The Chickasaw People and Ways They Used Their Land (2011)

Editor's note: The following article was honored in 2010 by the Chickasaw Nation Division of History and Culture as best unpublished article dealing with Chickasaw history or culture. Before the time of removal, Native Americans thrived in every region of what is known today as the United States. Each tribe had their own way of hunting, gathering, constructing homes, and making clothes and jewelry. How each tribe constructed these tasks is how their unique cultures were formed. Culture set each tribe apart from others, but similarities also often connected groups with neighboring or regional tribes. Each tribe was very skillful in hunting. They understood their lands and the terrain so they knew what tactics were needed to ensure a successful hunt. Because the tribes were aware of their land, they also were aware of the climatic regions they were in. Therefore, they knew what kind of houses needed to be built to protect them from the elements. These houses ranged from grass huts in the Eastern Woodlands to apartmentlike homes in the Southwest Pueblos. Native Americans were very sophisticated in their understandings of their environments and their systems of land use. That knowledge continued to expand over time and allowed Native peoples and their cultures to flourish long before the time of removal. This study focuses on how the Chickasaws understood and interacted with the natural world around them before removal to Indian Territory and, more specifically, on how the Chickasaws used the land, and how it was integral to the development of their large and complex society. The Chickasaws originally inhabited an area that comprised part of what today are the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama - a greater area known as the Southeastern Woodlands. The people lived among unending forests of conifers and hardwood trees, large rivers and small streams, and vast amounts of flora and fauna. The people were very adept at using the land in their favor. James Atkinson, author of Splendid Land, Splendid People, notes, From remote times the native people of the southeast built secure homes, obtained sustenance from the land, made comfortable clothing, and constructed efficient tools, weapons, adornments, and household items from natural resources.1 Trees were employed to construct many things including houses and boats, and even strips of wood were utilized for the weaving of baskets. They used the rivers for fishing as well as trading materials with Europeans and French settlers. Finally, they used the animals for food, the hide and fur for clothing, the bones for hunting and construction work, and the vegetation for food as well as medicinal use. The people thrived in the Eastern Woodlands because they had everything they needed for sustaining a comfortable way of life. Food was plentiful, as was water, and trees were abundant. Because the Chickasaws lived in the woodlands, they needed homes to protect them from the season elements of hot summers, cold winters, and heavy precipitation in the region. Homes also helped to provide protection against insects and animals that could potentially cause harm. In winter they lived in secure, well-insulated round houses constructed by placing closely spaced posts in the ground, weaving cane or sapling strips horizontally around them, and plastering the resulting walls with wet mud, which was allowed to dry.2 Constructing homes in this fashion ensured heat would be conserved inside the house and not escape from any hole or crevice. There were no elaborate tools or systems like today to build and insulate homes with ease and speed. Simple land resources provided the primary building materials. Those resources included not only timber from trees for the major support structure of a dwelling, but also cane and grass for roofing, and water and mud for walls and cooking areas. Living along large waterways like the Tombigbee River made all the necessary building resources easily available. …