NATIVE AMERICANS
TF
RA
AC
IT
LS
ANCIENT NATIVE
AMERICANS IN
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Grooved stone axe found
along the river near
Germanville in
1910, courtesy
Carnegie
Historical
Museum
Paleoindian Perod
(11,000–8,500 B.C.)
At the end of the last
Ice Age, Iowa was cool
and wet with widespread
coniferous forests. Paleoindian peoples lived
in small, nomadic bands.
They hunted large game
animals with lanceshaped spear points.
Specialized butchering
tools were common. Highquality raw materials were
obtained from distant
sources. Low population
density left few Paleoindian sites.
to the tool kit for pounding, grinding, crushing,
and chopping.
Woodland Period
(800–1,200 A.D.)
Stone
head
found in
Iowaville,
courtesy
of Carnegie
Historical
Museum
Climate stabilized in the
Woodland Period to resemble that of today. Vegetation became much like
the forest-prairie mix encountered by nineteenthcentury settlers.
Woodland pottery
decorations were made
with incised lines and
cord or fabric impressions.
Because this pottery was
All photos courtesy of Carnegie Historical Museum
Archaic Period
(8,500 B.C.–800 A.D.)
Archaic peoples hunted bison, deer, elk, and
smaller animals. They
also gathered plants. Seasonal base camps were located near reliable water
sources. Trading networks
were widespread. Ground
stone implements, such as
grooved axes, were added
Honoring the Greg and Lori Fry Family.
|
fired at low
temperatures
it is soft and
fragile. Jefferson County
specimens
are typically
small fragments.
The bow and
arrow was perfected, as evidenced by small
arrow points. Trade
networks produced
a widespread exchange of various
stones, Gulf Coast marine shells, Great Lakes
copper, Appalachian
mica, northern Illinois
pipestone, and northeast
Iowa lead ore.
Squash and tobacco
were cultivated, and corn
became a staple by the
end of the era.
A few, small burial
mounds were found by
settlers in Jefferson County, some with elaborate,
exotic artifacts. Banner
stones and slender ceremonial flint blades were
discovered in mounds of
Trail Facts are funded by grants from The Rotary Foundation
Cedar Township. These
may have dated from the
Archaic Period.
Tribal Migrations
(1,200–1,800 A.D.)
In prehistoric times, the
Ioway tribe emigrated
from the Great Lakes region to present day Iowa.
In the 16th century, they
moved from the Mississippi River to the Great
Prairie Chicken and Ruffed
Grouse were hunted in
the grasslands. Rivers and
streams furnished fish and
afforded passage for bark
canoes. Grapes, elderberry and wild plum, as well
as hickory and hazel huts
were plentiful. Maize was
tended in the fields.
Tribal groups overlapped
in this bountiful region.
Jefferson County was situated along important Native American trade
routes.
Fairfield loop trail
Plains. By 1804 the Ioway,
had reached the banks of
Nebraska’s Platte River.
They were a semi-nomadic people who used horses
for hunting. They also
had an agricultural lifestyle similar to the Algonquin tribes of the eastern
woodlands.
What is now the State of
Iowa was an ideal home.
There were deer and turkey in the woods. Buffalo,
and the Rotary Club of Fairfield.
1
34
Burlington Avenue
1
34
YOU ARE
HERE