Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village

Ka-Do-Ha is an archaeological site in Arkansas in the town of Murfreesboro.  The site has some replicas of opened mounds on display.  The original remains of the people buried there, were re-burried after being studied and the plastic replicas of the skeletal remains are what is on display in the pits.

The people that lived at or near these mounds belonged to the Caddo people.  The remains are believed to be from 800 years ago or even older than that.  This would place them around the time period of 1200 AD or before.  The site has a small museum with artifacts on display.  Here are some pictures from the museum:

 

 

 

 

Now here are some pictures of the re-created opened mounds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of these skulls have elongated heads.  It is believed they were made this way with head binding techniques.  An elongated skull was a sign of royalty.  To me these skulls are very similar to the skulls of the Pharaohs and European Kings and Queens.

 

 

As indicated in the sign, the mounds were built over a period of hundreds of years.  When a chief died, the temple on top of the mound was destroyed by fire and a new layer of Earth was added on top and a new temple was constructed.  A ceremonial fire burned continuously on top of the mound.

I didn't see evidence of it, but I would bet that these mounds may have been aligned to capture the sun light during solstices and equinoxes.

 

 

A butcher site was also dug up and on display. 

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Links:

http://www.caddotc.com/index.html

Toltec Mounds

Toltec Mounds is an archaeological state park in Arkansas.  The site has been damaged from previous farming; however, it is now under protection and much has been learned from the site as well as much has yet to be learned from it.  There are 18 mounds on the site and 3 of the mounds are very large and identifiable.  The mounds are bordered by Mound Pound behind them and previously by an embankment with a trench on the remaining three sides.

They are placed in such a way that the sun sets behind what is known as Mound B on the summer solstice and behind Mound S during the winter solstice..  During the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun sets behind Mound A.  These alignments are observed from Mound  H.  From what I've observed of the mound map, the mounds appear to be in a circular placement.

The area has been inhabited on and off, but the mounds were built from the Plum Bayou time period from 650 AD to 1150 AD.  The site was inhabited by a few people who perhaps were priests or high ranking individuals.  Their remains are burried on the site, still.  The general population lived in scattered villages around the site.

The existance of copper from Michigan and shells from the Gulf of Mexico have been found on the site so it is evident that trading existed at this site with its neighbors north and south of them.  The ditch that encirced the mound site was once filled with water.  This site is believed to be a religious ceremonial site.  All though the occupation of the site occurred during the Mississippian culture time period, the site is not considered part of the Mississippian culture by some professionals.

In my opinion this site was a giant calendar as most mounds and pyramids have been set up to be.  It was probably maintained by a sacred priesthood and chief.  Here are some pictures from Toltec Mounds.

 

 

 

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Arkansas

I just finished a wonderful trip to Arkansas and have a lot ot share.  I started off in Little Rock, then Murfreesboro, and then Hot Springs.  There was much to see and do in Arkansas.  Outside of Little Rock were the Toltec Mounds. 

 

 

This area of Arkansas was occupied on and off for thousands of years, but the mounds have been attributed to the people labelled as the Plum Bayou Culture.

 

We stopped at the Clinton Museum next.  Inside the museum are binders with the schedule of the President for every day of the year, that he was president.

 

 

 

 

There were many artifacts including the limo and oval office furniture.

 

 

 

 

I had heard that President Clinton's biological father died in an automobile accident before he was born.  His mother remarried and Bill took the Clinton name.  Below is a picture of his biological father:

 

 

 

 

In Murfreesboro, we hunted for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds.  We didn't find any, but it was fun.

 

 

 

 

We also found another Native American site.  This one had dug up pits with replicas of the remains that were found.  The actual remains have been re-burried underneath the pits.

 

 

 

 

I will be writing more on the two mound sites we visited, on this blog.

 

In Hot Springs, we tried out the mineral baths and visited the many little museums in Little Rock.

 

 

 

 

One of the best little museums was a rock shop called Central Park Mining.  The man at the shop was very nice and explained all of the gems and rocks found in the mining kit to us.  They also had a very neat part of the mining experience.  It was a crystal cave lit by black lights in which you would have 7 minutes to dig through a sand pit and find gems, rocks, and possibly a valuable coin. 

 

 

 

We finished up with a visit to Lake Catherine State Park, which is one of fifty-two state parks in Arkansas.  It reminded me of the land I grew up on in the 1960s.

 

It was a very fine visit.  I would highly recommend visiting Arkansas.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)



North American West Coast Native Displays at Milwaukee Public Museum

Again, I would like to share with you some of the pictures I took at MPM.  They did some great displays of artifacts from North America.  Here are some from the West Coast and the Kwakiutl people:

Here is a model of a sacred religious ceremony:

Here are some more pictures from the North Pacific natives:



According to wikipedia:

The term Kwakiutl for the Kwakwaka'wakw, popularized by anthropologist Franz Boas, was widely used into the 1980s. It comes from one of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Kwagu'ł, at Fort Rupert, with whom Franz Boas did most of his anthropological work and whose Indian Act band government is the Kwakiutl First Nation.



The museum also had some displays of the Inuit people:

The Inuit live in the Arctic regions of America, Canada, Greenland, and Russia.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwakiutl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwakwaka%27wakw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit



Native American Mounds Outside of Chicago

A Native American Mound has survived the test of time when it was rediscovered in a suburb outside of Chicago.  Rolling Meadows resident Tom Hahn found the mound after searching through old maps.  The mound is on commercial property right now.  From the story in the Daily Herald, the following describes the re-discovery:

In 1919, a researcher for the Chicago Historical Society named Albert Scharf recorded the existence of an American Indian mound among the prairie land and farms northwest of the city, an area then best known as Palatine Township.

In 2011, Rolling Meadows resident Tom Hahn has virtually rediscovered the mound — almost miraculously undisturbed amid office buildings, apartment complexes and restaurants along bustling Algonquin Road in Schaumburg.

Because the mound is recorded on the agency’s maps, an archaeological survey of the site would have to precede the moving of any earth — even if the mound itself were no longer there, Blanchette said. The state automatically is notified of a pending development through the permitting process even if the municipality issuing the permit isn’t itself aware of a site’s historic or environmental significance, he said.

Mr. Hahn found the old record at a public library while he was doing some research on old cemeteries in the area.


Native American Mounds have been opened up and studied.  They include old skeletons and sometimes artifacts.  This mound should be studied, but by a professional as the area may be related to Atztalan that is in Wisconsin and Cahokia that is in Illinois.  I do believe the Mississipian people were connected and used the main waterways for travel, trade, and living.


There are other places outside of Chicago that contain Native American mounds (most have been destroyed).  The Winfield Mounds is the site of an ancient pre-historic culture.  According to the Winfield Mounds site:

Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve was named for burial mounds of pre-historic Native Americans who lived along the West Branch of the DuPage River. The three mounds at this site are dome-shaped and set in a triangular pattern and are the only documented pre-historic burial site in DuPage County. The mounds lie west of the river, along the edge of a mature oak-hickory forest. After vandals dug up the mounds in the 1920s, and subsequent digs by the University of Chicago and Wheaton College, it is believed that nothing more remains in the mounds.

Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve currently stands as an undeveloped, natural area consisting of restored savannas, open fields and prairie, with the West Branch of the DuPage River flowing through it.

Again, these are probably ancient burial sites that should be respected.  I've already talked about the Galena Mounds and the Aztalan location.  I will be visiting Cahokia some time in the future and will post an article when I do.  But I believe many of these mound cultures are related and perhaps far older then thought.

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Source:

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110509/news/705099959/

http://www.dupageforest.com/Conservation/ForestPreserves/Winfield_Mounds.html

Native American Mounds in Galena, Illinois

After visiting the historic town of Galena, I went out looking for the Native American Mounds.  After driving through rolling hills, I found them.  It began to rain after I was able to visit a couple of the mounds.  It was a very beautiful place.  I had heard there was a bird effigy at the end of the trail, but was unable to find it since the rain had picked up.  Here is what curvy Galena roads look like as well as the mounds I visited:

I also visited the mighty Mississippi.  The Natives surely traveled up and down this river as we do today.

In addition to the historical town of Galena, a tribute to Ulysses S. Grant is available to visit.



The following website lists some things to see in Galena as well:

http://www.queenanneguesthouse.com/article.php?table=article&mode=search&type=news&archived=false&article=69


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)