Native Peoples of the Loess

Native Peoples of the Loess. Stone State Park. , Prehistoric hunter-gatherers traveled these hills more than 13,000 years ago, finding all they needed to sustain their nomadic bands. They were followed by Archaic and Woodland cultures, which formed more permanent camps and cultivated crops. Social complexity increased with the arrival of the Mill Creek and Oneota peoples, as did their lodgings, pottery, and cultural practices. Stone Stare Park is most closely associated with the Yankton Sioux Nation, the last to inhabit these bountiful lands. , Lewis and Clark Expedition , "After Brackfast we Collected those Indians under an orning of our Main Sail, in presence of our Party paraded and Delivered a long Speech to them expressive of our journey the wirkes of our Government, Some advice to them and Directions how They were to Conduct themselves, the principal Chief for the nation being absente we sent him the Speech flag Meadel and Some Cloathes. After hering what they had to say Delivered a medal of Second Grade to one for the Ottos and one for the Missourie present and 4 medals of a third Grade to the inferior Chief two for each tribe. Those two parts of nations. Ottos and Missouries now residing together is about 250 men at the Ottoes Composeing 2/3d and Missourie 1/3 part… Those chiefs all Delivered a Speech acknowledging Their approbation to the Speech and promising to prosue the advice and Directions given them that they wer happy to find that they had fathers which might be depended on &. We gave them a Cannister of Powder and a Bottle of whiskey and delivered a few presents to the whole after giving a Br:Cth: [breech cloth/some Paint quartering and a Meadele to those we made Cheifs after Capt Lewis's Shooting the air gun a feiw shots (which astonished those natives) we Set out and proceeded on five miles…." , - From the journals of William Clark , August 19, 1804, Time Line, Pleistocene ice sheet receded from the central Iowa., 11, 500 BC, Clovis hunters, some of the earliest known people of North America, made fluted points to hunt mammoth and mastodon. Clovis spear-points have been found in Stone Park. , Early Paleoindian , The Clovis, the earliest known people to live in Iowa, were nomadic. , 10,500 BC , Late Paleoindian , The Folsom culture developed from the Clovis and also made fluted points. , 8500 BC , The Atlatl, or spear thrower, was in use early in the Archaic period increasing the distance a spear could travel and the force of its impact. Archaic Indians were also hunters but used different spear-points and tools. , Early Archaic , 5500 BC , Middle Archaic , Ground stone axes came into widespread use in Middle Archaic times as woodworking became more important. Numerous Archaic-Indian campsites have been found in the Loess Hills, indicating they were not as nomadic as earlier cultures. Points like this were found among the grave goods a Iowa's earliest known burial sites in Monona Co. , 3000 BC , Late Archaic , Cultivation of plants as food crops was important, including goosefoot and sunflowers. , 800 BC , Points were shaped with stems like this Waubesa point. Pottery became widespread in Iowa and was decorated with cord and fabric impressions. , Early Woodland , 200 BC , The Woodloand people lived in small villages throughout the Loess Hills. , Middle Woodland , 300 AD , Points became smaller, indicating use of the bow and arrow. , Late Woodland , 1000 , The mill Creek peoples built timber and earthen lodges, often surrounding their villages with walls. Mill Creek burial sites existed on park bluffs as they were common across the region's hills. , Mill Creek , Acapula hoes show the importance of bison hunting and corn horticulture. Indian middens, or trash heaps, just north of Stone Park have revealed stone tools, charcoal, and broken pottery. Unique pottery and a seashell god mask uncovered at a Mill Creek site in the park indicate long-distance trading. , 1250 Oneota , The Oneota created shell-tempered pottery with trailed line designs. Engraved red flint clay tablets dating to 1600 were uncovered in Lyon County., Evidence of trade with the French indicates early European contact. The Yankton Sioux Nation dominated northern Iowa. The last wild buffalo killed in Iowa was reportedly taken to what is now Stone Park. , 1700 , European fur traders traveled the area. , 1800 , The Lewis and Clark Expedition met with Native American tribes across the Missouri River in Nebraska. The last Indians to occupy the Stone Park area were of the Yankton Sioux Nation. The Sioux, the last remaining Native Americans in Iowa, ceded their land to the United States. , 1900