April 8, 2015

New Discoveries on the Fort Ancient Culture

The Fort Ancient Culture of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia had a rapid increase in maize production, and then declined.  Researchers carried out isotopic analysis of human teeth from burials dated at 1000 CE onwards. There was an influx of Mississippian peoples in the area, spreading Mississippian agricultural and cultural traditions to the east. Mississippian style housing and ceramics have been found at Fort Ancient sites.
The study is been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
*Cook, Robert A. and Price, T. Douglas, Maize, Mounds and the Movement of People: Isotope Analysis of a Mississippian/Fort Ancient Case, Journal of Archaeological Science, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.022
Popular Archaeology has the report here;
http://bit.ly/1DixePM