Abstract

Abstract

This study contains a definition of the Redbird Focus of the Chouteau Aspect, in north central Nebraska, and attempts to relate it to the problem of Ponca prehistory. The four excavated sites of this focus, near the mouth of the Niobrara River (25HT2, 25HT3, 25KX4, and 25KX9), are small open villages of circular earth lodges. Unexcavated camp sites are also identified on the lower Niobrara River and on the middle reaches of the Elkhorn River. The remains from these sites are similar to those of the Lower Loup and La Roche foci, but they are sufficiently distinct to warrant designating them as a new focus. Trade goods at 25KX9 date it at about A.D. 1700, but the other sites lack trade goods. Redbird is estimated to date between A.D. 1600 and 1700, or perhaps somewhat later. Shelltempered pottery in two of the sites implies contemporaneity with the Oneota Aspect, perhaps the Orr Focus, which is identified as the remains of the protohistoric Iowa Indians. Site location, settlement patterns and size, burial data, and the dating of the focus intimates that it is attributable to the Ponca Indians. Conflicting data must be resolved before this identification is verified.