American History

When I lived in OH my husband and I toured the state visiting them. I've always been interested in Native cultures, past and present.

We drove through SE OH around Chilicothe and then west to the Cincinnati area. Among the mounds we saw were Tarleton Cross, Mound City, and the Serpent mound.

They are part of the Hopewell and Adena cultures that preceded Cahokia. Hopewell artifacts and mounds have been found in western PA and SW NY too.

There are related mounds in the US SE also, eg AL and GA. The mound building cultures rose and spread through the OH and MS river systems making a network of different socio linguistic groups connected to each other through trade and the shared mound building custom.

At some distant point in time they were influenced by Mesoamerican cultures since they shared some customs and adopted the corn agriculture that started in what is now Mexico.

Note: edited to correct typos