page_title: History of Ashland, Kentucky
section_title: Prehistory
hierarchical_section_title: History of Ashland, Kentucky / Prehistory
caption_attribution_description: English: A map of the Portsmouth Earthworks, Group C, a Hopewellculture series of mounds located in en:Greenup County, Kentucky. It is part of a larger earthworks complex, the en:Portsmouth Earthworks, located across the en:Ohio River in en:Portsmouth, Ohio. It is also known as the Biggs Site.
context_page_description: Ashland is a city in north-eastern Kentucky. Prior to European colonization, it was home to the Adena Culture, Hopewell Culture, Armstrong Culture, and Fort Ancient Native American groups, and later the Shawnee. European settlement by Scots-Irish Americans began in 1783. In 1800, iron deposits were discovered in Ashland, which would lead to an influx of industry over the next two centuries. In the 21st century, city growth has spilled into neighboring areas, technically outside of city-limits, and the industrial economy has shrunk alongside expansions in the services sector.
  In 2006, Ashland was home to a sexual assault scandal in which more than a dozen officers were accused of having sex with a detainee while on duty.
context_section_description: The present-day area of Ashland was originally inhabited by American Indians migrating southeast from Beringia, although their earliest dating remains controversial.
  During the Woodland Period, the Adena culture left large earthworks downriver at South Shore's Biggs Site (c. 800 BC to 0). The Hopewell who succeeded them then expanded the complex into the great Portsmouth Earthworks (c. AD 0 to 500). Ashland lies between this group and the related but distinct Armstrong Culture who lived along the Big Sandy. Its Central Park includes six 4- to 5-foot (1.2 to 1.5 m) burial mounds, which have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. They have not been excavated by archaeologists, but are thought to date to the Adena. The mounds within the city used to be more numerous but were mostly destroyed in its construction. The present mounds are actually restorations, having been rebuilt from smaller heaps; The city recently agreed to fence them.
  The Hopewell and Armstrong were succeeded c. 1000 by the Fort Ancient Culture. The group closest to Ashland was the Feurt Focus, which developed into the Shawnee. The largest community nearby at the time of European exploration seems to have been Lower Shawneetown near South Portsmouth.
caption: The Biggs Site in South Shore.
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