Editing Fort Ancient (section)

==Evolution of society==
===Early phase ''({{abbr|approx.|approximately}} 1000–1250 CE)''===
During this period, the Fort Ancients were several poor, sedentary societies. They lived in non-[[palisade]]d villages and had slight regional variances. The locals farmed primarily corn, beans, and sunflower—the latter being a plant first domesticated as a food source in [[Ohio]]. Most homes were what is known as a pit house, created by digging several feet into the ground and covering over the top of the resulting hole with a wooden frame roof covered in bark. Carbon dating has shown that Fort Ancient lands in West Virginia did not begin to be conquered until the middle phase.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ellis, Laura Elizabeth "Investigating the Orchard Site: A Protohistoric Fort AncientSite in West Virginia" 2015</ref>

===Middle phase ''(approx. 1250–1450 CE)''===
[[File:Sunwatch Aerial illustration HRoe 2018 400px.jpg|thumb|Artists conception of the [[SunWatch Indian Village|Sunwatch Indian Village]]]]
At this time, the cultures became far richer, began to expand, and began to merge into a single, continuous culture. Villages grew larger, became [[palisade]]d and pit houses began to be phased out in favor of the style of native dwelling colonial peoples would refer to as a Cabin style.<ref name="ReferenceB">Owen, James & Swanton Dorsey, John R. "A Dictionary of Biloxi & Ofo" 1912</ref> This was a rectangular, peak-roofed home of either an adobe-like or wooden make and covered over by the same style of roof as the pit house.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Elsewhere, the far richer and larger [[Mississippian culture]] began shifting its centers away from the [[Mississippi River]]<ref>"Southeastern Prehistory: Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period". National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-06-16.</ref> and into the American Southeast. [[Iroquoian peoples|Iroquoian]] expansions to the northeast of the Fort Ancients brought new [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and Iroquoian neighbors into their region.<ref>Hale, Horatio "The Iroquois Book of Rites" 1883</ref> The result of these migrations was Fort Ancients adopting aspects of these cultures. Eastern Fort Ancients began amalgamating a mound burial with Iroquoian techniques of [[Excarnation|removing the flesh and organs of the dead]] and urn burials. In western Ohio, there is strong evidence that they took on the Algonquian Green Corn Ceremony, in which part of the immature corn crop was "sacrificed" by burning and its ashes were used to fertilize the fields. Around 1300, however, it appears that mound burials were replaced entirely by the Eastern [[Siouian|Siouan]] tradition of under-the-home burials.<ref name="ReferenceC">Speck, Frank G. "Catawba Texts" 1934</ref>

===Late phase ''(approx. 1450–1750 CE)''===
The late phase of Fort Ancient culture was its zenith. Only one known Fort Ancient tribe has been verified by name in the historical record—the [[Mosopelea]], presumably of southeast Ohio. There is also a chance that a Siouan people called the [[Keyauwee Indians|Keyauwee]], who appear alongside the [[Tutelo]] (an Eastern Siouan tribe from West Virginia) in North Carolina around 1700 could also have been of Fort Ancient stock. During the time of the French explorers, a [[Ho-Chunk|Ho-chunk]] native named Tonti told them that these people had been known as the ''Chonque''.<ref>Collins, Scott Preston "Saponi History"</ref> Mosopelea language is marked as being the only known Siouan tongue to use the "f" sound, which is far more common among the Muskogean languages of the Mississippians.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Despite no historical accounts of contact existing, there has been a remarkable amount of European-made goods excavated from Fort Ancient sites—including brass and steel items, as well as glassware. Fort Ancients even melted down old or broken goods and re-forged them into new items. No single gun part has yet been discovered in conjunction with a Fort Ancient site. The Fort Ancients were heavily affected by European disease, as well as the [[Beaver Wars]] period. Carbon dating seems to indicate that disease affected the Fort Ancients in waves. The most recent of all surviving sites date from [[Northern Kentucky]] alone—those from 1680 onwards. Although French explorers are known to have arrived during that time, they appear to have left no authentic accounts of contact. However, the French did note that most of both sides of the Ohio River Valley were covered in similarly styled villages in various states of destruction or abandonment.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>Hale, Horatio "Tutelo Tribe & Language" 1883</ref>

===Four foci===
The Fort Ancient culture is divided into four distinct local variations known as foci. These are the Madisonville focus, the Baum focus, the Fort focus, and the Anderson focus. Additionally, Fort Ancient culture can be subdivided into at least 8 phases that span different time periods and regions of southern Ohio and adjacent states. There was an increasing similarity between Fort Ancient phases leading up to [[1650 CE]], characterized by the presence of native artifacts and European trade goods found at the Madisonville site.<ref>{{cite book|title=Archaeology of Native North America|author= Snow, Dean R.|publisher=Pennsylvania State University, Prentice Hall|year=2010}}</ref>

===Social hierarchy===
[[File:Buffalo style mask gorget Ohio HRoe 2010 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Mississippian [[Shell gorget]] from a Fort Ancient site in Ohio, now at the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center in [[Portsmouth, Ohio]]]]
The rise in socio-political complexity evidenced by the building of substructure mounds and new village layouts may indicate influences from Middle [[Mississippian culture]]s down the [[Ohio River]] (the north-eastern-most extent of Middle Mississippian was the [[Prather Complex]] in the [[Falls of the Ohio]] region {{convert|95|mi|km}} away).<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeo/prather/Prather%20Report.pdf|title=Archaeological investigations at the Prather Site, Clark County, Indiana : 2003 Baseline Archaeological Study|first1=Cheryl Ann|last1=Munson|first2=Robert G.|last2=McCullough|access-date=2011-02-23}}</ref> The differences in [[ceramic art|ceramics]] show that Fort Ancient culture was distinct from that of the Middle Mississippian peoples, lacking Mississippian traits such as political centralization and elite social structures.<ref name=NPSGOV>{{cite web |url = http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/misslate.htm | title = Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period |access-date = 2008-09-12 }}</ref>

Although there seem to have been positions of leadership, the Fort Ancient culture appears to have been [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]]. Grave goods rarely vary between individuals, which shows that social levels were weakly defined. Scholars believe that their societies were organized into groups based on [[kinship]]. If social organization was based on kinship, people likely achieved some status by virtue of personal qualities, such as generosity, charisma, and being a good hunter, as well as their deeds. People of higher status were probably leaders of communities and were potentially responsible for organizing trade, settling disputes among other members of the village, and presiding over ceremonies.<ref name=NKU.EDU/> Evidence indicates that Fort Ancient leadership was more like that of the historic Iroquois, whose egalitarian obligations left leaders to be buried with no more than others of their age.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Griffin, James B.|author-link= James Bennett Griffin| date= 1967-04-14| title= Eastern North American Archaeology: A Summary |journal =[[Science (journal)|Science]] |publisher= [[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS]] | volume = 156 |issue= 3772|pages=175–191 |url= https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.156.3772.175 | doi=10.1126/science.156.3772.175|pmid= 17741138|bibcode= 1967Sci...156..175G|s2cid= 8989673|url-access= subscription}}</ref>

===Ceramics===
Pottery making was primarily the responsibility of women using a technique known as [[Coiling (pottery)|coiling]]. Potters rolled clay into long, rounded strips, which they used to model the vessel, layering strips on top of each other. The items were then smoothed out internally with a potter anvil (a smooth round stone), and externally with a wooden paddle. [[cord-marked pottery|Cord-marking]] and engraving were used to decorate pots in styles according to particular periods and peoples.<ref name=NKU.EDU2>{{cite web|url =http://anthropologymuseum.nku.edu/FAweb/Pottery.htm|title =Fort Ancient Web:Pottery|access-date =2011-02-23|url-status =dead|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100621115429/http://anthropologymuseum.nku.edu/FAweb/Pottery.htm|archive-date =2010-06-21}}</ref>

At the time, Fort Ancient pottery was known for having thinner walls than preceding Woodland pottery. Common items include large plain cooking jars with strap or loop handles.<ref name=OHIOARCH>{{cite book|title=Ohio Archaeology:An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures|publisher=Orange Frazer Press|date=February 2005|isbn=978-1-882203-39-0|last=Lepper|first=Bradley T.|pages=198–203}}</ref> A hallmark of Fort Ancient pottery is engraved decorations on the rim and neck of the vessels, consisting of a series of interlocking lines, called ''[[Guilloché]]''. As this design emerged with the beginning of the Fort Ancient culture in the region, scholars used it as a characteristic to identify the culture.<ref name=NKU.EDU2/>
<gallery widths="180px" class="center">
Image:Ft Ancient Pottery HRoe 2005.jpg|A small pot with [[guilloché]] designs
File:Fort Ancient Effigy handle Storage jar HRoe 2011.jpg|A storage pot with an unknown animal as effigy handles
File:Fort Ancient Storage jar HRoe 2011.jpg|A large storage jar with cord-marked decorations and strap handles
</gallery>

====Mississippian influences====
During the Early Fort Ancient period, grit (crushed stone) and grog (crushed pottery) were often used as [[Temper (pottery)|tempering]] agents, with ground [[mussel]] shells occasionally being used. Over time, women increasingly chose mussel shells or a mixture of mussel shells with other agents as the tempering agent. The use of ground shells as a temper is a feature often associated with Mississippian cultures, and its acceptance spread in Fort Ancient culture, moving north and east from the Ohio River and the direction of the closest Mississippian groups in the southwest.

With the change of temper, different vessel forms and decorations became more prevalent; several of them are also strongly associated with Mississippian cultures. Early Fort Ancient vessels were often jug forms with lug handles. By the Middle Fort Ancient period, bowls and plates were being produced more frequently, and artisans added strap handles. [[Negative painting]] (a decoration often associated with the [[Angel phase]] sites in the Lower Ohio Valley) and [[Mississippian culture pottery#Cahokian pottery|Ramey Incised]] designs (elite motifs associated with the [[Cahokia]] polity in Illinois) have been found on some pots. Others show a blending of different styles, for instance, with the engraved [[guilloché]] decoration overlaid with negative painting. Archaeological excavations have found examples of non-local pottery from this period as well. The pieces were made from non-local clay sources, and have designs or vessel forms atypical for local wares. A [[Mississippian culture pottery#Effigy pots|head pot]] was discovered at the [[Mariemont Embankment and Village Site|Madisonville site]] similar to those produced in the Central Mississippi Valley by the peoples of the Middle Mississippian [[Parkin phase|Parkin]] and [[Nodena phase|Nodena]] phases. Archaeologists suggest that the change in pottery styles was a result of increased contact with the Mississippian cultures to the south and west of the Fort Ancient peoples.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Robert Allen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8jaS1WoBJMC&pg=PA139|title=Sunwatch: Fort Ancient Development in the Mississippian World|location=[[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]]|publisher=[[University of Alabama|U of Alabama P]]|year=2007|pages=44–49|isbn=9780817315900}}</ref><ref name="COOKPOTTERYPAPER">{{citation|last1=Cook|first1=Robert A.|title=The Incorporation of Mississippian traditions into Fort Ancient Societies: A Preliminary view of the shift to shell-tempered pottery use in the Middle Ohio Valley|date=Winter 2008|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283779773|publisher=Southeastern Archaeology|last2=Fargher|first2=Lane F.}}</ref>

===Tools===
[[File:Fort Ancient Tools and other artifacts HRoe 2011.jpg|thumb|Assorted stone, bone and ceramic tools, including stone discoidals used for [[chunkey]].]]

The Fort Ancient peoples made tools from a variety of materials, including stone, bone, horn, shells and antlers. Stone tools have been found more frequently than those of other materials. The culture is known for its distinctive small triangular flint arrowheads and large triangular flint knives. Fort Ancients made hoes for farming from [[mussel]] shells. Fort Ancients had also grounded and polished stones into axes to use in felling trees. Most of the flint tools were made from varieties of locally available materials, showing the Fort Ancient peoples either felt no need for it or did not have access to exotic stone varieties through trade routes.<ref name=OHIOARCH/>

===Diet===
The Fort Ancient were primarily a farming and hunting people. Their diet was mainly composed of the New World staples that are known as the [[three sisters (agriculture)|three sisters]] ([[maize]], [[Squash (fruit)|squash]], and [[beans]]). This diet was supplemented by hunting and fishing in nearby forests and rivers. Important game species included the [[American black bear|black bear]], [[turkey (bird)|turkey]], [[white tail deer]] and [[elk]]. Archaeologists have found evidence at some sites which suggests that turkeys were kept in pens. The average lifespan during this time period decreased from that of their ancestors. The people were smaller in stature and less able to fend off infectious diseases than previous generations. Archaeological investigations of their cemeteries have shown that almost all of Fort Ancient's people showed pathology of some kind, with a high incidence of dental disease and arthritis.<ref name=OHIOARCH/>