Ashworth Archaeological Site (12 Po 7)
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Fields at the site
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Location | Eastern side of State Road 69, Point Township, Hovey Lake, Indiana |
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Coordinates | 37°51′0″N 87°56′10″W / 37.85000°N 87.93611°WCoordinates: 37°51′0″N 87°56′10″W / 37.85000°N 87.93611°W |
Area | 50 acres (20 ha) |
NRHP Reference # | 85002137 |
Added to NRHP | September 12, 1985 |
The Ashworth Archaeological Site is a significant archaeological site in the extreme southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. Located near the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, it lies near several similar archaeological sites. It was first examined by archaeologists in the middle of the twentieth century and found to be the site of a relatively recent Native American village, and it has been designated a historic site because of its archaeological value.
The Ashworth Archaeological Site is located in the southern portion of Section 1, Township 8S, Range 14W, in the northeastern portion of Point Township, the southwesternmost township in Posey County, the southwesternmost county in Indiana. Another archaeological site, designated 12PO11, is located farther south in the same section; both sites are approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the northern end of Hovey Lake and an equal distance west of a bend of the Ohio River. It lies in a field on the eastern side of State Road 69 atop a bluff overlooking a slough.
Due to its location at the southern extremity of the state, Posey County experiences fewer frost days than most of the rest of Indiana. This favorable weather, combined with its place as the first portion of Indiana to be reached by one ascending the Ohio River, caused the land within the boundaries of the modern county to have one of Indiana's heaviest concentrations of Pre-Columbian populations. An archaeological field survey published in 1949 found evidence of fifteen different prehistoric villages in Point Township, which has yielded artifacts as old as a Folsom point, and as recent as the Mississippian period.