Kentucky, “The Blue Grass State”. Let’s take a look at some of the details of the regional culture history within the commonwealth over time. Following is an assemblage of bits and pieces of a very lengthy archaeological survey in which I will include the link at the end . I have removed citations here for easier reading. Material evidence for Paleo-Indian occupation within Kentucky is scattered across the Commonwealth and is suggested by isolated finds of Paleo-Indian projectile points and by their presence in collections that are dominated by materials from later occupations. Artifacts from many Kentucky sites have been cross-dated with examples of early Paleo-Indian artifacts from other states with associated radiocarbon dates. No direct evidence between Paleo-Indian tools found in association with a Paleo-Indian kill site has been discovered in Kentucky; however, three possible Paleo-Indian kill sites are located within the Bluegrass Region and include the Clays Ferry Crevice in Fayette County, the Adams Mastodon site in Harrison County, and Big Bone Lick in Big Bone Lick State Park. Early Archaic tool assemblages were similar to that of Late Paleo-Indian, although Kirk Corner-Notched and Thebes Side-Notched projectile points dominate Kentucky site assemblages. Changes occurring near the end of the Early Archaic can be seen in projectile point styles that took the form of points with bifurcated bases like the Lecroy and Kanawha types. As climate fluctuations settled down around 3,000 B.C., Late Archaic settlements became widely dispersed compared to the Middle Archaic. Hunting and gathering practices continued with an emphasis on freshwater mussels and starchy seeds. The tool kit of the Late Archaic included a wide range of flaked stone, ground stone, and bone tools used for specialized tasks. Typical projectile points of the period had large straight, expanding, and contracting stems, with smaller stemmed and side-notched varieties being common. Late Archaic sites in the Bluegrass Region of central Kentucky were generally small base camps situated along the narrow floodplains of entrenched rivers and streams, smaller floodplain and upland sites, and rock shelters. The majority of camps were occupied on a short-term basis, leaving behind fragmentary evidence of butchering and tool manufacture. Early Woodland sites are primarily associated with ridge tops located near a variety of resources and sources of water in the form of springs. At this time, Bluegrass populations were dispersed among small, frequently shifting camps and settlements in the rolling uplands. It was not until later in Woodland times that settlements in the Bluegrass became consolidated. During the Middle Woodland, burial mounds and earthen enclosures became more evident and interregional exchange of ritual items occurred across most of the Eastern Woodlands of North America. Large nucleated settlements emerged in the Bluegrass and eastern Kentucky during the latter half of the Middle Woodland. In central Kentucky, Adena groups constructed hundreds of burial mounds, circular enclosures, and other earthworks. Materials associated with the Adena culture include stone gorgets, tubular pipes, elbow and platform pipes, stone balls, celts, hoes, simple and engraved tablets, hammer stones, galena and barite artifacts, bone and shell tools, copper bracelets, mica crescents, Adena and Robbins type projectile points, and fragments of textiles. Ceramic vessels have not been found in direct association with Adena burials. The most common pottery type found in mound fill or near Adena burials was a limestone tempered jar referred to as Adena Plain. Rituals connected with the interment of the dead in mounds, along with the use of other ceremonial sites brought together widely dispersed Adena households. The rituals served to bind the people together, reaffirming their identity as a group extending beyond the bounds of kinship-defined social relations. Excavations of mounds in Kentucky suggest that most were constructed after 200 B.C. After A.D. 300, mound construction declined, but did not cease, and some groups in the Bluegrass continued to build mortuary facilities during the Late Woodland sub period. The predominant cultural expression associated with Late Woodland in central and northeastern Kentucky is the Newtown Complex. This complex spans the late Middle Woodland and the early Late Woodland in the Bluegrass Region and northeastern Kentucky. Sites are identified by the presence of thin cord marked jars with thickened angular shoulders. These jars are associated with an increased reliance on native cultigens, such as chenopod, may grass, and marsh elder. A general trend towards more nucleated settlements took place in the Bluegrass around A.D. 300–500. By the terminal Late Woodland, people living in central and northeastern Kentucky appear to have returned to a more dispersed settlement pattern. However, the Late Woodland sub period also witnessed an increased reliance on corn, as agriculture became the dominant subsistence strategy.The Late Woodland sub period, is marked by a significant cultural change: the introduction of the bow and arrow. This technological change is represented in the archaeological record by the presence of small, triangular projectile points, which would have been affixed to the end of an arrow shaft. Throughout much of Kentucky, triangular points were immediately preceded by thin, corner notched points of the Jacks Reef type, which also may have been used as arrow points. The Late Prehistoric period in Kentucky is distinguished by two different cultural traditions: Mississippian and Fort Ancient. Mississippian peoples occupied western Kentucky, as well as extreme portions of southern and southeastern Kentucky, and are closer, culturally, to the Late Prehistoric inhabitants of the southeastern United States. The Fort Ancient culture flourished in central and eastern Kentucky, as well as in southeastern Ohio and western West Virginia. Around A.D. 900-1000, Late Prehistoric (Mississippian) groups throughout western and southern Kentucky had become increasingly sedentary, with long-term to permanent occupation of sites, and the construction of corporate structures and facilities. They began to rely heavily on cultivated plants, maize in particular, to meet their subsistence needs. They also began to participate in the Mississippian cultural and religious traditions of the Southeast and Midwest, and to create monumental architecture. Most Mississippian regional centers in western Kentucky were abandoned by A.D. 1400 with regional populations relocating to smaller more dispersed settlements. An exception to this pattern is the Angel-Caborn-Welborn transition. Along the Ohio River in Henderson and Union counties and corresponding counties in Indiana and Illinois, following the collapse of the Angel chiefdom, during the subsequent Caborn-Welborn phase the regional Mississippian population continued to live in large villages and to maintain a settlement hierarchy. The largest Caborn-Welborn village is the Slack Farm site, which is located in Union County. In addition to large villages, Caborn-Welborn settlement patterns consisted of small villages, hamlets, farm steads, and bluff top cemeteries. However, the Caborn-Welborn settlement system lacked a regional mound center. Fort Ancient village sites were situated on broad ridge tops in the Bluegrass Region or in valley bottoms along the main stems of the region’s larger rivers. Villages often contained central plazas and some have associated burial mounds. It is believed that these villages were occupied year-round by at least a portion of the site’s population. Recent data suggests Fort Ancient groups followed a pattern of seasonal movement known as the Miami-Potawatomi pattern. During the winter most households would leave a village to establish winter camps in good hunting territories. Fort Ancient artifact assemblages include small triangular arrow points and coarse, shell tempered ceramics with cord marked or plain exterior surfaces. Some vessels have incised designs on their necks. Like their Mississippian counterparts to the west and south, the Fort Ancient peoples produced pendants, beads, and elaborate gorgets out of freshwater and marine shell. Some of the motifs on the gorgets are associated with the Southern Cult, a complex of religious imagery and associated beliefs that was prominent throughout the Southeast and Midwest during the Late Prehistoric period. European households that moved to the Ohio Valley and Kentucky invaded the territories of the Chickasaw and Shawnee. The Shawnee, who struggled with early Kentucky settlers more than any other tribe, probably numbered no more than three or four thousand by 1750. Many Shawnee and other indigenous groups left Kentucky by the end of the 1700s. Those who remained were absorbed into the culture of the new Commonwealth of Kentucky, although some kept alive the memories of their traditional ways of life. Source: heritage.ky.gov/nr/rdonlyres/7f8112b4-b4f1-4130-824e-c9da1d393975/0/howardsitereport.pdf
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 01:28:26 +0000
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