Excavations in the Matthews Site, New Madrid County, Mo. 99 
a village near a lake bearing their name, which was later identi- 
fied as Big Lake in Northeastern Arkansas. The Michigamea 
had been driven south from their homes along the Illinois River 
by the Sauk and Foxes. Other villages occupied by them on 
the western side of the Mississippi south of St. Louis are shown 
on old maps of the period. About the end of the Seventeenth 
Century they were driven out of Southeast Missouri by the 
Quapaw or the Chickasaw and returned to Illinois to unite with 
the Kaskaskia Tribe. 
The possible identification of the Chepoussa River with 
Little River, on which the Matthews Site is located, is based 
on evidence obtained from studying the maps of the region pre- 
vious and subsequent to the great New Madrid Earthquake of 
1811. Previous to 1811 a river, thought to be either Little River 
or St. John's Bayou, is shown emptying directly into the Mis- 
sissippi near New Madrid. In the first map published in 1812, 
after the earthquake, Little River is shown as a part of the St. 
Francis River system, a clear case of stream piracy, probably 
caused by the depression of the natural low divides between the 
two rivers (6). The Michigamea were an Algonkian-speakmg 
people who came down from the north. Their totemic animal 
was the crane, but the exact identification of their material cul- 
ture has not yet been made by an archaeologist. However, the 
possibilities of their having at one time occupied the Sikeston 
Ridge cannot be overlooked. 
The possibility of an earlier occupation by the Siouan-speak- 
Quapaw 
Quapaw 
be one of the tribes 
1541 after he crossed the great river in the vicinity of the Arkan- 
sas River. In 1673 the Quapaw were identified by Marquette 
with the Akansea who gave their name to the river. The Akan- 
sea are recorded as being builders of mounds, earthworks, and 
fortifications. Their village houses were long with domed roofs 
and contained several families. "The Akansea were active tillers 
of the soil, and also manufacturers of pottery, many of the 
finest specimens taken from the mounds in E. Arkansas m a 
probability having been made by this tribe."^' The resemblance 
of this elaboate fine ware of Northeast Arkansas to that of 
Southeast Missouri has already been pointed out We learn 
further that the Quapaw were related to the other Siouan tribes 
of the Missouri Valley, and that their traditions speak of their 
having come from the_ east, ^yl^tUn^lr^yo^^^ 
Mississippi 
Q 
went downstream. It is probable that in their southern journey 
