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The Fort Ancient Culture, 950 AD to 1650 AD

Posted on 21. Aug, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Artifact Finds, Flint Artifacts, Ohio

Note: The following article is a submission from Steve Valentine, prominent Arrowheadologist well known in the forums and galleries for his informative posts and amazing collection of rare finds. Take time to learn more about this amazing culture. You won’t be disappointed! Click on the photos for a better view!

The Fort Ancient Culture, 950 AD to 1650 AD

The Fort Ancient culture existed along the Ohio River and its tributaries for around 700 years, beginning around 950 AD and continuing all the way up until the historical period. The Fort Ancient culture was originally thought to be an extension of the large Mississippian Cultures that were flourishing in the south, but they are now generally seen as coexisting at the same time and independently of each other. Both cultures are believed to have evolved and developed from the Late Woodland culture. Some of the more prevalent Fort Ancient sites are the Blaine, Madisonville, Morrison, Graham, Voss, McCune, Gabriel, Erp, Incinerator, Sloane, Turpin Farm, Haffner-Kuntz, Sun Watch, and Riker sites. In my general area of southern Ohio there are the Hardin Village, Goldcamp, Schisler, and Feurt Mound and Village sites.
 
The Fort Ancient culture gets its name from a site in Ohio called Fort Ancient. This site is now thought to have actually been built by the Hopewell and then later occupied by the Fort Ancient peoples. This site is located on a hill above the Little Miami River near Lebanon, Ohio and is believed to not have actually been a fort, but more than likely a place for ceremonies to take place. In recent history the largest effigy mound in the United States, Serpent Mound located near Peebles, Ohio along St Rt 73 has been attributed to possibly being built by the Fort Ancient people because of new carbon dating done on charcoal found under the mound.
 
The Fort Ancient culture can be distinguished by their use of small triangular shaped arrowpoints, some which were serrated with needle tips, and the use of shouldered pentagonal knives. They also utilized mussel shell for a lot of their tools and jewelry as well as mussels being a large staple of their diet. Other artifacts included the use of Shell Hoes for agriculture, all types of Bone Tools like Awls, Punches, Hoes, Fish Hooks, Bone Needles, and Hide Scrapers. They also made a lot of jewelry from both bone and shell like Beads, Hair Pins, Pendants, Tinklers, and Shell Gorgets of which a number of examples have the “weeping eye” motif engraved upon them. These people also enjoyed smoking and playing a game called Chunkey which is evident by the large amount of Pipes and Discoidals found on these sites. They made Pipes of all shapes and sizes, including lots of effigy styles representing the wildlife that surrounded them.
 
The Fort Ancient people lived in large villages that were surrounded by huge wooden stockades to keep out predators and invaders. They were primarily farmers by nature and lived on a diet of maize, squash, and beans but they also hunted and fished to supplement their diet with meat. It is generally accepted that they did not have an elite social or political structure. Although some individuals may have risen to the status of leader, most of the population was considered to be equal. This is evident in the artifacts buried with individuals which usually do not vary much from grave to grave showing that no one person had a higher status than another.
 
The disappearance of the Fort Ancient culture during the mid 1600’s has been attributed to the arrival of the Spanish and the subsequent disease and epidemics brought with them. Although there is a gap in the time between the disappearance of the Fort Ancient people and the arrival of the Shawnee Indians, it is widely accepted that the Shawnee evolved from the Fort Ancient because of the similarities in their artifacts , art, and mythology, plus some of the oral history links them together.
 
There are four Fort Ancient sites and one historical Shawnee village within 20 miles of my house. I have hunted all of them but only have artifacts from the four Fort Ancient sites. I do however have a buddy who has an extensive collection of historical items from the Shawnee village. The flint points at the Shawnee village are identical to the Fort Ancient points, but you find lots of copper and brass Tinklers, Glass Trade Beads, and other items at the Shawnee site that you won’t find at Fort Ancient sites because of contact with white settlers.
 
Here are some pictures of typical Fort Ancient artifacts from the four sites I hunt.
 
The first three pictures are of pieces from the Feurt Mound and Village site which is located just north of Portsmouth, Ohio in Clay Township, Scioto county. There are Triangle Points, Bone Beads, Shell Beads, Fish Hooks, Bone Tools, Deer Antler Arrowpoints, Drills, Pendants, and Drilled Teeth in the trays and also a picture of a pristine Effigy Pipe made from sandstone.

 
The next two pictures are of pieces from the Hardin Village Site which is located in Greenup county Kentucky in an area known as the Siloam Bottoms.

 
The next two pictures are of items from the Goldcamp Site which is in Lawrence county Ohio just north of Hanging Rock, Ohio.

 
The last picture is a tray of artifacts from the Schisler Site which is in a field directly behind the ODOT garage just south of Lucasville, Ohio in Scioto county.

 
As you can see all of the artifacts from each site are very similar. As all of these villages were in existence at the same time, I’m sure they traded many items amongst each other. About 98% of these are personal finds.
 
I hope you enjoyed this article and it helped to inform you on the Ft Ancient culture and the many sites I am able to hunt in my area. 

Steve Valentine

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Tags: Arrowheads, artifacts, Awl, Beads, Bone, Flint, Fort Ancient, Gorget, Kentucky, Ohio, Surface Hunting