Defending the southern Plains: An analysis on the evolution of the Wichita tribes' fortifications, ca. 1450-1811

Abstract

Before colonial intervention, Native American tribes dominated the Southern Plains and competed with each other for necessary resources, forcing tribes to become creative in defending themselves. This thesis will examine the unique fortification methods used by one tribe, the Wichita, to defend and protect themselves from outsiders, whether Native tribes or Europeans. With the knowledge that we have, we can conclude that the Wichita were the only Native people on the southern Plains to construct fortification complexes prior to, and after, European contact. While archaeologists have long suspected the presence of fortifications at Wichita sites, only recently have they begun to systematically address these structures to gain a comprehensive idea of what they consisted of.

With data gathered by staff archaeologists at the Oklahoma Archeological Survey (OAS), I will conduct a comparative analysis of fortification images obtained through remote sensing techniques. More specifically, I will examine data found at the 16th-century Duncan (34WA2) and Edwards I (34BK2) archaeological sites (ca. 1450-1550); the early 18th-century Bryson-Paddock (34KA5) and Deer Creek (34KA3) sites (ca. 1700-1757); and the late 18th- and early 19th-century Longest site (34JF1) (ca. 1757-1811). This information will show that the fortifications built and used by the Wichita became larger as the population coalesced into densely populated villages caused by an increase in more violent threats and diseases introduced by the Europeans.