Point Peninsula Complex

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Point Peninsula Complex
Pt Peninsula and Saugeen complexes map HRoe 2010.jpg
Point Peninsula and Saugeen Complexes
Period Middle Woodland
Dates600 BCE – 700 CE

The Point Peninsula Complex was an indigenous culture located in Ontario and New York from 600 BCE to 700 CE (during the Middle Woodland period). [1] Point Peninsula ceramics were first introduced into Canada around 600 BCE then spread south into parts of New England around 200 BCE. [2] Some time between 300 BCE and 1 CE, Point Peninsula pottery first appeared in Maine, and "over the entire Maritime Peninsula." Little evidence exists to show that it was derived from the earlier, thicker pottery, known as Vinette I, Adena Thick, etc... [3] Point Peninsula pottery represented a new kind of technology in North America and has also been called Vinette II. Compared to existing ceramics that were thicker and less decorated, this new pottery has been characterized by "superior modeling of the clay with vessels being thinner, better fired and containing finer grit temper." [4] Where this new pottery technology originated is not known for sure. The origin of this pottery is "somewhat of a problem." [5] The people are thought to have been influenced by the Hopewell traditions of the Ohio River valley. This influence seems to have ended about 250 CE, after which they no longer practiced burial ceremonialism. [6]

Contents

Hopewell interaction sphere

The Hopewell exchange system began in the Ohio and Illinois River valleys about 300 BCE. The culture is referred to more as a system of interaction among a variety of societies than as a single society or culture. Hopewell trading networks were quite extensive, with obsidian from the Yellowstone area, copper from Lake Superior, and shells from the Gulf Coast. In some areas Point Peninsula people buried some of their dead in mortuary mounds. Interred with the dead were exotic grave goods, including copper and silver pan pipes, marine shell gorgets, and exotic cherts. The exotic goods among the burials may provide evidence for inherited status differentiation among Point Peninsula groups. [6] Pan pipes, which have been found in burial mounds from Florida to Minnesota, considered to be a diagnostic trait within the Hopewell inventory, appear suddenly in North America around 200 BCE, then disappear as do certain other Hopewell traits, around 400 CE. [7] Found mostly in the United States, nine pan pipes curiously appear in the LeVesconte mound, a Point Peninsula site located in Campbellford, Ontario. Though the Hopewell interaction sphere generally is confined to the United States, much of the silver found in mound artifacts, such as pan pipes, actually comes from Cobalt, Ontario, far up the Ottawa River. [8]

Point Peninsula Complex

The Point Peninsula people of the Middle Woodland period lived by hunting and gathering, supplemented by agriculture. Around 900 CE, Point Peninsula artifacts in New York were replaced by Owasco culture artifacts. However, a 2011 paper by archaeologist John P. Hart argues there was no definable Owasco culture. [9] Archaeologists believe these indicated the presence of Clemson Island peoples' spreading northward and intermingling with the Point Peninsula complex through the years of 1300.

The Owasco peoples practiced different pottery techniques and were more sedentary agriculturalists than the Point Peninsula people. They cultivated a variety of types of maize, squash, and eventually beans, and lived in larger villages of several hundred to a thousand people. Warfare was prevalent, as is shown by archeology. The people built fortified villages, but many still died violently. Gradually, smaller bands and tribes formed into larger groups. The Owasco are thought to have eventually developed into the several Iroquoian-speaking nations of Pennsylvania and New York. The Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy likely formed in an effort to avoid the continual warfare of years past. [10]

Some important sites are the Rice Lake/Lower Trent River area, including the Serpent Mounds Park, Cameron's Point and LeVescounte Mounds in Prince Edward County. [11]

Serpent Mounds Park

The Serpent Mounds Park at Rice Lake was occupied during the prehistoric Middle Woodland period. The burial mound was shaped like a giant snake.

See also

Related Research Articles

Hopewell tradition Ancient North American indigenous civilization

The Hopewell tradition describes the common aspects of an ancient pre-Columbian Native American civilization that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes. This is known as the Hopewell exchange system.

Mound Builders Pre-Columbian cultures of North America that constructed various styles of earthen mounds

A number of pre-Columbian cultures are collectively termed "Mound Builders". The term does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span the period of roughly 3500 BCE to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period, Woodland period, and Mississippian period. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippi River valley and its tributary waters.

Adena culture Pre-Columbian Native American culture

The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system. The Adena culture was centered on the location of the modern state of Ohio, but also extended into contiguous areas of northern Kentucky, eastern Indiana, West Virginia, and parts of extreme western Pennsylvania.

Woodland period Period of North American pre-Columbian cultures

In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeologists distinguishing the Mississippian period, from 1000 CE to European contact as a separate period. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic term for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the agriculturalist Mississippian cultures. The Eastern Woodlands cultural region covers what is now eastern Canada south of the Subarctic region, the Eastern United States, along to the Gulf of Mexico.

Hopewell pottery

Hopewell pottery is the ceramic tradition of the various local cultures involved in the Hopewell tradition and are found as artifacts in archeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. The Hopewell were located around the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers during the Middle Woodland Period, and the Hopewell Interaction Sphere spanned from the Gulf of Mexico to Ontario, Canada.

Swift Creek culture Archaeological culture in the southeastern US

The Swift Creek culture was a Middle Woodland period archaeological culture in the Southeastern Woodlands of North America, dating to around 100-800 CE. It occupied the areas now part of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In Florida, Swift Creek ceremonial practices and burial complexes are referred to technically as the Yent-Green Point complex. The Swift Creek culture was contemporaneous with and interacted with the Hopewell culture; Swift Creek is often described as "Hopewellian." The type site for the Swift Creek culture was the Swift Creek mound site, which was located in Bibb County, Georgia. The Leake Mounds are another significant Swift Creek Culture site in Georgia.

Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site Archaeological site in Illinois, US

The Kincaid Mounds Historic Site c. 1050–1400 CE, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the southern tip of present-day U.S. state of Illinois, along the Ohio River. Kincaid Mounds has been notable for both its significant role in native North American prehistory and for the central role the site has played in the development of modern archaeological techniques. The site had at least 11 substructure platform mounds, and 8 other monuments.

Albany Mounds State Historic Site United States historic place

Albany Mounds State Historic Site, also known as Albany Mounds Site, is a historic site operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. It spans over 205 acres of land near the Mississippi river at the northwest edge of the state of Illinois in the United States. In 1974, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places list. The historical site is under the provision of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, a governmental agency founded in 1985 for the maintaining of historical sites within the state. In the 1990s, the site underwent a restoration project that aimed to return its appearance to its original condition.

Leake Mounds

Leake Mounds (9BR2) is an important archaeological site in Bartow County, Georgia built and used by peoples of the Swift Creek Culture. The site is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the well-known Etowah Mounds on the Etowah River. It predates that site by hundreds of years.

The Prehistory of West Virginia spans ancient times until the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century. Hunters ventured into West Virginia's mountain valleys and made temporary camp villages since the Archaic period in the Americas. Many ancient human-made earthen mounds from various mound builder cultures survive, especially in the areas of Moundsville, South Charleston, and Romney. The artifacts uncovered in these areas give evidence of a village society with a tribal trade system culture that included limited cold worked copper. As of 2009, over 12,500 archaeological sites have been documented in West Virginia.

Prehistory of Ohio

Prehistory of Ohio provides an overview of the activities that occurred prior to Ohio's recorded history. The ancient hunters, Paleo-Indians, descended from humans that crossed the Bering Strait. There is evidence of Paleo-Indians in Ohio, who were hunter-gatherers that ranged widely over land to hunt large game. For instance, mastodon bones were found at the Burning Tree Mastodon site that showed that it had been butchered. Clovis points have been found that indicate interaction with other groups and hunted large game. The Paleo Crossing Site and [[Nobles Pond Site Tools, like spear-throwers, were more sophisticated. Base camps were established for winter lodging. The Glacial Kame culture, a late Archaic group, traded for sea shell and copper with other groups and were used as a sign of prestige within the group, for respected healers and hunters. The objects were buried with their owners.

Saugeen Complex

The Saugeen Complex was a Native American culture located around the southeast shores of Lake Huron and the Bruce Peninsula, around the London area, and possibly as far east as the Grand River. They were active in the period 200BCE to 500CE. There is archeological evidence that the Saugeen complex people of the Bruce Peninsula may have evolved into the Odawa people (Ottawa).

Laurel Complex

The Laurel Complex was a Native American culture in southern Quebec, southern and northwestern Ontario and east-central Manitoba in Canada and northern Michigan, northwestern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota in the United States. They were the first pottery using people of Ontario north of the Trent–Severn Waterway. The complex is named after the former unincorporated community of Laurel, Minnesota.

Kansas City Hopewell

The Kansas City Hopewell were the farthest west regional variation of the Hopewell tradition of the Middle Woodland period. Sites were located in Kansas and Missouri around the mouth of the Kansas River where it enters the Missouri River. There are 30 recorded Kansas City Hopewell sites.

Mann Site

The Mann Site is a Crab Orchard culture site located off Indian Mound Road in Mount Vernon, Posey County, Indiana. It was placed on the National Historic Register on October 1, 1974. Exotic ceramics and other artifacts found at the site reflect contact with Ohio Hopewell people, in addition to more distant peoples in the Southeast of the Swift Creek culture of the Georgia Piedmont and Gulf Coastal Plain.

Marksville culture Archaeological culture in the south-eastern United States

The Marksville culture was an archaeological culture in the lower Lower Mississippi valley, Yazoo valley, and Tensas valley areas of present-day Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and extended eastward along the Gulf Coast to the Mobile Bay area, from 100 BCE to 400 CE. This culture takes its name from the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Marksville Culture was contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures within present-day Ohio and Illinois. It evolved from the earlier Tchefuncte culture and into the Baytown and Troyville cultures, and later the Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures. It is considered ancestral to the historic Natchez and Taensa peoples.

Caddoan Mississippian culture

The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana of the United States.

Fourche Maline culture

The Fourche Maline culture was a Woodland Period Native American culture that existed from 300 BCE to 800 CE, in what are now defined as southeastern Oklahoma, southwestern Arkansas, northwestern Louisiana, and northeastern Texas. They are considered to be one of the main ancestral groups of the Caddoan Mississippian culture, along with the contemporaneous Mill Creek culture of eastern Texas. This culture was named for the Fourche Maline Creek, a tributary of the Poteau River. Their modern descendants are the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

Iroquoian peoples are Iroquoian speaking Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands and Great lakes of North America whose territories stretched from southeastern and southern Ontario in Canada along the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian bay, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to New York state, northern Ohio and Pennsylvania.

References

  1. ↑ "Middle Woodlanmd Natives" . Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  2. ↑ Fiedel, Stuart (1987). "Algonquian Origins: A Problem in Archaeological-Linguistic Correlation". Archaeology of Eastern North America. 15 (Fall): 5.
  3. ↑ Bourque, Bruce (2001). Twelve Thousand Years American Indians in Maine . pg. 76, 79: University of Nebraska Press. pp.  368.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. ↑ Wright, J.V. (1999). A History of the Native People of Canada. pg. 633: Canadian Museum of Civilization. p. 1184. ISBN   0-660-15952-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ↑ Wright, J.V (1972). Ontario Prehistory . pg 44: National Museums of Canada. pp.  120.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. 1 2 "The Archaeology of Ontario-The Middle Woodland Period". Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  7. ↑ Turff, Gina (1996). A Synthesis of Middle Woodland: Master Thesis Dissertation Panpipes in Eastern North America. Peterborough,Ontario: Trent University. pp. i.
  8. ↑ Turff, Gina (1996). A Synthesis of Middle Woodland: Master Thesis Dissertation Panpipes in Eastern North America. Peterborough,Ontario: Trent University. pp. 75–77.
  9. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ↑ Miller, Randall M. (2002). Pennsylvania: a history of the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 20–23. ISBN   978-0-271-02214-7.
  11. ↑ "Archeology in the County", Prince Edward County, Ontario, accessed 24 Feb 2010
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