"^"NJ^^Tof^^" APPALACHIAN REGION ANCIENT TRIBES — ^HOFFMAN 227 



, . . On this site the whole Shenk's Ferry complex, including the pottery types 

 described here, along with a majority of another type of Shenk's Ferry pottery 

 partially acculturated to Susquehannock style, is intermixed with early 

 colonial Susquehannock materials in a large number of the pits and graves, and 

 apparently represents the product of a large number of captives. At the next 

 Susquehannock Site, the Washingtonboro Site, a very few such Shenk's Ferry 

 sherds have been excavated from Susquehannock middens of the mid-seven- 

 teenth century [now redated to 1600-1620]. [Witthoft and Farver, 1952, p. 5.] 



Thus, the Shenk's Ferry history, hke that of the Monongahela and 

 Fort Ancient Aspect, affords ample proof of the nonstatic nature of 

 Indian interrelations in the Early Historic (Witthoft, 1951, p. 318; 



1954, pp. 26-27; 1955). 



The remaining archeological complex represented within the north- 

 western Pennsylvania and Ohio area is the so-called Iroquois Aspect; 

 a distinctive cultural unit seemingly indigenous to the interior low 

 plateau and central lowland provinces flanking the northernmost 

 ranges and plateaus of the Appalachian system, expanding into the 

 Allegheny sector of the Appalachian Plateau and into the ridge and 

 valley provinces of Pennsylvania only during the historic period. 



The westernmost focus of the Iroquois Aspect was the Whittlesey, 

 the fortified towns of which extended along the Ohio shore of Lake 

 Erie, along the Maumee River into Indiana (e.g. ,the Secrest-Reasoner 

 component of Blackford County, Ind., not shown on the accompany- 

 ing map), and possibly into southeastern Michigan. While its cul- 

 tural affiliations largely point east to the Ripley Focus and to the 

 Iroquois Aspect generally, the focus also shows strong influences 

 from the Monongahela Aspect and from the Mississippian cultures, 

 particularly Fort Ancient. Like these other archeological complexes, 

 the Whittlesey Focus disappeared during the Early Historic — only 

 one component, Fairport, yielding any European trade goods. As 

 a result of this early demise, few suggestions exist as to the identity 

 of the culture's bearers. Most archeologists have avoided the ques- 

 tion altogether; others, lacking any other candidates, have brought 

 forth the Erie (Black, 1935; Griffin, 1944, p. 368; Mayer-Oakes, 



1955, p. 222; Morgan, 1952, pp. 96-97). 



The Ripley Focus, with components lying along the southern shore 

 of Lake Erie between Buffalo and the Ohio border, is closely related 

 to the Lawson and Factory Hollow Foci farther to the east, and less 

 so to the Whittlesey. The major sites, Ripley and 28th Street, 

 are large, rich villages yielding European trade goods of an early 

 date. No later sites have been found, leading to the general conclusion 

 that this culture also disappeared before or about 1650. The Ripley 

 Focus often has been identified as the remains of the Erie tribe (or 

 nation), but its major characteristics, a small number of large villages 

 situated very close to Lake Erie, are such that this identification may 



