Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

worked projectile points; anvilstones; abrading stones; hammerstones; cigar/tube-shaped
smoking pipes; birdstones; and gorgets (Funk, 1983:335; Ritchie, 1980:191-196). Some New
York and Ohio sites have produced data suggesting oblong house forms measuring about 4 m by
5 m (12 ft by 16 ft) (Ritchie and Funk, 1973:107; Stothers and Abel, 1993:33, 62-63). Burials
with Adena-like qualities are also sometimes present. Example sites include Weilnau and
Seeman’s Fort in north-central Ohio (Stothers and Abel, 1993:194-195). In the northwestern
part of the state, sites around the Maumee River (including the later components of the Williams
and Sidecut cemeteries) suggest a subsistence strategy heavily oriented towards fishing. This
area was possibly also a center for regional interaction (Stothers and Abel, 2008:113-114). In
other parts of northern Ohio, subsistence strategies were apparently less focused on fishing.
Middle Woodland
In Ohio, the Middle Woodland Period is associated with the appearance of the so-called
‘Hopewell Interaction Sphere,’ a phenomenon largely defined by the presence of earthworks and
burial mounds sometimes including lavish quantities of exotic grave goods (ca. 2,300 B.P. to
1,600 B.P.) (Funk, 1983:337-338; Griffin, 1983:260-267). In the northeastern part of the state,
the Middle Woodland extends to 1,000 B.P., while it ends earlier in the remainder of the northern
portion of Ohio, at about the time of the disappearance of Hopewell around 1,600 B.P. to 1,500
B.P. (Abel et al., 2000; Brose, 2000; Stothers and Betchel, 2000).
Hopewell-like burial mounds in northern Ohio are up to 50 ft in diameter and 9 ft in height.
Burials were inside stone slab cists and were typically extended; cremated remains of other
individuals are occasionally found in the mounds outside the cists (Ritchie, 1980:227). Among
the elaborate grave goods found in the mounds are: platform pipes (made from both ‘Ohio
fireclay’ and local materials), some with animal effigies; slate pendants; red and yellow ocher;
two-holed gorgets; copper beads, ear spools, breast ornaments, celts, and awls; copper or silver
panpipe covers; stone celts and adzes; prismatic flake knives; and projectile points (some of
which are large examples of the Snyders type manufactured from high-quality stone from Ohio)
(Coe at al., 1986:50-55; Funk, 1983:340; Justice, 1995:201-204; Ritchie, 1938; 1980:227). The
Esch site is one example of a Middle Woodland burial mound site in northern Ohio (Stothers et
al., 1979). Mounds tend to be near major rivers or large bodies of water, including Lake Erie.
They also are frequently not near habitation sites (Kostiw, 1995:41).
Relative to burial practices, little is known about Middle Woodland subsistence, settlement, and
other aspects of culture throughout the Northeast (Bowen, 1992:63; Funk, 1983:339; 1993:200;
Ritchie, 1980:226). However, the period is known to have witnessed numerous cultural
innovations, including the adoption of the bow-and-arrow (Kostiw, 1995:38) and maize
agriculture (Hart and Brumbach, 2003; Hart et al., 2007). Northwest Ohio Middle Woodland
habitation sites are typically grouped into the Point Peninsula Tradition, while those in the
northeastern part of the state are part of the Scioto/Watson Tradition and those along the northcentral
Lake Erie shore are elements of the Esch Phase (Brose, 2000:99; Funk, 1983:338; Ritchie
and Funk, 1973:118-119; Stothers and Abel, 1993:31; 2008:96). Typical ceramic vessels in and
northwestern Ohio from the early parts of the Middle Woodland were small (one to four quart
capacities) and conoidal-based, while later pottery was larger and had increasingly globular
bodies (Hart and Brumbach, 2009; Ritchie and Funk, 1973:117; Ritchie and MacNeish, 1949).
Vessels from northeastern Ohio were “unimaginative plain or cordmarked…ceramics with
slightly curved rims” (Brose, 2000:99). Other artifacts include small projectile points (such as
Northern Border Activities H-37 July 2012