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This excerpt from "Intrusive Mound Facial
Effigies" published
in the 2023 Central States Archaeological Societies 2023
January Journal
Read this and mores in the Central
States Archaeological 2023
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March
2024
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Intrusive Mound Arrowheads (Jack’s Reef Type).
Collection of the author
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Squire and Davis first discovered and recognized items found in Ross County,
Ohio, in 1846 as being different from Hopewell (see reference 1). William
C. Mills of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in the early
1920s is credited as being the first to use the term “intrusive.” His
work in Ross County revealed numerous later cultural burials to be found
near the tops in several Hopewell mounds. Later in the 1930s, William Ritchie,
archaeologist for New York State, formally named the culture “Intrusive
Mound” following his work in central New York State at several locations,
including the Kipp Island Site (see reference 2). These later Woodland people
sometimes buried their elite and high ranking noble in existing Hopewell
and very occasionally in Adena Mounds, hence the name “intrusive” and “mound” came
together. Almost all Intrusive Mound (IM) burials in Ohio are in Hopewell
mounds. Several Intrusive sites outside of Ohio and especially to the east
were discovered in earlier Adena conical mounds.
While there were several Late Woodland Period cultures in the eastern and
central United States, arguably, the predominate one in Ohio and eastern
Indiana was the Intrusive Mound people. Intrusive Mound sites have been
reported, however, from New York and Ontario in the northeast, as far south
as central Tennessee, and westward to Indiana and Michigan. The greatest
concentration of sites lay in south-central Ohio with Ross County being the
possible epicenter. Evidence of Intrusive Mound occupation (primarily arrowheads)
has been recovered across the northeast, throughout the Great Lakes and as
far south as Alabama.
Late Woodland villages were typically larger and more widely separated than
those of earlier cultures. People inhabited these village sites for several
years as opposed to one or two seasons before moving on. The communities
relied more on domesticated agriculture as well as meat and fish for both
short- and long-term survival. Crops grown were squash, gourds, may-grass
and, in later years, beans and maize. By the end of the period, maize was
widely grown and was a primary food source. Several professionally excavated
Intrusive Mound villages have revealed stockade walls complete with large
midden/dump sites. As towns contained more inhabitants than earlier Adena
and Hopewell communities, it was natural their larger and longer occupations
led to bigger communal middens. As the Late Woodland Period evolved, villages
and communities continued to become larger, weapons became more accurate
and widespread, and defensive mechanisms became prominent. The presence
of stockade-like structures indicates a need for increased protection from
outsiders, be they beast or human.
The Intrusive Mound Culture is defined primarily by goods recovered from
graves and middens. Unfortunately, while few sites in number, there have
been even fewer professionally excavated and well documented. Many Intrusive
Mound pieces have little or no provenience but are characterized only by
those few that have been excavated, catalogued and portrayed. Intrusive
Mound artifacts recovered to date are fine flint as well as antler tine arrow
points, flint spear points, chert celts and scrapers, shell beads, antler
hair combs, bone harpoons, slate and hardstone pendants, steatite and chlorite
smoking pipes, ceremonial picks, and several face masks. An excellent recent
magazine article featuring Intrusive Mound picks was written by Dr. Sandy
B. Carter, Jr. (see reference 3).
The Jack’s Reef type point was possibly the most widely distributed
and used point of the time. These points are significant as they are some
of the first true arrowheads. It is believed that bows and arrows were first
introduced into the Midwest approximately AD 800, making the Intrusive Mound
people some of the first to employ this tool/weapon. Several examples of
these first true arrowhead points are shown in Figure 1.
One very interesting and rare artifact type of the Intrusive Mound Culture
is ...
Read other great columns in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2023
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2024
