DISPROVING DE SOTO: UA ARCHEOLOGISTS UNEARTH INACCURACIES IN 460-YEAR-OLD DOCUMENTS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Two University of Arkansas archeologists have unearthed evidence about the Native American tribes of Arkansas that contradicts historical accounts dating back to the 16^th Century. Their work has called into question old assumptions about the highly stratified social class systems among these tribes.

Dr. Robert Mainfort, research administrator at the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and Ph.D. candidate Rita Fisher-Carroll examined the records of approximately 900 burial sites in eastern Arkansas and Tennessee. Their findings dispute historical documents that originated from the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1539 - documents that had previously supplied the model of social organization for these native tribes.

"The de Soto chronicles have provided an all-too tempting opportunity for scholars to use these documents as a description of what life was like at the time of first contact," said Mainfort. "But there are discrepancies between what the de Soto accounts describe and the evidence we find archeologically."

Only four records of the de Soto expedition have survived the centuries. Of these accounts, two were journals kept by Spanish soldiers as they journeyed with de Soto across the southeast region of what is now the United States. The other accounts have less historical significance, said Mainfort - written a generation after the journey with obvious embellishment.

Until recently, many historians and anthropologists have accepted the journal accounts as accurate depictions of life and society among the Pacaha and Casqui tribes, whose civilizations flourished from approximately 1450 to 1600 AD and included large settlements in northeast Arkansas and near Memphis, Tenn.

"At the time de Soto went through, these settlements could have supported a thousand people or more. Towns of that size would not be seen again in Arkansas or western Tennessee until the 19^th Century," said Mainfort.

What the Spanish soldiers recorded as they encountered these settlements reflected a highly stratified society - one in which distinct levels of power separated the native citizens into social classes. Their accounts speak of individual rulers who wielded considerable political and religious power and who could mobilize large warrior forces.

These descriptions have led modern anthropologists to label the Pacaha and Casqui tribes as chieftain societies. But Mainfort says this characterization is not based on sound anthropological evidence - that scholars have depended too greatly on the testimony of Spanish mercenaries.

By examining the way the Pacaha and Casqui buried their dead, Mainfort and Fisher-Carroll have allowed the tribes to speak for themselves.

"Social structure does not just affect how we live. It also determines how we bury our dead," said Mainfort. "If the de Soto accounts are correct - if these people lived in a strictly hierarchical society - we should see a definite distinction between social classes among the burial population. We didn’t see any of that."

In the burial sites of a highly stratified culture, the ruling class receives obvious special treatment, said Mainfort. Their graves are often spatially separated from the rest of the population and contain valuable, non-local objects such as copper ornaments, tools and ceremonial clothing.

Mainfort and Fisher-Carroll searched for such distinctions in burial records that had been compiled by researchers at the University of Arkansas Museum during excavations of tribal cemeteries in the 1930s. These records include large maps that plot the spatial relation between each burial as well as photographs and drawings that show the orientation and position of each body and the location of objects found within each grave.

Though these burial records have been housed in the University of Arkansas Museum since the 1930s, Mainfort and Fisher-Carroll were the first researchers to make a complete archeological analysis of the material.

What they discovered was a largely uniform burial site. No members of the population had been separated from the others nor had special objects been included in any of the graves.

"Virtually the only objects buried with these folks were pottery vessels, the majority of which were found in the graves of children," said Mainfort.

This archeological evidence supports a far more egalitarian society than the de Soto accounts suggest. However, Mainfort points out that the Pacaha and Casqui tribes likely had a moderately hierarchical social structure, which enabled them to complete public architectural projects such as mounds and buildings.

"With more than 1,000 people living in a confined area there was certainly a need for some political force to integrate the society and make it work," said Mainfort. "But there seem to be no extreme levels of power the way the de Soto chronicles report."

Mainfort emphasizes that the motives of the Spanish explorers had more to do with glorifying God and country than recording their experiences in an objective, scientific manner. And seeking to understand the people they encountered, the Spaniards classified native tribes according to the social system they knew best - monarchies.

"We have to keep in mind that these men were not the 20/20 news team. They weren’t anthropologists or scientists. They were soldiers," said Mainfort. "And that makes it all the more important to investigate what they recorded. It’s too bad we had to wait so long to find out what the native people of Arkansas and Tennessee were really like."

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