History
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Franks Site in Vermilion, Ohio, occupies bluffs above the Vermilion River near Lake Erie and was once inhabited by the Erie tribe. As one of the region’s most important archaeological sites, it preserves campsites, a vast cemetery, and earthworks along the bluff. Excavations by Raymond C. Vietzen in 1941 uncovered burials, pottery, animal bones, postmolds, and refuse pits, revealing details of Erie daily life, burial customs, and reliance on river and lake fish. The pottery’s distinctive decorated rims link Franks to other Erie sites. Dated in part to about AD 1650, the settlement offers an unusually rich view of a people destroyed only a few years later by Iroquois warriors.
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Vermilion, Ohio · United States
