 |
PRE-RECORDED HISTORY
Archeological Exploration
Archaic Indians
The first known inhabitants of the Black River Watershed, the Archaic Indians arrived on the southern shores of Lake Erie around 6,500 BC. In addition to being adept hunters of bear, deer, wild turkey, and other animals that were becoming abundant, this group was the first in Ohio to become effective gatherers of roots, berries, tubers, leaves, and nuts. It is also believed that this group domesticated squash. This period of native history is known as the Foraging Stage and coincided with the significant changes that were occurring with the end of the Ice Age. During this period, Ohio’s climate stabilized and deciduous forest communities evolved.
The Archaic Indians relied upon flint tools and stone weapons to secure game. They also utilized bone hooks with lines of plant fiber for fishing on a small scale. Nets, traps and poisons gathered from local plants were utilized for larger scale fishing. They too lived in small groups, sometimes as small as single families traveling from one campsite to another in pursuit of game animals, ripening berries, and seeds. They traveled in a seasonal cycle of movement between the river valleys, the Lake Erie shoreline, and the interior forests and wetlands.
One Archaic group in particular, the Glacial or Gravel Kame Indians, were believed to use the area (although it is possible that they resided further west). They received their name because of their practice of burying their dead in glacial kames, small hills of gravel, and sand deposited by glaciers. Relics they have left behind include sole and saucer shaped ornaments of shell, heavy copper beads, images of birds carved from hard slate, and masks made from the skulls of wolves and bears.
[Back to the top]
Adena Indians
Around 1,000 BC, the commencement of the Early Woodland period, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle transformed when the Adena Indians discovered crude agricultural techniques and skills. Perhaps this lifestyle change between 1000 and 800 BC occurred by accident when a woman collecting plants dropped a seed and, returning to the spot later, realized that it had sprouted. The Adenas used and, to a degree, cultivated native plants such as raspberry, strawberry, grape, goosefoot, hazelnuts, acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and butternuts. Although primarily inhabitants of southern and central Ohio, the Adenas had significant influence upon the tribes who would later settle into the Black River region. The Adenas were the first known native Americans to make pottery. One archaeological site in the Black River watershed contains pottery shards from these Early Woodland Indians that date back to 500-100 BC.
The Adenas are well-known for their burial mounds which replaced the use of beach ridges and kame (gravel deposits) as burial sites. These early inhabitants actually received their name (meaning “delightful place”) with the discovery of one of these mounds on the property of former Governor Thomas Worthington, near Chillicothe, a city in south central Ohio. The first of its kind to be excavated, the 26-foot high mound revealed an earthen jar, bracelets and rings of copper, and a clay pipe in the image of a human. The discovery of copper implies that the Adenas engaged in some of the earliest exchanges in long-distance trade. The Adena people were greatly involved with their surroundings, as indicated by the high regard that they had for animals. Depictions of both the hawk and shoveler duck have been found in stone engravings, clay tablets, or on pipes which incorporate the forms of animals.
[Back to the top]
Hopewell Indians
Around 100 BC, a new group of people, the Hopewell Indians, arrived. The Hopewell traveled and hunted throughout northern Ohio and the Black River region. Hopewells were also the first Ohio natives to be magnificent artisans, skilled at creating ornaments and other objects  used in ceremonies and/or as symbols of status. Most objects created by the Hopewells captured forms in nature such as hawks, owls, cranes, wildcats, bears, turtles, toads, and other animals. These objects were shaped from clay and even fossil ivory from Ice Age mammoths. Their burial mounds contain beautiful jewelry, including pearl necklaces, ear ornaments, bracelets, and head dresses made of copper. The expansion of long-distance trade led to even more exquisite artwork than that produced by the Adenas. Evidence indicates that the Hopewell obtained silver from Ontario, obsidian and grizzly teeth from the Rockies, mica from North Carolina and marine shells from the Gulf of Mexico. Exceptional examples of Hopewellian artifacts are available for public viewing at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio.
Two Hopewell blades composed of Flint Ridge flint were located at the Eiden archaeological site near the confluence of the Black River and French Creek. It is conceivable that these artifacts were left from Early and Middle Woodland Hopewells who occupied this Late Woodland site. Unfortunately, their presence is not represented at the site by any features or burials.
The mounds of the Hopewells, which are larger and more elaborate than the Adenas, have given the Hopewells their second name, the Mound Builders. Originally named after the Ohio farmer whose land contained 38 burial mounds, the Mound Builders had at least four reasons for creating their extensive works. They were used for burials, molded into symbolic shapes or effigies of animals with nothing inside, used as foundations for temples, or as platforms for mounds built on top of mounds. Besides being skilled artisans and builders, the Hopewells were the first Ohioans to cultivate maize. In addition to corn, they hunted, gathered, and fished in small villages up and down river bottoms.
The Hopewells disappeared with little explanation around 500 AD, leaving many more questions than answers about their culture. Their demise has been attributed to either unknown conquerors, epidemics or a cooling of the climate that drastically affected their corn and squash crops. Following their disappearance, “culture in the eastern woodlands went into a dark age for 200 years,” according to Tom Sherman, author of Place on the Glacial Till.
[Back to the top]
Late Prehistoric People
Late Woodland peoples were most likely Hopewellian descendants. Initially, they were not dependent upon elaborate earthworks or permanent villages. Instead, they appear to have been primarily hunters and gatherers. Ohio’s climate was continuing to change and it is believed that climatic conditions during this period may not have been conducive to crop production. Like the Hopewell people before them, the late Woodland Indians were dependent upon the resources of rivers and Lake Erie. A few Late Woodland Indian village sites have been found in Ohio.
 The Whittlesey Indians were the first of the Late Woodland peoples to construct villages and rely more heavily upon agriculture. They were also among the earlier Indians to use the bow and arrow for hunting. At first, they were believed to be nomadic hunters and gatherers. However, archaeologists discovered a Whittlesey village near Cleveland believed to be used around 100 AD. Between 1400-1600 AD, the Whittlesey people constructed fortified villages containing long houses like those used in later years by the Iroquois. At least two Whittlesey villages existed on the Black River.
The village uncovered at White Fort near the Black River Reservation consisted of several mounds for burial and fortification purposes. White Fort is believed to have been inhabited by a tribe of Late Woodland Peoples of the Sandusky Tradition. These people built houses, used flint weapons and tools, hunted and gathered nuts, berries and tubers. This site was recently excavated by archaeologists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Although first documented in the middle 1800’s, major excavation did not begin until April, 1995. Artifacts include flint drill points, fish bones and other items such as pottery.
The second Late Woodland site on the Black River, Eiden, dates to approximately the same time as White Fort. Overlooking French Creek, this village site was partially excavated between 1955 and 1964 by A. Bungart of Avon, Ohio. His excavations revealed over 235 burials indicating the site was also a cemetery. Although no other major excavations that have since occurred, the Lorain County MetroParks documented an analysis of the artifacts and information he collected.
The Whittlesey culture apparently moved from northeastern Ohio around 1650 to the Ohio valley to join other tribes such as the Shawnee, Seneca and Mingo. Their migration resulted from the expansion of the Iroquois who moved westward after exhausting beaver supplies in New York. Some populations from the Whittlesey tradition are believed to have moved to the upper Great Lakes to join the French at Green Bay in Wisconsin to trade. Their numbers likely decreased, too, with the introduction of European diseases from other Native American tribes.
[Back to the top]
|
