THE INDIANS
continued

The development of the Adena culture was slow and gradual and limited to the lowlands of the Delta. Large sites were developing, burial mounds were common, and although hunting and gathering were still important sources of food, the growing crops such as corn, squash and beans had become the major source of food.

Northeast of Arkansas, in the Ohio Valley, the Adena Period merged into the Hopewell Period about 400 B.C. By the time of the birth of Christ, this culture had entered northeastern Arkansas. The Hopewellians built large communities with craft specialties and great ceremonial elaboration. They evolved a complex funeral ritual involving the erection of groups of conical mounds to hold the dead notables in a log enclosure at the bottom. The burial goods consisted of jewelry of bone, shell, stone, copper and mica in abundance and of good artistic quality. The odd thing about this jewelry is that it shows clear Mexican influences, indicating a flow of ideas north from Mexico.

But the Hopewell influence did not penetrate Arkansas very deeply. Only one Arkansas site, a complex of burial mounds at the end of the Helena bridge, has been thoroughly investigated. At the bottom was the central log tomb belonging to a person obviously of high status. Other burials were scattered throughout the mound. After 500 A.D., the Hopewellian influence slowly died out.

But the Adena, or Burial Mound Period, continued to slowly evolve in eastern Arkansas. Decoration began appearing on the pottery. A cord-covered paddle would be hit against the still wet clay. The edge of a rock or shell, often notched was rocked back and forth or pressed into the wet clay. Occasionally the decorations were bordered by a broad incised line. Sometimes simple incised lines were used in southern Arkansas.

One important discovery was made about the time of the birth of Christ: the use of the bow and arrow. Arrowheads were fashioned in the old way, by percussion or pressure, with a notched base for attaching the shaft. As this system was much more accurate and effective at a greater distance, it almost entirely replaced the use of the spear or dart and atlatl.

The mountain area in northwestern Arkansas did not change much. They knew about pottery and the growing of crops. But the introduction of the bow and arrow invigorated the hunting spirit, and hunting and gathering remained the way of life until the coming of the Europeans.

But by 550 A.D. it was clear this way of life was at an end. Slowly the Adena and Hopewellian Periods declined and the Temple Mound Period started around 700 A.D. The mountainous northwest still kept the older ways. But major communities developed in the Delta; the major ones being Toltec Mounds, southeast of Little Rock, the Parkin Mounds in Parkin and possibly the Menard Mounds southeast of Gillett. Two different types of culture developed in the Delta region, split by the Arkansas River. Those to the south maintained contacts with the people of Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi, while those to the north were in direct communication to the northeast influenced by the more elaborate Hopewellian remnants. By 1,000 A.D., the pottery found demonstrates that split. In working of clay to make pottery, some crushed dry clay, bone, sand or shell was used as “temper” or “grog” to keep the item from cracking and splitting during the baking process. North of the Arkansas River, the Indian used, to the exclusion of other materials, crushed mussel shell. To the south, dry clay or bone were used. Any shell tempered pottery found south of the river indicates a trade item.