Overview

Popular lore has long depicted the Karankawa Indians as primitive scavengers (perhaps even cannibals) who eked out a meager subsistence from fishing, hunting and gathering on the Texas coastal plains. That caricature, according to Robert Ricklis, hides the reality of a people who were well-adapted to their environment, skillful in using its resources, and successful in maintaining their culture until the arrival of Anglo-American settlers. The Karankawa Indians of Texas is the first modern, well-researched history of the Karankawa from prehistoric times until their extinction in the nineteenth century. Blending archaeological and ethnohistorical data into a lively narrative history, Ricklis reveals the basic lifeway of the Karankawa, a seasonal pattern that took them from large coastal fishing camps in winter to small, dispersed hunting and gathering parties in summer. In a most important finding, he shows how, after initial hostilities, the Karankawa incorporated the Spanish missions into their subsistence pattern during the colonial period and coexisted peacefully with Euroamericans until the arrival of Anglo settlers in the 1820s and 1830s. These findings will be of wide interest to everyone studying the interactions of Native American and European peoples.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert A. Ricklis
Publisher:   University of Texas Press
Imprint:   University of Texas Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780292770775

ISBN 10:   0292770774
Pages:   236
Publication Date:   01 May 1996
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Foreword by Thomas R. HesterPreface1. Who Were the Karankawas?2. The Karankawan Environment3. The Archaeological Exploration of Karankawan Adaptation4. Archaeological Evidence for Prehistoric Occupation of Shoreline Fishing Camps5. Karankawan Occupation of the Coastal Prairie Environment6. Reconstructing Prehistoric Karankawan Adaptive Patterns7. Karankawan Adaptive Patterns during the Colonial Era8. The Impacts of European Colonization: Continuity and Change in Karankawan Lifeways9. The Karankawas on the Spanish Colonial Frontier: Seven Decades of Hostilities and the Resolution of Conflict10. The Mission as an Ecological Resource11. The Long-Term Ecological Roots of Adaptive ChangeAppendix A: Defining the Geographical and Chronological Parameters of the Rockport Phase through Ceramic AnalysisAppendix B: Methods of Seasonality AnalysisReferences CitedIndex

Reviews

"""Ricklis' findings should permanently alter how Karankawa Indians are portrayed in general treatments of Texas history."" Lawrence E. Aten, author of Indians of the Upper Texas Coast"

""Ricklis' findings should permanently alter how Karankawa Indians are portrayed in general treatments of Texas history."" Lawrence E. Aten, author of Indians of the Upper Texas Coast

Ricklis' findings should permanently alter how Karankawa Indians are portrayed in general treatments of Texas history. Lawrence E. Aten, author of Indians of the Upper Texas Coast

Author Information

Robert A. Ricklis is a Research Fellow with the University of Texas at Austin and president of a private archaeological consulting firm in Corpus Christi.

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