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Ancient Ohio
Long before Ohio became a state, the land was populated by many different civilizations. Archeologists have studied unearthed remnants of these civilizations and using radiocarbon dating, they have a pretty good idea of when they lived, but not so sure as to where they lived.
During the last ice age, almost half of Ohio was covered by a massive ice sheet that erased any physical evidence of a civilization's existence. So they are left to speculate. In areas where the ice did not cover the land, there is plenty of scientific data to establish 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 scientists, and 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 frame of those civilizations do vary, and the consensus of whether one culture was replaced by another culture, or did that civilization just evolve over the centuries, has not been clearly defined.
For example, in Europe, there evolved a number of civilizations and empires that 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 Northern Africa all the way up to Great Britain. The Romans exerted great control over the people that lived in those lands. In time, many of those people adapted to the ways of the Roman Empire and 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 as their lives and when they lived. Sometimes artifacts are discovered in trash piles of discarded items, similar to our modern day land-fills.
Altogether they give us a glimpse of their civilizations and scientists try to draw conclusions from these scant bits of evidence, which is an un-exact method and open to many differing interpretations.
Ancient Archaeological Periods
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Pre Clovis: 21,700 BC - 10,000 BC
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Paleoindian Period: 14,000 BC - 9,500 BC
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Archaic Period: 9,500 BC - 500 BC
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Early Woodland Period: 800 BC - 100 AD
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Middle Woodland Period: 100 BC - 400 AD
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Late Woodland Period: 400 AD - 800 AD
- Late Prehistoric Period: 1000 AD - 1300 AD
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