La Harpe's Post: Tales of French-Wichita Contact on the Eastern Plains

La Harpe’s Post

This book is dedicated to the memory of Harriet Peacher, Lee Good, and Jim Malone. They contributed enormously to this project and, in the process, enriched us all.

La Harpe’s Post A Tale of French-Wichita Contact on the Eastern Plains

GEORGE H. ODELL With appendixes by Marie E. Brown John C. Dixon Lee and Mary Elizabeth Good Eric Menzel Isabella J. Muntz Kenneth L. Shingleton Jr. Joe B. Thompson Frieda Vereecken-Odell Bonnie C. Yates

The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa and London

Copyright © 2002 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The production of this volume was supported in part by a generous grant from the Research and Arts and Sciences Dean’s Of¤ce of the University of Tulsa. Typeface: Galliard ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Science–Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Odell, George H. La Harpe’s post : a tale of French-Wichita contact on the eastern plains / George H. Odell ; with appendixes by Marie E. Brown . . . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8173-1162-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Bénard de La Harpe, Jean Baptiste, 1683–1765—Journeys—Oklahoma. 2. Bénard de La Harpe, Jean Baptiste, 1683–1765—Relations with Indians. 3. Oklahoma—Discovery and exploration—French. 4. Tawakoni Indians—First contact with Europeans. 5. Wichita Indians—First contact with Europeans. 6. Acculturation—Oklahoma— History—18th century. 7. Oklahoma—Ethnic relations. 8. Frontier and pioneer life—Oklahoma. 9. Indians of North America—Oklahoma—Antiquities. 10. Oklahoma—Antiquities. I. Title. F697 .O4 2002 976.6004′979—dc21 2002001059 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available

Contents

List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface

vii xi

xv

Acknowledgments

xix

1. The Land That Knew No European 2. Who Were These Indians?

1

10

3. The New World as Political Pawn

27

4. Industry Presents an Opportunity

41

5. A Testimony to Storage and Cooking

53

6. Teasing Meaning from Bits and Pieces

75

7. What Were Those People Doing There?

101

8. Hypothesizing the Eighteenth Century

130

A PPE N DI X E S 1. Floodplain Geomorphology John C. Dixon 143 2. Feature Data George H. Odell and Eric J. Menzel

155

3. Observations on the Faunal Remains from 34TU65 Bonnie C. Yates and Marie E. Brown with Lee Anna Schniebs 4. Ceramic Techniques Joe B. Thompson 193 5. Lithic Analysis George H. Odell 229 6. Glass Beads from a Protohistoric Wichita Indian Site in Tulsa County, Oklahoma Mary Elizabeth Good and Frieda Vereecken-Odell 271

183

vi

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Contents

7. Metal Artifacts from the Lasley Vore Site Mary Elizabeth Good, Lee Good, and George H. Odell

281

8. Radiocarbon Dates George H. Odell 291 9. Statistical Analyses George H. Odell 297 10. Pottery Clays Kenneth L. Shingleton Jr. and George H. Odell 11. Small-Sized Debitage Analysis Isabella Muntz 319 Notes

331

References Cited Contributors

339 361

305

Illustrations

1.1. Rosborough Lake site

3

2.1. Wichita and surrounding Indian tribe locations

15

3.1. Early Spanish and French New World centers 3.2. Eastern Oklahoma protohistoric sites 4.1. Lasley Vore site

28 39

46

4.2. Dry screening Ditch Witch back dirt

47

4.3. Lasley Vore site Ditch Witch trenches, excavation units, protohistoric features, and designated areas 49 4.4. Excavation of features after removing topsoil

50

5.1. Average depth of feature types in cm below plow zone 5.2. Average area of feature types in cm

2

61

5.3. North wall pro¤le of feature 29

62

5.4. Four stone slabs at bottom of feature 6 5.5. Pro¤le drawing of feature 1

64

65

5.6. West wall pro¤le drawing of feature 31 5.7. Metate excavated from feature 62

66 67

5.8. Re¤tted metate from feature 62 5.9. Pro¤le drawing of feature 73

61

68 69

5.10. Mussel shell cache under a bison scapula

71

6.1. Deer metapodial awl, deer antler billet, bone bracelet fragment, gar scale gaming piece 78 6.2. Reconstructed ¤ngernail-punctated USTP storage jar 6.3. Ceramic pipe bowl fragments

81

6.4. Antler scraper handle from Kruse site 6.5. Bead types

89

86

80

viii

/

Illustrations

6.6. Trigger guard bow, side piece of musket, broken portion of side piece, butt plate, owl thumb plate escutcheon, trigger, part of rear tang of trigger guard, thumb plate ¤nial, trigger guard bow 95 6.7. Firearm sidepiece showing central monster mask 6.8. Butt plate of a pistol

95

96

6.9. Parts of gun mechanisms

96

6.10. Four iron ax heads

97

6.11. Utilitarian metal objects

98

7.1. Locations of 10 feature clusters at the Lasley Vore site 7.2. Results of Student’s t-tests of A AS results

102

107

7.3. Signi¤cant bivariate divisions of elements in pottery clays 7.4. Distribution of feature types

109

7.5. Individual feature types within each cluster 7.6. Distribution of potsherds

110

112

7.7. Distribution of lithic debris

113

7.8. Distribution of glass trade beads

114

7.9. Distribution of combined faunal remains 7.10. Distribution of bison bones

116

117

7.11. Distribution of deer bones

118

7.12. Distribution of bird bones

119

7.13. Distribution of ¤sh bones

120

7.14. Interpretation of ¤ve principal feature clusters

126

7.15. Schematic representation of feature characteristics 8.1. Tawakoni village in 1719

144

158

A2.2. Flat-bottomed, basin-shaped pits

161

A2.3. Flat-bottomed, straight-sided pits

163

A2.4. Bell-shaped pits

163

A2.5. Irregularly shaped pits

165

A2.6. Hearth pits and hearth dump A2.7. Various feature types A3.1. Marks on bison scapula

128

133

A1.1. Sediment Cores near the Lasley Vore site A2.1. Basin-shaped pits

108

166

167 184

A3.2. Handle designs for bison scapula digging tools

184

Illustrations

/

ix

A4.1. Jar CP-1

203

A4.2. Jar CP-2

204

A4.3. Cowley Plain rim pro¤les

205

A4.4. Cowley Plain rim pro¤les

206

A4.5. Typical handle and node shapes

207

A4.6. Deer Creek Simple Stamped rim pro¤le

208

A4.7. Cowley Plain jar fragment; ¤nger-crimped punctate rim; conjoined pieces of Dear Creek Simple Stamped jar 209 A4.8. Linear incised sherds

210

A4.9. Body sherd at the shoulder of incised bowl or jar A4.10. R im pro¤les of USTI jars and bowls A4.11. USTP jar rim pro¤les

212

216

219

A4.12. Histogram of Lasley Vore Cowley Plain vessel volumes A5.1. Adzes and burins

237

A5.2. Small triangular points A5.3. Large hafted bifaces A5.4. Scrapers

240

A5.5. Scrapers

241

A5.6. Unifacially modi¤ed types A5.7. Gun®ints A5.8. Flake cores

223

238 239

242

243 246

A10.1. Cluster analyses of feature clusters using eight elements

309

A10.2. Cluster analyses of feature clusters using four elements

310

A10.3. Differences between clusters on interval-state technological variables 316 A10.4. Divisions among feature clusters and interval-state technological variables 317

Tables

5.1. Important parameters of Lasley Vore features

57

5.2. Average dimensions of the various feature types 6.1. Vertebrates from site 34TU65

60

76

6.2. Bone tools found in Lasley Vore features

77

6.3. Pottery and daub discovered in various excavation units

79

6.4. Summary of Lasley Vore assemblage by ceramic class

79

6.5. Stone tool types discovered in various excavation units

83

6.6. Lithic raw materials represented in entire Lasley Vore type collection 87 6.7. Colors and styles of glass beads recovered from Lasley Vore site 6.8. Quantities of beads in the various feature types

91

6.9. Metals of European origin discovered in excavation units 6.10. Quantities of metal artifacts in feature types

90 93

94

A1.1. Grainsize distribution of