Ohio Hopewell Depictions of Composite Creatures: Part II–Archaeological Context and a Journey to an Afterlife

Abstract

Archaeological contextual analyses of four artifacts that depicted composite creatures and that were recovered from the Turner earthwork in southwestern Ohio are integrated here with a biological identification of the creatures' component animals and a survey of historic Woodland–Plains Indian knowledge about their roles in Woodland–Plains life (previously reported in this journal). Together, the three studies reveal that the creatures were likely employed in a ritual drama concerned with the welfare of recently deceased persons on their journey to an afterlife through underwater–underground realm(s), where they encountered the creatures. The location of the journey to an afterlife through Below realm(s) differs from that of nearly all historic Woodland–Plains Indians, who knew the journey to take place on the earth-disk or to occur by ascension. Implications of the ritual drama at Turner for some recent interpretive trends in Woodland archaeology are explored, including an overemphasis on “world renewal” as the primary motivation behind Ohio Hopewell ceremonialism, the scarce attention given to eschatological matters, and the misleading notion that all agentive behaviors, including mortuary rites, are political.

Keywords:

• Ohio Hopewell
• mortuary practices
• religion
• eschatology
• ritual drama

Acknowledgments

We thank Tom Emerson, David Penney, N'omi Greber, and two other anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. I, Chris Carr, give my heartfelt thanks to Rex Weeks for his teachings about cultural sensitivity to Woodland Native Americans past and present and his instruction in ethnohistorical and critical analytical tools for sharpening sensitivity. I am grateful to Rebekah Zinser for drafting Figure 3 from field drawings.

Notes on contributor

Christopher Carr is professor of anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 1979. His current research focuses on documenting the social and religious lives of Hopewell and other Native Americans of the Woodland Period in the Midwest-riverine area, drawing upon their art, mortuary remains, ceremonial architecture and landscapes, and exchange goods.

Correspondence to: School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–2402 USA.

Robert McCord is chief curator of natural history and curator of paleontology at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, Arizona. He obtained a M.S. in geosciences in 1986, and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology in 1996, both from the University of Arizona. His research focus is on turtles and lizards from the Cretaceous Period to today, with numerous other interests.

Correspondence to: Arizona Museum of Natural History, 53 North Macdonald Street, Mesa, AZ 85201 USA.

Notes

1 This summary is a composite of information from Willoughby (1922:63–74) and the following records in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University: six field Diagrams 2–7 in Glassine Envelope for Turner Group 1882-35, Mound 4; two field Diagrams labeled “Section of Mound 4, September 11, 1882” and “Mound 4” in Glassine Envelope for Turner 1883-44A; correspondences from C. L. Metz to F. W. Putnam on September 9 and October 6, 1882, in the X-file for accession no. 82-35A(2) Turner Mounds and Other Ohio Sites; and 6 pages of field notes “Exploration of Mound 4 of Turner Group” in Glassine Envelope.

2 Below the Central Altar, on top of the natural gravel subsoil, were sequentially placed 20 inches of puddled clay; 7 inches of irregularly stratified ashes, sand, gravel, clay, and loam; 1.5 inches of black ash; burned clay 4 inches deep; unburned clay 2 inches deep; and the burned clay forming the base of the Central Altar. The first two-mentioned clay layers were associated with another altar built prior to, below, and adjacent to the one of interest here. Above the Central Altar and its fill and cap of flat stones were a one-half inch deep layer of black ashes; 8 inches of stratified ashes, sand, loam, and gravel; 8 inches of gray ashes with many animal bones and occasional pottery and mica fragments; 20 inches of darker clay with traces of ashes and charcoal and occasional animal bone fragments; and 21 inches of clay with numerous charcoal flecks.

3 Feature 10 cremation chamber-tomb in Mound 3, like most of the other features of the mound, was oriented about 25° east of north.

4 The setting of the ritual drama in the Below realm(s) could imply that the social group that orchestrated the ceremony was a clan, phratry, dual division, or sodality with a water-related eponym, like those that existed in historic Woodland Indian tribes (e.g., fish or alligator clan, fish or water phratry, lower dual division; Thomas et al. 2005:344–351, Tables 8.1–8.3). However, the sizes of the ceremonial gatherings around the Central Altar of Mound 4 and the Feature 10 cremation chamber-tomb were probably much larger and involved multiple local symbolic communities (sensu Ruby et al. 2005), given the easy access to river travel afforded by the Turner site's location and the large labor force required to build Mounds 3, 4, and the conjoined mound complex.

5 Also, the creature's mouth is not wide open to bite, and in no historic narrative of which we are aware does the snake harm the deceased journeyer by biting.

6 A third provenience that probably indicates a journey to an afterlife that passed through the Below realms and that was similar to the journeys represented in the Central Altar of Mound 4 and the Feature 10 cremation chamber-tomb in Mound 3 is the Central Altar of Mound 3. Among the artifacts it contained were those pertaining to three kinds of creatures analogous to the three found in the Central Altar of Mound 3: four copper, g-clef-shaped cutouts (Willoughby 1922:Plate 11-a) that mimic, to us and Willoughby (1922:48), the shape of the four horns of Creature 1, the rattlesnake-carnivore; 12 alligator teeth that recall Creature 2, the primitive fish and alligator/caiman composite; and five mica cutouts of the upper halves of bears, apparently swimming, partially submerged in water (Willoughby 1922:56, Plate 15), which replace the horned rattlesnake and recall the underwater–underground bears know by historic Woodland and Plains Indians (Carr and McCord 2013:43, 52–53, Table 2). Like the Central Altar of Mound 4, that of Mound 3 and its contents were covered by strata having water associations, implying the location of the creatures in an underwater–underground realm. From bottom to top, the strata in the altar were three large sheets of mica, 4 inches of clean sand, and flat water-worn stones. However, the altar in Mound 3, in contrast to the Central Altar of Mound 4, appears to have been the place of decommissioning of paraphernalia from multiple ceremonies of varied purposes, only one of which might have dealt with the death journey through the Below realm(s) and encounters with powerful creatures. The multiple ceremonies are suggested by the great diversity and number of artifacts within the Central Altar of Mound 3. Also, the altar contained artifacts associated with the Above realm(s)—two mica cutouts of human faces with bird noses, that is, bird-persons, and one copper cutout with bird talons (Willoughby 1922:56, Plates 10e, 15c)—in addition to the g-clefs, alligator teeth, bear effigies, and other artifacts associated with the Below realm(s). Finally, the altar included three artifacts, at least one of which represents the cosmos at large rather than only the Below realms. One (Willoughby 1922:Plate 10e) is a copper cutout composed of a circle—at once the whole cosmos and the axis mundi in cross section (Carr 2008a:295–297, Figure 5.2B)—with points in the eight cardinal and semicardinal directions, and two bird talons suggesting the spin of the cosmos. The other two artifacts are human parietals, each again circular and possibly referencing the entire cosmos, and carved with a turtle (elements of a map/sawback turtle and/or snapping turtle) indicating the earth-turtle island. The carina on the turtle's back may double for bird feathers, indicating an Above realm, while the turtle's legs may double for those of a feline, indicating an underwater panther and a Below realm (Carr 2008b:55, 59, Figures 2.9a, 2.9b).