Antelope Creek phase facts for kids
The Antelope Creek Phase was a culture of Native American people who lived in the Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma. They lived there from about AD 1200 to 1450. These people are famous for building large, stone houses. These homes were unique on the Great Plains.
The Antelope Creek people were skilled hunters of bison. They also farmed crops like corn. They gathered wild plants for food too. Their culture mixed ideas from both the Ancestral Puebloans and Plains Indians. This culture is also known as the Panhandle culture or Panhandle Phase.
Where They Came From
The Antelope Creek people were part of a larger group called the Plains Village Tradition. This group lived across the Great Plains. They learned to grow corn around AD 900. These farmers settled in villages along rivers. By AD 1250, many villages dotted the river valleys. Some had up to 20 houses.
Archaeologists believe the Antelope Creek culture grew from farming groups in Oklahoma. Or, they might have come from similar groups further north. Farming was hard in the dry Texas Panhandle. But there were lots of bison to hunt. Bison became a main food source after AD 1000. This led to more people and more complex societies.
A big advantage of the Canadian River Valley was the Alibates flint. This colorful stone was great for making tools and weapons. The Antelope Creek people traded this flint far and wide. Tools made from Alibates flint have been found up to one thousand miles away. This trade was a big reason for them to settle there.
Most experts think the Antelope Creek people spoke a Caddoan language. They might be ancestors of the Wichita or Pawnee tribes. Another idea is that they were Ancestral Puebloans from New Mexico. It's also possible they were a different group entirely. They might not have all spoken the same language.
One early archaeologist, Alex D. Kreiger, said they were a mix. He believed they were Plains farmers who met Pueblo people.
Their Homes and Villages
The Antelope Creek people built special homes. They used stone slabs and plaster. This was different from other ancient Plains farmers. Most others built homes from wood, earth, and straw.
Hundreds of their settlements have been found. Some buildings were large, rectangular structures. They had many rooms, sometimes up to 30. These multi-room homes were built between 1200 and 1350. Later, they built more individual houses. These were often about 20 by 20 feet in size. They still used stone-slab construction.
A typical house had an east-facing entrance. This led to a square main room. The floor was about one foot lower than the ground outside. Benches were along the north and south walls. A fireplace was in the center. Storage bins were against the west wall. Pits for storage were dug under the benches. Wooden posts held up the roof. The roof was likely made of straw and small branches. Building with stone showed they planned to stay for a long time.
Many Antelope Creek people lived in small groups of individual homes. These hamlets had about eight families. Between hamlets were single farmhouses. Most homes were on terraces above the Canadian River. Or they were near spring-fed streams. Some areas were very crowded. The Buried City complex had over 100 homes. Each could hold 15 to 20 people. These homes were spaced about 100 yards apart. This was like a modern neighborhood. If all were lived in at once, the population could have been 2,000 people. Along 50 miles of the Canadian River, there were over 300 multi-family homes. The total population might have been more than 10,000.
Water can be hard to find on the Great Plains. But the Antelope Creek people lived where streams cut deep into the land. Here, springs and small streams provided reliable water. They also found wood for building and fires in these valleys.
How They Got Food
The Antelope Creek people used three main ways to get food. They hunted bison and other animals. They farmed crops like corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. And they gathered wild nuts, fruits, and seeds. We don't know which method was most important.
Men likely traveled far to hunt bison. Besides bison, they also ate deer, antelope, and smaller animals. They also found some mussels and fish.
The Texas Panhandle is a tough place for farming without irrigation. It often has droughts. Most rain comes in a few big thunderstorms. So, the Antelope Creek people likely used "dryland farming" methods. They planted crops in low areas that collected rainwater. This helped the crops grow. Families probably planted small fields in different spots. This way, some fields would likely produce food. They used bone-tipped digging sticks and bison shoulder blades as shovels.
Gathering wild plants was also very important. Farming was risky due to droughts. And the number of bison changed each year. Wild foods included acorns, hackberries, plums, and prickly pear.
They cooked food in pottery pots. Some pots were made locally. Others were traded from the Rio Grande Pueblos. Trade increased a lot after 1350. This shows the Antelope Creek culture became more connected to others.
The End of Antelope Creek
The Antelope Creek settlements were left empty between 1450 and 1500. When Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado traveled through the Texas Panhandle in 1541, he only met nomadic hunters. These were the Querechos (Apache) and Teyas (possibly Caddoan).
There are a few ideas why the Antelope Creek people left. One idea is that they used up their resources. So, they had to move. Another idea is that droughts made farming too hard. So, they moved to better farming lands. A third idea is that other Native American groups forced them out. The Apache, who were new to the Southern Plains, might have been these groups.
Most experts think the Antelope Creek people moved east. They might have gone to Kansas and Oklahoma. They could have become the Wichita and related tribes. The Pawnee of Nebraska also have stories that they once lived in stone houses in the Southwest.
