The ancient Native Americans of the Adena culture lived in a large area centered in what is now southern Ohio. The name Adena comes from an estate where artifacts were found. The Adena people thrived from about 500 BC to about AD 100. They are now known chiefly for the earthen mounds they built.

Way of life

The Adena people settled in the open valleys along the Ohio River. In this fertile environment, they obtained most of their food by hunting, fishing, and gathering fruits and wild plants. They may have grown food plants such as pumpkins and sunflowers. The Adena definitely grew tobacco, which they smoked in religious ceremonies.

The Adena lived in hundreds of small villages. A cone-shaped Adena house was made by setting poles into the ground, connecting them with grass or branches, and covering the structure with mud. While hunting, the Adena made smaller temporary shelters.

The Adena crafted tools from wood, bone, and copper. They also wove cloth and molded simple pots from clay. Using shells and copper, they made beads, bracelets, and other ornaments. The Adena people obtained raw materials from tribes living hundreds of miles from their territory.

Mound building

The most distinctive element of Adena culture was mound building. The Adena constructed hundreds of earthen mounds in the area of present-day Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Many of the mounds were burial sites. Large mounds often contained many bodies. With the bodies, the Adena people buried pottery, stone pipes, tools, jewelry, and other valuable objects.

Many Adena mounds formed simple geometric shapes such as circles and rectangles. Others were in the shape of animals. The most famous is the Great Serpent Mound near present-day Peebles, Ohio. This enormous earthwork is nearly 1,300 feet (400 meters) long, about 20 feet (6 meters) wide, and about 4 feet (1 meter) high. The mound is in the shape of giant snake holding a round object, possibly an egg, in its mouth.

End of the Adena culture

By about AD 100 the Adena culture had faded away. No one knows for certain what happened to the Adena people. One theory holds that they joined the Hopewell people, who developed a similar culture in Adena territory. By the time European settlers arrived, the tribes living in the area knew nothing about the builders of the mounds.