SHETRONE] CULTURE PROBLEM IN OHIO ARCHAEOLOGY 169
Merely as a tentative working hypothesis, then, the following chronological scheme for the culture groups of the Ohio area, as indicated by the available data, is offered : The Algonquian group were the earliest, the most persistent and widely distributed, and the last to disappear, of Ohio's prehistoric peoples, and, therefore, were contemporaneous with all other groups present in the area; the Fort Ancient and the Hopewell groups were contemporaneous one with another, and their presence in the area lay within the limits of appearance and disappearance of the Algonquian group; the Adena group has not been sufficiently examined to produce evidence as to their time relations with other groups ; the evidence for the Stone Grave group points to contemporaneity with the Hopewell ; and the Iroquoian group, arriving in the area in late prehistoric times, disappeared about the middle of the seventeenth century.
In the main, the indications supporting these suggestions have been cited in the preceding pages ; the remainder, with the exception of those which are self-evident, are supplied in the following para- graphs dealing with the several groups.
Algonquian. The wide distribution of this group over the general area of which Ohio forms a part, and their prolonged occu- pancy thereof, are shown by an equally wide distribution and abun- dance of archaeological remains and, in the first-named respect, by historic record as well. In view of these facts and of the indications which follow, the Algonquian group properly may be considered as the most representative people of the area and as the prototype of its primitive culture groups. The archaeological remains of the group, as cited in a preceding page, have been found to underlie those of both the Iroquois and the Erie in the main Iroquoian area, centering in New York state, where they appear to be the earliest evidences of human occupation. The writer's observations are that certain artifacts found scattered through the earth composing some of the mounds of the Fort Ancient and the Hopewell groups and on the original surface covered by them, are Algonquian; however, sufficient opportunity to verify this surmise has not as yet presented itself.
Historical and archaeological evidences indicate that the Algon-
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