Augusta

Augusta is a large Shawnee/Fort Ancient village that extended along a narrow Ohio River floodplain from about 1500 to 1650 CE. The Town of Augusta, founded in 1796, currently stands there. 

Residents of Augusta have known about this ancient Native American farming village since the early 1800s. Occasional professional archaeological work began there in the 20th​ century. The most recent investigations took place in the summer of 2023. Decommissioning the town’s wastewater treatment plant required archaeological investigations where the new sewer lines would be laid. 

Shawnee/Fort Ancient farmers established a large, thriving village at Augusta in the 1500s.  The rich Ohio River floodplain soils were perfect for agriculture. Residents prepared their fields by setting fire to the weedy underbrush, then planting their crops of corn, beans, and squash. The nearby forested upland provided nuts and wild plant resources for food and textiles. It also supplied wood for buildings and for heating homes and cooking food. Fish, freshwater mussels, and other aquatic animals and plants offered food and the necessary raw materials the village potters needed to make ceramic vessels. The residents abandoned their village in the mid-to late 1600s.

Archival documents describe Shawnee mourners building and maintaining a fire for three days following the death of a community member. Relatives and friends came together to eat and pay tribute to the deceased.  

The largest hearth documented during the 2023 investigations measured 20 inches in diameter. Its sides were lined with river rocks. Mourners later reused this hearth, shifting it slightly west and enlarging it to a diameter of 28 inches. This larger hearth was only partially lined with river rocks. Mourners lined the rest of it with large, thick fragments of ceramic pan vessels.

Archaeologists originally thought ancient Native peoples used pans only for making salt. That is because they found fragments of pans near salt springs. They reasoned that a pan’s wide, shallow shape would help speed the evaporation of salty spring water.  But what about pans found in villages? Native people may have used these vessels as griddles or as serving vessels when families got together to eat: more people could gather around these large, wide vessels.

The remains of ancient food-sharing rituals at Augusta are reflected, in part, by bones representing good cuts of deer meat that were found near the hearths. These rituals also are reflected by charred beans recovered from the hearths.  Even today, beans are served by some Shawnee people at meals held after funerals.