Oto Sioux Hopewell Indian Mound in New Harmony, Indiana (Posey County)

Indian Mound in New Harmony, Indiana (Posey County)

Several mounds were photographed within the city of New Harmony, Indiana in Posey County, Oto Sioux have been identified as the builders of the mounds and earthworks in the county. More on the Oto Sioux

Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee Shell Mounds Determined to be Early Sioux

Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee Shell Mounds Determined to be Early Sioux

The Crib Shell Mound is upriver from Bone Bank in Posey county that was determined to be of Siouan origin. Hopewell mounds and earthworks, like the Mann site in Posey County, are definitive evidence of Sioux origins of the Hopewell mound builders.

    In Louis F. Burns book “The History of the Osage” he writes, “Recent archaeological findings seem to indicate that both the Dhegiha Sioux and Chewere Sioux were the Indian-Knoll and Shell Mound culture of [Indiana] Kentucky and Tennessee.” Skeletal remains found in these shell mounds are identical to the later Hopewell showing that they had inhabited the Ohio and Wabash Valleys for hundreds of years.  

Oneoto Sioux Hopewell Mounds and Earthworks in Posey County, Indiana

Oneoto Sioux Hopewell Mounds and Earthworks in Posey County, Indiana

Square earthworks similar to those found in Ohio were diagrammed by Indiana University.

Prehistoric Antiquities of Indiana, Lilly, 1937

The village and burial site near the mouth of the Wabash yielded so many artifacts similar to the Oneota culture, such as limestone disk pipes, copper ear spools, tubular beads, and characteristic triangular arrow points, that Siouan relationship seems almost certain. Probably the village at Bone Bank [Posey County, Indiana] and the citadel at Merom, both on the lower Wabash, were also Siouan sites.

Large loaf shaped burial mound similar to the Seip Mound in Ross County, Ohio photographed north of Mt. Vernon, Indiana.

Oneoto Sioux burial mound located a few miles east of Mt. Vernon, Indiana.

Oneoto Sioux Hopewell burial mound now has a house on top. The tree line in the distance is the Ohio River.

This incised jar design (Lesueur 41205) is a variety of Caborn-Welborn Decorated that is very similar to Oneota jar motifs found in regions to the north and east of the mouth of the Wabash. Note the nested circle and the loop handle. Oneota motifs occur as small percent of the decorated ceramics at many Caborn-Welborn sites.