Audio
“Shelter from Weather and War,” Chickasaw Village Site, Milepost 261, Panel B
Transcript
The second of five exhibits, this panel, titled “Shelter from Weather and War,” describes some of the characteristics of a Chickasaw village, including the appearance of typical houses. It is located on one wall of the site’s exhibit shelter. There are four more interpretive panels inside this shelter, one to your right on this same wall, two behind you on the opposite wall, and one free-standing panel to your left. The site of the Chickasaw Village also is to your left.
[Text] Both nature and culture influenced the Chickasaw village that stood here.
The Chickasaw people generally built on ridge lines. Large villages might stretch out of sight along the horizon. Buildings were arranged in sight of one another for safety.
Round houses, used in winter, had vertical posts interwoven with cane and plastered mud for warmth. A low, curved, narrow entryway kept out the cold. Rectangular houses, used in summer, had openings at each roof peak to allow cooling breezes to circulate. Thatched roofs provided shelter from rain and sun.
Symbolic of troubled times, a fort made of wooden posts protected village residents during enemy attacks.
A large photograph shows two reconstructed village structures located at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Oklahoma.
On the left side of the photo there is a circular winter house made from closely placed wooden poles taller than an adult. It has a conical roof supported in the center by thick posts. A carved bird sits at the peak of the roof. The other building is for food storage. It is a small, rectangular structure raised several feet above the ground on wooden poles. There is a ladder to a door. The sides are vertically set poles; the roof is pitched.
The second image is an illustration of a Chickasaw village. It shows six structures in a clearing. In the foreground there is a rectangular summer home and a round winter home with grass thatched roofs. There are two other rectangular summer homes along the right and a round winter home in the background. None of these buildings have windows.
A rectangular fortification sits in the center of the drawing. The two fort entrances, located on opposite walls, have no doors. They are gaps protected by overlapping palisades. There is a planted field in the top right of the illustration. Villagers move about attending to daily chores.
A quotation from James Adair’s History of the American Indians, published in 1775 describes a Chickasaw village. [Text] The Indians settle themselves in towns or villages after an easy manner; the houses are not too close to incommode one another, nor too far distant for social defense.
Description
The second of five exhibits, this panel, titled “Shelter from Weather and War,” describes some of the characteristics of a Chickasaw village, including the appearance of typical houses. It is located on one wall of the site’s exhibit shelter. There are four more interpretive panels inside this shelter, one to your right on this same wall, two behind you on the opposite wall, and one free-standing panel to your left. The site of the Chickasaw Village also is to your left.
Duration
3 minutes, 8 seconds
Credit
NPS
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