The Cleek–McCabe site is a Middle Fort Ancient culture (1200 to 1400 CE)

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

near Walton in Boone County, Kentucky, in the northern Bluegrass region of the state. It is situated on Mud Lick Creek approximately from the

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. The site has several components, including two mounds and a village.

Site description

The site is a village (Cleek 15Be22) with a centrally located to wide circular plaza with one burial mound (Cleek Mound 15Be23) at its eastern end and another (McCabe Mound 15Be8) at its western end.

McCabe mound 15Be8

The McCabe mound was partially excavated in the 1930s by William S. Webb of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, and consequently is one of the best documented Fort Ancient burial mounds to date. The mound was about in diameter and in height before this excavation. The fill used to construct the mound was sterile clay, midden deposits, and limestone slabs, and under the mound the

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excavators found a pre-existing village

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

. Because the mound fill and midden under it contained the same pottery debris, archaeologists believe the mound was constructed very quickly. Within the mound archaeologists found the remains of 21 individuals, most in a flexed or semi-flexed position, although a few were in an extended position. Underneath the mound were found the posthole remains of three structures. The earliest was a circular structure in diameter. Superimposed over this were two rectangular buildings that are either the remains of one building nested inside the other or two chronologically different structures of different sizes. The larger outer building measured by and the smaller inner structure by . Within the structures were large circular hearths and a prepared floor area. Because of the size of the structures and the lack of everyday debris found near them it is assumed they were for special community activities or functioned as a charnel house.

Cleek mound 15Be23

The Cleek mound measured and is in height. It has never been excavated, so archaeologist are unsure if it contains burials like the other mound or if it is also superimposed over special use structures.

References

External links

The Ronald Watson Gravel Site (15Be249): An examination of the Late Woodland/Fort Ancient transition in Boone County, Kentucky
Fort Ancient culture Archaeological sites in Kentucky Buildings and structures in Boone County, Kentucky {{US-archaeology-stub

Site description

McCabe mound 15Be8

Cleek mound 15Be23

See also

References

External links