A century-old atlas tucked away in the archives of Ohio Univer sity’s Alden Library shows Athens spotted with red markings where archeological evidence of Native American inhabitance has been found. A constellation of ciphers indicating burial mounds, en closures and village sites cover the 2.3 square-mile parish that is now The Plains.
About 12,000 years after the Paleoindians roamed the region in search of Pleistocene game to spear, people will flock to the same spot this weekend to cel ebrate the 28th annual Indian Mound Festival.
More than 70 enclosures and dozens more prehistoric village sites have proven to experts that Native Americans living in the Athens area changed the way tribes everywhere lived their lives.
ARRIVAL
Between 10,000 and 6,000 B.C., the Paleoindians arrived in what is now Southeast Ohio. Arche ologists classify them with hand crafted flint spears — also known as arrowheads, possibly from the Ohio Flint Ridge — which they used to hunt mammoths, wrote Elizabeth Grover Beatty and Mar jorie S. Stone in their 1984 book, Getting to Know Athens County.
When the glaciers receded, the Eastern woodlands were un covered and early giants were re placed by deer and edible plants. The succeeding Archaic Indians, who adapted to the new envi ronment, planted the seeds that sprouted a whole agricultural structure in the Northeast.
But it was the Adena who transformed Native American so ciety as they knew it.
Around 500 B.C., the Adena started building religious cen ters in The Plains, prompting throngs of Native Americans to flock to the intimate village, said Elliot Abrams, archeologist and professor of anthropology at OU.
While most Native American villages consisted of about 15 people, these congregations uni fied 2,000 or more.
“They are the ones who settled down and said, ‘Let’s not move around; let’s just stay here,’” Abrams said. “And they started burying their dead.”
EXCAVATION
Archaeologists have un earthed flint tools, pottery, bones — both human and ani mal — copper embellishments and even full skeletons in exca vations of mounds in Athens.
The Plains boasts the major ity of Athens County’s more than 70 earthworks, though many have been flattened by research ers.
The Coon Mound, for in stance, was the second-largest mound in The Plains, reaching 30 feet in height and more than 100 feet in diameter. When Em erson F. Greenman, a local cu rator of archeology, opened it up, he found a log tomb with an Adena-type burial inside. Bones and arrowheads were also un covered from the mound, which cannot be noticed today.
But no other earthwork in Athens County matches the Hartman Mound, a 37-feet-high, 175-feet-round enclosure located on a private lawn on Mound Street in The Plains.
Although the Hartman Mound has never been exca vated, Abrams said if arche ologists were to dig the mound today, they would likely find a number of skeletons at the base and more within the lay ers of the mound, demonstrat ing the longtime use of the grave.
“There would probably be a lot of cremation burials because if somebody died and they lived a six-day walk away, they would not have carried the body all that way,” said Josh McCo naughy, associate director of the Midwest Region of The
Archeo logical Conservancy and an OU alumnus.
But McConaughy said not many archaeologists attempt to open mounds anymore, es pecially in the Athens area, be cause the findings have become predictable. Once a mound has been excavated, it is almost completely destroyed.
PRESERVATION
The Archeological Conservan cy currently owns 20 earthworks in Ohio, but only one in Athens County — the Door 2 Mound, near Athens High School — because most are on private property.
Because the Midwest Region headquarters is in Columbus, the Conservancy can keep a close eye on the mound.
“It’s their way of dealing with increasing disturbance of the sites,” Abrams said.
But McConaughy said land owners who choose to destroy the mounds are the only threat to them.
“It’s important not to disturb the skeletons inside for the same reason it’s important not to go to a cemetery and dig up a body,” he said. “Some people just think it’s disrespectful.”
Rather than collecting skel etons they find, archaeologists leave them in their burial sites and recover them, Abrams said. Jewelry and other artifacts are taken to museums and the OU repository for study.
“Modern farming, graveling, and urban sprawl are still taking a toll on the ancient sites, de spite strong efforts by the Ohio Historical Society, the National Park Service, the Archaeological Conservancy, and others,” states ancientohiotrail.org, a website that published a series of trails for tourists.
Preservation might be at a standstill, but Athenians haven’t forgotten about their town’s elab orate past.
CELEBRATION
Each fall, about 2,000 people attend the Indian Mound Festival to see collections of artifacts, take tours of The Plains mounds and listen to the experts talk about prehistoric Athens.
For 28 years, The Plains Indi an Mound Festival has been the only well-known celebration of Native American history in the area. But this year, The Hocking Hills Adventure Trek is cohosting a Shawnee storytelling event with Appalachia Ohio Alliance, a non profit nature conservancy, called Circle of Life.
After holding weekly sto rytellings with Ron Hatten — also known as Wehyehpi hehrsehnhwah, a Shawnee sto ryteller from Jackson — Jim Stratton, founder of the Hock ing Hills Adventure Trek, said he wanted to expand the adventure to an actual exploration of a pri vate mound, the four-acre Davis Group Ancient Earthworks in Laurelville, Ohio. Another story teller and Native American flute player, Fred Shaw, also known as Neeake, will share his cultural craft at the event.
Abrams said there is also an Artifact Identification Day later in October at Wayne National Forest to add to the revelries celebrating Ohio Archeology Month.
Paige Alost, executive direc tor of the Athens County Visitor’s Bureau, said people come to the bureau looking for more infor mation on Native American his tory almost every day, especially during the fall.
“Most people understand (that the mounds are private), but we would love it if the parks would identify them for people to see,” Alost said. “We also understand why they cannot.”
oy311909@ohiou.edu
