The Ufferman Site (also known as the A. Sawyer Site, and designated 33DL12) 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 central part 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 north of the city of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, it occupies approximately of land near

Delaware Lake Delaware Lake is a small lake north of Long Eddy in Delaware County, New York. It drains south via an unnamed creek which flows into Hoolihan Brook. It was once referred to as Perch Pond See also * List of lakes in New York This is a list of la ...

on property near to the boundaries of

Delaware State Park Delaware State Park is a public recreation area on U.S. Route 23 near the city of Delaware in Delaware County, Ohio, in the United States. It is open for year-round recreation including camping, hiking, boating, hunting, fishing, and picnickin ...

. It appears to have been the location of a village of the

Cole culture The Cole Culture (800–1300 CE) is a Late Woodland Period culture of Native American people from central Ohio. Cole Culture people made flint tools and pottery.Owen 328 They were agrarian and cultivated beans, maize, squash, and tobacco. Cole pe ...

, which inhabited the region during the later portion of the

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...

.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ce ...

: Somerset, 1999, 328. Ufferman lies only south of the W.S. Cole Site, the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron Age ...

for the culture, and approximately north of the

Highbank Park Works The Highbank Park Works (also known as the ''Orange Township Works'') is a complex of earthworks and a potential archaeological site located within Highbanks Metro Park in Central Ohio in the United States. The park is in southernmost Delaware ...

, which are believed to have been built by peoples of the Cole culture.Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. ''Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People.''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

: U of Nebraska P, 2002, 140-142. Although archaeologists have never excavated the Ufferman Site, numerous artifacts have been found because of the activities of local

groundhog The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...

s. These animals favor the loose soil of the

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...

upon which the site lies, and their many diggings for their burrows have brought to the surface significant numbers of human and animal bones, pottery, and bits of stone. In 1974, the Ufferman 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 ...

because of its archaeological value. The primary importance of the site is its ability to yield information about the Cole culture, which has been little understood until recent years. Fifty-five other historic locations in Delaware County are listed on the National Register, including four other archaeological sites. The Ufferman Site was one of the first of these places to be recognized as a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

; only four other places — the Delaware County Courthouse and a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

of three buildings on the

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

campus in Delaware, the Spruce Run Earthworks near the village of

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

, and the

near the city of

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

— were listed on the Register before the Ufferman Site.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Archaeological sites in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, Ohio Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Woodland period