Nebraska Highway Archeological And Historical Salvage Investigations 1974 1975

Author : John M. O'Shea
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 9780803235564
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (355 download)

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Download or read book Archaeology and Ethnohistory of the Omaha Indians written by John M. O'Shea and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For seventy years, from about 1775 until 1845, Big Village was the principal settlement of the Omaha Indians. Situated on the Missouri River seventy-five miles above the present city of Omaha, it commanded a strategic location astride this major trade route to the northern plains. A host of traders and travelers, from Jean-Baptiste Truteau and James Mackay to Lewis and Clark and Father De Smet, left descriptions of the village. Although John Champe of the University of Nebraska carried out a comprehensive archaeological investigation of the site from 1939 to 1942 (the only intensive, systematic archaeological study of any Omaha site), the results of his work have heretofore remained unpublished. Now John M. O'Shea and John Ludwickson have combined Champe's findings with the major historical accounts of the Omahas, providing significant new insights into the course of Omaha history in the preservation period. The emphasis on material culture gives a unique view of the daily life of these people and illustrates clearly the integration of European trade items with traditional technologies. Here the fur trade is seen in a fresh perspective, that of the suppliers of furs and recipients of trade goods. An examination of Omaha demography rounds out this important new ethnohistorical sketch of the Omaha Indians.