Fort Ancient

This article is about the Fort Ancient culture. For the National Historic Landmark, see Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio).

Partially reconstructed Fort Ancient settlement at Sunwatch Indian Village

The Fort Ancient culture is a Native American archaeological culture that dates back to c. 1000–1750 CE.[1] 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.[2] A contemporary of the neighboring Mississippian culture, Fort Ancient is considered to be a separate "sister culture".[2] Mitochondrial DNA evidence collected from the area suggests that the Fort Ancient culture did not directly descend from the older Hopewell Culture.[3][4]

Material evidence also suggests that the Fort Ancient peoples introduced maize agriculture to Ohio,[2] and other evidence connects this culture to the Great Serpent Mound.[5] In 1999, an archaeological study by Brad Lepper and Tod A. Frolking used radiocarbon testing to show that the Alligator Effigy Mound in Granville also dates to the Fort Ancient era, rather than the assumed Hopewell era.[6][7] Both the Serpent and Alligator Mounds, first understood as burial locations, have been shown to be Fort Ancient ceremonial effigy sites.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference CARMEAN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference OHIOARCH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Converse, Robert (2003). The Archaeology of Ohio. The Archaeology Society of Ohio. ISBN 978-0-9744311-0-9.
  4. ^ Mills, Lisa (2003). Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Ohio Hopewell of the Hopewell Mound Group. Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University (Thesis). pp. 123–124.
  5. ^ Ohio History Connection. "Serpent Mound See the world's most spectacular effigy mound". Ohio History Connection. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  6. ^ Lepper, Brad (April 2001). "Ohio's "Alligator"". Timeline. 18. Ohio Historical Society: 2.
  7. ^ Lepper, Bradley T.; Frolking, Tod A. (2003). "Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 13 (2): 147–167. doi:10.1017/S0959774303000106. ISSN 0959-7743. S2CID 161534362.