The Adena

During the first 75% of the century it was convenient for archaeologists (historians were hardly paying any attention) to use the terms "Adena" and "Hopewell" to distinguish these two groups of Amerindians. These names were derived from the places where their remains were first excavated. The Hopewell name is after Capt. Hopewell, who was a farmer and lived at "The Hopewell Place." His farm was only a few miles from Adena, Ohio. The items found on his "place" were deposited later, perhaps around 400 A.D. Adena is an estate near Chillicothe, Ohio from which archaeologists in 1906 removed artifacts, including grave goods, that had been placed there sometime between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D.
The distinctions between the Adena and Hopewell have been reduced by new evidence to the point that they are no longer considered to be different cultures by most professional archaeologists and many scholars have now abandoned the terms or retain them to denote different eras and ways of organizing activities. The two cultures were not distinct, nor was their period of activity. In fact, it has been shown that they shared common ground. The two sites are simply samples from different periods of the same culture.

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