Timeline story

Madison County · Prehistoric · 1400 – 1750

Howard Site — Late Fort Ancient above Harts Fork

In Madison County, the Howard site (15Ma427 / 15Ma127) holds a Late Fort Ancient farming village (roughly A.D. 1400–1750) on a low ridge above Harts Fork: house clusters, shell-tempered jars with geometric necks, small triangular points, and hide scrapers that outnumber arrowheads.

Excavations also turned up mica from the southern Appalachians plus a blue glass bead and a tubular copper bead—signs of long-distance Native exchange and early European trade goods reaching the Kentucky Bluegrass before permanent Anglo settlement.

Cite this story

Published . Last revised .

Chicago

Snowden, Shannon. "Howard Site — Late Fort Ancient above Harts Fork." Kentucky History Drive. Published September 12, 2026. Last revised September 12, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/howard-site-late-fort-ancient-above-harts-fork/.

MLA

Snowden, Shannon. "Howard Site — Late Fort Ancient above Harts Fork." Kentucky History Drive, published 12 Sept. 2026, last revised 12 Sept. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/howard-site-late-fort-ancient-above-harts-fork/.

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