Late Prehistoric Village Farmers

By about 1,000 years ago, many of the native peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, including Kentucky, were living in permanent villages in the uplands and along rivers and streams where the floodplain soils were fertile and easy to cultivate. They continued to grow the plants that had been cultivated by their Woodland ancestors, but a new crop came to dominate their gardens: corn, or maize. Beans were also added to the gardens in many places. These prehistoric farmers supplemented their diet by hunting, fishing, and collecting nuts and wild plants. Their farming way of life lasted until Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century.

More than 1,900 Late Prehistoric sites have been recorded in Kentucky. Archaeologists have identified two different farming societies in Kentucky: Mississippians in the west and south and the Fort Ancient peoples in the north and east.

Mississippian communities varied greatly in size from small farmsteads of only a few families, to small villages with perhaps several dozen families, to towns with 100 or more houses laid out around an open plaza. Some Mississippian towns were surrounded by a palisade built of substantial logs that provided some insurance against invasions from enemies.

Flat-topped earthen mounds were a prominent feature of large Mississippian towns. The mounds served as platforms for the large houses of important people who were social and political leaders, houses where the bones of the ancestors were stored (called charnel houses), and public buildings. People of lower social status were buried near their houses or in small cemeteries. Mississippian communities of different sizes were linked together through the sharing of food, exchange of goods, cooperation for defense, a shared set of beliefs and associated ceremonies, and allegiance to the same leaders.

Fort Ancient peoples lived in villages that were politically independent entities. Fort Ancient villages were smaller than Mississippian villages. Some were scatters of houses along broad ridgetops or river banks. Other villages had houses arranged in a circle around a plaza. Fort Ancient peoples buried their dead within their villages. At some Fort Ancient villages, low earthen mounds were built near the plaza. A few Fort Ancient villages are surrounded by a palisade.

In these farming societies, men were probably responsible for clearing gardens by cutting down trees and burning vegetation. Mississippian women used stone hoes to work the soil in their fields. Grey- and tan-colored cherts from Tennessee and Illinois made the best blades. In contrast, Fort Ancient women used large mussel shells or elk shoulder blades as hoes.

Mississippian potters shaped their vessels into a wide variety of forms, including jars, plates, bottles, bowls, and pans. Some vessels, particularly water bottles, were painted with red and white designs. Other vessels were effigies molded in the shapes of animals, marine shells, vegetables, or human heads. Fort Ancient potters mostly made jars that they decorated with geometric designs or with cordmarked exteriors.

Late Prehistoric peoples hunted with the bow and arrow. Arrows were tipped with small triangular projectile points. Other chipped stone tools were manufactured quickly for the job at hand and discarded afterwards. Tools made of bone and antler were also common.

Like their ancestors, Mississippian and Fort Ancient peoples participated in trade networks that brought in such exotic materials as marine shell, copper, and stones from distant sources.