Adena culture Spoons, beads and other implements were made from the marine conch. A few copper axes have been found, but otherwise the metal was hammered into ornamental forms, such as bracelets, rings, beads, and reel-shaped pendants. Adena culture The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 1000 to 200 BC, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system. The Adena lived in an area including parts of present-day Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Wampum with quartz drill bits and steatite weights were used to drill the shells. The unfinished beads would be strung together and rolled on a grinding stone with water and sand until they were smooth. The beads would be strung or woven on deer hide thongs, sinew, milkweed bast, or basswood fibers. The term "wampum" is a shortening of "wampumpeag", which is derived from the Massachusett or Narragansett word meaning "white strings of shell beads." The Proto-Algonquian reconstructed form is thought to be "*wa·p-a·py-aki", "white strings." In New York, wampum beads have been discovered dating before 1510. The introduction of European