Known Village Sites of the Ponca

Abstract

This study contains a listing and description of the traditional village sites of the Ponca Indians. Five princi pal sources of information have been utilized: standard published historical references; archival materials; the J. 0. Dorsey Map; oral testimony gathered from Ponca informants in connection with the Omaha land claims case in 1912 and 1914; and information secured by the author from Ponca informants, including a listing and description of all sites known to him prepared by Peter Le Claire, the Ponca historian. Throughout the study an attempt is made to synthesize all available ethnographic, historical, and archaeological data. Thirty-one separate villages or camps are noted in the study, 21 of which are named in either Seg/'ha (the Indian language) or English. Archaeological work has been done at five of the sites. At two of the sites this work has yielded materials of the Redbird focus, esti mated to date between A.D. 1600 and 1700, and mater ials at two others are not inconsistent with a Redbird focus identification. The fact that two Redbird focus sites have been independently identified as long standing villages of the Ponca tribe, with associated native names, together with other data on Ponca village locations and dates, tends to confirm the identification of the Redbird focus as the archaeological remains of the Ponca Indians.