Prehistoric Earthworks / The Prehistoric Erie

The prehistoric Erie Indians built a fortification across this neck of land sometime before 1650. A low wall is all that remains today of a stockade where earth had been piled at the base of posts. The stockade and the naturally steep embankments of the ridge provided a safe location for an Indian village.

[Side B]: The prehistoric Erie Indians occupied stockaded villages on high bluffs in northeastern Ohio after about 1200 A.D. Their houses were built of saplings and bark or thatch. Corn, squash, beans and other crops were cultivated with sticks and mussel-shell hoes. Food was prepared and stored in pottery jars. The Erie hunted with bows and arrows and fished with bone hooks and nets. Music was performed on flutes, drums, and rattles. The culture was destroyed by the Iroquois in 1653.