The cultural tradition called Fort Ancient by archaeologists flourished in the middle Ohio River Valley from about 1000 CE to 1700 CE. Fort Ancient villages were generally situated near water ways (rivers or streams). The villages had rows of houses which were made with poles and then covered with wattle-and-daub, bark, or mats. Larger structures served as council houses.
In his chapter in The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology, Bernard K. Means writes:
“The term Fort Ancient was first used in the early 20th century to describe the archaeological sites in the southern part of Ohio but was later expanded to include sites in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.”
The type site for the Fort Ancient cultural tradition is Fort Ancient, a hilltop site located in southern Ohio. It is characterized by a number of earthworks which reach a height of about 23 feet.
In their chapter in Societies in Eclipse: Archaeology of the Eastern Woodland Indians, A.D. 1400-1700, archaeologists Pennelope Drooker and C. Wesley Cowan write:
“Fort Ancient people developed and sustained a way of life characterized by maize horticulture, nucleated villages, nonhierarchical settlement patterns, a social organization with a single level of achieved authority, and significant interregional interaction.”
Some of the Fort Ancient villages were stockaded with the homes arranged in a circular fashion around a central plaza. Many sites had burial or temple mounds.
Fort Ancient people were cultivating corn (maize), beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco. About 48-70% of their diet was corn. One of the consequences of this corn-based diet was a high rate of spina bifida and tooth decay.
They were also hunting deer, bear, turkey, and elk. They fish using bone hooks, harpoons, and nets. Wild plant resources used by Fort Ancient people included a variety of nuts and fruits. The Fort Ancient people were making slender, triangular arrow points.
Fort Ancient pottery was tempered with shell or grit. Most of the vessels are squat and globular. They have rounded bottoms, broad mouths, and slightly flaring rims. Many of the vessels have strap handles. The Fort Ancient people also made ceramic animal effigies.
Fort Ancient people made a variety of pipes from both stone and clay. While the most common pipes had a rectangular or conical shape with a wooden stem, some of the pipes were made in animal shapes, some are elbow pipes, and some had a projecting prow in the front to provide a cool handhold for the smoker.
While some archaeologists consider Fort Ancient to be ancestral to the Shawnee, archaeologists Pennelope Drooker and C. Wesley Cowan write:
“Archaeologists and ethnohistorians have reached no consensus about which historically named group or groups might have been descended from Fort Ancient populations, although Shawnee and related Central Algonquian groups are most often suggested.”
In his book Shawnee! The Ceremonialism of a Native American Tribe and its Cultural Background, archaeologist James Howard writes:
“It would certainly appear that the most economical explanation in terms of available archeological, linguistics, and ethnohistorical data is to equate the prehistoric Shawnees with at least part of the Fort Ancient archaeological culture, though other groups were probably involved as well.”
The Fort Ancient people seem to have cremated the dead and then placed bundles containing the cremains into a grave lined with sandstone slabs. The bodies were defleshed prior to cremation. Evidence for defleshing was seen at a burial of a six-year-old child and an adult in the Clark Rockshelter (15GD110) in Kentucky. In an article in the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Douglas MacDonald et al report:
“The evidence of the defleshing cut marks on the child’s remains supports the argument that the skull of this individual was likely cleaned and stored until eventual internment, perhaps soon after the death of the adult.”
Offerings—bracelets, axes, breastplates, and earspools made from copper—were often placed in the graves. A display on the copper offerings of the Fort Ancient people in the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio reports:
“They show evidence of being intentionally broken or bent into their current shapes before being buried together and covered with sheets of mica, a silicate mineral that was commonly used by artisans at this time.”
The remains of the adult in the Clark Rockshelter were buried with a large amount of mica. MacDonald et al report:
“The large amount of mica clearly reflects the significance of the individuals interred at Clark Rockshelter.”
Shown below is the display of copper offerings in the Ohio History Center.
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Linking people to the cosmos in ancient Ohio
Ancient America: A very brief overview of the Adena moundbuilders
Ancient America: A very brief overview of the Hopewell moundbuilders
Ancient America: Effigy Mounds
Ancient America: An arrowhead display (museum tour)
Ancient America: A collection of stone fishing weights (photo diary)
Ancient America: The East Wenatchee Clovis Site (museum tour)
Ancient America: American Indians at Rancho La Brea