Chapter 4

The First Inhabitants

Themes:• Louisiana and the World Timeline (pp. 74-

75)• Archaeology in Louisiana (pp. 76-77)• Archaic Period (pp. 78-79)• The Neo Period (pp. 80-85) • Historic Indians (pp. 86-88) • Historic Indian Culture (pp. 89-91)• Louisiana’s Native Americans Today (pp.

92-93)• Review (pp. 94-95)

I. Archaeology

• What types of questions do archaeologists ask themselves to gather information about past cultures?

• A: Who, what, where, when, how, and why, these six friends have I.

I. Archaeology in Louisiana •Knowledge of prehistoric Native Americans culture comes through the careful study of artifacts.

GLEs: 74, 78

Archaeologist

I. Archaeology in Louisiana • European explorers recorded

observations in letters, diaries, & gov’t reports.

• Those first-hand accounts, along with sketches & artifacts, provide more detailed information about historic Indian cultures. GLEs: 74, 78

II. Paleo Period (10000-6000 B.C.) •Last great Ice Age ends.•Paleo Indians arrive in Louisiana.

• Ice Age animals become extinct.

Mastodons

A. The Paleo People • Lived from 10,000-6,000

B.C. • During the Ice Age when

ocean levels dropped, Siberian people migrated across the land bridge to Alaska in search of game.

Landbridge: Beringia from Asia

• Some moved down the coast all the way to the tip of South America.

• Spoke a developed language, made fine clothing of skins, baskets of split cane, spear points, and tools of flint and wove cloth from palmetto fibers.

•They were nomads who hunted big game and traveled in small extended-family groups of 30-40 people.

Mammoth Hunt

Mammoth Hunt

III. Archaic Period

• Why did Louisiana Indians build mounds?• Why would people build mounds today?

III. Archaic Period (6000-2000 B.C.)

• Modern Louisiana climate and landforms are in place.

• Become hunter gatherers.• First Indian mounds are built

in America.• Stonehenge and Egyptian

pyramids are constructed in the Old World. GLEs: 64, 70, 74,

78

A. Archaic Indians• Hunter gatherers who

enjoyed a rich, varied diet.• The warming climate made

this diet possible. • Food was plentiful, so they

didn’t need to travel as much - probably moved with the seasons over a smaller area.

B. Archaic Genius• Practiced maximum forest

efficiency and developed a variety of new weapons and tools, including the atlatl

•They were the original mound builders.

• What is an atlatl, and how does it work?• A: A stick about 18 inches long that was

used by Archaic Indians to help them throw a spear farther and with greater force than they could throw it by hand.

C. Watson Brake• Located near the Ouachita

River• Eleven mounds were

discovered to have organic material dating back to 3500 B.C.

C. Watson Brake• Among the oldest mounds

in the United States• Indian Mounds were also

found on Louisiana State University (LSU)campus.

Louisiana Archaeology

Sites

**A Short Painful Life (Read more about it on page 79)

IV. Neo Period Cultures

• CULTURE• Define Culture.• What characteristics of the environment

contributes to the growth and development of a culture?

IV. Neo Period (2000 B.C.-1492 A.D.)

•Last prehistoric period of Native Americans

•Poverty Point and other cultures rise and fall.

•Pottery and bow and arrow are introduced.

GLEs:64, 65, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78

• What activity do archaeologists believe separates Neo Indian cultures from Archaic Indian cultures?

• A: Early attempts to farm.

IV. Neo Period (2000 B.C.-1492 A.D.)

•Agriculture is adopted.•Mound building reaches its peak.

•Greek and Roman civilizations rise and fall in the Old World.

GLEs:64, 65, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78

A. The Poverty Point Culture• Located in East Carroll

Parish near Epps• Today, it is a historic site. • Six huge earthen ridges

built in a semi-circle next to Bayou Macon

Bird Mound

• What is the name of one of the largest Indian mounds still standing in the United States? Where is it located?

• A: Bird Mound at Poverty Point

Mound Building

A. The Poverty Point Culture

• They were hunter-gathers; Poverty Point was a major trading center.

• The Poverty Point culture dominated the Mississippi Valley.

**Poverty Point Figurines (Read more about it on page 81)

Mystery of Poverty Point

Arrowheads

B. The Tchefuncte Culture (600 B.C.-200 A.D.)•Appeared after the collapse of the Poverty Point culture

•Hunter-Gatherers

B. The Tchefuncte Culture (600 B.C.-200 A.D.)•Sites on the Gulf Coast have thick shell middens.

•Middens were created when people lived in one place for a long time.

B. The Tchefuncte Culture (600 B.C.-200 A.D.)•They ate many mussels & clams & tossed the shells into piles. Over the years, these piles of shells formed ridges called shell middens.

•First Louisiana Indians to make large amounts of pottery

• Who were the first Louisiana Indians to create large amounts of pottery?

• A: Tchefuncte Indians

C. The Hopewell and Marksville Cultures (200 B.C.- 400 A.D.)

• Lived in the Ohio River Valley

• Established a complex trade system, built large mounds and earthworks, buried artifact and their dead, and organized powerful governments.

C. The Hopewell and Marksville Cultures (200 B.C.- 400 A.D.)

• Culture spread and was adapted by the Marksville culture.

• Marksville State Historic Site

Marksville Burial Mound

D. The Troyville-Coles Creek Culture (400-1100 A.D.)

• Replaced the Marksville culture

• Built larger mounds inside an earthen rampart (levee)

• Began cultivating plants such as squash, sunflowers, and gourds

D. The Troyville-Coles Creek Culture (400-1100 A.D.)

• Marked the beginning of agriculture, which ended Indians’ nomadic lifestyle

• Introduced bow and arrow

• What did the Louisiana Indians eventually use in place of the atlatl? Why?

• A: They began using bows and arrows because they were easier to use and more accurate.

Cross-Section of a Burial Mound

2,000-Year-Old Pottery

E. The Caddo Culture (800 A.D.-Present)

• Indians in northwest Louisiana

• Very sophisticated people• Complex social class

system and powerful rulers

• Farmers and traders

• Name two Indian cultures that buried food, weapons, jewelry, dogs, sacrificial victims and other objects with their dead.

• A: The Marksville and Caddo Indians

F. The Plaquemine-Mississippian Culture (1000-1500 A.D.)

• Farmed and lived in villages

**Louisiana Indian Mounds (Read more about it on page 84)

V. Historic Indians

• How would the lifestyle of the Louisiana Native American change after contact with the Europeans? List 2 ways and explain each.

V. Historic Indians• Six Indian language

groups and many tribes occupy Louisiana.

• Europeans arrive in America.

GLEs: 70, 74, 76, 78

Historic Louisiana Indians

A. The Caddo• Six tribes in northwest

Louisiana, southwest Arkansas, east Texas, and southeast Oklahoma

• Trading was important.

B. The Attakapas “Man-Eater” • Lived in southwest

Louisiana and the Texas Gulf Coast

• They were cannibals, which means they ate human flesh.

• Which historic Indian group in Louisiana were cannibalistic?

• A: Attakapas

C. The Chitimacha• Lived in south-central

Louisiana along Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya River

• They farmed, hunted, and fished.

D. The Muskogean• Lived in southeast Louisiana

around Lake Pontchartrain and the Florida Parishes

• Tribes include the Choctaw, Bayougoula, Tangipahoa, Coushatta, Houma, and Quinipissas-Mugalashas.

E. The Natchez• Main village was located

near modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.

• Farmers with a complex class system

• Worshipped the sun

F. The Tunica• They were great

traders.• Lived in modern-day

Angola, Louisiana• Joined with another

tribe and became Tunica-Biloxi

VI. Historic Indian Culture

GLEs: 75, 78, 79, 81

A. Agriculture• Grew three basic crops

—corn, beans, and squash

• Indians used a method called mound farming.

A. Agriculture• Historic Indians rotated

crops because some crops robbed nutrients from the soil, and other crops replaced those nutrients.

Fish remained an important

part of the Indians’ diet—even after they began farming.

B. Diet• Indians probably ate a

healthier diet than most Europeans.

• Soups, breads, cakes, dumplings, hominy, and corn dishes were their favorite foods.

B. Diet• They ate fish, deer, and

buffalo.• They wasted nothing.

The Three Sisters

(Corn, Beans, Squash)

C. Villages• Some settlements were large

cities, while others were just a few homes.

• The settlements included family dwellings as well as larger public buildings.

• The construction of a dwelling varied according to the tribe and the season.

D. Personal Appearance1. Men were about five-and-a-

half feet tall.

2. Women were about five feet tall.

3. Both men and women wore breechcloths or skirts

4. Both were bare-chested.

D. Personal Appearance5. Hairstyles were very

important and had significant social meaning.

6. The people adorned themselves with shell, stone, pearls, and large spools

7. They had elaborate tattoos.

E. Religion• They believed in

animism, which teaches that people associate with spirits every day.

• Most groups had a creation story.

• What is the theory of animism?• A: A belief that everything has a spirit and

that nothing is an inanimate object.

Animism

E. Religion• Shamans are priests

or holy people who interact with spirits to ask for help and special favors.

Shaman Ecuador

F. Society and Women• Some tribes had several

chiefs.• They has a complex class

system.• It was relatively easy for

Indians to move up through the class system.

F. Society and Women• Women had great power

and influence and did most of the physical labor.

• They had a matriarchal system, so women usually owned the houses, fields, and crops.

• What is a matriarchal system?• A: A matriarchal system gives women

most of the power and influence. Women owned their homes, and rights of property come through the mother’s clan or family. Women had the right to divorce their husbands but always raised the children.

F. Society and Women

• Chiefs and property descended through the mother’s bloodline.

• A woman had the right to divorce her husband.

G. Clans & Family: • Each family believed it

descended from a particular animal.

• Within each tribe were different clans that were like large extended families.

G. Clans & Family: • Ancestors were honored,

and elders were respected. • Children were never

whipped, but they were punished in other ways.

G. Clans & Family: • Children were usually raised by

their mother’s brother, who taught and disciplined them.

• A child’s biological fathers was like an uncle, not like a father. He spent most of his time raising his sister’s children.

Clans

H. Crime and Punishment• Thieves might be beaten or

forced to replace stolen items.

• Minor crimes were sometimes settled by the guilty party giving the victim a gift.

H. Crime and Punishment• Only rape, incest, murder,

or witchcraft were punished with the death penalty.

VII. Louisiana’s Native Americans Today

• How can a tribe maintain its identity pertaining to its culture, in the past, present, and for the future?

VII. Louisiana’s Native Americans Today

GLEs:70, 75, 80, 81

A. Federal Recognition• Our state has one of the

largest Indian populations in the entire Southeast.

• Four Louisiana tribes have earned federal recognition.

A. Federal Recognition• In order to get recognition, the

nation must provide historical documents that show it has always existed as a distinct community.

• It must prove it has maintained continuous culture and an unbroken line of leadership.

A. Federal Recognition• The nation also must prove

it descended from a historic group and show where the group lived in the past.

Reservation Government

B. The Chitimacha

• The group has a 260-acre reservation at Charenton with a fish-processing plant, a school, and a museum.

A_Visit_to_the_Chitimacha_Reservation Talking_with_Native_Americans

C. The Coushatta• Have about 1,000 acres of

land.• Make split cane baskets.• Speak one of the most

complete Indian languages in the United States.

D. The Choctaw• Moved during the Trail of

Tears • Have a 62-acre reservation

near Jena

E. The Tunica-Biloxi

• Have a 132-acre reservation at Marksville.

• The Reservation has a casino, cattle herds, a large museum, a conservation laboratory, a housing project, and a police and court system

F. State Recognition LA has recognized six Native American tribes:•Caddo-Adais•Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb•Clifton Choctaw•Four-Winds Cherokee•United Houma Nation•Louisiana Band of Choctaw

• Name Louisiana’s six state-recognized Indian tribes.

• A:Caddo-Adais• Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb• Clifton Choctaw• Four-Winds Cherokee• United Houma Nation• Louisiana Band of Choctaw

Louisiana’s Indian

Reservations

**The Chitimacha Cypress Bayou Casino

(Read more about it on page 92)

Review and Assessment (page 94-95)

GLEs: 7, 8, 65, 70