This paper utilizes the movement of prehistoric people in the Midwest to
gain insight into the probable languages spoken by these cultures. These
migrations started approximately around 500 BC and ended AD 500. This is
a continuation of my research presented in this journal in 2020 “The
Woodland Clash of Cultures” (Moyer, Ref. 10).
It has been fairly well proven that the Hopewell culture expanded out of
Illinois into southern Ohio sometime around 100 BC, but what has been less
reported on is the movement of the Hopewell of Illinois to the south at
about the same time. This movement seems to have occurred in two separate
episodes and seems to have been meant to accomplish two separate goals.
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This excerpt from "What Languages Did
the Adena and Copena Cultures Speak?" published in the 2025
Central States Archaeological Societies 2025
January Journal
Read this and mores in the Central States
Archaeological 2025
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026
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Figure 1. Terminal archaic – Early Woodland
locations of cultures compiled from maps by Don Dragoo,William Webb,
Charles Snow and John Walthall.
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| Figure 2. The advance of the Adena culture into Tennessee. |
I have previously proposed that there was a protracted war between the
Adena culture and southern cultures for control of Middle Tennessee (Figs.
2,4). One of the results of such a conflict was the total disruption of
north-south trade routes. The Hopewell of Illinois were no longer receiving
greenstone and steatite from the Hillabee schist formation of Alabama;
mica and steatite were no longer flowing north from the southern Appalachian
mountains; and the supply of conch shell for ceremonial cups and necklaces
disappeared. The Hopewell, a culture probably based on trade, had many
reasons for trying to end this war and reopen the northsouth trade routes,
but how to do this without becoming involved in this conflict was the question.
The first episode of the Hopewell movement south (Fig. 4) is represented
by the Dickson point. The type site for the Dickson point is Dickson Mound
in Fulton County, Illinois, and they are dated 500 BC – AD 500 (Overstreet,
Ref. 11). The Dickson point is found from Illinois, Missouri, northern Arkansas
and other Hopewell occupied areas, but in the south they are found mainly
west of the Mississippi River. I believe this episode of the Hopewell movement
south was meant to intimidate the southern tribes who were already weakened
and embroiled in a war with the Adena people. If the Hopewell convinced the
southern tribes that they could open up a “second front” and
attack them in their homelands, the southern tribes would have no choice
but to end the war (Fig. 5).
The second episode of the Hopewell movement south is seen in the Waubesa
point that is found from Wisconsin, Illinois, western Kentucky and into west
Tennessee. The Waubesa point is associated with the Hopewell culture and
is dated 500 BC – AD 500 (Overstreet, Ref. 11). I believe that after
the war between the Adena and the southern cultures was over, the Hopewell
culture, through gifts or bribes of copper, galena, tobacco etc., enriched
the leaders of the Colbert culture and convinced them to become their trading
partners in
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This excerpt from "What Languages Did
the Adena and Copena Cultures Speak?" published in the 2025 Central States Archaeological Societies 2025
January Journal
Read this and mores in the Central States
Archaeological 2025
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026
|
 |
Figure 3. Southern culture Motley and Cotaco Creek
artifacts ( top 2 rows ) found directly above Early-Middle Adena culture
artifacts
(bottom 2 rows ) at a site in northern middle Tennessee
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the south (Fig. 5). Through the interactions between the Hopewell culture
and the Colbert culture, the Copena culture evolved. When did this happen?
The Colbert culture lasted from 300 BC to AD 100, and the Copena culture
lasted from AD 100 - 500 (Walthall, Ref. 2). To this point I have written
about a scenario or theory based on projectile point types and the movement
of these point types as I interpret them. Many of the events I describe are
different than the accepted theories of some archaeologists. Some believe
the Copena culture in northern Alabama was the result of groups of Adena
leaving Ohio after the Hopewell moved into their territory.
I could discuss the differences between the two cultures, such as the fact
that the Copena were making their well-known great pipes while the Adena
made blocked end tube pipes. The Copena made low conical burial mounds for
their dead elite and had the practice of burying commoners in caves, while
the Adena made large cone shaped mounds. It could be mentioned that just
as the Hopewell changed after they moved into Ohio, the Adena must have changed
if they moved into Alabama. Instead, I will look at something less tangible
than artifacts, but more constant and resistant to change. A culture might
change its projectile points, burial customs or even where they are living,
but language is much more resistant to change.
Let’s look at Swanton’s map of tribes and linguistic stocks
in the Eastern United States ca. AD 1700 (Fig. 6). On this map you can still
see the remnants of the Algonquin speaking lobes of the Hopewell movements
into Ohio and to the south almost 2000 years ago. I believe it is apparent
that the Hopewell spoke Algonquin. What language did the Copena culture
speak? Given the fact that the Colbert/Copena culture is found primarily
in northern Alabama and southern Middle Tennessee it is fairly apparent on
Swanton’s map that the Copena culture spoke Yuchean. And if the Copena
culture was the major southern trading partner of the Hopewell culture, the
two enclaves of Yuchean speaking people (Figs. 5,6) near the Gulf Coast
and South Atlantic coast make perfect sense. This is where shell was traded
and gathered for the long trip northward, and mica, steatite and greenstone
were bartered for, as traders passed by the Hillabee Shist formation and
the southern Appalachians. The Copena culture is probably the source of most
of the shell, mica and steatite wealth that was accumulated and buried in
the Hopewell mounds in Ohio.
So what language did the Adena culture speak? It is believed that after
the Hopewell culture took over the Adena culture in Ohio, the two groups
coexisted for a time (some say one or two centuries). The Hopewell was likely
the dominant culture, even though they were a minority of the population.
The Adena would have been
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