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"Evidence for Siouan-Speaking Groups in Southern West Virginia"

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• published: 16 Jul 2013
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Then and Now: Archaeology, History and Preservation in the Mountain State Region "Evidence for Siouan-Speaking Groups in Southern West Virginia" Darla Spencer, Cultural Resource Analysts, Hurricane, West Virginia Since the first Europeans entered the Kanawha Valley over 300 years ago, historians, ethnologists, and archaeologists have grappled with the identities of the native people who had lived there. Because the villages were abandoned when the first settlers arrived in western Virginia, the ethnic/linguistic identities of the Native Americans that inhabited southern West Virginia were not evident. However, several lines of evidence point to the presence of Siouan speaking groups in the valley. Ms. Spencer will present historic, linguistic, and archaeological evidence for a Late Pre contact/Contact-period Siouan presence in the Kanawha Valley. In addition, she will revisit early ethno-historical accounts of Siouan occupations and migrations in the Ohio Valley and look at oral traditions of Siouan-speaking, peoples today. A public symposium sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council, West Virginia University's Native American Studies Program, and Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, West Virginia Division of Culture and History.Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, Moundsville, WV 6-8-13