Geochronological aspects of terminal Late Fort Ancient sites in the Little Miami-Ohio Rivers confluence area and their archeological significance

A geochronological approach is used to examine the temporal and spatial parameters of terminal Late Fort Ancient (∼1450 –1750 CE) habitation sites in the Little Miami-Ohio Rivers confluence area. We use a Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates, microtephrochronology, a biostratigraphic indicator ( Bison bison), and ethnohistorical records to examine terminal Late Fort Ancient sites in this region. Circular, stockaded villages (≤ 5 ha), consisting of single-family dwellings were replaced with large linear villages (≤ 8 ha), consisting of multifamily longhouses constructed parallel to the Little Miami and Ohio rivers. Smaller contemporary habitations and a plethora of underground maize silos suggest a seasonal pattern of population fission and fusion. At the time of Hernando de Soto's military conquests, ∼350 km to the south, terminal Late Fort Ancient villages in this region were increasing in number and size.

Becoming and Descending

Over the course of the discipline, archaeological investigations have toggled between history and process, with the current emphasis being increasingly placed on historical aspects. Rather than seeing this as a choice to make, Cook agrees with those that see both as being necessary to understand the full dimensions of the human problems we investigate. Cook presents a Fort Ancient/Mississippian culture case study that explores various dimensions of this research philosophy. This is followed by a discussion that explores the theoretical toggling that seems to occur more so as studies that emphasize one extreme end of the historical-processual continuum seem to be exhausted.

The Village Remains the Same

Villages are one of the most ubiquitous and enduring site forms in the Eastern United States and beyond. In this chapter, I examine the dynamics associated with village formation in the Middle Ohio Valley. Integration of mortuary data with biodistance and isotope analyses from human burials with environmental data is key to unlocking the processes and histories at play. The central argument is that the basic structure of the Fort Ancient village developed in close connection and early interactions with Mississippian migrants and remained relatively constant through time despite major shifts in certain aspects of material culture and diet. Village origins are linked to a series of general processes and specific historical developments involving exploitation of a particular type of environmental niche, reuse of ancient monuments, and referencing mythic Mississippian events. Examination of the Fort Ancient village pattern in comparison with potential descendant communities also allows for heretofore unrecognized connections to be explored, particularly with Dhegiha Siouan tribes.

GROWTH OF A VILLAGE: USING FLUORIDE ANALYSIS AND ARTIFACT FREQUENCIES TO EXAMINE EARLY FORT ANCIENT/MISSISSIPPIAN HOUSEHOLD AND SITE FORMATION

Examining the formation histories of single-component prehistoric villages is difficult using only radiocarbon dating. This study investigates such a case with the added considerations of two relative dating techniques, artifact accumulation and fluoride dating, at the Guard site (12D29), an early (ca. AD 1000–1300) Fort Ancient/Mississippian village located in southeast Indiana. The goal was to assess the depositional history of the individual house basins and, if possible, to determine a relative sequence of construction within the village. The observed relationship between relative artifact frequencies and fluoride levels was statistically examined with the expected result being that fluoride concentrations and artifact frequencies are significantly correlated. Houses built initially contained lower relative artifact frequencies, whereas houses built more recently contained higher relative artifact frequencies. This pattern is further explored with artifact and fluoride distinctions in vertical stratigraphy, which show that some structures were slowly filled with midden trash, whereas others were more likely rapidly filled during the latter part of the village occupation, perhaps at the time of site abandonment. Overall, the results are very promising and consistent with the SunWatch site, the only other Fort Ancient culture site with a defined construction sequence, establishing a general pattern of village development in the study region.