...
the Adena Culture were known as the Mound builders...
...and at the Interpretive Center there were lots of artifacts...and you actually got to touch them...amazing...
...holding a scraper...
...and that's Scout holding a 'used' war club...they also had a ceremonial one...
...a 'nutting' stone...used for grinding grains in a 'nutting' cup...show you that in a min...
...it's so worn from use that you can see the thumb and finger imprints...
...a hammer...
...and some of their amazing trading beads...these are made from rabbit bones...
...and these although they look like some sort of glass or pottery are really stones that someone hollowed out...talk about a lot of work...
...more trading beads...also not pottery...
...
clovis points...
...a rare piece of Adena pottery...
...a spearhead...dated at 6000 years old...amazing...
...a plumb bob...looks a lot like modern plumb bobs doesn't it...
...as she handed us this piece to hold...she told us that when the item was donated one of the curators dropped it and chipped it...so we're handling it with lots of care...
...a
gorget...strapped around the neck to prevent injury in battle...
...a small nutting stone...also known as a
cupstone...
...and a larger one...our guide says was found just like this with the stones placed just so in a cave...
...sewing tools...
...another nutting stone...
...buffalo fur...
...some information about the mound...
...some more tools including a fire hardened wooden needle...
...an old photo of the mound...with trees...also showing the indentation paths made by people walking up and down...
...a large nutting stone with multiple impressions...
...a stone mortar...a couple of pottery bowls and a two sided wedding cup...all Cherokee in origin...
...an old photograph of the disrespected mound at the turn of the 20th century...used as a horse racing arena...that's the judges stand on top and the race took place around the base...
...a close-up of the wedding cup...our guide said that they put vinegar in one side and sugar in the other to symbolize the bitter and sweet nature of marriage...
...a wooden comb...
...a closeup of the nutting stone...
...the information behind the nutting stone...I left it large so you can read it...
...a pottery box...
...a pine needle basket...there's a photo of the Man's grandmother making pine needle baskets
here...so that was really interesting...
...a small basket coated in pitch used as a dipper...
...a model of the mound...and a couple of other local mounds...one of the information signs we read said that there used to be over 50 mounds in the area...but they were all plowed or leveled...only three remain...
...a cutaway of the Criel Mound...
...the enclosure...
...excavating the mound...how they did it...
...the excavator...
Cyrus Thomas...
...Thanks for joining us for the tour...our tour guide was awesome...Scout thought she reminded him of Grandma...
~Have a lovely day!