Re: Sioux/Dakota, Nakota, Lakota

Joseph Uher (juher@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu)
Thu, 3 Nov 1994 09:29:54 -0600

>> From what white historians have been able to reconstruct, all of the Sioux
>> people originally lived in Minnesota before the arrival of the Europeans
>> disrupted everything.
>
>It is worth pointing out that the Teton groups in particular now generally
>believe that they originated in the Black Hills, though I don't know whether
>any other Dakotan groups accept this view. The non-Dakotan Crows are said
>to reject it, feeling that they were in the Black Hills first! Historians
>and archaeologists generally consider that the Dakotan groups were in
>northern Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas at contact, with an extension of
>disputed proportions onto the Canadian plains. [first name?] Michlovic
>believes he has identified some of the early Teton farming villages in the
>eastern Dakotas, and Midwestern archaeologists in general feel that the
>early Dakotans in general are associated with a type of pottery called Sandy
>Lake Ware.
>

I'm new to this list, and apologize for the blatant ignorance of this question.

I am curious about, and trying to find linguistic information, for a theory
(?) that some part of (?) the Dakota (?), Siouxan (?) peoples migrated
[apparently before the 1640 European contact] from the area of what is now
Southeastern US.

All I have been able to discover regarding this are:

1. anecdotal references to ceremonial/medicinal plants currently used in
the Plains area which are not native to that locale -- but are to (various)
southeastern and northern woodlands locales.

and

2. association with the Catawba [apparently on the basis of its Siouxan
language stock as well.

Does anyone know if these are "old wives tales" or reflections of a possible
truth? Also, if this early migration was possible, are there any indications
of migratory patterns which brought these proto-Siouxan (?) peoples to the
Southeast?

Thanks.
Hunter -- juher@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu