NO. lO NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 39 



The four main geographic and biotic areas of the State are also indi- 

 cated by varied hachuring. The superimposition thus olitained shows 

 several very interesting correlations between tribal domains and 

 natural areas. First of all, the Pawnee during this period held the 

 heart of the State, including almost all the Loess Plain and half the 

 Sand Hill areas. The Omaha and Oto (Dhegiha and Chiwere division 

 representatives of the Siouan linguistic stock) occupy the entire 

 Glacial Area (which coincides with the Interior Lowland of the Fenne- 

 man classification and the Missouri river-blufif region of Wolcott). 

 The related Ponca border on this area to the north and west. The 

 Dakota controlled the northern High Plains (and Bad Land) region 

 with the western part of the Sand Hills, while the Arapaho and Chey- 

 enne exerted a transient control over the southwestern High Plains in 

 Nebraska. The Padouca or Comanche formerly occupied the heart of 

 the Sand Hill region, but they had moved far to the south and west 

 prior to 1800. After their departure the Sand Hills seem to have served 

 as a buffer area between tribes instead of being exclusively occupied by 

 any one of the latter. Certainly the Ponca and the Omaha extended 

 their activities into the region but seem definitely to have claimed very 

 little of it. 



It is hard to believe that one of the richest portions of the State, 

 i. e., the Glacial Area, was first occupied by Siouan tribes subsequent 

 to 1796 as our fragmentary historic data suggest. No evidence of their 

 having taken it from the Pawnee exists, yet had it been unoccupied 

 prior to 1796 surely the latter tribes would have claimed at least por- 

 tions of the Missouri River border. As will be indicated in the next 

 section, a rather mysterious prehistoric culture that does not appear 

 to have been Pawnee is found throughout the Glacial Area. Whether 

 this older culture represents a prehistoric Siouan occupation or per- 

 tains to some unknown people who vanished prior to the advent of the 

 white man must be established by archeological research. It is also 

 of interest and undoubtedly significant that the two richest farming 

 regions, namely the Glacial Area and the Loess Plains, were entirely 

 occupied by sedentary and horticultural Siouan and Caddoan tribes 

 respectively. The question arises whether the accidental occupation 

 of such a potentially rich horticultural section led these tribes into 

 such practices or whether their choice of territory in Nebraska was 

 conditioned by their already possessing a culture based on agriculture. 



Ponca and Oto (in 1832), Mooney, 1898, pi. 57; Arapaho and Qieyenne, Mooney, 

 1907. pl- 10; and the Pawnee, Wedel (no date). The northern boundary of the 

 Pawnee range differs somewhat from that indicated by Wedel. 



