Oneota
The Oneota refers to both a group of Indigenous peoples and a cultural tradition that emerged in the Upper Mississippi River Valley between approximately 800 and 1650 CE. It is believed to have evolved from earlier Late Woodland or Upper Mississippian traditions and encompasses areas that now include parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, and Michigan. The Oneota society was characterized by a combination of hunting, gathering, and agriculture, with established villages featuring houses constructed from wattle and daub, some of which evolved into longer communal living spaces.
The population density varied, with some larger settlements, like one near Cahokia, housing up to 1,500 inhabitants, while most villages were smaller, hosting one to two hundred residents. Oneota pottery is notable for its smooth, globular forms, often adorned with decorative line patterns, while their stone tools included scrapers and projectile points. They also utilized animal bones for various purposes and engaged in trade with nearby Indigenous groups. After 1400 to 1500 CE, the history of the Oneota gradually transitioned into the accounts of specific Indigenous nations in the Upper Mississippi area, reflecting their integration into the broader fabric of regional Indigenous cultures.
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Oneota
- CATEGORY: Prehistoric and protohistoric tradition
- DATE: c. 800-1650 Common Era (CE)
- LOCATION: Upper Mississippi River Valley
- CULTURES AFFECTED: Early Iowa, Missouri, Oto, Winnebago; later Osage, Sioux
The Oneota are considered both a people and a cultural tradition. This tradition appears to have developed from the Late Woodland or Upper Mississippian tradition by various times, from 400 to 800 CE. The sites identified as emergent Oneota are located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, but later sites occur in Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, and the near corner of Michigan. The society was a mixture of hunter-gatherer and agricultural, with permanently established villages and houses. The houses, usually of wattle and daub construction with sod roofs, were single-family dwellings only 6 or 8 feet square in the early settlements; but some of the later ones featured longhouses as much as 90 feet in length. A late site near Cahokia, Illinois (a few miles from East St. Louis), had some twelve to fifteen hundred inhabitants and appears to have been a center for barter with other Indigenous nations. Cahokia was the exception, however; most villages had only one or two hundred residents, although they spread out to as many as a hundred acres in cultivated area.
The artifacts most often used to distinguish the Oneota tradition from others are their pottery vessels, which are smooth and globular with handles in pairs (when present), and the upper half of the vessel decorated with line patterns of various sorts. Stone artifacts that have been found include scrapers, drills, knives, and characteristic small, unnotched projectile points. Animal bones were used for needles, beads, fishhooks, and flint flakers, with scapulas of elk and bison serving as hoes. Some metal was used, mostly for personal ornaments.
The Oneota appear to have had extensive contact with surrounding Indigenous groups, including the trade already mentioned. At some time after 1400 or 1500 CE, when written history in the European style commences, the account of the Oneota becomes that of the individual nations in the Upper Mississippi area.
Bibliography
Fitzgerald, Grace, and David Hudson. "The People, The Place: Native Americans in Iowa - Exhibitions." University of Iowa Libraries, Mar. 1991, www.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/previous/native. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
Hirst, K. Kris. "The Oneota Culture - Last Prehistoric Culture of the American Midwest." ThoughtCo, 20 Feb. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/oneota-culture-of-the-american-midwest-167045. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
"Oneota Native American Home Discovered by University of Wisconsin Students." ICT News, 13 Sept. 2018, ictnews.org/archive/oneota-native-american-home-discovered-by-university-of-wisconsin-students. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
"Oneota - Pre-European People." Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, www.uwlax.edu/mvac/pre-european-people/mississippian--oneota-traditions/oneota. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.