Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 34
[674] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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TEXAS ALMANAC.-1952-1953.
PREHISTORY OF TEXAS-INDIAN TRIBES
Written history has usually given the era
of the aborigine scant space because there has
been scant information In recent years,
through the gradual accumulation of informa-
tion dug from the archives of the early
explorers and the evidence dug from the
earth by the archaeologists, an appreciable
amount of information has been established.
Climate and Indigenous flora and fauna
resources of Texas made it a more than ordi-
narily habitable region. The great herds of
buffalo, deer and other wild animals, the fish
of the coast and inland streams, and the
native fruits, the berries and pecans made
maintenance of life relatively easy. Not only
was the aboriginal Indian population relative-
ly large but even in that day Texas was
characterized by an outstanding characteris-
tic of today - diversity. This diversity of
prehistoric cultures grew out of the diversity
of soils and physiographic conditions that
have contributed largely to diversity since
the advent of white men. In prehistoric Texas
were represented the cultures of the Missis-
sippi Valley. the wooded and open plains,
the Gulf Coast and the Rocky Mountains.
Three Indian Eras
Chronologically, the story of Indians in
Texas falls into three parts: First, those who
passed from the scene before the coming of
the first white man, leaving to the archae-
ologist the only evidence of existence; sec-
ond, the Indian tribes living within the pres-
ent bounds of Texas when white men came,
third, the migration into Texas from the east
by groups of Indians, driven westward by
the impact of white man's advance from the
Atlantic Seaboard, and the decline and pass-
ing of all aboriginal peoples.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Explorations in recent years have brought
to light evidence to prove that Texas is one of
the most fertile fields in North America for
archaeological research.
The importance of Texas in American
archaeology, wrote the late Prof. J. E. Pearce
of the Umniversity of Texas, lies in "(1) The
fact that the state is in the heart of a great
North American triangle, the apices of which
are the culture centers of the Maya-Aztec
area, the Pueblo area and the Mound-Builder
area; (2) the evidence which it affords of the
relationship between the cultures of the pro-
nounced natural environments such as the
forested; areas, the coasts, the prairies and
the high plains, and (3) the inherent value of
the early Texas cultures in themselves."
The most productive archaeological sources
probably have been the Indian mounds found
in many points in Northeast and East Texas,
and on the lower Coastal Plains. From these
have been taken evidences of varied and, in
places, relatively advanced cultures. Much of
the life habits and migration of prehistoric
man has been ascertained. From the kitchen
middens of a wide area in the central por-
tion of the state, and from the rock shelters
in Southwest Texas, have been taken similar
evidences, indicating the prehistoric cultures
of this wide area. Along the Canadia River
and in the breaks of the escarpment on the
east side of the Great Plains is found evi-
dence of the Pueblo culture of New Mexico.
In recent years there has been confirmation
of earlier theories of a relationship between
prehistoric East Texas Indians and the cul-
turally advanced prehistoric peoples of Mexico.
Notable has been the research of *Alex D.
Krieger, archaeologist of the University of
Texas. One Indian mound on the Neches
River west of Alto, Cherokee County, yielded
96,000 potsherds, numerous other artifacts
and the remains of thirty-four pole and thatch
buildings. These researches have been of
peculiar interest because they show a meeting
in East Texas of the prehistoric cultures ofMiddle America and those of the temple-
mound builders in the eastern United States.
perhaps as far back as a thousand years
prior to the discovery of America by Columbus.
In the caves of the Big Bend region in the
Guadalupe, Davis, Hueco, Chisos and other
mountain ranges- are evidences of cultures
related to the Basket-Maker and Pueblo cul-
tures of New Mexico and Arizona. As in the
instance of the Panhandle culture, archae-
ologists believe it is a mixture of Puebloan
culture in architectural features and the eco-
nomic life of the bison-hunting Plains Indian.
The Caddo Family
The largest group of Indians living in Texas
during the time of early Spanish and French
explorations was that of the Caddo tribes who
dwelt in a crescent-shaped area extending
from the southern extremity of the pine belt
in East Texas, northward up the Trinity,
Neches and Sabine Valleys to the Red River
and thence westward along the Red River to
the base of the present Texas Panhandle. This
great Indian family of Caddo stock seemingly
was broken into three major subclassifica-
tions: (1) The Hasinai confederacy in the
lower half of the Texas Pine Belt and extend-
ing across the Sabine into Louisiana; (2) the
Caddo proper group living in Northeast Texas
and adjacent sections of Arkansas, Louisiana
and Oklahoma, and (3) the Wichita group
dwelling in the Upper Red River Valley and
on the headwaters of the Trinity.
The Hasinai confederacy included the Nac-
ogdoche, Nasoni. Neche, Heinai, Nadoco and
other tribal subclassifications. They were
rather far advanced culturally, livin in per-
manent homes and cultivating the soil.
The tribal groups usually referred to as the
Caddoes proper, included the Grand Caddoes
Little Caddoes, Nachitoches, Adaes. Natsoos
and other tribes. Like the related Caddoes
to the south they dwelt in permanent abodes,
tilled the soil and maintained a rather high
cultural state. Early explorers said that there
was little variation among the dialects of the
two confederacies.
The third Caddo group consisted of the
Wichita confederacy, whose grounds appear-
ently lay along both sides of the Upper Red
River, extending southward into the upper
valley of the Trinity as far as the vicinity of
Waco and Corsicana. Subclassifications in-
cluded the Wichitas proper, Taovayos, Tawa-
kanis (or Tehuacanas), the Yscanis and
others. These tribes are now accepted as a
branch of the Caddo stock, although their
dialects undoubtedly varied considerably from
those of the other groups. And, while also
agricultural, they depended quite largely on
the bison for their subsistence.
Gulf Coast Indians
Along the Gulf Coast, from the Sabine to
the Rio Grande, were the tribes with a sea-
food economy. Their cultural status was be-
low that of the Caddoes. They were semi-
nomadic, although their ranges were rather
limited, and they did not maintain permanent
shelters. Most of them have left evidence of
cannibalism in varying degree.
Farthest to the east were the Attacapas,
dwelling around Sabine Lake, and for a short
distance along the channel of this river to the
north. Immediately to the west lay the Ar-
kokisas and the Deadoses, dwelling on the
coastal prairies of the Gulf and on the south-
ern fringes of the Big Thicket. In the Trinity
Valley; and immediately north of Trinity Bay,
these tribal groups, possibly related, occupied
the narrow area lying between the Gulf Coast
on the south and the Hasinal confederacy on
the north.
To the west were the Bidais. Still farther
westward, extending approximately from Gal-
*An account of East Texas research is found in
a joint publication of the Society for American
Archaeology and the University of Texas, by Alex
D. Krieger and H. Perry Newell, 1949
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/36/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.