Section 2: fROM mISSISSIPPIAN TO mODERN

★ PREHISTORIC iNDIAN CULTURES THRIVED DURING THIS PERIOD FROM CE. ★ almost totally dependent on agriculture and trade. ★ crops included corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. ★ stored large quantities in underground storage containers.

Mississippian Life

★ they used stone axes, hoes, or fire to clear fields. ★ trade increased. ★ had powerful leaders or chiefs who regulated community wealth and important trade routes.

Building Homes

★ built large villages with fortified walls around to protect themselves. ★ homes were square and made from waddle and daub-log houses with posts dug into the ground and a mixture of mud to seal the holes. ★ they were quite sturdy; cool in summer, warm in winter.

making salt

★ they boiled salty spring water until nothing was left but the salt deposits in the bottom of the pot. ★ Scraping it out of the pot the Indians bagged it and used it for trade.

A New Chapter : Contact with Europeans

Parkin Site ★ Parkin Culture in AR may have been the largest village during this time. ★ thousands were estimated to have lived there. ★ believed that Hernando De Soto visited this site in 1541.

★ After this contact with europeans the population of the Mississippian culture began to decline. ★ some think it was a result of disease, others drought, but no one knows for sure. ★ Parkin Archaeological state Park.

Arkansas’s Historic indians (1673-present)

★ After De Soto in 1541 other Europeans began visiting. ★ they found many distinct Indian nations living in AR. ★ They had their own language, unique culture, and governments.

The Caddos

★ originated during the Mississippian period. ★ were very good farmers: corn, beans, squash, watermelons, pumpkins, tobacco, and sunflowers. ★ they also hunted and gathered nuts, roots, seeds and berries.

★ most important tool was the bow and arrow, usually made from the Osage Orange tree. ★ valuable trade items for them were these bows and arrows, animal skins and furs, bear oil, and salt. ★ Europeans, French, found them to be very friendly.

Caddo Laws and Life

Leadership ★ communities were led by a chief-he watched over people, approved marriages, conducted ceremonies, greeted visitors, and called on other leaders to help make vital decisions. ★ Spiritual leaders or priests conducted religious ceremonies and rituals in sacred buildings or temple mounds.

Society ★ organized into family units called farmsteads-relatives lived and worked. ★ had many different buildings for living, working, and storage.

Men and Women ★ were often tattooed-women were especially known for the detailed designs on their arms, faces, and bodies.

★ 1700s disease, warfare, and other factors forced the Caddo from their AR settlements. ★ by the 1800s they were forced to move to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

The quapaws

Origins ★ made their homes in the Delta region close to the AR and Mississippi rivers meet. ★ some believe they are ancestors to the Mississippian tribe but others think they broke off from northern tribes in the Ohio River Valley.

Quapaw life and society ★ lived in villages with a main plaza. ★ homes were called “long houses”-often housing several families. ★ inside the homes a central fireplace kept them warm. ★ they were also excellent farmers like the Caddo

★ they planted fruit trees imported by the Europeans. ★ They traded with the French and the Spanish on a regular basis.

Life ★ governed by an important social change in Indian periods. ○ long houses contained extended family groups that formed the basis of their society; clans. ○ divided into 2 types-sky people and earth people-each performing certain kinds of ceremonies.

art ★ pots and baskets-some used for storing and preparing food others for sacred rituals. ★ women cared for children, prepared the food, and watched the crops. ★ men made dugout canoes and traded them for things, they fished, hunted, and went to war.

The Osage

★ near Missouri and Osage rivers in western Missouri. ★ they hunted and traded in northwest AR. ★ the Osage hunters were the most skilled of any native groups to live in AR.

Seasonal hunt ★ every member of the group had an important role during the seasonal hunt-men performed the hunt. ★ women skinned, cleaned, and dried the meat and prepared the hides. ★ During summer they grew squash, corn beans, and pumpkins and stored for the winter.

war ★ they sometimes fought the Caddo or the Quapaw over hunting grounds or trade rights. ★ they were very strong with excellent battle skills. ★ Osage means “the neutral” but they called themselves “Children of the Middle Waters”.

life ★ society organized into clans and had a higher division of bands-which all lived together in a village. ○ there were five bands each led by a group of religious leaders called Little Old Men. ○ each member had a mastery area of Osage spirituality.

The tunicas and the Koroas

Spanish ★ These groups lived in a large area on both the east and west sides of the Mississippi River. ★ present-day Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. ★ de Soto may have visited a Tunica village, QuizQuiz (keys-key). ★ Tunica means “those who are the people”.

French ★ they recorded seeing Tunica and Koroa villages near the Ouachita and Arkansas Rivers. ★ Tunica men were responsible for planting and raising the crops and hunting, gathering roots, nuts, fruit and berries. ★ they also traded salt with other tribes.

★ Koroa villages surrounded a main plaza used for feasts, dances, and other celebrations. ★ circular houses with thatched roofs made in the shape of a dome. ★ 1700s population was wiped out, probably disease. ★ remaining members joined tribes in the south.

★ The Tunica migrated further south and would later join the Biloxi Indians; their descendants remain there today.

Ways of life ★ Arkansas’s Native American people share many common beliefs and traditions: ○ Animism-the religious belief that everything has a spirit. ○ they also believe in a Great Spirit and other gods who control the universe. ○ Creation stories.

Property ★ Most of the Native American tribes in Arkansas lived in a matriarchy-property is inherited through the mother’s line of descent instead of the father’s. ★ women owned the houses and sometimes the fields and crops. ★ they also had the right to divorce but children always stayed with the mother’s family or clan.

Into the Modern ERa ★ 1700s Cherokee tribes who were driven from their native lands came to Arkansas. ★ the Cherokee had become farmers, they built mills, raised cattle, and built homes like European settlers. ★ They tried to hold on to many parts of their traditional culture even though they though adapting would help them.