Indians of Arkasnas Homepage


How do we learn about the past?

Indians Before Europeans
American Indian Perspectives
Origins of the Middle World
Creation of the World (Osage)
Creation of the World (Caddo)
Creation of the Sun (Tunica)
The Daughters and the Serpent Monster (Caddo)
How Tlanuwa Deafeated Uktena (Cherokee)
Lightning Defeats the Underground Monster (Caddo)
Chaos into Order
Maintaining Order in Osage Communities
How People Came to Hunt Animals (Caddo)
Origins of Corn (Natchez)
Origins of Fire (Cherokee)
Natchez Sacred Fire
Understanding the World Through Stories
Caddo Creation Stories
Story 1: Creation and Early Migration
Story 2: Creation of Day and Night
Story 3: Origin of Animals
Story 4: Coyote and the Origins of Death
Story 5: Origin of the Medicine Men
Story 6: Lightning and Thunder
Academic Perspectives
Ice Age Migrations
Paleoindians
The Dalton Culture
Archaic Period Cultures
Woodland Period Cultures
The Mississippi Period

First Encounters

Historic Arkansas Indians
The Quapaw Indians
The Caddo Indians
Tunica and Koroa Indians
The Osage Indians
The Chickasaws
The Natchez Indians

Indians After Europeans
Indians and Colonists
Indians in the Old South
Indians in the New South
Indians Today

Current Research
Ancient Foodways
Arkansas Novaculite Project
Bruce Catt
3LO226
Caddo Dance
CARV Project
Research Design
Introduction
Background
Project Goals
Previous Research
Project Organization
Arkansas Archeological Survey
Caddo Nation
Osage Nation
Quapaw Nation
Project Methods
Collection Inventory and Analysis
GIS, Remote Sensing, and Excavation
Summary
References Cited
Project Accomplishments
Project Initiation Meeting
Memorandum
NMAI Inventory
Gilcrease Museum Inventory
LSEM Inventory
UA Collection Inventory
3YE347 Survey
3PP274 Survey
3YE25 Survey
3YE25 Tree Planting
3YE25 Geophysics
3YE25 Excavations
3YE347 Analysis
3YE25 Analysis
3CN213 Analysis
Ozark Reservoir Analysis
Lithic Raw Materials
Year 2 Project Meeting

Writing Prompts

Learning Exercises
Indians and Animals
The Three-Layer Universe
Trade Goods
What is a Map?
Frontier Exchange Economy
Creation Stories
Children of the Middle Waters (Osage)
Origin of the Middle World (Yuchi)
The First People (Caddo)
Origin of the Supreme Being (Caddo)
Origin of Animals (Caddo)
Origin of Corn (Natchez)
Origin of Beans (Tunica)
Origin of Fire (Cherokee)
The Calumet Ceremony in the Mississippi Valley
Marquette Account
Gravier Account
Du Poisson Account
First Encounters: Cultural Perspectives
Gentleman of Elvas: Chapter XXII
Gentleman of Elvas: Chapter XXIII
Gentleman of Elvas: Chapter XXVI
Gentleman of Elvas: Chapter XXIX
Gentleman of Elvas: Chapter XXXII and XXXIII
Ritual Analysis
Caddo Harvest Ritual
Natchez Harvest Ceremony
Smoking Ceremony from the Songs of the Wa-Xo'-Be (Osage)
Transcending Themes

Project Background and History


End of Left Side of Page

- Indians of Arkansas -

Archeology, History, and Culture

Introduction

"Osage Traders" by Charles Banks Wilson.
"Osage Traders" by Charles Banks Wilson.

This website provides information and educational resources for students, teachers, and life-long learners interested in Arkansas Indian history—a history which began 30,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, and extends to the present. One of our goals is to help people understand how we learn about the past. What information do we use and how do we reach conclusions from the study of that information? A second goal is to provide a place where people can compare and contrast academic and Indian perspectives on the past. We believe that both perspectives are essential to a comprehensive view of the cultural heritage of Arkansas and the South.

Arkansas: A Narrative History

The material on this website expands upon our earlier First Encounters educational CD-ROM project. That project included a series of interactive learning exercises about interactions between Indians and Europeans in the Mississippi Valley. The First Encounters CD-ROM is no longer available, but information on Arkansas Indians is summarized in Arkansas: A Narrative History which you can order by clicking here.

In the following pages we offer a new series of learning exercises covering Indian history from the earliest times to the present. We revised some material from the First Encounters project for this website, and added some new material. We preserved the active learning approach featured in First Encounters, giving students an opportunity to learn historical and anthropological methods through direct study of original historical sources, including texts, maps, artworks, and archeological finds.

Table of Contents - Site Map

If you like the Indians of Arkansas website, please check out our Rock Art in Arkansas and Arkansas Novaculite: A Virtual Comparative Collection websites.

The First Encounters project was funded by grants from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

National Endowment for the Humanities

Arkansas Humanities Council

Arkansas Archeological Survey: A Division of the University of Arkansas System

Copyright ©2007, Arkansas Archeological Survey (except where noted)
A Division of the University of Arkansas System.
Revised - February 2007
http://archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html
Please send correspondence to arkarch@uark.edu

How do we learn about the past?

 

 

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Last Updated: September 25, 2023 at 3:01:39 PM Central Time