Bentley site

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title: "Bentley site" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fort-ancient-culture", "prehistoric-cultures-in-ohio", "shawnee-history", "former-native-american-populated-places-in-the-united-states", "archaeological-sites-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-kentucky", "native-american-history-of-kentucky", "national-register-of-historic-places-in-greenup-county,-kentucky", "national-register-of-historic-places-in-lewis-county,-kentucky"] description: "Archaeological site in northeastern Kentucky" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_site" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Archaeological site in northeastern Kentucky ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ancient site"]

Field	Value
name	Bentley site
15 GP 15
map_type	USA Kentucky
map_caption	Approximate location within Kentucky today
coordinates
location	South Portsmouth, Kentucky, Greenup County, Kentucky, USA
region	Greenup County, Kentucky
built	Ca. 1400
abandoned	1625
epochs	Madisonville horizon, protohistoric
cultures	Fort Ancient culture
architectural_details	Number of monuments: {{Infobox NRHP
embed	yes
name	Bentley site
added	April 28, 1983
refnum	83002784
::

| name = Bentley site 15 GP 15 | alternate_name = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | map = | map_type = USA Kentucky | map_alt = | map_caption = Approximate location within Kentucky today | map_size = | relief = | coordinates = | map_dot_label = | location = South Portsmouth, Kentucky, Greenup County, Kentucky, USA | region = Greenup County, Kentucky | built = Ca. 1400 | abandoned = 1625 | epochs = Madisonville horizon, protohistoric | cultures = Fort Ancient culture | event = | excavations = | archaeologists = | architectural_styles = | architectural_details = Number of monuments: {{Infobox NRHP | embed = yes | name = Bentley site | nrhp_type = | added = April 28, 1983 | refnum = 83002784 | notes = | designation1 = | designation1_offname = | designation1_type = | designation1_criteria = | designation1_date = | delisted1_date = | designation1_partof = | designation1_number = | designation1_free1name = | designation1_free1value = | designation1_free2name = | designation1_free2value = | designation1_free3name = | designation1_free3value = | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_type = | designation2_criteria = | designation2_date = | delisted2_date = | designation2_partof = | designation2_number = | designation2_free1name = | designation2_free1value = | designation2_free2name = | designation2_free2value = | designation2_free3name = | designation2_free3value = The Bentley site (15Gp15) is a Late Fort Ancient culture Madisonville horizon (post 1400 CE) archaeological site overlain by an 18th-century Shawnee village; it is located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 28, 1983. It is located near four groups of Hopewell tradition mounds, built between 100 BCE and 500 CE, known as the Portsmouth Earthworks.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Buffalo_style_mask_gorget_Ohio_HRoe_2010_01.jpg" caption="bot=InternetArchiveBot }}"] ::

Artifacts

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the community engaged in trade with other villages, as evidenced by the presence in graves of ornamental shell gorgets made from the shells of marine mollusks harvested off the coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Ancient residents probably obtained these shells by trading salt extracted from boiled brine. Also found during the excavations were distinctive Madisonville horizon pottery, including cordmarked, plain and grooved-paddle jars, as well as a variety of chert points, scrapers and ceremonial pipes.

A variety of locally made tools were recovered from the site, including bone awls, chisels, endscrapers, fishhooks and pins, and some decorative items including pendants, earplugs, and freshwater mussel-shell beads. Tobacco pipes made of stone and ceramic were found, along with a few items of European origin, including copper or brass beads, bracelets, tubes, coils and pendants. These were most likely not obtained directly through contact with Europeans but rather via Native American intermediary trade. Over 300 burials were located, and some skeletons showed signs of tuberculosis, yaws or nonvenereal endemic syphilis.

Abandonment

The village was probably abandoned around 1625, possibly because of periodic flooding of the Ohio River. The Fort Ancient residents of southern Ohio were very likely wiped out in the late seventeenth century by infectious diseases brought by Europeans, particularly measles, smallpox, and influenza. Graves from this period often contain multiple burials—from four to over a hundred individuals—reflecting a sudden increase in mortality typical of epidemics. Depopulation may have been hastened by Iroquois raids during the Beaver Wars (1629–1701).

References

References

1. (2010-11-02). "National Register Information System". National Park Service.
2. Sharp, William E.. (1996). "Kentucky Archaeology". University Press of Kentucky.
3. Henderson, A. Gwynn. (2008). "The Archaeology of Kentucky:An update". Kentucky Heritage Council.
4. "David Pollack and A. Gwynn Henderson, "A Preliminary Report on the Contact Period Occupation at Lower Shawneetown (l5GP15), Greenup County, Kentucky," paper presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society on April 9, 1982.".
5. 0598262113
6. (December 2025)
7. Dubin, Lois Sherr. (1999). "North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present". Harry N. Abrams.
8. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23382492 A. Gwynn Henderson, "Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky,"] ''The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society,'' Vol. 90, No. 1, ''The KentuckyImage'' (Bicentennial Issue), pp. 1-25, Kentucky Historical Society
9. Ian W. Brown, ''Salt and the Eastern North American Indian: An Archaeological Study,'' Cambridge, Mass., 1980.
10. "Michelle M. Davidson, "Preliminary mineralogical and chemical study of Pre-Madisonville and Madisonville horizon Fort Ancient ceramics," ''Norse Scientist'', Vol. 1, Issue 1, April 2003; Northern Kentucky University.".
11. Andrew Lee Feight, "Lower Shawnee Town and the Flood of 1753," ''Lower Scioto Blog ,'' posted on December 24, 2007
12. [https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-rvw6-gp52 Caudill, Courtney B., ""Mischiefs So Close to Each Other": External Relations of the Ohio Valley Shawnees, 1730–1775." Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625770, May 1992]
13. [https://sciotohistorical.org/items/show/35 Andrew Lee Feight, "Lower Shawnee Town and Celoron's Expedition," ''Scioto Historical,'' accessed November 22, 2020]

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