The Feurt Mounds and Village Site is a Fort Ancient culture

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 ...

with three burial mounds and an associated village, located in Clay Township in

Scioto County Scioto County is a county located along the Ohio River in the south central region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,008. Its county seat is Portsmouth. The county was founded March 24, 1804, from Adams C ...

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 ...

History

The prehistoric indigenous peoples who constructed the Feurt Mounds lived in the nearby village. They were people belonging to a unique phase in the Fort Ancient Tradition. The Feurt Phase is a longer durational period than some other components of the Fort Ancient Tradition. There are several of these sites located in Southern Ohio and western

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

counties scattered along the tributaries of and

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

banks.

Site

The three mounds are on the Scioto River, near the

confluence.William C. Mills, The Feurt Mounds and Village Site, January 1917, Ohio archaeological and historical quarterly, Volume 26. William C. Mills in 1917 described the topography, "The immediate location of the

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...

s and village site is a level

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

of less than five acres in extent, elevated a little more than forty feet above the bottom land into which it projects, promontory like, with steep and very abrupt banks." This first found Feurt Phase location became the test site, otherwise the basis site, for following discoveries.

Mounds

The smallest of the three mounds, according to Mr. Moorehead, was seventy-five feet by sixty feet and two and three-fourths feet high. A total of 107 skeletons were buried in this small mound (Mills 1917:310Ohio Historical Society Vol 27). The second mound was the highest mound about eight feet high (Mills 1917:319). About half of it was fallen over the hill. One hundred and thirty seven burials were found. A triangular arrow point was found embedded in the head of adult No. 43 (Mills 1917:320). A curious comment of Mills, "'fireplace of a tepee site on the base line or floor.'" The third mound was six feet high and by at the base. It contained 101 burials (Mills 1917:322 ). These were adolescent and adults alike in a flex position. Among the adornment were beads.

Material tradition

As with other phases within the contemporaneous Fort Ancient culture, local stream mussel shell was used for tools and jewelry. Animal bone and shell attached to prepared tree limbs were also used for hoes in their gardens. Animal bone was shaped for use as tools. These included awls, punches, fish hooks, bone needles, and hide scrapers (Griffin 1943). Their jewelry included beads, hair pins, pendants, tinklers, and shell. These were also made of both bone and shell. Gourds from their garden and turtle shell were used for ceremonial rattles.

Archaeology

This first site recognized as such is the Feurt Phase type site of which following discovered sites in this Ohio Valley sub-region are compared. The site was excavated in 1916 by archaeologists who found 345 burials, all but one being in the flexed position. The artifacts of flint, stone, bone, shell and pottery were typical of the Fort Ancient Tradition. The majority of flint arrowheads were elongated and triangular shaped with needle-like points. Before the site was excavated,

cannel coal Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Hutton(1987) Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4 Speight (2012), pp. 6–7 Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered ...

effigy canines of the carnivora were found by a Mr. Wertz (Mills 1917:307). Fewer were found later according to Mills. The Freut Mound copper found was considered to Mills' opinion acquired by barter. He relates some shell and beads were similar to the corresponding type found nearby at Tremper Mound. The mounds were visited and opened by Prof. Moorehead in the year 1896 (Mills 1917:308Mills 1917:308).

Location

The Feurt Mounds and Village Site are situated about three miles (5 km) north off the west side of U.S. 23 near the Clay Township overpass in Scioto County, southern Ohio.

History

Site

Mounds

Material tradition

Archaeology

Location

See also

References

Further reading