2.1 Effects of Glaciers on Migration Date: 2/11/2007 The large glaciers that covered much of North America at the time determined routes to the interior of the New World. When ice sheets from eastern Canada spread west to meet the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies, the movements of animals and people north and south were cut off; at other times, corridors between the ice masses funneled travelers into the American Plains. Slowly, the newcomers moved east and west. Finally they spread over all of North and South America. Paleoindians may have arrived in Ohio as early as 12,000 - 14,000 B.C.

Image Number: Alaska glacier 1
2.5 Paleoindian Environment Date: 2/13/2006 During the period between 10,000 and 9,000 B.C., northwestern Ohio had many small groves of spruce, fir, pine, and aspen trees separated by open ground. Clumps of dwarf willow grew along the river banks. The climate was cool and moist. Mastodons, mammoths, elk, giant beaver, deer, and caribou lived in this region.
Image number: FOCase15a
2.6 Caribou Hunting Date: 2/13/2006 Because they moved in herds, caribou may have been a favored prey of the Paleoindians. Evidence that Paleoindians hunted caribou comes from sites in Michigan, New York, and Maine. By looking at how modern-day Eskimo hunt caribou in northern Alaska, it is possible to suggest the methods used by the first Ohioans.

Image number: FOCase15a
2.8 Hunting Strategies Date: 2/13/2006 Very likely the hunters mounted their flint spear points on short bone handles. The handles were attached to longer wooden shafts. With a reserve supply of points, they could quickly "reload" their spears if the first one was lodged in an animal or if it was broken. The hunters continued to kill caribou until they had enough to provide meat, bone, and hides for their band's needs. In some cases, several bands may have worked together and harvested enough for all.

Image number: FOCase15c
2.9 Processing Date: 1/30/2007 After an animal was killed, it was dragged to a butchering area. There, the beasts were cut up by men and women working together. Besides cutting up the meat, the butchers cracked open bones to get the marrow.In the spring the animals were starting to shed their winter coats. This made their skins less desirable for clothing. However, by the fall hunt, as the animals moved back south, their coats would be heavy and available just in time to make warm winter clothing.

Catalog Number: E 506

Image number: AL05221
2.10 Mastodon Butchering Date: 2/13/2006 As the ice melted during the final stages of Ohio's last glacier, marshes and shallow lakes formed in low areas. Near one such marsh along Hog Creek in Hardin County, spear points made in several Paleoindian styles have been found. The points show that the Paleoindians hunted in this area.In the western plains of North America, Paleoindians hunted mammoths and other game. At a site in Missouri, the bones of one mastodon have been found with at least two Paleoindian points. Mastodon or mammoth bones have been found in nearly all parts of Ohio. The Burning Tree mastodon was excavated from a bog in southern Licking County. Some of the bones had been cut, possibly by stone tools when Paleoindians butchered the animal. Radiocarbon dates on the bones show that it died around 11,400 B.C.

Image number: FOCase16a
2.11 Mastodon Habitat Date: 2/11/2007 Mastodons preferred open spruce areas and forest edges. However, marshy areas such as the Burning Tree and Hog Creek sites would have been attractive as sources of water. Hunters could have ambushed the beasts as they came to the marsh, forcing them into the mud around the edges. Perhaps the hunters surrounded an animal, confusing it and attacking from all sides until one or more could get close enough to thrust spears into its belly where the skin was thinner.

Image number: FOCase16a
2.12 Butchering Tools Date: 2/13/2006 Because the beast was so large, butchering was probably done on the spot. Tests using dead elephants have shown that it is possible to butcher such large animals using flint tools. The first job was to slit the thick hide to get to the meat. The Paleoindians may have saved some of the skin to cover their temporary shelters. The butchers probably used hand axes to separate the joints of the legs. Once the limbs were separated, they could be handled more easily. The meat and other parts were hauled back to the Indians' main camp. Some of the carcass may have been stored in an icy pond for later use.Using flint knives, which probably doubled as spear points, the Paleoindians cut the meat away from the bones. It is likely that strips of meat were dried over fires to preserve them and to make them lighter for travel. As the hunting and butchering were probably group affairs, the meat, marrow, usable bones, and hide were most likely shared by all.

Image number: FOCase16b
2.13 Deer Hunting Date: 2/13/2006 The last glacier changed much of the land surface of Ohio except for the southeastern part of the state. The Hocking and Muskingum river systems carried silt, sand, and gravel, called outwash, downstream from the ice melting to the north. Sometimes this outwash gathered at the mouths of smaller streams, damming them and causing lakes to form in their valleys.

Image number: FOCase17a
2.15 Hunting Strategies Date: 2/13/2006 Hunting forest creatures such as deer required tactics different from those used for hunting mastodons or herds of caribou. Perhaps one or two hunters stalked a single deer or a small group of animals. Hunters may have relied on stealth and cunning to approach or ambush them. They may have used tactics similar to those observed among later Indians. These later hunters dressed in deer skins, complete with antlers, and imitated the animal's movements in order to creep close enough for the kill. Given the small size of deer, hunting and butchering could have been done by a group as small as an individual family.

Image number: FOCase17c
2.16 Paleoindian Spear Points Date: 2/13/2006 Archaeologists have identified the Paleoindians and other prehistoric cultures on the basis of the tools they made, especially their flint spear points and knives. Each culture made its own types of points. Because of this, archaeologists can tell who lived at a given site by looking at the tools found there. By comparing many sites, they can develop an over-all picture of the ways different cultures lived.

Image number: FOCase18f
2.18 Lanceolate Points Date: 2/13/2006 Lanceolate points were a later development in Paleoindian technology. Sometimes a Paleoindian flintknapper would made a tool of special elegance. Perhaps they saw an artistic value to their work.

Image number: FOcase18e
2.19 Points Date: 2/13/2006 The first Ohioans also made shorter, stemmed points with slightly indented (or weak) shoulders. The narrower stem and the angle of the shoulders kept the point in place on its shaft. While these tools often lack the fine quality of lanceolate points, they no doubt worked. In some respects, the stemmed point design and the fine workmanship of the lanceolate points were continued by the later Archaic people. This suggests a gradual shift from one culture to the other.

Image number: FOCase18d
2.20 Flint Quarries Date: 1/30/2007 All prehistoric Native American cultures used flint to make tools. The Indians probably found chunks of flint in streams, but they also discovered large formations of flint sticking out of the ground, called outcrops. Where outcrops existed, Indians often mined for flint. Along the Walhonding River in Coshocton County, for example, quarries and workshops have been found where Paleoindians mined high quality flint and chipped it into tools.

Image number: Om1404_001

Catalog number: N 3983; E
2.21 Flint Mining Date: 2/13/2006 The first step in mining was exposing the flint, buried beneath a few feet of dirt. After the flint was uncovered, the Paleoindians' broke off chunks of it with heavy stones. They probably pried out other pieces using wedges and digging tools made of wood and antler. The craftsmen among them could look at a piece of flint and see if it was usable. The ability to judge the quality of flint at this stage was critical if it was to be transported. No one wants to use energy carrying worthless rocks. The amount of mining that took place can be seen from the numerous pits dug into the outcrops in the Walhonding valley and at Flint Ridge, another major source.

Image number: FOCase19b
2.22 Flint Workshops Date: 2/13/2006 Some flint was worked slightly at the quarry site – perhaps to determine its quality. Most of the processing was done in workshops. The steps followed to make a tool can be determined by studying artifacts found in workshops, and from modern attempts to duplicate the prehistoric processes.

The process of making flint tools is one of removing material from a large mass until the product is complete. To do the work, the craftsman used a variety of flint-chipping tools. These included hammerstones made of rocks, batons or club-like tools of wood, bone or antler, punches made from deer antlers, gritty stones to help make striking platforms, and leather pads to protect the knapper's hands.

Besides the finished tools made from flint, the leftover fragments were used. Thick flakes were chipped to form scrapers for shaving spear shafts. Point fragments were tapered into drills. Thin flakes were shaped along one edge to make cutting tools. Indeed, the razor-sharp flakes made fine knives.

Image number: FOCase19a
2.23 Distribution Of Flint In Ohio Area Date: 2/13/2006 There is much high-quality flint in the Ohio Valley. Flint is mostly silica, a glassy substance. The amount of silica in flint varies from 98% in the purer grades to 60% or less in the lower grades (called chert). Flint is quite hard. It measures 7 on a hardness scale, compared to 10 for diamonds. The edges of flint flakes are quite sharp, making useful cutting or scraping tools without additional work. When struck with a hard object, flint will break in a uniform manner. Because fracturing can be controlled, it is possible for flint workers to make spear points, knives, or scrapers according to their needs.

The flints in Ohio are generally found near limestone or dolomite deposits. They vary in color depending upon the impurities they contain. Some flints contain fossils. Color, degree of luster, and types of fossils (when present) are factors used to identify sources of flint from which prehistoric tools have been made. Tracing these sources allows scientists to determine trade patterns and the ways that past cultures used raw materials from their environment.

Image number: FOCase20
[-]
Stop   Pause   Back One Image   Show More Info   delay:   direction:   max size: