Robert Cook, an archaeologist at Ohio State University, in his new book “Continuity and Change in the Native American Village: Multicultural Origins and Descendants of the Fort Ancient Culture,” presents a new interpretation of the Fort Ancient Culture.

He posits that the Fort Ancient Culture developed rapidly as a result of the “Big Bang” that took place in Mississippian cultures that were centered at Cahokia in 1050 CE.
Analysis of human remains at Fort Ancient sites show that some of the people there came from the vicinity of Cahokia, bringing new religious ideas and design ideas with them. Fort Ancient sites at 1050 CE were the largest of the culture with the highest maize consumption, Mississippian artifacts and migrants. Climate change and pressure from the Iroquois led them to abandon their sites  at the end of their culture.

The great Brad Lepper reports on this in the Columbus Dispatch;
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20171203/archaeology-cultural-big-bang-helped-form-fort-ancient-society

Mike Ruggeri’s Adena and Hopewell World
http://adenaandopewell.tumblr.com