By W. Stephen McBride, Ph.D.
March 2026
The following summary is drawn from a number of sources, including Broyles 1971, Gardner 1987, Ison et al. 1985, McBride 2006, McMichael 1968, and Solecki 1949.
Today, the best estimate from archaeological evidence is that American Indians entered North American from Asia at least 20,000 years ago. This migration occurred during the Pleistocene era, or Ice Age, when large mammals such as mammoths, mastodons and great sloths roamed the earth.
The earliest Americans are referred to as Paleoindians by archaeologists. They hunted these large animals as well as smaller ones and gathered various plants for food. They lived in small extended family bands and were nomadic, seasonally following animals and exploiting ripening nuts, seeds and fruits. The Paleoindian era ended about 9-10,000 years ago with the end of the Ice Age.
While numerous Paleoindian projectile points (the primary diagnostic artifact for this era) have been found in West Virginia, very few have been recovered in the Greenbrier Valley. One example is a spear point, a Clovis base, recovered at Pence Springs in Summers County (O’Malley 1985). While the context of this projectile point could not be radiocarbon dated, as it was a surface find, these points generally date to 10,000 to 15,000 years ago.
Following the Paleoindian era, the residents of the Greenbrier Valley continued a hunter and gatherer adaptation, although focused on more modern animals such as deer, black bear, rabbits and squirrels, as well as some birds, fish and shellfish. They also continued to gather wild plants which became an increasingly important aspect of their diet over time.
Archaeologists refer to this period as the Archaic.
Diagnostic Archaic period artifacts, including various spear and spear-thrower (atl atl) projectile points, ground stone axes and celts, and steatite vessels (by the Late Archaic) have been recovered over the entire Greenbrier Valley. Important Archaic sites include the Berkley and Prison Cornfield sites in Pence Springs, the Mill Pond site on Indian Creek, Thompson’s Fort site in Pickaway, Jarrett’s Fort in Wolf Creek, Rapps Cave near Frankfort, Day’s Fort in Mill Point, and Warwick’s Fort in Green Bank (Broyles 1964; Ison et al. 1985; McBride, McBride and Lesser 1991; McBride and McBride 2003; McBride 2006; McBride et al. 2023; O’Malley 1985).
The next period, which is defined by the presence of pottery, the domestication of local grasses (early agriculture) and later acceptance of corn from Mexico, burial mounds, and a more sedentary settlement pattern. Between the Early Woodland and Late Woodland periods (3,000 years ago to AD 1200), the native peoples became more and more sedentary, lived in larger villages, and became more dependent on crops, particularly corn, although they still hunted with the bow and arrow, which had replaced the spear thrower. Flood plains and lower terraces were selected for these settlements.
During the Early and Middle Woodland periods (2,400 years ago to AD 400) burial mounds and geometric earthworks were constructed, particularly along the Ohio and Lower Kanawha Rivers, although some small burial mounds are present in the Greenbrier Valley.
Significant Woodland period sites include the Spring and Prison Cornfield sites in Summers County, Second Creek Fort in Monroe County, Drennen’s Fort at Edray, Jacob Warwick’s house at Clover Lick, and Warwick’s Fort in Green Bank. (Ison et al. 1985; McBride, McBride and Lesser 1991; McBride and McBride 2003; McBride 2006; O’Malley 1985).
The Late Prehistoric or Late Pre-Contact is the last Native American cultural period before contact with European cultures. This period is identified by intensive corn-beans-squash agriculture, large sedentary villages, focused deer hunting, and in some areas, the construction of platform and burial mounds. During this period (AD 1200-1600), complex societies developed in the southeastern U.S. and lower Mississippi Valley, known as the Mississippian Culture, but this did not occur in West Virginia. Large, palisaded villages were constructed in the Ohio Valley,
Lower Kanawha Valley, and Lower Monongahela Valley, but not in the Greenbrier Valley, where the Late Woodland lifestyle of smaller villages continued. An important Late Prehistoric small village or camp was found at Warwick’s Fort site in Green Bank (McBride and McBride 2025).
This site includes numerous roasting and refuse pits and post molds for houses and other supports), limestone tempered pottery (Page cord-marked and Plain), and triangular projectile points. Subsistence remains include corn, sunflower, deer, and possibly buffalo.
When White settlers came into the Greenbrier Valley in the middle 18th century, there were no permanent American Indian villages, although explorers’ maps suggest that permanent villages existed here as late as the middle 17th century. This area was probably depopulated during the Beaver Wars led by the Six Nations Confederacy, with local American Indian groups being defeated by and/or absorbed into the Confederacy.
References available upon request.
