Whittlesey culture facts for kids
The Whittlesey culture refers to the native people who lived in northeastern Ohio a long, long time ago, between the years 1000 and 1640. This was during the Late prehistoric and Early Contact period in Ohio.
By the year 1500, the Whittlesey people were skilled farmers. They grew important crops like corn (maize), beans, and squash. However, around this time, their population started to shrink. This was likely due to illnesses, not having enough good food, and conflicts with other groups. There was also a time of very cold winters starting around 1500, which would have made growing food much harder.
The Whittlesey people were known for their unique pottery style. They also built their villages in smart, defensive locations. These villages were often high up on hills with steep cliffs, or surrounded by ditches and strong fences called stockades. You could find their villages near Lake Erie or overlooking rivers and streams. Around 1640, the Whittlesey villages were left empty. Because many native groups were moving around during the early days of European contact, we don't know exactly where the Whittlesey people went or what happened to them.
One important Whittlesey culture site is South Park Village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It's so important that it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can also find a historic marker about the Whittlesey people on Seeley Road in LeRoy Township, Lake County, Ohio.
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Who Was Charles Whittlesey?
The Whittlesey culture is named after a man named Charles Whittlesey. He was a geologist and an archaeologist, which means he studied rocks and the remains of ancient people. Charles Whittlesey also started the Western Reserve Historical Society. He was famous for finding and describing the native people, now known as the Whittlesey culture, who lived in northeast Ohio from about 1000 to 1600 AD.
Whittlesey Culture and Lifestyle
The Whittlesey people are known for how they built their villages and for their special pottery. Their villages were often protected by ditches or wooden walls called palisades. These settlements were usually found near the Lake Erie coast or on high ground in river valleys. They didn't have a very large or complex trading system with other distant groups.
How They Got Food
At first, from about 1200 to 1350 AD, the Whittlesey people mainly got their food by hunting and gathering. They also did a little bit of farming and fishing. Over time, between 1350 and 1500 AD, they became much more focused on farming. They grew different kinds of corn and beans. The more people there were in a village, the more likely they were to be farmers.
By their final period, starting around 1500 AD, the Whittlesey people were almost entirely farmers. They relied on growing beans, squash, and corn for their food. They no longer traveled far to find food.
Where They Lived
In the spring and fall, groups of three or four families would live in small settlements along rivers. During the winter, they would set up hunting camps. Larger settlements were found on low areas near where smaller streams met bigger rivers. By 1400, they started living on protected hills.
Their homes changed over time. They went from simple wigwams to square houses about 400 square feet in size, built with wall posts. In the autumn and winter, they had smaller, more spread-out camps on the lake plain. After 1500, they lived in larger villages built for defense. In these villages, they lived in long houses where several families shared one home. One village even had a special building called a sweat lodge, used for ceremonies.
Many of the Whittlesey sites from this later period haven't been preserved well. However, there are villages on high points along the Cuyahoga Valley. These villages are usually about eight miles from each other and are located on steep cliffs with protective ditches and walls.
Whittlesey Pottery
The pottery made during the later Whittlesey period often had grit, and sometimes shell, mixed into the clay. This was done to make the pottery stronger. They made both simple, rounded pottery with stamped designs and smoother pottery with fine cord marks. They had many different ways of decorating the tops, edges, and handles of their pots. Some of their pottery looked similar to pottery found at other sites from the 15th century, like those near the Tuscarawas River.
Tools and Artifacts
From the early Whittlesey period, archaeologists have found a few types of tools. These include knives with handles, small triangular arrowheads, and flake scrapers, which were used for cleaning hides or other tasks.
How They Buried Their Dead
At first, the Whittlesey people had simple ways of burying their dead. After 1350, family members were buried in larger graves. Some groups would bury special items with the dead. Later in their culture, people were buried in cemeteries outside of the main settlement. By 1400, these group cemeteries were often found near their hunting and fishing camps.
Why They Declined
The number of people in Whittlesey settlements started to decrease from 1400 until 1640, when they completely disappeared from northeastern Ohio. It's thought that longer and colder winters between 1500 and 1640 made it very hard to grow enough crops. During this time, people lived more closely together in their villages.
Studies of some human remains show that people faced challenges like illnesses and not getting enough food. There were also signs of conflict, which suggests there were battles or struggles. When these conflicts happened, small campsites were sometimes set up near the larger villages.
The Whittlesey people's way of life was similar to the Shawnee people in some ways. However, their village patterns were more like the Iroquois. The Whittlesey people did not trade furs with European traders during the early contact period. Whittlesey sites were abandoned around 1640. These areas weren't settled again until the mid-1740s, when Odawa and Wyandot people from Detroit moved into the region. Because many native groups were moving around a lot during the early European contact period, it's hard to know exactly what happened to the Whittlesey culture people.
Important Whittlesey Sites
South Park Village
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South Park Site
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 Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Location | on a promontory above the western bank of the Cuyahoga River near Independence, Cuyahoga County, Ohio |
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| NRHP reference No. | 76000212 |
| Added to NRHP | June 22, 1976 |
The Whittlesey people built a permanent village across from the Cuyahoga River and lived there for hundreds of years. Archaeologists have found things like arrowheads and decorated pottery at this site. As mentioned before, they didn't have a complex trade network. Their diet included a mix of hunted and gathered foods. They hunted animals like duck, beaver, and deer. They also ate river mollusks, walnuts, grapes, hickory nuts, and chokeberries.
This site is located on a high point above the western bank of the Cuyahoga River. It's near Independence, Ohio, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and about seven miles from Lake Erie. South Park Village was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1976. You can find a historic marker about it on the Tow Path Trail in Valley View, Ohio.
Outdoor Education Center Site
The Outdoor Education Center (OEC 1 Site) is another important archaeological site. It's located in Independence, Ohio, within a wooded nature preserve along the Cuyahoga River. This site shows evidence of the Whittlesey culture and even older prehistoric people.
In 1999, a team led by Mark Kollecker from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History found animal bones, Madison point stone tools, and decorated pottery sherds (broken pieces of pottery) that belonged to the Whittlesey culture. From their digs, it seems the village covered an area of two to four acres.
Kollecker led another group in 2000. They found several post molds (marks left in the ground by old wooden posts) and nine pits used for cooking and storage by prehistoric people. They also found a piece of pottery from about 500 BC, which is much older than the Whittlesey culture. This pottery is believed to be from the Early Woodland period. Later that summer, another group found more post molds, storage pits, and trash pits. One large storage pit was used for corn. They also found cooking areas, many stone tools, and pottery. A partially underground sweat lodge was also discovered.
The animals butchered at the site included small game, raccoons, wild turkeys, elk, and deer. They also fished for freshwater mollusks and fish from the Cuyahoga River. Two items found at the site might have been used for ceremonies. One was an engraved slate gorget (a decorative neck plate). The other was a dog skull with 14 holes drilled into it in a pattern, which had also been cut and ground.
