THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE is an appropriate moment to consider the different the peoples of the Louisiana Territory have remembered their history. One group of indigenous inhabitants-the Caddo Indians who, at the beginning of the colonial period, occupied homeland extending across present southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, northeast Texas, and southwest Oklahoma-use particular ceremony, the Turkey Dance, to recall the past. To understand Caddo history within the context of their knowledge system, we might begin with story of Caddo origins: original home of the Caddo was on lower Red River in Louisiana. According to their own traditions . . . . they came up from under the ground through the mouth of cave in hill which they call Cha' kani'na, The place of crying, on lake close to the south bank of Red river, just at its junction with the Mississippi. In those days men and animals were all brothers and all lived together under the ground. But at last they discovered the entrance to the cave leading up to the surface of the earth, and so they decided to ascend and come out. First an old man climbed up, carrying in one hand fire and pipe and in the other drum. After him came his wife, with corn and pumpkin seeds. Then followed the rest of the and the animals. All intended to come out, but as soon as the wolf had climbed up he closed the hole, and shut up the rest of the and animals under the ground, where they still remain. Those who had come out sat down and cried long time for their friends below, hence the name of the place. Because the Caddo came out of the ground they call it ina, mother, and go back to it when they die. Because they have had the pipe and the drum and the corn and pumpkins since they have been people, they hold fast to these things and have never thrown them away.1 fact that Caddo Indians today hold to this account of their origins suggests that their concepts of history differ from those held by folk in societies descended from western European traditions. In the latter case, history is often regarded as linear, chronological narrative concerning flesh-and-blood personages, real events, and actual circumstances that help us understand the past and its connection with the present. For Caddos (and for most other American Indians), history likewise provides an account of how present circumstances developed. But the inclusion of their emergence and separation from underground worlds shared with animal kin as part of that history betoken an altogether different perception of reality. Belief in return to the earth following passage through life on the earth also suggests this, reflecting the Caddos' eternal as well as chronological time frames. At the same time, references to links between emblematic goods and Caddo existence as a people suggest second important function of history, identity formation.2 So it is that every society creates history according to its own understandings of the world and of time/space relationships. Different groups use history for distinctive purposes. means by which communities maintain their histories are varied too. Social structures, political and economic arrangements, ceremonial performances, storytelling, and recognition of special places and emblematic objects all may be used to maintain ties with the past. preservation of historical information in written accounts is important in western or European-derived societies, but such sources are less important or are absent altogether among other groups. Many American Indian communities, for example, embed historical knowledge into variety of texts, including those spoken, crafted, and danced.3 This suggests the need for alternatives to universal definitions of history, ones that understand history in terms of multiple systems of socially constructed ways of knowing.4 Caddo Turkey Dance is an excellent example of non-written historical text. …