The Enclosed Grounds

The Enclosed Grounds. . The mound walls of the Old Stone Fort enclose the 50-acre area in front of you., Archaeologists find few signs of housing, food storage, or artifacts. This appears to be typical of the use of hilltop enclosures in the period and supports the conclusion that native peoples used this site for ceremonial purposes at special points in the calendar. Any conclusions about the activities that occurred on the site may need to be based on patterns in the arrangement of the mounds on such sites and gradually increasing knowledge about prehistoric American Indian belief patterns., The Old Stone Fort exists within an ecosystem where seasonal cycles were utilized by ancient people. Situated among the Highland Rim transition zone of prairie edge environment, elevation change, and associated river valleys, the environment represented a rich resource base of wild game, natural foodstuffs, and the beginnings of agriculture. Until early historic times, the "Barrens" of the Highland Rim plateau were a prairie grassland environment. Together with the escarpment of the low plateau of the Highland Rim, and its rivers and waterfalls, the area was an environmental boundary zone attractive to American Indians in many ways.