The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 44
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
buried his belongings such as beads, tobacco, rings, money, moc-
casins, clothing, and-in case of a dead warrior-weapons. If a
chief died his horse, saddle, and silver crown were all buried with
him. The house of a dead person was burned and his relatives
moved more than a mile from the place.22
The green corn dance was an annual ceremony among the
western Attacapa. Gatschet knew of two types of dances: the old
people's dance and the dance of the young men. The first was
performed by the old men at night in the presence of the chief
and was accompanied by singing. No fire was used in the center
of the dancing arena as was the custom among the Choctaw. The
other dance was performed by the young men and was non-
religious. The dancers placed themselves on their knees and
brought their arms around in circles before their faces from right
to left and from left to right. This dance was performed once a
month and lasted all night. It was not abandoned until about
1850 or 1860.23
At the present time it cannot be said with certainty that some
objects found in lower East Texas are Attacapan in origin. Dr.
Alex D. Krieger of the University of Texas, however, thinks
they might be. It should be remembered that these Indians
roamed about considerably and lived in villages only temporarily.
They perhaps buried their dead in out-of-the-way places. Be-
cause of the nature of the soil in the lower Trinity region and
in all of lower East Texas, visited as it is by frequent overflows
and rains and containing as it does an abundance of sub-surface
water, much evidence of these people in the form of skeletons,
basketry, and the like has been destroyed by decomposition.24
There are various indications that Caplen and other scattered
burial sites near Galveston are Attacapan in origin. Among the
findings there are: (1) a large number of beads of the columella
of conch shells, a few pendants, a tortoise shell rattle, red ochre
lumps, and some artifacts formerly used by them; (2) flexed
burials, bundle burials; (3) materials from camp sites, flint
22Ibid., 18-2o.
28Ibid., 23-24.
24Ibid.; Mildred Pickle Mayhall, The Indians of Texas: The Atakapa, The Karan-
kawa, The Tonkawa (Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Texas, Austin, 1939),
154; signed statement of Dr. Alex D. Krieger, August 1, 1950, Archives, University
of Texas Library.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/57/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.