Many groups of built mounds in North America. We call these groups . In Ohio, some of the mounds that remain are now in .
Mount Builders began living in Ohio almost years ago. We don’t know what they called themselves, but we call them the . The Adena had learned farming. This meant they did not need to move from .
The Adena built thousands of hill-shaped mounds in Ohio. They buried their in the mounds. They also held religious there. Inside the mounds, archaeologists have found , art, and other special objects.
The Adena disappeared about 2,000 years ago. We do not know why.
Just before the Adena disappeared, a group we call the settled in Ohio. These people traveled great distance to barter, meaning to with others without using money.
Like the Adena, the Hopewell lived as hunters, gatherers, and farmers. They were probably the first people in Ohio to raise . They lived in villages of families.
The Hopewell built many different mounds, including some on hilltops that look like forts. Scientists think they took years to build a mound we call . Despite this name, it probably was not used as a fort.
The Hopewell buried their leaders and other important people in the mounds. A religious leader called a led a special ceremony. Scientists also think that the Hopewell used the mounds to track the and the moon.
About 1,400 years ago the Hopewell died out. Nearly 400 years passed before the rise of the , so named because they build villages near Fort Ancient. They were farmers, and they fished and hunted. They lived in villages as large as people.
In 1991, new studies convinced many scientists that the Fort Ancient people built the . This is a giant mound shaped like a snake. The people may have used the mound to tell the start of the .