The Clarke Farm Site is an ancient archaeological site

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

 in the southwestern part of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. Located near Point Pleasant

Point Pleasant, Ohio

Point Pleasant is a small unincorporated community in southern Monroe Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States. It is located near the mouth of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area at the Ohio River, around 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati. U.S. Route 52 passes through Point...

 in Clermont County

Clermont County, Ohio

Clermont County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, just east of Cincinnati. As of 2010, the population was 197,363. Its county seat is Batavia...

, it is a heavily stratified

Stratification (archeology)

Stratification is a paramount and base concept in archaeology, especially in the course of excavation. It is largely based on the Law of Superposition...

 site, with nearly 8,000 years of occupation. Excavations at the site have yielded a large number of artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

, including bones, chert

Chert

Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...

, pottery, and shells. Cultures

Archaeological culture

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...

 represented at the site range from Early Archaic to Fort Ancient

Fort Ancient

Fort Ancient is a name for a Native American culture that flourished from 1000-1750 CE among a people who predominantly inhabited land along the Ohio River in areas of modern-day Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Southeastern Indiana and Western West Virginia. They were a maize based agricultural...

, along with various Woodland

Woodland period

The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...

 cultures. The site has an area of approximately 20 acres (8.1 ha).

Because of the wide range of artifacts from so many cultures present at Clarke Farm, it has been recognized as a premier archaeological site. It is believed that the evidence of multiple cultures in succession at the site may contribute to an understanding of the succession of various cultures in the region. The archaeological value of the site led to its placement on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1974.