The Fort Ancient culture is a Native American archaeological culture that dates back to c. 1000–1750 CE. Members of the culture lived along the Ohio River valley, in an area running from modern-day Ohio and western West Virginia through to northern Kentucky and parts of southeastern Indiana. A contemporary of the neighboring Mississippian culture, Fort Ancient is considered to be a separate "sister culture". Mitochondrial DNA evidence collected from the area suggests that the Fort Ancient culture did not directly descend from the older Hopewell Culture.
Partially reconstructed Fort Ancient settlement at Sunwatch Indian Village
Fort Ancient cultural region, with some of its major sites and neighbors
Artists conception of the Sunwatch Indian Village
Mississippian Shell gorget from a Fort Ancient site in Ohio, now at the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center in Portsmouth, Ohio
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans, sometimes called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans, are the Indigenous peoples of the United States or portions thereof, such as American Indians from the contiguous United States and Alaska Natives. The United States Census Bureau defines Native American as "all people indigenous to the United States and its territories, including Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders, whose data are published separately from American Indians and Alaska Natives". The U.S. census tracks data from American Indians and Alaska Native separately from Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, who include Samoan Americans and Chamorros.
Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo with Lances and Bows, a mid-19th century portrait depicting the Comanche tribe by George Catlin, now on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Shriver Circle Earthworks and the Mound City Group (on the left), c. 200 BCE to c. 500 CE, depicted in a 2019 portrait
A 2013 illustration of Cahokia, the largest Mississippian culture site, c. 1050 CE to c. 1350 CE
Spanish Empire explorer Hernando DeSoto greeting Native Americans on the Mississippi River, c. 1541, depicted in an 1853 portrait by William Henry Powell, which now hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.
