Postulated Late Prehistoric Human Population Movements in the Central Plains: A Critical Review

Authors

John Ludwickson, Nebraska State Historical Society

Date of this Version

1979

Document Type

Article

Comments

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences- Volume VII, 1979. Copyright © 1979 Ludwickson

Abstract

Hypotheses which concern human "migration" within and without the Central Subarea of the Great Plains during the Late Prehistoric period are examined. The popular notion that peoples from central Nebraska migrated to the Panhandle region of Texas-Oklahoma is shown to be suspect if not false. The idea that peoples inhabiting the Missouri River trench in Nebraska were slowly migrating northwesterly finds support. Finally, evidence concerning postulated migrations of ancestral Pawnee and Arikara into the Missouri trench in South Dakota is reviewed, with two hypotheses emerging.