woodland period moundbuilders of the bluegrass - Kentucky ...

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Early on a spring morning, Adenashamans hold a ceremony within acircular earthwork to celebrate the gift ofrenewed life. This earthwork sits next toNorth Elkhorn Creek in Fayette County.Other FunctionsJust like places of worship today, Adena ritual sites undoubtedlywere much more than just places of burial and ceremony. By studyingtraditional hunter-gatherer-gardener groups and moundbuilding peoplesworldwide, archaeologists can get an idea of the kinds of other social,economic, and symbolic functions Adena ritual sites may have served.Archaeologists think that neighboring social groups jointly usedthese sites. Thus, they provided places for groups to interact with notonly the dead, but with each other as well. As at funerals today, Adenapeople probably visited and socialized with each other at their ritualsites. Activities undoubtedly included feasting. Some couples mighthave married during these gatherings, establishing new social links orstrengthening old ones.30
Adena groups probablyworked-out more than socialalliances at these events, however.They probably also exchangedgifts, such as spearpoints, food,raw materials, and clothing. Thesegifts were symbols of their socialrelationships. Gift-giving alsoestablished or cemented economicrelationships between individuals,families, lineages/clans, and thelarger Adena social groups.In their rituals, they used hematite celts.Lineage/clan leaders likelywere the ones responsible for the exchange of rare, non-local objects andthe raw materials from which they were made, like copper, mica, andmarine shell. The use of these valuable items as burial offerings removedthem from Adena trading networks. This kept their value high andcreated a constant demand for them.Adena ritual sites also may have been symbolic focal points.Worshipers may have thought of the isolated ridge- or blufftop sites asplaces that physically linked them to the spirit world. They also mayhave seen the stages of a person’s life reflected in the dynamic historiesof the largest mounds’ construction, use, renewal, and end.Adena social groups probably also held other kinds of ceremoniesat the mounds and earthworks besides those related to death. Theyperiodically covered some larger mounds completely in a layer of soil orclean clay. Archaeologists think, therefore, that Adena people may haveheld world-renewal ceremonies at these sites.The purpose of these annually held, communal ceremonies is to putthe world back into balance, and thereby, make sure it continues. Worldrenewalceremonies carried out by groups today can last for weeks.Activities include dancing, singing, giving prayers of thanks to all spiritsand the Creator, and remembering the dead.Eventually, Adena groups no longer actively used a ritual site forceremonies or as a cemetery. They undoubtedly continued to carry outsome rites in or around them for several generations, however. Theseplaces, so steeped in history, probably remained fixed in people’smemories for even longer.31
Page 5 and 6: Over time, these people will return
Page 7 and 8: However, Adena people kept no writt
Page 9 and 10: As people debated the Moundbuilders
Page 11 and 12: archaeologists supervised the excav
Page 13 and 14: DAILY LIFEAdena lifeways were firml
Page 15 and 16: Adena peoples were mobile hunter-ga
Page 17 and 18: Preparing a garden space took sever
Page 19 and 20: Focus On Adena GardeningAdena peopl
Page 21 and 22: Focus On Adena FabricsThere is no q
Page 23 and 24: Health and DiseaseAlthough Depressi
Page 25 and 26: a cone-shaped MontgomeryCounty moun
Page 27 and 28: Based on the materials found inside
Page 29 and 30: does not accurately reflect the num
Page 31: extend nearly 8 feet below thegroun
Page 35 and 36: What we do know of Adena burial pra
Page 37 and 38: separate, or mixed with the remains
Page 39 and 40: a necklace of disk-shaped shell bea
Page 41 and 42: The keys to that discovery are vari
Page 43 and 44: Focus On Adena Engraved TabletsAden
Page 45 and 46: Focus On An Adena ShamanIn 1950, be
Page 47 and 48: county, or state law enforcement of
Page 49 and 50: The KENTUCKY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY

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