among Native Americans by trade contacts. The next-known inhabitants of the area, who were encountered by French and English explorers, were the historic Shawnee tribe. Scholars believe that the Fort Ancient society, like the Mississippian cultures to the south and west, may have been severely disrupted by waves of infectious disease epidemics from the first Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century. After 1525, at the Madisonville site, the type site for the Madisonville phase, dwellings were built on a smaller scale and in fewer number. This change indicated the culture was less attached to agriculture and a sedentary life. Scholars generally believe that similarities in material culture, art, mythology, and Shawnee oral history link the historic tribe to the Fort Ancient people. However, there is also evidence that the Algonquian Shawnee culture may have been more of an admixture or intrusion to the site, which may have previously been Siouan occupied. Evolution of society The Fort Ancient culture can be divided largely into early, middle, and late phases. It is not believed that they merged into a singular society until close to the end of the middle phase. Early phase (approx. 1000-1250 CE) During this period, the Fort Ancients were several poor sedentary societies. They lived in un-palisaded villages & had slight regional variances. The locals farmed primarily corn, beans & sunflower—the last of which being a plant first domesticated as a food source in Ohio. Most homes were of a type called a pit-house. This was a dig-in several feet into the ground, which was covered over with a bark-plaster-over-wood-frame roof. Carbon dating has shown that Fort Ancient lands in West Virginia did not begin to be conquered by them until the middle phase. Middle phase (approx. 1250-1450 CE) At this time, the cultures became far richer, began to expand & began to merge into a single, continuous culture. Villages grew larger, became palisaded & pit-houses began to be phased out in favor of the style of native dwelling colonial peoples would refer to as a Cabin-style. This was a rectangular, peak roofed home of either an adobe-like or wooden make and covered over by the same style of roof as the pit house. It is important to note what other things were happening at the same time. Between 1100 and 1300 CE, the far richer & larger Mississippian culture began shifting its centers away from the Mississippi River