Fact or Myth?

[fishingandfirearms]

I was always told that Kentucky was not settled by Native Americans, only used and shared by all tribes as hunting grounds. Assuming that no tribes settled Kentucky, that would mean tribes were sent off in hunting parties from places like Ohio, West Virginia and Tennessee. How do you explain all the artifacts found in central KY. How practical would it be to travel 100 miles on a hunting trip?
Through my own personal discoveries I have found artifacts such as notched hoes in Kentucky, which leads me to believe that some farming was done and if the land was being farmed would it not make sense that it was settled.

So what do you guys say? Is the thought that Kentucky was not settled by natives a myth or a fact? Or am I confused on what is meant when history says Kentucky was not settled by Indians?

[Buckeye]

It's all relative to the time period, it may be true that historically ( white contact) parts of Kentucky were not settled and "shared" by tribes, the same has been said of parts of Ohio during historic times.
But the history of the land of Kentucky goes back many thousands of years and it would be naive for someone to say that the land was never occupied then ( Ohio was occupied with many cultures over that time frame, think mounds), as your hoe certainly proves.

[Scotto]

I'd say "myth" to say that NO tribes EVER settled Kentucky.

[Dennis]

Before the Indian removals during the 1800s It looks like The Shawnee - Chickasaw - Cherokee - Yuchi were the major tribes there are no federally recognized tribes in Kentucky at the present . I googled it .

[ghost recon]

I'd have to say that Kentucky was heavily settled from paleo through mississippian. I would say even the transient paleo guys settled down in Ky. which is evident from Cumberland and Clovis, etc. sites. Then you have all the woodland ttail sites, adena, Fox field, Ft. Ancient etc. Jmo

The Cumberland Phil Stratton Site Page 1

Amazon.com: Return to Fox Fields: The Mason County, Kentucky Fort Ancient Site: S. A Glass: Books

[ghost recon]

I've read and heard the same theory about WV. That it was mainly a hunting / camping area in prehistoric times and wasn't settled. Which is sort of ridiculous when you consider all the mound builder settlements and structures along the rivers and later Mississippian campsites and structures.

[joshuaream]

Bunk. I've heard the same thing about Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, the lower part of Michigan. A lot of the time I hear it from people walking into an arrowhead show (carrying relics), and they explain how groups from other states "just hunted here, they never lived here." Or they just used the quarries and left. Any one of those states is pretty big to just use as an occasional hunting ground. (Kind of like one of us walking 300 miles to go hunting, and then brining our kill 300 miles back home.)

The truth isn't pretty and it's easier to not explain the happenings from contact through 1900 to kids in Elementary school. Disease probably hit groups like the Ft. Ancient and other Mississippian peoples very hard. Then the Algonquin and other Eastern tribes got the rifle and when the settlers pushed them they pushed whatever group was next in line west. By the time the early white explorers got out there, there probably weren't a lot of groups living and farming.

[drdave514]

I've heard that said many times and after 1492, maybe that was somewhat true. But it strikes me as the most absurd concept.... maybe ever. They've excavated at Ft. Ancient site just about a mile from my house. NAs have camped in KY all the way back to Clovis.

"I'm going to travel 100 miles to hunt but I wouldn't want to live where the animals do." That really makes a lot of sense.

[bar2kl]

I agree, Doc... I'd bet dollars to dognuts that Kentucky was occupied from Clovis to historic period, just like the rest of the adjacent states, and there seems to be ample physical evidence to support that... Even from a hypothetical point of view, I think that idea would be a non-starter... JMO

[arrow719]

That theory is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my whole entire life!