The Saponi and Tutelo originated in Ohio long before they ever set foot in the Piedmont area of Virginia and North Carolina.  The Saponi are a Siouan speaking people, which means the Tutelo-Saponi language is derived from Sioux.  Long before the Sioux were a Plains tribe, their range extended into the orbit of Ohio, with some subgroups finding their way into the Ohio and Great Lakes regions.  There are old stories that imply that we were, perhaps, a band of Lakota that "went out hunting and did not return", but this is purely speculation at this point.

It might be wise, at this juncture, to address the fact that the Tutelo and Saponi are mentioned together very often.  The Saponi and Tutelo may well have been the same people.  Native American tribes,  on the whole, did not use the names we now associate with them - these are largely European inventions.  Colonizers came to Turtle Island (North America) and called the tribes they found there by names that either made sense in their own language, were names given to these tribes by other tribes, or were often misheard or misremembered words the tribes gave for themselves.  Most, if not all, simply referred to themselves as "The People".  In Tutelo-Saponi,  that word is Yesą́. 

This is the reason James Mooney in his work Siouan Tribes of the East records no less than 80 different names for the Saponi and Tutelo.  To that end, we find that the word Tutelo may in fact be a derivation of the word Todirichones,  a word the Iroquois (who called themselves the Hodenosaunee) used to describe all Siouan speakers in the Piedmont region.  Mooney also tells us that "The Tutelo and Saponi tribes must be considered together. Their history under either name begins in 1670."He further states that" After their removal to the Iroquois country in the north the Iroquois collective term, Tutelo, became more prominent."     Further, both groups, along with  Occaneechi, Eno, Stuckanock, Meiponsky,and Keyauwee were  incorporated together at Fort Christanna as Saponi" in 1714.    For these reason, we will simply refer to both the Tutelo and Saponi, as Saponi.

Many scholars agree that the Saponi originated in Ohio, once a hotly contested theory.  Such scholarly works as On the Origin of the Tutelo - An Eastern Siouan Tribe by Ralph W. Alexander, Jr., and Georg K. Neumann, On The Historic Location Of The Tutelo and The Mohetan in The Ohio Valley  By James B. Griffen, Siouan Tribes of the Ohio Valley by Professor Robert L. Rankin, and more have all shown that the Ohio Valley was the origin point of the Saponi.  We are told by John Lawson and John Lederer,  two explorers who visited with the Saponi and Tutelo,  that a legend existed among them of a homeland back West, and a powerful enemy who drove them out.  Further evidence would show that enemy to have been the Iroquois. 

One of the most telling items of Saponi occupation in the Ohio area, comes from Serpent Mound, in Peebles, Ohio.  While the mound has been dated to over 2,000 years old, which puts it's architects firmly in the Adena culture (further evidence suggests it was renovated by the Fort Ancient culture), we understand that Turtle Island was a closed system at this time.  These labels, Fort Ancient and Adena culture, are not unlike the tribal labels of later colonists - they were intended to differentiate people based on something different, in this case they used the level of technology in building and tool making.  These people did not disappear only to be replaced by the tribes we know today, on the contrary they became the tribes.  These are the same people simply viewed through the lens of another time and another scientific label.  Further evidence of the relationship between the People and this structure can be found in the tribal totem of the Tutelo and Saponi - the serpent.  The name for serpent in Tutelo-Saponi and the word for medicine are identical - Moka.

 Eventually, the Saponi found themselves in the Piedmont area of North Carolina and Virginia, where settlements in the Dan, Eno, and Haw river sytems show the same architecture as the settlements left behind in the Ohio river valley. The Avoca Museum, as well as more colonial sources such as Lederer, Mooney, and Lawson believe that the Saponi were so called because they originated in and around the "town" of Monasukapanough.  Another theory on the name comes from the words moni-seep which was said to mean "shallow water" in the people's language.