Man's first occupation of this area is marked by prehistoric artifacts showing that it was used primarily as hunting grounds. Flint spear and arrow points, stone tools, and slate ornaments have been found in fields throughout the surrounding countryside. Examples of Paleo-Indian culture, including a fitted flint Clovis spear point found near the lake, indicate human presence here over 8,990 years ago. Because these Paleo-Indian cultures lived nomadically, their artifacts are rare and most often found as individual or isolated pieces. Relics have also been found from Indian cultures such as the Adena from the Archaic cultural period, which existed between 7,000 B.C. and 2,000 B.C., and from the Hopewell and Woodland cultures of the Woodland period, which began after the Archaic and lasted up to 1000 A.D. Fort Ancient and Erie were cultures that made the transition into the historic tribes that felt the influence of European cultures. Historic Indian cultures were a product of nature, moving as weather and food resources compelled them. Extended family units formed the base tribes, which in turn formed larger tribal units, and tribes banded together into nations or affiliations for natural defense. Although there were many language dialects, there was an apparent common base. Their claim to the land differed from that of Europeans, as typified by a quotation attributed to Tecumseh: "My father is the sun, and the earth is my mother, I will recline upon her bosom." Many different tribes hunted, lived, and moved through this area, including the Delawares, Senecas, Twightwees, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Patawotomies. The Shawnee were a prominent group here when the area ceased being Indian Territory in 1818 with the treaty of Fort Meigs and St. Marys. Indian tribes resisted the advance of American frontiersmen into this territory with the help of the French, and later the British, but the changing growth of the American frontier eventually pushed tribes farther west and greatly reduced their local presence.