^'^NJi^Tof^^' APPALACHIAN REGION ANCIENT TRIBES — HOFFMAN 223 



it evolved along the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, their culture 

 still was unmistakably Mississippian and non-Woodland. Further- 

 more, it had considerable homogeneity and occupied a large area 

 including "a considerable proportion of southern Ohio, northern 

 Kentucky, southeastern Indiana, and, to an as yet uncertain extent, 

 the Kanawha Valley in West Vkginia" (Griffin, 1943, pp. 206, 257- 

 260, 268-269, table xiv; 1952). 



Within the Fort Ancient Aspect a number of smaller and even more 

 homogeneous units (foci) may be discerned. These foci (Madison- 

 vUle, Anderson, Baum, Feurt, Clover) seem to be distinguishable 

 partly upon regional and partly upon temporal grounds. The Madi- 

 sonville and Clover foci are the latest. Historic trade objects such as 

 copper bells and snakes, copper and brass spirals, pendants and bells, 

 iron adzes and beads, blue glass beads, etc. have been recovered from 

 the Madison vUle and Clover components. Commenting upon these 

 remains. Griffin states that 



... it does not appear that any Fort Ancient focus had any considerable 

 antiquity, and the probabihty is that the Madisonville Focus is only 250 to 350 

 years old. Even if the historic materials had not been buried in undoubted 

 association with typical Madisonville artifacts in the Madisonville Component, 

 this focus, on the basis of comparative analysis, could be shown to have been of 

 no great age. [Griffin, 1943, p. 207.] 



Since, however, archeological investigation has failed to reveal any 

 connection between the Fort Ancient Aspect and the later historic 

 Indian cultures which occupied the region, it generally is concluded 

 that the former disappeared before 1700, probably as a result of 

 the documented Iroquois invasion of c. 1680. 



The Fort Ancient Aspect then represents a Middle Mississippi offshoot which 

 merged culturally with a basic Woodland group already tinged with Mississippian 

 traits. This process was interrupted by the pressure of the Iroquois from the 

 northeast, and the southeastern Fort Ancient sites were modified as a result of 

 the pressure of the Europeans on the Indian tribes of the Piedmont and mountain 

 area of West Virginia and Virginia. The Madisonville Focus lasted until the 

 period between 1670 and 1690, when its cultural unity was destroyed by the 

 Iroquois and by the attraction of the Indians in the area to trading centers 

 such as those of the Illinois Valley, The Middle Atlantic Area, and the Southeast. 

 ... As already stated, it is doubtful that any specific historic tribe or tribes can be 

 associated with the Fort Ancient culture. It is almost certain that it is not 

 Iroquoian, and there is little or no archaeological or historical evidence that it is a 

 Siouan relic. This seems to leave only one linguistic stock of sufficient promi- 

 nence in the area which cannot be eliminated, namely, the Algonquian. [Griffin, 

 1943, p. 308.] 



Among the various Algonquian tribes the Shawnee have what may 

 be considered the best claim to having resided in at least part of the 

 Fort Ancient territory during the early historic (Griffin, 1943, pp. 

 120-121, table xiv; Hanna, 1911, vol. 1, pp. 119-126; Mayer-Oakes, 

 1955, pp. 170-171; Witthoft and Hunter, 1955). 



