Thursday evening (March 24) the Marcus Public Library, in partnership with Sanford Museum of Cherokee, hosted an interesting program about “Prehistoric Peoples of Northwest Iowa”. Quinn Black spoke to an interested audience on the people that lived in our area that we perhaps never thought of other than the Native Americans.
He used a power point presentation. We first saw a large map of the United States and other surrounding areas with names of the peoples that once lived in these areas. He asked, “What is archaeology?” Webster’s dictionary says it is the study of ancient peoples, as by excavation of ancient cities, etc. Black explained that it is the study of past human cultures.
What is an artifact? On the screen, we saw many objects that were all artifacts. An artifact is a portable object that was made , modified or used by humans . Glassware and metal objects like silverware were pictured as well as tools. Culture areas of North America where these have been found were in Northeast and Southeast America, as well as the Plains areas, Southern areas, and Northwest and areas along the Pacific Ocean.
What do we call the first inhabitants? We have somehow always called the
Native American Indians however actually they were not the first people located in America. Today we know more about the early peoples and are called Indigenous People.
Based on discoveries, the people of North America had probably been here 15,000 years ago. They are thought of as coming from Asia by boat to North America.
His screen picture showed one of the oldest archlogical places that being a cave. There were designs or pictures on the walls of the cave that indicated the probable time people were using the cave as a home. A picture showed hunters after an elephant. These people were hunters of big game.
The Archaic Period in Iowa came after the glaciers went away and the area warmed up. Two sites shown were Simmonsen archaic site and the Cherokee Site. The Woodland Period was where people lived in seasonal villages, moving when the season changed. The Beale Site was where one village was found. Art were found at Pilot Rock.
People worked hard to create the shapes that were found. It was thought that they p9led baskets of dirt up to create shapes.
Illinois was one place as well as Ohio where places of interest have been found Cahokia, in Illinois, built at this time, is the largest city built north of Mexico. Broken Kettle, with the measurements given of a house, was a yearly village in Plymouth, CO.
The presenter talked about The Mill Creek people. It could be said that most Boy Scouts in our area have all been at Mill Creek. Back in the prehistoric times, these people had village farms there.
People in our area usually lived by a river_the rivers in our area, the Big Sioux and the Little Sioux were they had earth lodges. They were farmers or fishermen. Where did the Mill People go. They moved on to the Dakotas.
The Wittrock Village was between 700 and 800 years ago. It was located in O’Brien County. There was a Phippo Site that was occupied between 800 and 900 years ago. This village was located along Mill Creed in Cherokee County. There has been evidence that these people were traders with a group of Mississipian people.
The Oneta People were widespread across the Midwest. They built villages near rivers. There are descendants of the Ioway, Otcoe and Missouria people today. (Many of our states today have some part of their spelling from these prehistoric people’s locations.)
The Oncola Sites in Northwest Iowa were by the Big Sioux River. There was a Bastron village site located in Cherokee County.
Many of these prehistoric people brought horses over from the European countries. The French traders from Europe were the first to arrive in Iowa in the 1600’s, but later moved on to other areas.
He talked about Fort Cherokee where there has been evidence that there were prehistoric people living there. The Gardner Cabin located in Spirit Lake was discussed. Previous to 1856, there were people living on this property. An investigation began in 1974 by Adrian Anderson as to who they were. This Gardner Cabin is now a historic site visited by many people who come to this area.
There were two rocks and one long bone on the table that he explained as to where they had been found.
There was a time for questions and people did have some. One lady had an artifact along that she wanted to know more about.
Our presenter gave a very informative and interesting talk about people that many hadn’t even thought about when America was discovered. Native Americans today are interested in the cultural appreciation that has been given to the people who were here long before the Native American Indians.