Chiska

The Chiska (in the Muskogee language, or "Chisca" in Castilian) were a tribe of Native Americans living in eastern Tennessee and possibly, southwestern Virginia in the 1500s. They were encountered both by the Hernando de Soto Expedition in 1542 and by the Captain Juan Pardo Expedition in 1568. A small exploration party sent out by de Soto in the vicinity of the upper Tennessee River was defeated by Chiska soldiers. {"Hudson-Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Cross:203"} The experience influenced de Soto to limit explorations in their territory. Exploration parties sent out by Captain Juan Pardo also had battles with the Chiska. The name is seldom seen in Spanish colonial records after the Sixteenth Century.

Most likely the Chiska were severely affected by the European diseases which ravaged the advanced indigenous societies of the Southeastern United States in the mid-late 1500s and 1600s AD. The remnants may have moved south and joined the newly formed People of One Fire (Creek Confederacy; joined with their neighbors the Koasati (Coushatta) and immigrated to Louisiana; or were absorbed by Cherokee bands moving into the region from Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

Although several ethnologists and archaeologists in the mid-and-late 20th Century assumed that the tribal name Chiska was the word used by the Muskogean mound builders for their Yuchi neighbors, evidently none looked up the word in a Muskogean dictionary. {"Swanton:116-120"} Chiska in contemporary Muskogee means "the base of a tree" and perhaps, also formerly meant the "foundation of a building or culture." {"Thornton:73"} However, the Yuchi built few, if any, mounds and were not associated with several other traditions of the Muskogeans. Evidently, it was actually an ethnic name used by later Muskogean immigrants into the Tennessee Valley for a proto-Muskogean people, who entered the region much earlier and founded what is now known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Possibly, they spoke a language similar to the Alabama or Natchez languages, but no Chiska words are recorded by the Spanish scribes, so this is pure speculation.

The most likely ethnic identity of the Chiska may be an Eastern Band of the Chickasaw People. Chiska is the archaic name of the Chickasaw People for themselves. Both in Chickasaw and Choctaw tradition, Chiska and Chokta were brothers, who went separate ways and founded the Chickasaw and Choctaw Tribes. The Chickasaws had a reputation for being the most valliant warriors in the Southeast. This certainly corresponds with their reputation among the Spanish. They are thought to be one of the oldest branches of the Muskogean Family, which would possibly relate to the word "chiska" meaning "base of a tree" in Muskogee.

Archaeological evidence of Chickasaw-type communities have been found in the Tennessee River Basin in the vicinity of Chattanooga, TN. The Pre-European Contact Chickasaws traditionally did not build large mounds and lived in small, dispersed villages, in which all structures were rectangular. Numerous villages with these characteristics have been identifed by archaeologists working at TVA reservoir sites near Chattanooga, and labeled "the Mouse Creek Culture." At some locations, Mouse Creek villages were close to contemporary Dallas Culture (Muskogean) towns, which had large mounds and oval plazas. All Mouse Creek Culture buildings and plazas were rectagular. The modest Mouse Creek villages only contain low burial mounds adjacent to rectagular plazas.

Because many Yuchi villages were located in the mountains of Southeastern Tennessee during the English Colonial Period, archaeologists at the University of Tennessee assumed that the Mouse Creek Culture was Yuchi. However, in the tradition of their ancient religious beliefs, the Yuchi only built round structures and round plazas until the late 1700s, when they were influenced by Muskogee traditions after moving southward and joining the Creek Confederacy. Early English explorers often labeled the Yuchi as "the Round Town People." It is probable that Mouse Creek Villages were occupied by some branch of the Muskogeans, not the Yuchi.

References:

Cite journal
volume = 16
issue = 2
pages = 162–169
last = Beck
first = Robin A., Jr.
title = From Joara to Chiaha: Spanish Exploration of the Appalachian Summit Area, 1540-1568
journal = Southeastern Archaeology
date = Winter 1997

Hudson, Charles, The Southeastern Indians, Knoxville,TN:University of Tennessee Press, 1976.

Hudson, Charles, Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, Athens, GA:University of Georgia Press, 1997.

Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America, Washington,DC:Smithsonian Institute Press, 1952.

Thornton, Richard, Ancient Roots I: The Indigenous People of the Southern Highlands, Morris, NC: Lulu Press, 2007.

Cite book
publisher = Smithsonian Institution
pages = 176-177 [unified volume Bibliography, pp. 772-999]
editor = Raymond D. Fogelson (ed.)
last = Worth
first = John E.
title = Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 14: Southeast
chapter = Chisca
location = Washington, D.C.
date = 2004

ee also

* List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition
* Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park
* Mississippian culture
* Southeastern Ceremonial Complex