Editing Fort Ancient

{{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.

==Name==
Although the name of the culture originates from the earthworks site at [[Fort Ancient, Ohio]], this site is believed to have been built by the [[Ohio Hopewell]]ian people and only occupied later by the Fort Ancient culture. The site is on a hill above the [[Little Miami River]], close to [[Lebanon, Ohio]]. Despite the name of the site, most [[archaeologist]]s do not believe that Fort Ancient was used as a fortress by either the Ohio Hopewell culture or the Fort Ancient culture. It is believed to have been a ceremonial location.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Builders of the Mounds|url=http://www.spanishhill.com/whatis/MoundBuilderFortAncient.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204032159/http://www.spanishhill.com/whatis/MoundBuilderFortAncient.shtml|archive-date=February 4, 2012|access-date=2008-09-12|work=Spanish Hill}}</ref>

==Archaeological record==
[[File:Fort Ancient Monongahela cultures HRoe 2010.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Fort Ancient cultural region, with some of its major sites and neighbors]]

===Chronology===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Periods || Phase || Dates
|-
| Early Fort Ancient
| Croghan
| 1000 to 1200
|-
| Middle Fort Ancient
| Manion
| 1200 to 1400
|-
| rowspan="2"| Late Fort Ancient
| Gist
| 1400 to 1550
|-
| Montour
| 1550 to 1750
|}<ref name=CARMEAN>{{citation|last=Carmean|first=Kelli|title=Points in time: Assessing a Fort Ancient triangular projectile point typology|publisher=Southeastern Archaeology|date=Winter 2009|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7737/is_200912/ai_n52375623/?tag=content;col1|page=2}}</ref>
In about 1000 CE, terminal [[Woodland period#Late Woodland period (500–1000 CE)|Late Woodland]] groups in the Middle Ohio Valley adopted [[maize]] agriculture. They settled in small, year-round, [[nuclear family]] households and settlements of up to 40-50 individuals. These scattered settlements, located along terraces that overlooked rivers and occasionally on flood plains, would be occupied only briefly before the groups would migrate elsewhere.

By 1200 CE, the small villages had grown into settlements of up to 300 people. These settlements were occupied for up to 25 years. The houses were designed as single-family dwellings during the Early and Middle Fort Ancient periods. Later, Fort Ancient buildings became more extensive and could house multiple families. Settlements were rarely more permanent than one or two generations, as inhabitants generally migrated once natural resources surrounding the village had been exhausted. Villages were arranged around an open oval central plaza, surrounded by circular and rectangular domestic structures facing this plaza.

The arrangement of buildings in Fort Ancient settlements is believed to have served as a [[Solar calendar#:~:text=A solar calendar is an example of a solar calendar.|solar calendar]], marking the positions of the [[solstice]]s and other significant dates.<ref>{{cite web|date=September 12, 2007|title=Ohio Archaeoloy Blog|url=http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2007/09/ohio-archaeology-month-october-2007.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823144615/http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2007/09/ohio-archaeology-month-october-2007.html|archive-date=August 23, 2011|access-date=2008-09-11}}</ref> The occupants also built low [[platform mound]]s for ceremonial purposes, and many villages added defensive [[palisade]]s to their boundaries.<ref name="CARMEAN" /> The plaza served as the focal point of village life, hosting communal activities such as ceremonies, games (such as the hoop and stick game [[Chunkey]]),<ref name="NKU.EDU">{{cite web|url =http://anthropologymuseum.nku.edu/FAweb/NeatStuffFinal.htm|title =Middle to Late Fort Ancient Society|access-date =2011-02-23|url-status =dead|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100621141735/http://anthropologymuseum.nku.edu/FAweb/NeatStuffFinal.htm|archive-date =2010-06-21}}</ref> and other significant social events.

The Late Fort Ancient period from 1400 to 1750 CE was the [[Protohistory|protohistoric era]] of the Middle [[Ohio Valley]]. During this era, the formerly dispersed populations began to coalesce. The Gist-phase villages (1400 to 1550 CE) became more significant than during the preceding period, with populations as high as 500. Archaeologists have speculated that the larger villages and palisades are evidence that after 1450, warfare and inter-group strife increased, leading the people to consolidate their villages for better protection.

Increased contact with [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] people also likely occurred in this era, some of them may even have migrated to and been integrated into Fort Ancient villages. The [[Madisonville site|Madisonville]] [[Archaeological horizon|horizon]] of artifacts after 1400 CE include relatively high proportions of bowls, salt pans, triangular strap handles, colanders, [[Angel phase|negative painted pottery]], notched and beaded rims, and some [[effigies]]. These items and styles are usually associated with the Mississippian cultures of the Lower Ohio Valley, at sites such as [[Angel Mounds]] and [[Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site|Kincaid Mounds]]. These sites were abandoned during this time.<ref name=CARMEAN/>

During the Montour phase (1550 to 1700), villages were occupied year-round, although less densely in the winter than in the summer months. This may indicate that during the winter, family groups and hunting parties may have returned to the regions previously occupied by their ancestors. Such a pattern was observed during historic times, for example, among the [[Miami people|Miami]] and [[Potawatomi]].<ref name=CARMEAN/> Through trading activities, the Fort Ancient people gained access to European trade items such as glass, iron, brass, and copper. These materials have all been found as grave goods at sites such as [[Lower Shawneetown]] and [[Hardin Village site|Hardin Village]]. Such artifacts appeared and were used in the area before the arrival of European explorers or settlers.<ref name=KENTARCH>{{Cite book|title=Kentucky Archaeology|chapter= Chapter 6:Fort Ancient Farmers|last=Sharp|first=William E.|editor=Lewis, R. Barry|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-1907-6|year=1996|pages=162–176}}</ref>

Although the inhabitants of Fort Ancient did not encounter [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European settlers]] at this time, they, like other groups in the interior of the continent, may have suffered high fatalities from [[Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas#Depopulation from disease|their diseases]], transmitted among [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] by trade contacts. The next-known inhabitants of the area, who were encountered by French and English explorers, were the historic [[Shawnee]] tribe.<ref name=ENCYCTENN/> Scholars believe that the Fort Ancient society, like the Mississippian cultures to the south and west, may have been severely disrupted by waves of [[infectious disease]] epidemics from the first Spanish explorers in the [[16th century|mid-16th century]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-first=Peter N.| editor1-last=Peregrine|editor1-link=Peter N. Peregrine| editor2-first=Melvin |editor2-last=Ember |editor2-link=Melvin Ember | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Prehistory | title= Volume 6 : North America | publisher = Springer | year = 2001|page =175|isbn = 978-0-306-46260-3 }}</ref>

After 1525, at the [[Madisonville site]], the [[type site]] for the Madisonville phase, dwellings were built on a smaller scale and in fewer numbers. This change indicated the culture was less attached to agriculture and a sedentary life. Scholars generally believe that similarities in material culture, art, mythology, and Shawnee oral history link the historic tribe to the Fort Ancient people.<ref name=ENCYCTENN>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1197|first=Jerry E.|last=Clark| title=Shawnees|encyclopedia=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture|access-date = 2011-02-23}}</ref> However, there is also evidence that the Algonquian Shawnee culture may have been more of an admixture or intrusion to the site, which may have previously been [[Siouan languages|Siouan]] occupied.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1525/aa.1943.45.1.02a00050|title = Siouan Tribes and the Ohio Valley|year = 1943|last1 = Swanton|first1 = John R.|journal = American Anthropologist|volume = 45|pages = 49–66| s2cid=163083465 |doi-access = free}}</ref>

==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/>

==Sites==
<!--Please keep list alphabetized when editing-->
<!--Please search list carefully before adding a site to avoid duplication, also add alternative spellings without wikilinks and point them to existing articles, avoid piped links if possible so that readers are aware of actual article titles when doing future edits--> 
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:98%"
!  width="18%"|'''Site'''
!  width="13%"|'''Image'''
!  width="69%"|'''Description'''
|-
|[[Bentley site]]
|
|A Madisonville horizon (post 1400) [[archaeological site]] overlain by an 18th-century [[Shawnee]] village located near [[South Portsmouth, Kentucky|South Portsmouth]] in Greenup County, Kentucky.<ref name="KENTARCH" />
|-
| [[Buckner site]]
|| 
|| A Middle Fort Ancient site located in [[Bourbon County, Kentucky]] on Strodes Creek. It has two large circular village areas, each surrounding its central plaza and several smaller special use areas to the north and northeast of the site.<ref name=KENTARCH/>
|-
| [[Buffalo Indian Village Site]]
|| 
|| A site with at least two overlapping Mid to Late Fort Ancient villages (1300 to 1600) located near [[Buffalo, West Virginia|Buffalo]], [[Putnam County, West Virginia]] along the [[Kanawha River]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Darla S.|last=Hoffman|title=Buffalo Archeologincal Site|year=2010|encyclopedia=West Virginia Encyclopedia|url=http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/693|access-date=2011-02-24}}</ref>
|-
| [[Cleek–McCabe site]]
|| 
|| A Middle Fort Ancient site located near [[Walton, Kentucky|Walton]] in [[Boone County, Kentucky]] with several components, including two mounds and a village.<ref name=KENTARCH/>
|-
| [[Clover site]]
|| 
|| A Late Fort Ancient Madisonville focus site (the [[type site]] for the Clover phase 1550 to 1600) located near [[Lesage, West Virginia|Lesage]] in [[Cabell County, West Virginia]].<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{citation|first=Robert F.|last=Maslowski|url= http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/cabell/92001881.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: The Clover Site|editor=Grumet, Robert S.|publisher=National Park Service|date=1991-11-16|access-date=2010-11-03}}</ref>
|-
| [[Feurt Mounds and Village Site]]
|| 
|| A site with three [[burial mound]]s and an associated village, located in [[Scioto County, Ohio]]. It is the type site for the Feurt focus.
|-
| [[Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio)|Fort Ancient Site]]
|| [[File:Ancient monuments fort ancient map.gif|125px|Fort Ancient Site]]
|| The site is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States with walls spanning three and one-half miles (18,000&nbsp;ft) in a {{convert|100|acre|km2|adj=on}} complex, built by the [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewell peoples]], who lived in the area from the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE. Centuries later, during the Fort Ancient period, a village and cemetery were constructed within the embankments. When archaeologists excavated the site in the nineteenth century, they mistakenly believed that the "fort" and the village were built by the same people. It is located in [[Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio|Washington Township]], [[Warren County, Ohio]], along the eastern shore of the [[Little Miami River]] about {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} southeast of [[Lebanon, Ohio|Lebanon]] on State Route 350.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2404|encyclopedia=Ohio History Central:An Online Encyclopedia of Ohio History|title=Fort Ancient Earthworks|access-date=2011-02-24}}</ref>
|-
| [[Fox Farm site (Mays Lick, Kentucky)|Fox Farm site]]
|| 
|| A Manion phase site located near [[Mays Lick, Kentucky|Mays Lick]] in [[Mason County, Kentucky]]. The site consists of a large village complex on a ridge {{convert|2.5|km|mi}} south of the [[Licking River (Kentucky)|Licking River]] and {{convert|10|km|mi}} south of the Ohio River. The site covers {{convert|10|to|16|ha|m2|adj=on}} and has midden areas up to {{convert|80|cm|in}} thick.<ref name=KENTARCH/>
|-
| [[Hardin Village site]]
|| 
|| A Montour phase site located on a terrace of the Ohio River near [[South Shore, Kentucky|South Shore]] in [[Greenup County, Kentucky]]. It was occupied from sometime in the early 1500s and abandoned by about 1625. During its occupation, it covered an area of about {{convert|4.5|ha|m2|adj=on}}. Like other Fort Ancient villages, it had a defensive [[palisade]] surrounding it, but unlike other sites it does not seem to have had a central oval [[plaza]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Henderson|first=A. Gwynn|title=The Archaeology of Kentucky:An update|pages=830–832|year=2008|editor=David Pollack|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117211810/http://heritage.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1C205F45-0657-42C2-B6EF-C8217E11A291/0/TheArchaeologyofKentuckyAnUpdateVolume2.pdf|chapter=Chapter 6:Mississippi Period|chapter-url=http://heritage.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1C205F45-0657-42C2-B6EF-C8217E11A291/0/TheArchaeologyofKentuckyAnUpdateVolume2.pdf|publisher=Kentucky Heritage Council|access-date=2011-02-25|archive-date=2010-11-17|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| [[Hobson site]]
|| 
||  Located {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} below [[Middleport, Ohio]] on the north bank of the Ohio River. It has minor traces of Archaic, Woodland and Late Prehistoric artifacts. However, the largest component is a village of the Feurt Phase dating to 1100 to 1200 CE.<ref>{{cite journal| author = Murphy, James L.| title= The Hobson Site: A Fort Ancient Component Near Middleport, Meigs County, Ohio| journal = Kirtlandia |location = Cleveland, Ohio | publisher= [[Cleveland Museum of Natural History]] |date= 1968-09-27| issue= 4| pages= 1–14 |issn = 0075-6245 | hdl= 1811/36479}}</ref>
|-
| [[Leo Petroglyph]]
|| [[File:Leo Petroglyph, comprehensive from north.jpg|125px|Leo Petroglyph]]
|| A [[sandstone]] [[petroglyph]] containing 37 images of humans and animals as well as footprints of each, located near the small village of [[Leo, Ohio]] in [[Jackson County, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/leopetro/ |title=Leo Petroglyph |publisher=Ohio Historical Society |access-date=2011-02-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705161550/http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/leopetro/ |archive-date=2007-07-05 }}</ref>
|-
| [[Madisonville site]]
|| 
|| A Fort Ancient Site located on the banks of the [[Little Miami River]] in [[Mariemont, Ohio|Mariemont]], [[Ohio]]. The site includes an [[effigy mound]] and the remains of a village.
|-
| [[Ronald Watson Gravel site]]
|| 
|| A Middle Fort Ancient Anderson focus site located near [[Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky|Petersburg]] in [[Boone County, Kentucky]], on an inside bend of a [[meander]] of the Ohio River.<ref name="HUEBCHEN">{{Citation|last=Huebchen|first=Karl R.|title=The Ronald Watson Gravel Site (15Be249): An examination of the Late Woodland/Fort Ancient transition in Boone County, Kentucky|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=ucin1147403287&disposition=inline|year=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316174952/http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/HUEBCHEN%20KARL.pdf?ucin1147403287|publisher=University of Cincinnati|archive-date=March 16, 2012}}</ref><ref name="APPLEGATE">{{citation|last=Applegate|first=Darlene|title=The Archaeology of Kentucky:an update|volume=1|page=484|year=2008|editor=Pollack, David|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101108174316/http://heritage.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7FD10722-66D5-4987-A3A3-19A6E27BCFA0/0/TheArchaeologyofKentuckyAnUpdateVolume1NEW.pdf|chapter=Chapter 5:Woodland period|chapter-url=http://heritage.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7FD10722-66D5-4987-A3A3-19A6E27BCFA0/0/TheArchaeologyofKentuckyAnUpdateVolume1NEW.pdf|publisher=Kentucky Heritage Council|isbn=978-1-934492-28-4|archive-date=2010-11-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| [[Clough Creek and Sand Ridge Archeological District|Sand Ridge Site]]
|| [[File:Sand Ridge Site.jpg|125px|Sand Ridge Site]]
|| A Madisonville focus site located along a prominent ridgeline to the west of the old Union Bridge along the road between [[Cincinnati]] and [[Batavia, Ohio|Batavia]].<ref name="voss">Brady-Rawlins, Kathleen.  ''[https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1180454140&disposition=inline The O.C. Voss Site: Reassessing What We Know about the Fort Ancient Occupation of the Central Scioto Drainage and Its Tributaries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218150902/http://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/BradyRawlins%20Kathleen%20L.pdf?acc_num=osu1180454140 |date=2012-02-18 }}''. Diss. [[Ohio State University]], 2007. Accessed 2010-06-17.</ref>
|-
| [[Serpent Mound]]
|| [[File:Chromesun serpent mound spiral01.jpg|125px|Serpent Mound]]
|| The Fort Ancient people built the largest effigy mound in the [[United States]] according to carbon dating of charcoal found underneath the mound.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jessica E. Saraceni|title=Redating Serpent Mound|url=http://www.archaeology.org/9611/newsbriefs/serpentmound.html|journal=Archaeology|volume=49|issue=6|access-date=2008-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw16/index.shtml |title=Serpent Mound |access-date=2008-09-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227142625/http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw16/index.shtml |archive-date=2010-12-27 }}</ref>
|-
|[[State Line Archeological District|State Line Site]]
|[[File:State Line Archeological District.jpg|125px|State Line Site]]
|A Middle Fort Ancient complex of sites west of [[Elizabethtown, Ohio]] on both sides of the Indiana/Ohio border,<ref name="gosman">{{cite web |last=Gosman |first=James Howard |year=2007 |title=Patterns in Ontogeny of Human Trabecular Bone from Sunwatch Village in the Prehistoric Ohio Valley |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1194613389&disposition=inline |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720020715/http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Gosman%20James%20Howard.pdf?acc_num=osu1194613389 |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |access-date=2010-04-14 |publisher=[[Ohio State University]]}}</ref> composed of five contributing properties spread out across {{convert|8|acre|m2|adj=on}} of land. Pottery found at the site was found to use shell tempering and had other characteristics such as distinctive styles of painting and the presence of pottery modelled after owls and the human heads, traits which signify contact with Middle Mississippian cultures.<ref name="gosman" /><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 |publisher=[[University of Alabama|U of Alabama P]] |year=2007 |isbn=9780817315900 |location=[[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]] |page=139}}</ref><ref name="dohp">{{cite book |last=Owen |first=Lorrie K. |title=Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places |year=1999 |volume=1 |pages=674–675}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Brady-Rawlins |first=Kathleen |year=2007 |title=The O.C. Voss Site: Reassessing What We Know about the Fort Ancient Occupation of the Central Scioto Drainage and Its Tributaries |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1180454140&disposition=inline |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218150902/http://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/BradyRawlins%20Kathleen%20L.pdf?acc_num=osu1180454140 |archive-date=February 18, 2012 |access-date=2010-04-12 |publisher=[[Ohio State University]] |page=26}}</ref>
|-
| [[SunWatch Indian Village|Sunwatch Indian Village]]
|| [[File:SunWatchVillage.jpg|125px|SunWatch Indian Village]]
|| A recreated Fort Ancient village located in [[Dayton, Ohio]]. Many archaeological excavations were done here at the park which has revealed much about the Fort Ancient people.
|-
| [[Thompson site]]
|| 
|| A Croghan phase site located near South Portsmouth, Kentucky in Greenup County, next to the Ohio River across from the mouth of the [[Scioto River]].<ref name=KENTARCH/>
|-
| [[Turpin site]]
|| [[File:Turpin Site.jpg|125px]]
|| An Early Fort Ancient Madisonville focus site located near [[Newtown, Ohio|Newtown]] in [[Hamilton County, Ohio]]. The site includes the remains of a village and multiple burial mounds.
|-
|}

==Contemporaries and neighbors==
To the northeast in present-day [[Western Pennsylvania]], Eastern Ohio and West Virginia were the peoples of the [[Monongahela culture]], who inhabited the [[Monongahela River]] Valley from 1050 to 1635.<ref name=forthillarchaeology>{{Cite web|url=http://forthillarchaeology.com/Monon.htm|title=Monongahela culture-AD 1050-1635|access-date=2010-01-14}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They had a similar lifestyle to the Fort Ancients; as they were also maize agriculturalists and lived in well laid out palisaded villages with central oval plazas, some of which consisted of as many as 50-100 structures. To the northwest of the Fort Ancients were the people of the [[Oliver phase]] who lived along the east and west forks of the [[White River (Indiana)|White River]] in central and southern [[Indiana]] from 1200 and 1450.<ref name=GEOLATEIND>{{cite web|url = http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/research_program.html|title = Geophysical Methods and the Archaeology of Late Prehistoric Central Indiana|access-date = 2010-02-25|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100528011545/http://www.ipfw.edu/archsurv/research_program.html|archive-date = 2010-05-28}}</ref> Their villages were also circular with [[palisade]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Archaeological History of Northeast Ohio Before the Western Reserve: An Archaeological History of Northeast Ohio|first=Brian G.|last=Redmond|url=http://www.cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/Archaeology/Research/GeneralAudienceNontechnicall/HistoryNEOhio.aspx|access-date=2011-02-24|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228124942/http://cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/Archaeology/Research/GeneralAudienceNontechnicall/HistoryNEOhio.aspx|archive-date=2010-12-28}}</ref> Although their sites began in central Indiana, over the years they spread to the southeast toward the Fort Ancients.<ref name=GEOLATEIND/> The Oliver phase people were part of the Western Basin Tradition which also includes the Springwell's phase, the [[Younge phase]], and the [[Riviere au Vase phase]]s of Northern Ohio and Indiana. The colder weather of the [[Little Ice Age]] may have caused inter-group battles over food and other resources, according to some scholars. The crops did not prosper as well during this colder period, causing food shortages for populations that had grown after their introduction. Some studies show that the culture began failing due to poor health conditions.

These groups, along with others such as the [[Oneota]], were once classified as [[Upper Mississippian culture]]s under the assumption that they were either Mississippian peoples intruding into these areas, or they were heavily influenced by the Mississippian peoples to their south and east. Today it is thought that these groups were local in situ developments of Late Woodland peoples.<ref>{{cite book|title=Archaeology of the Lower Ohio River Valley|last=Muller|first=Jon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4DhuHc-sG8C&q=fort+ancient%2Bupper+mississippian%2Boneota&pg=PA259|publisher=Left Coast Press, Inc.|date=2009-05-31|isbn=978-1-59874-451-4|page=259}}</ref>

Located {{convert|95|km|mi}} down the Ohio River to the southwest of the westernmost Fort Ancient settlements were the [[Middle Mississippian culture]] peoples of the [[Prather Complex]]. This stretch of river was an empty buffer zone, possibly for social or political reasons, although it might possibly have been because the narrowing of the alluvial valley between the [[Falls of the Ohio]] region near [[Louisville, Kentucky]] and the mouth of the [[Little Miami River|Miami River]] at [[Cincinnati, Ohio]] made it less suitable for the intensive maize agriculture practiced by both societies.<ref name=MUNSON2004>{{cite conference |url= http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeo/prather/SEAC-MAC2004-Prather-03.pdf | title=Prather Site (12-CL-4), Clark County, Indiana : The 2003 Baseline Archaeological Survey |author1=Munson, Cheryl Ann | author2= McCullough, Robert G.| conference= Southeast Archaeological Conference / Midwest Archaeological Conference|date=2004-10-21|location=St. Louis, Missouri}}</ref><ref name=2MUNSON2004>{{cite book |url= http://www.indiana.edu/~archaeo/prather/SEAC-MAC2004-Prather-03.pdf | title=Archaeological Investigations at the Prather Site (12-CL-4), Clark County, Indiana : The 2003 Baseline Archaeological Survey |author1= Munson, Cheryl Ann | author2= McCullough, Robert G.| date=August 2004 }}</ref>

==Possible symbolism==
Many artifacts have been found associated with the Fort Ancients, the most common being four-handled funerary urns, salamanders and snakes.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Possible symbolism of the urn may be a connection to common Siouan religious beliefs. At least one artifact containing the Siouan religious symbol known as the medicine wheel (a cross inside of a circle) has been found. This stands, primarily, for the fact that all life sprung from the same place and returns to that source in the end. The four-handled urns may be to evoke that symbol, more so than having any real, practical use.

Two possibilities of the salamander motif can also be explored. One possibility is that, like in Plains Indian culture, [[salamander]]s represented boys and [[turtle]]s represented girls. Mothers would have a special medicine pouch made for one or the other to represent their children and containing the umbilical cord, which they would wear so long as both still lived.<ref name="ReferenceD">Lee, Annette Sharon & Rock, Jim "Dakota/Lakota Star Map Constellation Guidebook: An Introduction to D(L)akota Star Knowledge" 2014</ref> The other possibility comes from the Eastern Siouan's, who express a belief that "when a Salamander barks, someone will soon die."<ref name="ReferenceC"/> As such, the [[salamander]] may have been a sort of death omen to the Fort Ancients or had something to do with the door between the living and dead worlds.

The Serpent Burial Mound was made specifically to mirror a constellation known to many Siouan peoples, known as the Snake. It is depicted as swallowing an egg whole, representing the struggle against overwhelming odds for the sake of the people. Furthermore, some Siouan peoples seem to have believed that the stars seen at night were a mirror of the spirit world itself, each one representing an ancestor at peace. Therefore, this mound may have been a special place to bury those with special honors, in order to anchor such people and their descendants to the earth. This symbolic connection to the Snake constellation suggests that this mound may have been especially significant to the Fort Ancients.<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Koch, Felix J. (1882–1933): ''A Visit to Fort Ancient'', Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications: Volume 20 [1911], pp.&nbsp;248–252.

==External links==
{{commons category|Fort Ancient culture}}
*[http://www.fortancient.org/ Official Fort Ancient Website]
*[http://www.ancientohiotrail.com/?q=ftancient_temp Fort Ancient, Ancient Ohio Trail]
*[http://www.ancientohiotrail.com/?q=timeline Earthworks Timeline, Ancient Ohio Trail]
*[https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5243/ Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks UNESCO World Heritage Nomination]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060209044156/http://www.ohiohistoryteachers.org/03/04/sw03.shtml Ohio History Teachers' page on Fort Ancient]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060619233507/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/northamerica/culture/plains/fort_ancient.html Fort Ancient Culture]
*[http://www.sunwatch.org/ SunWatch - a restored Fort Ancient village]
*[http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=783 Fort Ancient Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227232421/http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=783 |date=2010-12-27 }}, Virtual First Ohioans
* {{cite journal|title=The Chronological Position and Ethnological Relationships of the Fort Ancient Aspect| author-link= James Bennett Griffin| author= Griffin, James B. |journal = American Antiquity |volume=2 | issue= 4 |date=April 1937| pages= 273–276 |publisher = Society for American Archaeology |jstor= 275464 | doi=10.2307/275464| s2cid= 163438897}}
* {{cite thesis |degree=Doctor of Philosophy | author-link= Philip Phillips (archaeologist)| author=Phillips, Philip |title= Introduction to the Archaeology of the Mississippi Valley| chapter= Chapter 2 : The Upper Mississippi "Phase"|year= 1939| chapter-url=http://rla.unc.edu/Archives/LMSfiles/Phillips1939/v1c.ch2.pdf}}

{{Fort Ancient culture}}
{{Native Americans in Ohio}}
{{Mississippian and related cultures}}
{{Pre-Columbian North America}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Post-Archaic period in North America]]
[[Category:Fort Ancient culture| ]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures in the United States]]
[[Category:Native American history of Indiana]]
[[Category:Native American history of Kentucky]]
[[Category:Native American history of West Virginia]]
[[Category:Formative period in the Americas]]
[[Category:11th-century establishments in North America]]
[[Category:1750s disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Archaeology of the United States]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian cultures]]
[[Category:Prehistoric cultures in Ohio]]