions and time periods.

Throughout the Eastern Woodlands these traditions have varying influences and are set in different environments, such that regional expressions at any given time are not consistent.  Thus at any given time there is what we would refer to as a sphere of influence.  The chronologies are old and have been re-calibrated (see Fagan 2000: p. 352).

The Archaic tradition in the East basically 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 B.C. However Early Archaic (9,000-6,000 B.C.) 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 trap and snares taking small game. Atlatl weights or bannerstones were being used and became a trade resource. The fish and shellfish from fresh and saltwater sources were beginning to be used. Eventually,  along the rivers 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 B.C.)  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 B.C.) Regional variation also became more marked by the Late Archaic. Poverty Point above the Mississippi River floodplain near Monroe, LA  reveals the potential of resources to produce earthworks and trade networks that are the forecast of the sedentary traditions in the 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 B.C.) 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.), move up from Meso-America; while local domestic plants like sunflower (Helianthus annus), Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), marsh elder/sumpweed (Iva annua), and goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), knotweed (Polygonum erectum), tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) became more important during the Early Woodland. The burial mounds indicate a differentiation of mortuary customs that is indicative of increasing social stratification. The Middle and Late Woodland (Burial Mound II 300B.C.-A.D. 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 reflects the exertion of considerable economic/socio-political power. Hopewell influence is centered in the Ohio River Valley, but they influence cultures as far as New York, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Arkansas and out into the Plains. This is reflected in the source 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 that are part of the assemblies of important burial artifacts. Sometime around A.D. 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, since it was an area that was not contested when Europeans invaded. Yet, Hopewell influenced areas north and south remained relatively intact.

The Mississippian Tradition arises around A.D. 700 in the lower Mississippi River valley and again is a tradition of ideas and lifestyles that spreads in reverse (against the flow) up the Mississippi. Thus, are these influences or people overlapping the various Archaic and Woodland influenced peoples. The main change is a far more intensive CBS agriculture, painted ceramics and dramatic platform mounds housing structures of the elite. The platform mounds are truncated pyramids called temple mounds. Some Woodland traditions like burial mounds continued, but they are overshadowed by palisaded religious centers with these 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.

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

Copyright © S. J. Crouthamel