Evening star., 1938-12-06
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field. Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
When white men first came into the
country around the headwaters Of the
Missouri one of the most warlike Indian
tribes they encountered were the Chey-
ennes-wild, nomad horsemen pursuing
the bison herds over the Great Plains and
living entirely by the hunt.
Just few generations before they had
been settled farmers, living in large viii
lagos with an advanced culture. This
life had been rendered impossible when
neighboring warlike tribes secured guns
from the white men who then were set
ting along the Atlantic Coast. This
discovery is announced by DR.. William
Duncan Strong, professor of anthropology
at Columbia University and formerly q
member of the Smithsonian Institution
staff, who was engaged all summer in
the excavation of old Cheyenne villages
His findings confirm some of the ancient
legends of the tribe, which turn out to
have been slightly distorted history.
The work of his exposition shows
clearly, DR.. Strong says, that just before
the coming OF the white men the whole
Northern Great Plains region had been
peaceful agricultural country. The In
dian farmers, like their white successors
today, suffered terribly from recurrent
droughts and sometimes were obliged to
abandon their settlements. They made
the best of their repeatedly parched
fields, however, until gunpowder in the
hands of their enemies rendered seden-
tary life impossible.
While associated with the Bureau of
American Ethnology, DR.. Strong re-
ported on excavations in Nebraska which
told much the same story. The farmers
either were exterminated or forced to
take over the ways of life of their hunt
ing enemies who attacked them from the
eastward. GunpoWder bullets, horses
and drought together proved too much
for them.
The history of the Great Plains, DR..
Strong finds, dates back almost to the
very beginnings of human habitation of
North America and probably antedates
the advanced cultures of Peru and Mex
lCO ny many centuries.
Present archaeological evidence inii-
Gates, says DR.. Strong, that the north
ern plains have been occupied by man
ever since the last great glacial advance,
$4,000 years ago.
The new data on the Cheyenne In
dians, famous fighting tribe, is especially
striking. Earliest records place this tribe
in the lake country of Eastern Mime
sofa. Their first westward move was to
the great village on the bend of the
Cheyenne River" Here the expedition
carried on its most important work Ex-
cavations on this site revealed a large
fortified village of about 100 permanent
houses with abundant evidences of
farming life. These houses had
foundation of four great posts, over which
had been erected a framework of timbers
which were thatched with poles and
grass and then covered with earth. The
village had been burned and a few
scattered human remains were found.
All evidence recovered including a few
early white trade pieces, confirmed the
story Of the destruction of the village
in the early 18th century.
According to the story told by the
Cheyenne to David Thompson, an early
trader, the Chippewa, armed with guns
secured from the traders, descended on
the village while majority of the war
riors were away on hunt. Burning the
houses, they slaughtered all but three
women whom they took away as captives.
Broken in spirit by this tragedy, the re-
naming Cheyenne began their trek to
the West in earnest. Within so years
they had changed from a settled farm
ing people to tribe of mounted nomads,
hunting the abundant buffalo and living
in skin tents.
Excavations conducted by the expedi-
ton near Bismarck, N. Oak, revealed
very long and intensive occupation.
House had been built above house and
the deposits and corn cellars reached to
a depth cover more than 10 feet. On
the floors of the upper houses human
skeletons, left as the Indians hastily fled,
told the story Of the devastating small
pox epidemic of 1881. In the lower
levels were masses of broken pottery,
Clipped flint, and worked bone utensils,
made and used centuries before the COM
ing of the white men. Stone knife blades
mounted in bone handles and battered
stone axes were mingled with many deli
cate stone and antler arrowheads
The burial Of an old medicine man in
corn cellar was particularly striking
discovery. At his head had been laced
his medicine bag containing bone and
stone arrow-making tools. several paint
ed fossil Shells tortoise shell rattle,
bird skeletons, and a strange wooden
object wrapped in native copper. When
the skull was taken up 1t was seen that
the whole side of the old mans head
had been smashed in with a stone club.
One early burial was that Of a child
about years old. Around its neck was
a string of shell beads containing some
shells from the North Pacific and others
from the Gulf of Mexico. This indicates
that before the white man came the
Atlantic and Pacific seaboards already
were connected by native trade routes.
Other skeletons recovered on the site
showed interesting pathological condi-
tions, perhaps due to early epidemics.