The Cary Village Site (designated 33-MA-6) is an

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 ...

in the west-central portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Located southeast of the village of Plain City in Madison County, the site occupies a group of grassy terraces located amid two farm fields. In this grassy area, archaeologists have discovered a wide range of artifacts, including

stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s, materials made of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

, and various types of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

. Rather than being all of a single type, the artifacts differ so greatly from each other that the site was probably occupied throughout a long period of time. Evidence exists for the presence of villages at the site during the Paleoindian, Archaic,

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

, and Mississippian periods, although the Woodland period Hopewell inhabitants left the greatest number of artifacts. Everything that has been found at the site is known from surface collection; therefore, it is uncertain what artifacts remain buried. However, some elements can be guessed to be present, judging by findings from similar sites. If Cary Village be a typical Middle Woodland village, it includes multiple

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

s, burials,

posthole In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most p ...

patterns, storage pits, and

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 ...

s. Because the site has never been excavated, it yet is presumed to hold many

features Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...

, and it is thus a valuable archaeological site. In recognition of its archaeological value, the Cary Village Site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975. It is one of two archaeological sites on the Register in Madison County, along with the Skunk Hill Mounds near West Jefferson, which are believed to have been built by the

Adena culture The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing ...

References

{{NRHP in Madison County, Ohio Ohio Hopewell Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in the United States Archaic period in North America Former Native American populated places in the United States Former populated places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, Ohio Mississippian culture Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio