Late Woodland Cultures

A.D. 600 to A.D. 1200

The Late Woodland Period, though often regarded simply as the time between the decline of the remarkable Hopewell culture and the rise of the Late Prehistoric cultures, actually is a fascinating period that witnessed dramatic cultural changes.

For reasons that are not yet clearly understood, Late Woodland cultures did not continue the Hopewell practice of building large geometric earthworks or importing large quantities of exotic raw materials such as obsidian and mica. Cultures in different regions began to diversify, probably because of the decline in interregional trade and travel.

Late Woodland people lived in villages that frequently were larger than Hopewell or Adena hamlets. They continued to grow crops such as sunflowers and squash and, by around A.D. 800, they began to include corn, or maize, in their gardens. Many communities were surrounded by a defensive wall or ditch suggesting that warfare had become a threat to these early American Indian groups.

One of the most important innovations introduced during the Late Woodland Period was the bow and arrow. This allowed for increased efficiency in hunting, but it also was a more effective weapon of war.

Some Late Woodland societies looked back with reverence on the old Hopewell ways and they buried their dead in the Hopewell earthworks. Archaeologists have referred to these groups as the "Intrusive Mound culture," but that name makes it seem like these burials were "intrusions" rather than attempts to continue traditional practices.

Late Woodland cultures gradually gave way to the subsequent Late Prehistoric cultures as maize became more important and as villages grew even larger.