Proceedings ofthe United StatesNational MuseumSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ? WASHINGTON, D.C.
Volume 112 1960 Number 3441
WELCOME MOUND AND THE EFFIGY PIPESOF THE ADENA PEOPLE
By Frank M. Setzler
The expansion of the Columbia-Southern Chemical Corporation'sNatrium Plant near New Martinsville, West Virginia, required remov-ing two Adena Indian burial mounds on their property. The first,known as "Natrium Mound" (46Mr-2), was carefully excavated in1948 by Ralph S. Solecki (Solecki, 1953); the second, "WelcomeMound" (named after the community "Welcome," 46Mr-3), wasexcavated by me in 1957.Appreciating the need to preserve a detailed record of the contentsof such prehistoric burial sites, Mr. C. E. Wolf, Plant Manager, noti-fied the West Virginia Archeological Society and, through it, theSmithsonian Institution of the impending program of expansion. Inaddition, the Columbia-Southern Chemical Corporation, a subsidiaryof the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, in 1948 and again in 1957 pro-vided laborers, heavy and light machinery, and tools. The Smith-sonian Institution provided the archeologists. 451
452 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 112Adena PeopleAdena burial mounds are common in the Ohio River Valley region.It was not, however, until 1901 that the first Adena mound wasexcavated for historical purposes by William C. Mills of the OhioState Museum (Mills, 1902). This mound was on the estate ofThomas Worthington (Governor of Ohio, 1814-18) in Ross County, amile northwest of Chillicothe, Ohio. Governor Worthington gave thename "Adena" (probably from the Hebrew "Adinah") to his acreageon the west side of the Scioto River. Presumably he meant to imply
"nothing lacking" or, freely translated, "paradise." The name"Adena" was adopted by archeologists to refer to the prehistoricIndians who built such mounds.The middle section of the Ohio River flows through narrow, steep-sided valleys with hills rising 600 to 700 feet above the river. Levelareas occur at various bends in the river, known as bottoms, one suchbeing Grave Creek where one of the highest mounds in the UnitedStates is located, the famous Grave Creek Mound in the center ofMoundsville, West Virginia.The relatively wide, level areas periodically flooded by the OhioRiver served as ideal village sites for these prehistoric people. Theenvironment consisted of a river well-stocked with fish and mollusks,and with plenty of fresh water; heavily wooded hills that even nowsupport deer, bear, and many other meat-producing animals; andsites for garden plots that were annually enriched by flood waters.Such an environment was probably an important factor in the tran-sition of a nomadic group to a semisedentary one.These ecological factors probably enabled a gathering, gardening,and hunting people to plant, cultivate, and store vegetables. Theyprobably also depended on animals, fish, berries, and wild plants tosupplement their diet. The large mounds that they built over thebodies of their dead are evidence that they remained in one place for aconsiderable time. It is not known how long it took them to buildWelcome, Natrium, Cresap, or Grave Creek Mounds, which are allwithin a few miles of each other, for we do not know how many peopleworked on these mounds or what kinds of implements they used.The prevalence of Adena mounds along the Ohio River and itstributaries in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, andMaryland suggests that this area (fig. 1) became one of the favoredlocations of these people between 800 B.C. and A.D. 800. Here manyfamily groups apparently found an environment conducive to settlein and built a compact social organization. The mounds that theybuilt probably honored certain deceased members of their tribe andserved as protection for their remains.
WELCOME MOUND?SETZLER 453The bodies were usually interred extended on their backs with per-sonal belongings and ceremonial and political paraphernalia, and weresurrounded by log and bark structures. The ceremonial objectsburied with the deceased individual were probably regarded as con-tributing to his welfare in after life.
Figure 1?Map showing concentration of Adena sites in the Ohio River Valley region.
Welcome MoundErecting a tumulus as large as Welcome Mound was a considerableundertaking for these people. It measured about 110 feet in diameterand 14 feet at the highest point (plate 1). The hundreds of tons ofdirt were composed of both the thin mantle of topsoil and surroundinghumus and a loose gravelly soil, interspersed with water-worn pebblesranging in size from a marble to elliptical biconvex pebbles 4 to 5inches across. The composition was comparable to that found inthe Natrium Mound, a mile to the south (Solecki, 1953, pp. 327,382, 390). Such a mixture made it difficult for us to dig with shovelsand trowels.In contrast to some of the other large Adena mounds which con-tained the remains of many more bodies (Bache and Satterthwaite,
454 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 1121930; Greenman, 1932; Webb and Snow, 1945; and Webb and Baby,1957), Welcome Mound contained only three adult human skeletons.Two of the bodies were placed on the base near center. There wereno pits or clay-lined tombs beneath the original surface of the groundas were found in the other mounds. The stratum of glacial gravelsunderlying the base probably discouraged such an operation by peoplelimited to primitive tools of wood or stone. The badly decomposedskeletons were surrounded with the usual channels or molds, causedby decayed logs lying in various directions. Layers of bark and theresidue of perishable things lay both beneath and over the skeletons.A mass of thick, coarse, grit-tempered potsherds and a handfulof fresh-water mollusk shells were found on the same level within afew feet of the skeletons. After much effort to restore these hundredsof sherds, I was able to construct a large (over 1-foot high) barrel-shaped vessel with no neck or constriction and with a flat undecoratedrim. The rim is %6 inch thick, and the wall thickens down the sideto % inch near the rounded base. The outside surface, especiallynear the top, gives the appearance of smoothed-out cord marks.In color, it varies from a dark brownish grey at the top, through apinkish tinge, to an off-white base. It is tempered with relativelylarge and coarse water-worn gravelly pebbles. It is not as heavy andcrude as earlier Adena Fayette Thick pottery, but is in no waycomparable to the decorated pottery of the contemporaneous Hope-well Indians, whose burial mounds are in the same general area. Iam inclined to place the pottery somewhere between Early and MiddleAdena periods.In the mouth of skeleton No. 3 was found a large tooth (plate 1),subsequently identified as the canine tooth of the mountain lion, orcougar, Felis concolor. The tooth in this position would seem tobe of little significance, but this finding must be correlated witha previous discovery. W. S. Webb and R. S. Baby in 1949 (Webband Baby, 1957, pp. 61-71) found the front portion of the upper jawof a wolf, cut in the form of a spatula, associated with a human skullin the Ayres Mound near New Liberty, Kentucky. This jaw, togetherwith the six other known associations of bear, cougar, and wolfteeth, establishes an important ceremonial trait among these Adenapeople. Thanks to the meticulous work of Webb and Baby, we nowknow that the Adena people had men who served their society in acapacity comparable to that of a shaman, medicine man, or witchdoctor.The mountain lion tooth in the mouth of skeleton No. 3 thereforesupports the belief that this skeleton is the remains of an importantreligious leader. He was probably buried in a costume that includedan animal mask. If the bark and other discolorations surrounding
PROC. U.S. NAT. MUS.. VOL. 112 SETZLER PLATE 1
Welcome Mound, remains ol skeleton No. 1 and the duck effigy pipe in situ, and remainsoi skeleton No. i and the canine tooth of a mountain lion.
PROC. U.S. NAT. MUS., VOL. 112 SETZLER -PLATE 2
The duck effigy pipe from Welcome Mound compared with the bill, head, and neck of ashoveler duck.
PROC. US. NAT. MUS.. VOL. 112 SETZLER-PLATE 3
Human effigy pipe from the Adena Mound.
PROC. U.S. NAT. MUS , VOL. 112 SETZLER?PLATE 4
gSte**""
v*W %*?
WELCOME MOUND?SETZLER 455
this skeleton could be identified, we would have more specific evidenceof the paraphernalia and garments?probably the skin of a cougar
?
worn by this intermediary between his people and the spirit world.Such an individual would be sufficiently important to justify thearduous task of constructing a 14-foot high mound.Granulated pieces of charcoal found at the base of the mound andin association with burials 2 and 3 were tested for Carbon-14 byMichigan-Memorial Phoenix Project No. 6. Dr. James B. Griffinof the University of Michigan has relayed the results of sample M-903as 2300 plus or minus 200 years before the present, or about 341 B.C.Effigy PipesThe most unusual object recovered during the excavation of Wel-come Mound was the straight-tubular, duck-effigy pipe (USNM417000). One can readily see (plate 2) that the prehistoric sculptorresponsible for carving the duck effigy was gifted, as he reproducedalmost to scale the head, neck, and bill of a shoveler duck, Spatulaclypeata (Linnaeus). In using Ohio limestone, he had the advantageof its softness when freshly dug. After it is exposed to the air, itbecomes hard and brittle. This peculiarity was noticed when Icleaned the dirt from around the pipe. The bristles of the whiskbroom made slight scratches. I had to use a camel's hair brush in-stead. Several days later the limestone was much harder.The pipe was found 5 inches from the right knee of skeleton No. 1(plate 1), 6 feet beneath the crest of the mound and 8 feet directlyabove burial No. 3 in square N18-W1. The body had been buried ina north-south direction with feet pointing to the north. The bonesbeing articulated indicated that the body was buried in the flesh on itsback. It was surrounded by a greenish-grey oily clay, which was en-closed with heavy bark. The acidity of these bark coverings (oak orwalnut) seems to have given the bones a reddish cast. On three sideswere imprints or molds 18 inches in diameter left by the decomposedlogs. The bones of the skeleton are heavy and are judged to bethose of a middle-aged male.The pipe measures Q% inches in length. The tubular end is 1 inchin diameter on the outside, and the diameter of the drilled hole is% inch. The widest part of the bill is IV2 inches. Near the headback of the eyes, it is 1% 6 inches wide. The narrowest part of the bill,directly in front of the eyes is 1 %% inches wide. The 3/16 inch open-ing in the bill or mouthpiece is elliptical. The eye sockets are %inch in diameter and are 2% inches from the end of the bill. Theunderside of the bill clearly suggests the lamellae characteristic ofshoveler ducks (plate 2).
456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 112The pipe is thus basically tubular in shape and gracefully carved torepresent the neck, head, and bill of a shoveler duck. The twocountersunk holes, representing eye sockets, could have been filledwith a perishable substance to represent the pupils. The relativelyflat, expanded bill served as the mouthpiece. The circular bore runsto within % inch from the mouthpiece, where the hole is reducedfrom % inch to an elliptical opening of jU inch.Straight tubular effigy pipes have also been found in other Adenamounds. The most famous one is the human effigy pipe, found byMills in 1901 in the Adena Mound on Governor Worthington's estatenear Chillicothe, Ohio. This pipe is reproduced here (plate 3) throughthe kindness of Raymond S. Baby of the Ohio State Museum. Itwas carved from multicolored Ohio pipestone also in the form of astraight tube and represents the body of an achondroplastic (chondro-dystrophic) dwarf, as is apparent from the short heavy-set musculartorso, stubby arms and legs, enlarged head, and swollen (goiter) neck.This pipe has been regarded by both archeologists and artists as oneof the sculptured masterpieces of American Art. Until now, it wasthe only effigy pipe ever described from an Adena Mound.Soon after the Welcome Mound pipe was discovered, a cast of asimilar duck effigy pipe was located in the Division of Archeology ofthe Ohio State Museum. The original, now in the Dayton Museum ofNatural History, was reported found in loose dirt while the EnglewoodMound, near Dayton, Ohio, was being levelled by a bull-dozer duringthe building of a dam in the early 1930's. The pipe is illustratedhere (plate 4) by permission of Mr. E. J. Koestner, Director of the Day-ton Museum. The length is Qji inches, the diameter of the neck is% inch, and the widest part of the bill is 1% inches. The lengthfrom the end of the neck to the center of the eye socket is exactly4 inches, the same length as the Welcome Mound pipe.Two effigy pipes were uncovered in the excavation of a mound inSayler Park, Cincinnati, Ohio, by the Cincinnati Museum of NaturalHistory. One is a well-proportioned clay effigy of an aquatic birdand was found in association with one of the burials. The directorof the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, Mr. Ralph Dury, verykindly sent me photographs of this pipe, as well as of another thatrepresents the head of a wolf. These pipes were excavated under thesupervision of Dr. James Kellar and S. Frederick Starr and are re-produced here (plate 4) by permission of Mr. Dury. On the basis ofthese and other artifacts recovered, we must assume that Sayler ParkMound was also built over the interred bodies of Adena people.Since straight-tubular effigy pipes were made exclusively by theAdena, they are a diagnostic culture trait of these people. Thecarving of objects as artistic as these pipes certainly represents an
WELCOME MOUND?SETZLEK 457
artistic talent beyond that of an ordinary member of a society. Towhat extent the making of pipes indicates specialized professions,however, is difficult to determine.The duck effigy pipe from Welcome Mound appears to be relatedin some way to the person buried beside it and to a mortuary cus-tom of the Adena people. Moreover, it may indicate some religioussignificance associated with a shoveler duck. The same reverencepostulated here for the shoveler duck may be applied to the wolf andunidentified aquatic-bird effigy pipes from Saylor Mound.The human effigy pipe from Adena Mound could well represent aparticular individual. A person possessing the physical and patho-logical characteristics apparent in the effigy was likely regarded asunique and thereby deified; actual dwarf skeletons have been recov-ered in Adena mounds.Among numerous primitive people, the smoking of tobacco or someherb was regarded as sacred or an important part of a ceremonialfunction. As we know from early European contacts with NorthAmerican Indians, the smoking of a peace pipe attended all importantpolitical as well as religious or ceremonial functions. Possibly theseeffigy pipes and the more common plain pipe (plate 4) found in themounds of the Adena represent the origin of such a ceremony. Ouronly evidence rests with similar forms used by historic Indians andreported by early Spanish, French, and English explorers andmissionaries.Several monographs have been published on this topic, e.g., G. A.West (1934) and H. C. Shetrone (1941). These men not only illus-trate various other kinds of pipes, but quote from hundreds of sourcesdescribing the variety of uses that were made of the many forms ofNicotiana. When we consider the impact that tobacco had upon thecountries of the world after 1492, it is understandable that the prob-able original users of this herb buried pipes?especially such wellcarved pipes?as offerings to their dead.SummaryThe burial methods, the type of pottery and restored vessel, thedate from Carbon-14 tests, the effigy pipe, and the association ofan animal tooth in the mouth cavity are sufficient evidence to estab-lish Welcome Mound as an Adena burial site. The wearing of ananimal mask indicates that such a person could have served as ashaman and as such would justify the building of Welcome Mound.The effigy pipes indicate a possible religious association between theprehistoric Adena and aquatic birds, animals, and dwarfs, while theartistry shows an advance over the common straight tubes of theearlier, archaic people and those of the Adena.
458 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.mReferencesBache, C, and Satterthwaite, L.1930. The excavation of an Indian mound at Beech Bottom, West Virginia.Mus. Journ., Univ. Museum, Philadelphia, vol. 21, Nos. 3 and 4.pp. 132-187.Douglas, L. H., and D'Harnoncotjrt, R.1941. Indian art of the United States, The Museum of Modern Art, p. 72.Dragoo, D. W.1956. Excavations at the Watson Site, Hancock County, West Virginia,Pennsylvania Arch., vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 59-88.Fetzer, E. W., and Mayer-Oakes, W. J.1951. Excavation of an Adena burial mound at the Half-Moon Site. WestVirginia Arch., No. 4, pp. 1-25.Greenman, E. F.1932. Excavation of the Coon Mound and an analysis of the Adena culture.Ohio Arch, and Hist. Quart., vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 366-523.Mills, W. C.1902. Excavations of the Adena Mound. Ohio Arch, and Hist. Quart.,vol. 10, Nos. 4, figs. 28-30, pp. 452-479.Ritchie, W. A., and Dragoo, D. C.1959. The eastern dispersal of Adena. Amer. Antiquity, vol. 25, No. 1,pp. 43-50.Setzler, F. M.1931. The archeology of Randolph County and the Fudge Mound. IndianaHist. Bull., vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-49.1940. Archeological perspectives in the northern Mississippi Valley, Essaysin historical anthropology of North America, Smithsonian Misc.Coll., vol. 100, pp. 253-290.Shetrone, H. C.1941. The Mound-Builders, Appleton-Century Co., New York, 508 pp.Solecki, R. S.1953. Exploration of an Adena mound at Natrium, West Virginia, Anthro.papers, No. 40, Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 151, pp. 313-395.Spaulding, A. C.1952. The origin of the Adena culture of the Ohio Valley. SouthwesternJourn. Anthro., vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 260-268.Starr, S. F.1958. Excavation of an Indian mound in Sayler Park. Bull. Hist. Philos.Soc. of Ohio, vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 31-40.Webb, W. S., and Baby, R. S.1957. The Adena people No. 2, Ohio Hist. Soc, Columbus, 123 pp.Webb, W. S., and Snow, C. E.1945. The Adena people, Report Anthro. and Arch., Univ. Kentucky, vol.6, pp. 369.West, G. A.1934. Tobacco, pipes and smoking customs of the American Indians.Bull. Public Mus., Milwaukee, vol. 17, pt. 1, pp. 1-477; pt. 2,pp. 478-994.
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