Your thoughts on Kentucky and Native Americans

J

junk250

Greenie
Sep 15, 2012
11
5
North Central Ky.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
At first glance Kentucky seems to be represented as a common hunting ground shared by a few tribes in the woodland period, but not "inhabited" as a general rule.

There are stories of "Indian wars" around the falls of the Ohio(woodland I think), and they found a burial ground when they constructed the "Falls of Ohio" Museum. And also found a Palio site a few miles away.

Seems to me the area was always "inhabited", what do you think ?

There are other Palio Indian sites found in western KY, and Cumberland point ect.

I say BS, Kentucky was always "inhabited" from Woodland to Palio what do you think ?

Best, junk250
 

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I've heard that same crap for years, especially from the old timers. They always say that Kentucky was just a hunting grounds and there were no villages there, just camps. Well that is a bunch of Bull!! I know of few village sites within a few miles from my house and another I just started hunting this past Spring where I found numerous Hoes so they were obviously farming and planting crops and they wouldn't do that at just a camp. Besides that, there was no "Kentucky" back then. It was just all one big wilderness with little spots cleared out for the villages.
 

i was thinking it was bs too.
just out of my area,and did not have the info. on it to say anything
 

Check out the history of Glovers cave in Christian Co. It was excavated by Col. Raymond Veitzen, He took many thousands of artifacts out of the cave spanning every time period. people lived in and occupied the cave for thousands of years, It was not just a hunting camp.
 

Kentucky would have many sites, the abundance of streams, rivers and springs plus the numerous rock shelters would make it an area that the early peoples would seek out and use on a permanent basis. Without a doubt there is a wealth of artifacts waiting to be discovered.
 

I believe there is exactly nothing debatable here. Both the evidence and logic suggest that Kentucky was occupied from the on-set of the people of the America's.
 

Or put another way, it is far more likely to me that mounds were built by aliens than Kentucky was unsettled.
 

I Live in Grundy VA which is about ten minutes drive from elkhorn city Kentucky,I have had family in the Virginia/KY area for the last 150 years.Anyone who would try and tell you either place was largely uninhabited should probably study crop circles instead of native american history. I can remember helping my grandfather remove rocks as a small child when he would plow his garden every year,and not one of those years can i ever remember a time that he didnt say hey JW come look at this,this is a blah blah blah......from so an so time... Arrowheads,pieces of tools,you name it and it can be found here in this area.My personal belief is that both places were occupied long before the beginning of modern day recorded history and archeology.But thats just one mans opinion.

HH,John
 

Post Colonial (Historic period), Kentucky had very few Native Americans and was in fact considered more or less a hunting ground or a "pass through" territory, not a destination. Permanent camps did exsist but when compared to other areas at this point in time, Kentucky was pretty much void of Native life. This information came to us straight from the horses mouth. The Natives that were in Kentucky at the time and more importantly, the areas around Kentucky, told the story well. I have read some passages that suggest that the "interior" part of Kentucky was considered "neutral" by the Natives.

For what it's worth, in the 1920's/30's, hundreds of Kentucky's rock shelters where dug and studied by numerous scholars. What they didn't find is just as curious today as it was then....buffalo bones.....not a single fragment. There is no doubt that buffalo herds roamed Kentucky in huge numbers during this time frame. Perhaps the Natives never dined or processed buffalo in the shelters? Good question but it does make you ponder and possibly rethink Kentucky Native life. The evidence does suggest that Kentucky was void at one point but it also suggests that Kentucky was either occupied by a small population for a lengthy period of time or a large population for a short period of time. The Clovis site in the Red River Gorge is considered to be a semi-permanent camp so, we know without doubt that some called it home as far back as the Paleo era.
 

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Never found Buffalo bones in ohio either. Just for the fun of it I goggled '' locations of prehistoric indian villages in Kentucky'' Scrolled down to Ancient life in kentucky,University of kentucky. Many sites are listed and described by county. Interesting reading.
 

There are a few finds of bison bones in Ohio on some Fort Ancient sites I believe, the last documented kill of bison in PA was 1803. I too do not find bison bones on earlier occupations, but it seems that bison were moving eastward from 1500 AD just to take a guess and that is why the earlier sites are devoid of there remains.
 

I find a quite a bit of buffalo remains in the middens along the Ohio River. Both Indiana and Ky.
 

What type of points are you finding associated with the bison bones? Curious as to how far up river the bones are found.
 

Rege-PA said:
Kentucky would have many sites, the abundance of streams, rivers and springs plus the numerous rock shelters would make it an area that the early peoples would seek out and use on a permanent basis. Without a doubt there is a wealth of artifacts waiting to be discovered.
Click to expand...

And the biggest Cave in the world. :laughing7:
 

Now we could talk about the end of an era at about 300 years ago, or think 8,000 -12,0000 years ago.

Europeans arrived in force about 1750, in this part of the country and sadly that was the demise of what was left of Native Americans,

I think you are just as likely to find a Paleoindian as a "Historical Era", the time frame is hard to grasp for me.

1750 back to 8,000-12,000 bpt. ?
 

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I just left Kentucky (I hate using its abreviation) and I honestly found knives, scrapers, tool, and points everywhere there was dirt or water. Never got into a corn field, corn was still it, but found pieces all around the edges. Found stuff in the backyard, frontyard, park, dirt roads. There were mounds all over, some already dug, houses built on top of some. There are stories, written accounts, about Augusta being built on mounds,,burial and huge middens. All of this didnt happen in hunting seasons. They have been there forever.
 

ky native life

Artifacts have been found in my area from every period but more heavily occupation in paleo and early archiac .southeastern mccreary co . Ky
 

Pointsnatcher26 said:
Artifacts have been found in my area from every period but more heavily occupation in paleo and early archiac .southeastern mccreary co . Ky
Click to expand...

Welcome to T-Net Pointsnatcher!
 

I think the same thing about Southern West Virginia. Too many streams and rock shelters and natural protection. The ridge tops here would have provided a good stratigic vantage point also. Game is plentiful and WV has many plants and trees they would have used for food and medican. Also WV is full of petroglyphs and burial mounds.
 

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