THE MARTIN M ND AN EXTENSION OF THE HOPEWELL INTERACTION SPHERE INTO THE ", Pc WALHONDING VALLEY OF EASTERN OHIO 970.6 MOR by Wayne A. Mortine and Doug Randles i i \ ! I 000 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A GIFT FROM Wayne A. Martine and Doug Randles COSHOCTON 0 :I PUBLIC LIBRARY 1 o tolll olillolillolillolll[olillolillolillolillo! 111 0 111(0111\0100 I THE MARTIN MOUND AN EXTENSION OF THE HOPEWELL INTERACTION SPHERE INTO THE WALHONDING VALLEY OF EASTERN OHIO by Wayne A. Mortine and Doug Randles Occasional Papers in Muskingum Valley Archaeology No. 10 Jeff Carskadden and James Morton, editors THE MUSKINGUM VALLEY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY Copyright @ 1978 852387 Preface The 1960s mark J for the most part) the end of the "antiquarian period" in archaeological research in Ohio. Olaf Prufer's excavation of the McGraw site in the Scioto Valley in 1963 (Prufer, 1965) represented the break­ through in Middle Woodland studies and ended a long period of stagnation and dependence on early twentieth century site excavations and reports. In addition to numerous 19th century descriptions of the Newark and Marietta earthworks, research into eastern Ohio Hopewell has been limited to William C. Mills' excavation of the Hazlett Mound on Flint Ridge shortly before 1921 (Mills, 1921), Shetrone's excavation of the Eagle Mound at Newark in 1928 (Shetrone, 1930), and Raymond Baby's descriptions of Hopewellian copper objects from the Rutledge Mound (Baby, 1961) in Lick~ng County and the Rollins-Ford Mound (Baby, 1962) in Muskingum County. More recent work in­ cludes our own reports in the Ohio Archaeologist on surface sites along the Licking River in the Dillon Reservoir area of western Muskingum County (Carskadden, 1970; Donaldson and Carskadden, 1973), along the Muskingum River near Zanesville (Carskadden, 1972), in the Wills Creek drainage area of northeastern Muskingum County (Carskadden, 1973)1 and Jack Bernhardt's survey of Hopewellian open sites in the Newark area (Bernhardt, 1976). In 1973 Wayne Mortine tested the Middle Woodland Barlow Site along the Tus­ carawas River, a major tributary of the Muskingum (Mortine, 1974). Recently Jan Whitman (1977) has reported on the excavation of a significant Middle Woodland site, the Kohl Mound, also along the Tuscarawas River. In the Muskingum Valley proper the Muskingum Valley Archaeological Survey has been excavating a Hopewellian mound group (5 mounds) and an associated open site near Zanesville. Reports on the first two mounds excavated have been published (Foraker, 1975; Morton, 1977). The remaining mounds and open site will be discussed in a future edition of "Occasional Papers". James Murphy is also currently surveying Middle Woodland components in the upper Licking Valley and his report will be included in "Occasional Papers". With the exception of the reports by Mills, Shetrone, and Baby, most of the data on Muskingum Valley Hopewell in "modern" archaeological literature has been pUblished in the last eight years. This lack of earli­ er research on Hopewell in this area is in spite of the fact that one of the most extensive of Hopewellian ceremonial complexes -- the Newark Earth­ works -- lies at the head of the Licking River at Newark, and an equally impressive Hopewellian mound group -- the Marietta Earthworks -- lies at the mouth of the Muskingum. Flint Ridge, another important archaeological feature particularly significant in Middle Woodland times, is located be­ tween Newark and Zanesville. Therefore, Wayne Mortine and Doug Randles' excavation of the Martin Mound is important in that it not only substan­ tiates a major occurrence of classic Hopewellian traits in an area once thought to be out of the mainstream of Hopewellian development but also provides the first account of Hopewell occupation in the Walhonding Valley. It thus represents a significant step in understanding the Hopewell phenom­ enon in this portion of eastern Ohio. Jeff Carskadden and James Morton January, 1978 Map of southeastern Ohio showing location of the Martin Mound, Coshocton County, in relation to certain major Hopewellian ceremonial centers. Report No. 10 THE MARTIN MOUN]) AN EXTENSION OF THE HOPEWELL INTERAC TION SPHERE INTO THE WALHONDING VALLEY OF EASTERN OHIO by Wayne A. Mortine and Doug Randles The Martin Mound is located in Bethlehem Township, Coshocton County, Ohio. It is situated on the edge of the second or highest terrace on the north side of the Walhonding River p 800 feet above sea level. The nearly circular mound is 50 feet in diameter and only two feet high. The surface of the terrace undulates with slight swales and rises. The mound lies on one of the highest of these rises; a depression on the east side makes the mound appear to be about five feet high if viewed from that direction. The river bottoms at this point are one mile wide and the mound is equi­ distant between the range of hills on either side of the valley. A meander takes the main channel of the river 0.4 mile south of the site, curving along the base of the steep-sided hills. Skirting these hills for a little over a mile in a generally eastern direction, the river again meanders south, then turns sharply and runs north to its confluence with a major tributary, Killbuck Creek. From this juncture the Walhonding flows east to join the Tuscarawas River at Co shocton and form the Muskingum River. The Martin site is 1.6 miles west of the mouth of Killbuck Creek. The village of Warsaw is 1.7 miles west of the site along State Route 36. The Martin Mound was first explored in the summer of 1931 by Edwin N. Ferdon who at the time was a recent high school graduate. With the help of a younger brother and some boy scouts, he started a trench toward the center of the mound. The size and direction of the trench was expanded as features were uncovered. Visitors to the site at the time of the dig remember trenches that formed a cross-like configuration on an east-west p north-south line with the intersection of the trenches being at what was considered the center of the mound. In July, 1975, the farm on which the mound lay, consisting of fields and buildings on both sides of State Route 36, was sold. The property passed through a series of ownership changes; with the mound ending in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Martin, Route #1, Warsaw, Ohio. They were unaware of the prehistoric earthwork on their land until the authors asked for and received permission to conduct an archaeological salvage operation. Our objective was to determine whether any new knowledge could be gained from the site. We were spurred on by the information that the parcel of land would soon be subdivided for a small housing development. This meant that the mound would be completely destroyed. After informing the Ohio Historical Society of the situation, we were told that there were no funds or personnel available at the time to assist us, and we were advised to proceed with our efforts to preserve any information we could before the mound was leveled. Initially, it was thOUght that two weeks would be sufficient to complete the project, but the preliminary work was -1­ 0 ;--.. 0 ':1:j I:: f-J. ::s at! c+. ~ f-' '--" 0 ::r J--3 f-J' Ii 0 f-J. ::sill ~~ gs CD W f-J. 0 ::sp. 0 f-J. Ul 0 ::r ill 0 c+ 0 CD S- Ul ::s c+ ::r f-' CD \..r\ f-' 0 0 ill c+ fP. f-J. ~ ::s0 ::s at! 0 f-' H) CD ;--.. ::rc+ WCD 0 ill f-' W CD Ii c+ f-J. f-' ::s ::sf-J' ~ ::r0 I:: p.::s u f-' tJj CD ;:l c+ f-J' ::r f-' f-' '--"CD ::rCD CD ;:l J--3 0 S ::rUl f-J. Cd 0 0 ::rUl 0 0 ?' ,:.. c+ I 0 c. ::s " 'So t '"' \ "'­v ,d .7­ ~ . .._,~,- ... so productive that two seasons of part-time field work were expended in the excavationE The work proceeded from July, 1975, to late August, 1976, with inclement weather being the only reason for a pause in our efforts. To protect the privacy of the landowners and to provide more control at the site, the authors performed nearly all the field work personally. Our first endeavor to gain background information on the site was to contact the original excavator, Mr. Ferdon, who is currently associate director of the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucsono After several inquiries we were successful in obtaining his addresse We wrote a letter introducing ourselves and asked for any information or advice he could give us on the project. His info:rmative reply of June 11,_ 1975, is printed below: Dear Mr. Mortine: You must be a born optimist to think that I might be of any real help recalling the results of my very first trial-and­ error excavation: I conducted that dig in the summer of 1931 just after graduating from high school. I had gotten really turned on about archaeology my final year in high school and, having read Spetrone's The Mound Builders from cover to cover, I decided I should try my hand at excavating to see if I really enjoyed the work. I chose that parti­ cular mound to dig because the farmer that owned it was systematically plowing it down to make a pasture, and, since he planned to flatten the area, he agreed that I might as well do a little digging before he destroyed it. Now, from your letter, I gather that he never completed his plans a That summer I directed a Boy Scout camp and after the camp was over I talked my kid brother and a couple of other scouts into joining me in the dige We set up a small camp near the mound and went to work.