In Search of Ancient Americans - A Bill Anderson Presentation

Retired educator Bill Anderson spoke to a packed room at the English Valley History Center on Sunday, June 22, 2014. His topic was In Search of Ancient Americans and dealt with native tribes of southeast Iowa. Bill's opening remarks focused on his experiences as a middle school social studies educator and administrator.

Half jokingly Bill told the audience that there are four things that he would never do again if given a chance. Those being not to substitute teach, be a principal, officiate sports or drive a bus of kids.

Bill, who has a deep love of history and archeology has researched and collected items around North English and southeast Iowa for decades. He displayed an extensive collection of artifacts for his one hour presentation to demonstrate tools used for hunting and cooking. Bill's interest is to find evidence of ancient human existence and try to determine how those people lived.

While it is commonly believed that the Bering Strait land bridge allowed people to migrate from Asia to the Americas, Bill's talk focused on the period of European contact within Iowa. He explained that the Ice Age retreat of the glaciers probably led to conditions where mammoth kills took place. Currently there is an active dig of a mammoth herd near Ottumwa, Iowa. A search for a human connection to this site continues.

Bill showed examples of tools used by native cultures including arrowheads, mulls, axes, atlatls, plumb bob, game rock and fire crack rocks.

In Iowa Bill said there are 26,000 known native archeological sites, 348 sites alone in Iowa County. The state's archeological office estimates there are up to two million sites in Iowa. His talk in front of roughly 50 people also covered a summary sketch of Chiefs Wapello and Keokuk of Iowa plus Sauk & Fox warrior, Black Hawk, who to the surprise of many, was not a chief. All three leaders were present in the North English area from time to time.

"We need to teach more of the heritage of Iowa from all societies in our schools today," said Bill. "We can learn much more from them."

Treasure of Iowa

American native bead work, specifically Iowan is rare, detailed and a work of art. Check it out for yourself at the Iowa Natural History Museum at Macbride Hall in Iowa City, Iowa. Imagine how these are made. How do the makers get the beads? How is the pattern crafted? How long does it take to make this? Maybe someone knows.

Chief Taimah (Tama) Memorial Along Iowa's Mississippi River

Living at one time in central Iowa I am very familiar with the town of Tama, the county of Tama and of course the Tama Indians. Today the natives are known as Meskwakis, having lived on a settlement near Tama for roughly 150 years following their purchase of the land. I had no idea that there was a Chief by the Tama name until last weekend! I previously thought Tama was a native name for the area like the word Iowa.

While in Burlington, Iowa near extreme southeast Iowa along the Mississippi River, I came for a Sunday outing to check out a rail road depot restaurant, the Old Man river, historic homes, rail roads and Snake Alley. Taking a different way out of town that afternoon brought us along the Great River Road on X99 headed north. Just a few miles out of town (maybe seven miles) is this Chief Taimah memorial on the west side of the road. A light colored granite marker has been in place for 58 years and acknowledges the Chief's work. 

The marker indicates that Chief Taimah is buried 20 rods east of the marker. I found where a rod length is 16-1/2 feet. So that makes his grave some 330 feet east of the roadside marker. That places it somewhere in this cornfield. I was standing in the middle of the road which was about 30 feet from the marker looking east. That means the Chief may be buried in the darker brown region of the cornfield near mid-photo. A passerby told me when he was a kid the cornfield never came this close to the road. I suppose the high price of corn and perhaps the loss of knowledge of where the Chief is buried somehow lead to the an obliterated site. This part of the state is rich in history. Take time to read the historical markers when you find them .