TheOliver phase was aLate WoodlandNative American culture that flourished from 1200 and 1450 CE along the east and west forks of theWhite River in central and southernIndiana.[1] The Oliver phase is of the Western Basin tradition which includes the Springwells phase, theYounge phase, and theRiviere au Vase phase.[2] Oliver people were village dwelling farmers with a heavy reliance onmaize,[1] very similar to other Late Woodland peoples in the area theOneota,Fort Ancient, andMonongahela cultures. The name was originally coined by archaeologistJames B. Griffin in 1946 to describe a Late Woodland ceramic complex centered inHamilton andMarion counties in the valley of the West Fork of the White River first extensively studied at theBowen site.[3]
Their villages, like their neighbors to the southeast theFort Ancient culture, were usually circular with woodenpalisades, and earthen moats found in theWhittlesey tradition,[4] although they also lived in smallerfarmsteads. Although their sites began in central Indiana, over the years they spread to the southeast.[1] TheClampitt Site (12-Lr-329) was excavated in the summer of 1992.[3] It was a settlement in the East Fork White River Valley, occupied by a late prehistoric to protohistoric agricultural population. Most of the settlements in this area were nucleated villages and hunting camps. The larger villages such as Clampitt (inLawrence County) andBowen sites (inMarion County) were roughly one to two acres in size. They intentionally located their sites on alluvial floodplains, usually a kilometer or so from tributary streams of the river, to take advantage of the richer soils there.[3] The Bowen Site (12 MA 61) was located on the West Fork of the White River, a little to the northeast ofIndianapolis, and was occupied at least twice by two similar but slightly different cultures.[5]
Pottery styles were originally used to determine the existence of the Oliver phase. Most items were globular, grit-tempered jars that showed a mixture of traits associated with both the Great Lakes Late WoodlandOneota andFort Ancient cultures.[3]
