Are We There Yet?

Caddo Indian Memorial recalls long-ago civilization

The Montgomery County community of Norman is the site of Caddo Indian Memorial.
The Montgomery County community of Norman is the site of Caddo Indian Memorial.

NORMAN -- Before white Europeans began arriving, and before they brought their first black African slaves, the Caddo were prominent among the American Indian nations inhabiting today's Arkansas.

Like most other original dwellers, the Caddo got hustled westward in the early 19th century by immigrant settlers avid for their land. That's why today's Caddo Nation, about 5,000 strong, is based at Bigger in west-central Oklahoma. Its Arkansas heritage, although mostly vanished, is honored 95 miles southwest of Little Rock in Montgomery County.

Caddo Indian Memorial, at the site of a former tribal burial ground on the outskirts of Norman (population 378), offers visitors a nearly quarter-mile stroll down a rectangular walking path. Posted in five groupings along the way are nearly two dozen illustrated signs detailing the culture and history of the Caddo.

Creation of the memorial dates to 1988, when the city of Norman was excavating to build a sewage treatment plant. After old bones and artifacts turned up, the Arkansas Archeological Survey found evidence of a substantial Caddo community from the years 1250-1500.

As the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture reports, the excavations found "two burials and a small cluster of residential features and artifacts -- including two small incised ceramic jars, a large chert biface [stone chopping tool] and eight novaculite [white stone] arrowpoints." This indicated the site of a former Caddo settlement.

At the request of Caddo authorities in Oklahoma, Norman officials put the sewage facility elsewhere, while burying the bones and other objects again. A religious ceremony led by the chairman of the Caddo Nation accompanied the reburials.

That led to the construction of Caddo Indian Memorial, in place by the summer of 2002. Visitors are reminded on the trail that the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1542, by far the earliest known European penetration of today's Arkansas, passed through Caddo territory.

Signs along the memorial trail include "Lifeway of the Early Caddo," with descriptions of prehistoric pottery; projectile points for arrows and other weapons; clothing, food and tools; ceremonial mounds, housing and workplaces; and hunting, gathering and planting.

Another sign portrays the Caddo as "expert traders, building extensive trade networks with powerful and intelligent leadership. Trade was intrinsically entangled with political relationships. In general the Caddo remained neutral, but the European goods were too desirable to refuse entry of the Europeans into their territory."

The scope of trading with newly arrived white men is indicated on a panel describing the cargo of a flatboat that left Caddo territory in the spring of 1822 bound for New Orleans:

Cargo acquired from the American Indians included 356 bear skins, 7,767 shaved deer skins, 563 raccoon skins, 59 fox skins, 26 wildcat skins, 6 wolf skins, 106 beaver skins, 13 muskrat skins, 47 other skins and 33 hides. The total price paid to Caddo suppliers was $3,023.31 -- a whopping sum for a backwoods expedition two centuries ago.

Caddo Indian Memorial is along Arkansas 8 at the southeastern edge of Norman, 10 miles south of Mount Ida. The site is open all year and free to the public. Information is available at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.

photo

Special to the Democrat-Gazette/MARCIA SCHNEDLER

A young woman of the tribe in traditional attire is pictured at Caddo Indian Memorial in the Montgomery County community of Norman.

Weekend on 09/06/2018

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