Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the MississippiBushnell, David I. (David Ives)
History
Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi
Bushnell, David I. (David Ives)
Algonquian Indians; Caddoan Indians; Indians of North America -- Dwellings; Siouan Indians
Small fireplaces were of frequent occurrence on all parts
of the floor.
"Three caches were found in the first ruin.... In one, fifteen feet west
of the center of the dwelling were found flint blades, a score of Unio
shells, a mano or muller made from a rounded drift bowlder ... and a
pottery pipe in form of a soaring bird.... The bottom of this cache was
six feet from the surface. The second cache lay at the southeastern side
of the ruin. Its bottom was eight feet from the surface of the ground.
It contained thirty shells, several large flint blades, other large
flint implements of unknown use ... animal bones, projectile points, and
a small piece of galena. The third cache, in the northeastern part of
the ruin, was the largest and deepest of the three, its bottom being
nine feet and a half from the surface. On a small shelf, or niche, at
its eastern side, two feet from the bottom, lay, a small image of a
human face carved from pink soapstone, a number of animal bones and
skulls, fish bones and scales, and Unio shells.
"So many and varied were the objects found in the ruin, so abundant the
charred sticks and grasses, that the impression is conveyed that the
dwelling had been abandoned in haste and that it had burned to the
ground." (Gilder, (1), pp. 58-61.) The objects discovered in this
ancient ruin were truly varied, as the discoverer remarked, and likewise
of the greatest interest, including specimens of stone, bone, and
pottery, with bones of animals which had probably served as food. But
how interesting it would be to know the date of the construction of this
large lodge, and the tribe to which its occupants belonged--questions
which may never be determined. However, it unquestionably belonged to
people of a tribe who reared and occupied similar structures in the
valley of the Missouri as late as the latter half of the nineteenth
century.
Other quite similar ruins a short distance north of the city of Omaha
were examined by Gilder. Many objects of bone, stone, and pottery were
discovered. Caches were encountered, and to quote from his account of
the work: "The caches within the house sites are smaller in diameter
near the top than at the bottom, the latter part flaring out somewhat in
the manner of a large earthen pot. The bottom of the caches are rounded,
and the walls are almost as hard as fired clay. In the very bottom of
each cache was a quantity of dust, or earth as fine as dust (not compact
as at other points), in which were found small arrowpoints, flint
blades, shell beads, and flint flakes. In each case where the cache was
found within the house circle it occurred close under the western wall,
back of the fireplace and exactly opposite the entrance to the lodge,
the latter in every instance facing the east." (Gilder, (2), p. 716.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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