Tooth Artifact   Save
Hopewell Mound Group
Description: This bear canine tooth has been split in half from root to tip. There are four holes drilled through the root; one hole is close to the root end, and the other three are arranged in a line near the center of the root. The edges of the root were ground smooth, and there are cracks where the enamel and root meet near the root end. The tooth enamel has been stained by exposure to copper and is yellow, yellowish red, and light gray in color. This piece comes from Hopewell Culture. In Ohio, the Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) built burial mounds and large earthen enclosures in geometric shapes (circles, squares, and octagons) to mark the places where the people gathered periodically to participate in many social and ceremonial events. Some of these sites were quite large - the Newark Earthworks complex extends over a 4-square-mile area. The Hopewell people also maintained a large trade network extending as far as the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, the Florida coast and Appalachians, and northern Lake Superior. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: A0283_000531_043
Subjects: Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1–400); Mound-builders; Teeth
Places: Hopewell Mound Group