Early history of Cleveland

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The early history of Cleveland , i.e. the development of human civilization before the arrival of European settlers in the area of ​​the city at the end of the 18th century, can be traced back to around 10500 BC. Trace back to BC. Nomadic cultures of the Paleo-Indians and the Archaic period as well as increasingly sedentary cultures of the Woodland period can be identified. Within the Woodland period, the Adena , the Hopewell and the Whittlesey cultures can also be distinguished. The history of the early cultures in the Cleveland region is closely related to the development in the culturally stimulating area of ​​the Ohio and Mississippi.

Paleo Indians

Map of Ohio

At the end of the last ice age , which took place on the south side of Lake Erie around 13,000 BC. At first, a cold and damp tundra landscape dominated , which around 2,500 years later had dried so far that a fauna arose that was dominated by herds of caribou , but also by elk , wolves , bears and jaguars .

The oldest human traces of the Paleo-Indians range from 10500 to 7500 BC. BC back. There was a settlement in Medina County that dates back to between 9200 and 8850 BC. BC could be dated. Most of the tool remains were made from Indiana flint .

Archaic period

From around 7500 BC. The water level of Lake Erie rose, the temperatures rose, so that between 7000 and 4500 BC. BC stabilized a climate similar to that of today . The number of inhabitants, belonging to the Early Archaic Period , increased. They can be found mainly in the river valleys and on the lake shores, where they lived in separate large families. But they found themselves together for seasonal hunting and gathering expeditions during the warm season. Although more complex tools emerged, there was still a dependency on rather inferior flint. Important sites are Old Lake Abraham bog , as well as sites at Big Creek, Cahoon Creek, Mill Creek and Tinker's Creek. A larger settlement existed in the far west of the city, where Hilliard Boulevard crosses the Rocky River . The most important remains, however, are believed to be under the city of Cleveland itself.

In the Middle Archaic Period (4,500 to 2,000 BC) the population continued to increase, knives, knives, scrapers and drills were further developed. Apparently the groups lived together longer and stayed longer in the same place. There were sites at the upper Cuyahoga, Rocky River, Chippewa Creek, Tinker's Creek and Griswold Creek. The first burial sites show simple grave goods, which mostly consisted of a tool or a trailer.

The Late Archaic Period (2,000 to 500 BC) is characterized by a considerably warmer climate than today. For the first time, it is possible to identify demarcable territories within which the seasonal migrations of larger groups took place. Nuts now played a considerably larger role, and simple horticulture was added , with the pumpkin at the center . In addition, a long-distance trade for raw materials and refined products developed, some of which were used as grave goods. The largest cemetery was found at the confluence of the western and eastern arms of the Rocky River. The dead were painted with red ocher and buried in circular ground caves. These, in turn, show clear differences in status . Objects made of shells, but also pipes made of hollowed-out tubes, appeared. In addition, there were human and animal-shaped objects as well as the spear thrower, the atlatl .

Woodland period

In the Early and Middle Woodland Periods (500 BC to 100 AD and 100 to 700 AD), ceremonial exchanges and burial customs were further developed. Simple earthenware appeared for the first time. A village horticultural economy began on the basis of various pumpkin varieties. Corn was also used for ceremonial purposes , but it was not yet a staple food. The first monumental buildings, so-called mounds , were erected, for which the center and south of Ohio are particularly famous. They were mostly elevated and overlooked the main waterways. The Mound, located at the west end of the Erie Cemetery on Eagle Street, probably dates back to the early Adena culture . More mounds were found in the Cuyahoga Valley east of Tinker's Creek.

Hopewell culture

The Middle Woodland period shows an even greater importance of horticulture, especially with the now more strongly represented maize. The Hopewell culture, with its developed earthworks of large burial mounds, was concentrated in southern Ohio, but hills are also being studied in more northerly Summit County . Around Cleveland there were Hopewell-type projectile points , knives and pottery. In a mound south of Brecksville , a large box of merchandise was found in a six-sided stone crypt. A smaller mound between Willowick and Eastlake , east of Cleveland, has spearheads from southwest Illinois , others have points from Arkansas - all of these signs of extensive trade and gift traffic. In the Cleveland metropolitan area, most of the artifacts have been destroyed or are currently inaccessible. There was likely a mound at the Division Avenue waterworks and a Hopewell spearhead was found there.

After 400 maize became predominant and the number of independent groups increased again. In the south and east of Cleveland there were few sheltered camp sites and no more mounds were built. Winter villages predominated, which were mainly discovered on the Cuyahoga, Rocky and Lower Chagrin Rivers. Small, round houses with one or two fireplaces and small storage holes now dominated. From this phase there are also pieces of jewelry made of antlers and bones. In the spring, large camps gathered for fishing and collecting plants. A small camp was found in 1886 where the Jacobs Field baseball stadium is now located .

Between 1000 and 1200 oval houses with single-post constructions appeared. Funeral ceremonies were now less elaborate. The dead were buried within the villages; grave goods were rare. They were more like personal items like jewelry.

Whittlesey culture (after 1200)

Central American influence made itself felt between 1200 and 1600 . The economy of the time was agriculture, the way of life the large village. New pottery, new house building styles were added, the importance of beans as food increased sharply. In the south of Ohio, with the tribes of the Fort Ancient culture , to which the Shawnee are traced, this influence was even stronger. The regions around the Black River and the Sandusky River and from the Lake Erie Islands to the west now differed considerably in terms of archaeological findings from those around Cleveland and eastwards.

This late woodland or Mississippi culture is known as the Whittlesey culture . It is named after Colonel Charles Whittlesey, who was the first to report numerous sites. The early Whittlesey period, between 1200 and 1350, featured a balanced society of hunters, fishermen, and gatherers with limited horticulture. Three or four families each lived in a village during the cold season.

Between 1350 and 1500, the focus shifted to horticulture, with beans and new maize varieties playing an important role. Larger villages were inhabited from summer to autumn, while smaller fishing stations prevailed in autumn and winter. Sometimes cemeteries were established here. In the course of this phase, however, the small stations and camps became more and more insignificant and rare. The villages developed their own house construction method, which replaced the round wigwam-like buildings. The new houses became bigger, more regular and more rectangular, the villages became fortress-like cities.

Apparently there were now areas that belonged to a lineage, including family cemeteries. In the late Whittlesey culture, the cemeteries were set up outside the now permanently inhabited villages, but in their vicinity. Grave goods were rare.

The late Whittlesey Period, which began around 1500, is characterized by permanent, fortified villages made up of longhouses that were home to several families. Sweat lodges are now detectable, which were built in deep pit houses . In the Cuyahoga Valley, villages were found at a distance of about eight miles, but the places in Cleveland and on Cuyahoga Heights that were still attested by Whittlesey have disappeared. Obviously it was a warlike phase, because the villages were more fortified and there are traces of killings.

Disappearance of the Indians by 1640

It appears that the population was in sharp decline until around 1640. This may have been due on the one hand to the Little Ice Age from 1500 to 1640, but possibly also to military conflicts within the group or with neighbors, i.e. the Algonquin or the Iroquois . It even seems to be the case that the region around Cleveland was uninhabited between 1640 and 1740, because from 1640 no more settlements can be detected. The groups also played no role in the beginning fur trade with the Europeans. Around 1740, parts of the Wyandot (Hurons) and Ottawa moved westward from Detroit .

The Erie , often assumed to be residents of the region , probably only lived between Erie and Buffalo , but probably never further west than the current border between New York and Pennsylvania . The Wenro who lived south or west of Lake Erie are said to speak an Iroquois language . The tribes that disappeared around 1640 show more cultural characteristics of the Algonquin , who now mostly lived further in the west.

Additional information

literature

  • George W. Knepper: Ohio and Its People. Bicentennial Edition , Kent State University Press, Kent (Ohio) 2003, ISBN = 0-87338-791-0.

Web links

  • Philip Weeks (Kent State University) and Lynn R. Metzger (University of Akron): AMERICAN INDIANS. In: Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University, July 10, 1997, accessed May 3, 2010 .
  • David S. Brose, The Royal Ontario Museum and Cleveland Museum of Natural History: PREHISTORIC INHABITANTS. In: Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University, March 2, 1998, accessed May 3, 2010 (The article essentially follows this post.).