Who lived in Ohio first Hopewell Fort Ancient Shawnee or The Mound Builders?

Answer 1

The Mound Builders is a general term that covers several sequential cultures that built mounds. First were the Red Ochre and Glacier Kame peoples, who lived in Ohio as long ago as 8000-5000 B.C. I believe. The Adena culture was also a mound-building people, from about 800 B.C. to perhaps 100 A.D. The Hopewell people intermingled peacefully with the Adena, and continued (and elaborated upon) their moundbuilding ways; Hopewell was from 100 B.C. to about 400-500 A.D. Then, the Fort Ancient people, from around 900 A.D. up until about 1500 A.D., but their earthworks were ceremonial rather than for burials. The Shawnee are generally believed to be the descendents of the Fort Ancient, and there is some decent DNA evidence (Google for Lisa Mill's dissertation at Ohio State, for example) that the Adena are descendents of the Glacier Kame and Red Ochre peoples, and the Hopewell of the Adena.