Ft. Ancient Period

Click on any of the links below the pictures to learn more about that topic in Ohio prehistory.

In Dayton, Ohio one finds SunWatch Archaeological Park (33MY57), a U.S. National Historical Site where a Fort Ancient culture 12th century Indian village has been excavated and reconstructed by the Dayton Museum of Natural History and an interpretive museum built. Reconstruction was accurately done using authentic materials and methods. How did we know where the houses were? From stains in the ground left by the posts as they rotted away over the years. How did we know the houses were wattle & daub sides with thatched roofs? Because of impressions left on mud-dauber wasp nests found. The color portrait forensic reconstruction above which I painted was the model for the priestly mannequin dressed in ceremonial attire displayed in the site interpretive center. How do we know that the people looked anything like what is shown in my sketches here to the right? By forensic reconstruction of human remains found at the site in conjunction with their grave goods. How do I know that bone fish hooks were made as shown below? Because of pieces broken in various stages of construction and found in garbage pits at the site.

Photographs aren't always the answer to conveying visual information. Sometimes a photograph can't highlight detail which needs to be highlighted. Sometimes parts of the object rotted away centuries ago and can't be photographed.

Sometimes a museum or a school doesn't have the money to publish a book or an article containing photographs, and needs line art which prints cheaply. Examples of such line art illustrations are shown below.

	Upper Left: Illustrating a collection of bone awls. Upper Right: An example of illustrating lithics Lower Left: Illustrating how bone fishhooks were made.

The scholarly record of the excavation and interpretation of the SunWatch site by experts from around the world who worked on the site or in labs analyzing finds was recorded in the two-volume book "A History of 17 Years of Excavation and Reconstruction", ed. by Heilman, Lileas, and Turnbow. The black and white line drawings on this page are a few samples of illustrations I did for that book for others and for my own chapter on bone tools in that book.