Early Native Americans in West Virginia: The Fort Ancient Culture

by Darla Spencer

Overview

Follow Archaeologist Darla Spencer as she discovers the history and habits of 16 Native American sites in West Virginia.

Once thought of as Indian hunting grounds with no permanent inhabitants, West Virginia is teeming with evidence of a thriving early native population. Today's farmers can hardly plow their fields without uncovering ancient artifacts, evidence of at least ten thousand years of occupation. Members of the Fort Ancient culture resided along the rich bottomlands of southern West Virginia during the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods. Lost to time and rediscovered in the 1880s, Fort Ancient sites dot the West Virginia landscape. This volume explores sixteen of these sites, including Buffalo, Logan and Orchard. Archaeologist Darla Spencer excavates the fascinating lives of some of the Mountain State's earliest inhabitants in search of who these people were, what languages they spoke and who their descendants may be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625857217
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	10/31/2016
Series:	American Heritage
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Darla Spencer focuses her career on studying early Native American civilizations and archeology. She is a registered professional archaeologist and currently serves as a board of directors member for Council for West Virginia Archaeology. She is the secretary and treasurer for the West Virginia Archeological Society. She has also worked with the Native American History Council of West Virginia. Darla teaches Native American studies at West Virginia University.

Table of Contents

Foreword Bonnie M. Brown 9

Preface 11

Acknowledgements 13

1 Background 15

2 The Fort Ancient Culture 21

3 Fort Ancient Chronology 35

4 Fort Ancient Sites in West Virginia 39

5 Who Were the Fort Ancient People? 131

Appendix: Glossary of Archaeological Terms 133

Notes 137

Bibliography 147

Index 155

About the Author 157