Sun Watchers

On Friday, June 8^th, 2012 I had an opportunity to visit a SunWatch Indian Village.  The reconstructed village is located next to the Great Miami River in Dayton, Ohio.  I thought the name of the village was interesting and during the tour I discovered why the village was named SunWatch which was originally named the Fort Ancient Native American Village.  Some of the prehistoric materials were discovered by recreational discovers during the 1960s. Professional companies began excavation in 1971 as an effort to establish a salvage undertaking.  The city was planning on using the area for a sewage treatment plant. With the discovery of artifacts and the remains of a fortified village, the city decided to preserve this site. Excavations continued to be conducted until 1988 except for additional smaller studies. 

It was discovered that walls were constructed around the village which created a fortress to protect the villagers from hostile attacks.  The villagers were farmers, mainly the women, planted and harvested vegetables while the men hunted wild game.  Huts with thatch roofs were located around the perimeter of the circular village of a total population of 250.  A large hut was constructed to hold council meetings.  Inside the inner circle of the village, the members of the village with higher status were buried with significant artifacts while villagers of lesser status were buried closer to the huts. 

Past history portrays a vast scientific knowledge demonstrated by traditional people.  Ancient Mayans developed a numerical system based on zero and ten.  The villagers from this ancient settlement established an agricultural system based on the location of the sun by utilizing astrological methods.  The large portion of an imaginary triangle was extended from a roof top, an observatory site, and the point of the shape extends to a small location.  When the sun shines at the point of the triangle, it is time to harvest the three sisters; corn, squash, and beans.   Their planting rituals were based on the solar calendar.

I walked around the site exploring the huts, the gardens, dance arena, and other artifacts.  The villagers used all parts of nature from deer bones to gourds to provide for their daily needs.  The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery located on the same property was filled with interesting artifacts and historical data.  I watched a video about the practices of the Fort Ancient Native Americans, very interesting.  Many children were exploring the site while I was there.  Site experts were explaining some of the aspects of the Fort Ancient Native Americans such as how many people lived in each hut, from 10 to 12 people as well as what the gourds were used for such as the containment of water.  There were signs depicting historical data and other things that were occurring during specific time periods around the world.  For a small fee of $5.00 I learned a lot about the Native American inhabitants who lived a long time ago in what is now the Dayton area.