Editing Fort Ancient (section)

{{short description|Archaeological culture in the Ohio River valley}}
{{about|the Fort Ancient culture|the National Historic Landmark|Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}

[[File:SunWatchVillage.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Partially reconstructed Fort Ancient settlement at [[SunWatch Indian Village|Sunwatch Indian Village]]]]

The '''Fort Ancient''' culture is a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[archaeological culture]] that dates back to {{circa|1000–1750 CE}}.<ref name=CARMEAN/> Members of the culture lived along the [[Ohio River]] valley, in an area running from modern-day [[Ohio]] and western [[West Virginia]] through to northern [[Kentucky]] and parts of southeastern [[Indiana]].<ref name="OHIOARCH" /> A contemporary of the neighboring [[Mississippian culture]], Fort Ancient is considered to be a separate "sister culture".<ref name="OHIOARCH" /> [[Mitochondrial DNA]] evidence collected from the area suggests that the Fort Ancient culture did not directly descend from the older [[Hopewellian culture|Hopewell Culture]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Converse |first1=Robert |title=The Archaeology of Ohio |date=2003 |publisher=The Archaeology Society of Ohio |isbn=978-0-9744311-0-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Mills |first1=Lisa |title=Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Ohio Hopewell of the Hopewell Mound Group |journal=Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University |date=2003 |pages=123–124 |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1054605467}}</ref>

Material evidence also suggests that the Fort Ancient peoples introduced [[maize agriculture]] to Ohio,<ref name="OHIOARCH" /> and other evidence connects this culture to the [[Serpent Mound|Great Serpent Mound]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ohio History Connection |title=Serpent Mound See the world's most spectacular effigy mound |url=https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/museum-and-site-locator/serpent-mound |website=Ohio History Connection |access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref> In 1999, an archaeological study by [[Brad Lepper]] and Tod A. Frolking used [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon testing]] to show that the [[Alligator Effigy Mound]] in [[Granville, Ohio|Granville]] also dates to the Fort Ancient era, rather than the assumed Hopewell era.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lepper |first=Brad |date=April 2001 |title=Ohio's "Alligator" |journal=Timeline |publisher=Ohio Historical Society |volume=18 |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Lepper | first1=Bradley T. | last2=Frolking | first2=Tod A. | title=Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA | journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal | volume=13 | issue=2 | date=2003 | issn=0959-7743 | doi=10.1017/S0959774303000106 | pages=147–167| s2cid=161534362 }}</ref> Both the Serpent and Alligator Mounds, first understood as burial locations, have been shown to be Fort Ancient ceremonial effigy sites.