AncientOhio

Long before Ohio became a state, the land has been populated by a number of civilizations. Archeologists have studied unearthed remnants of some of these civilizations, and using radiocarbon dating have a good idea of when they lived, but can't be sure how far their civilization ranged.

During the last ice age, almost half of Ohio (and North America) was covered by a massive ice sheet that erased any physical evidence left from previous civilizations. So archeologists are left to speculate. In areas where the ice did not cover the land, there is plenty of scientific data establishing the existence of these civilizations.

Archaeologists have created a general time line that identifies certain civilizations and when they existed. Identifying a specific civilization that had no written records is based on analysis pottery fragments and by making assumptions that each civilization developed their own way of making pottery. Radio carbon dating establishes the time frame for when they lived, and the discovered artifacts help establish the type of civilization they had. This information is based on 100s of scientist's studying the collected data. While there is much disagreement and differing conclusions, there are some areas where they are in agreement.

Most archeologists agree that there were definite periods that covered vast numbers of years when various civilizations occupied Ohio. The time frames of those civilizations vary and it is not clear whether one civilization replaced the one preceding it. For example, did one civilization take over those living in the area and replace that culture with their own, or did the culture just evolve without any conquest?

For example, in Europe, a number of civilizations evolved and some empires rose up and exerted control over these people. Yet, it wasn't that the people disappeared from the land, just that they evolved over time, depending on which power exerted the most control over their daily lives. The Roman Empire stretched from North Africa to Great Britain. The Romans exerted great control over the people living in those lands. In time, many of those people adapted to the Roman Empire and this eventually affected their daily lives, even the language they spoke. The English, French, German, and Spanish languages all have their roots in Latin, but each is unique.

The same could be extrapolated to the Ancient Ohio area. Empires arose in North America and exerted controls over the people in one way or another. Like all empires, they had a natural life cycle: a beginning, middle, decline, and closing. We know more about European empires because they developed a widespread language and writing. The activities of these civilizations were recorded and their history preserved for future analysis.

Ancient Ohioans did not have written records, at least none that has survived, or that present day scientists have detected. All we have are the few remaining pieces of pottery, tools and other artifacts that have been discovered underneath layers of built up soil. Some of these objects were placed inside the burial chambers of honored members of their society. These artifacts give us the best clues about their lives and when they lived. Sometimes artifacts are discovered in trash piles of discarded items, similar to our modern day land-fills.

Altogether these pieces of clay and artifacts give us a glimpse of the civilization, and scientists try to draw conclusions from these scant bits of evidence, which is an un-exact method and open to many differing interpretations.

DNA Evidence

Recent DNA studies from 2000 year old remains recovered from the Chillicothe area show a genetic relationship between the Apache that lived in the southwest area of the country, the Yakima in the far northwest of the country, the Micmac located in the far northeast, and the Ojibwa of the Great Lakes region. This suggests that each of these cultures were descendants of the ancient people that built the mounds.

Ancient Archaeological Periods

• Pre Clovis: 21,700 BC - 10,000 BC

• Paleoindian Period: 14,000 BC - 9,500 BC

• Archaic Period: 9,500 BC - 500 BC

• Early Woodland Period: 800 BC - 100 AD

• Middle Woodland Period: 100 BC - 400 AD

• Late Woodland Period: 400 AD - 800 AD

• Late Prehistoric Period: 1000 AD - 1300 AD
  

 

What happened to the Mound Builders?

We probably will never know exactly what happened or why they stopped building mounds. There seems to be a correlation of evidence that suggests something happened in North America that drove away the inhabitants. These inhabitants included not only the mound builders of eastern North America, but also the inhabitants of southwest American. Nations such as the Anasazi, seemed to have disappear from areas they inhabited for centuries. Since it seems that they left on their own, that is, they were not driven out by another group and replaced, it would seem that either some disease or plague spread across the land or perhaps there was a change in the climate that forced them to go elsewhere in search of food. The latter seems the most likely.

However, since we have physiological evidence recorded in the growth of ancient trees it may be that what happened was drastic enough to force people to move, but short lived so as to not effect the big trees. A good example of something that could cause such an event is the eruption of a volcano.

In fact, there is evidence that suggests such an event occurred in 535 AD when Krakatoa erupted with such violence that it changed the climate world-wide that lasted for a period of years. So large was the air-borne ash field that it covered the entire planet. Evidence has been found in ice cores from both poles suggesting that the entire planet was encased in a giant ash cloud that may have caused an abbreviated nuclear winter called a "volcanic winter", especially in the middle latitudes that would have felt those effects.

When the earth became encased in this giant ash cloud, many plants would have died off quickly, maybe as fast as 30-60 days from the event and crops would not be available for several seasons. A Byzantine historian recorded that in the year 536 the sun did not shine. He described it as a time like an eclipse but one that lasted for an extended period.

This is of course all speculation and we will never know for sure why the Mound Builders stopped building mounds. All we know for sure is that they did stop. It would take about 200 years for Native Americans to return to the area and those that came did not build mounds.