GC4YR34 Traditional Cache Mondo's NAT #440 - Pawnee
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro Micro | Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 1.5 out of 5
By: mondou2 @ | Hide Date: 02/17/2014 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 04.470 W104° 53.175 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
Takes less than an hour  Available at all times  Available during winter  Park and Grab 

Native American Tribe Series


Pawnee

 

The Pawnee, who are sometimes called Paneassa, historically lived along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska. The name is probably derived from the word "parika,” meaning "horn,” a term used to designate the peculiar manner of dressing the scalp-lock, by which the hair was stiffened with paint and fat, and made to stand erect and curved like a horn. The Pawnee called themselves Chahiksichahiks, meaning "men of men.”

Descended from Caddoan linguistic stock, the Pawnee were unlike most of the Plains Indians as their villages tended to be permanent. Originally, they were an agricultural people, growing maize, beans, pumpkins and squash. With the coming of the horse, they did begin to hunt buffalo, but it always remained secondary to agriculture.

The Chaui are generally recognized as being the leading band although each band was autonomous, seeing to its own until outside pressures from the Europeans and neighboring tribes saw the Pawnee drawing closer together.

Living in large oval lodges formed of posts, willow branches, grass and earth, as many as 30-50 people would live in the same lodge. Each village would consist of about 10-15 lodges. Twice a year the tribe went on a buffalo hunt and on their return the inhabitants of the lodges would often move into another lodge, although they generally remained within the village. The Pawnee were a matriarchal people with descent recognized through the mother. When a young couple married, they would traditionally move into the bride's parents' lodge. Women were active in political life although men would take decision making responsibilities.

The Pawnee were a spiritual people, placing great significance on Sacred Bundles, which formed the basis of many religious ceremonies maintaining the balance of nature and the relationship with the gods and spirits. The Pawnee were not however followers of the Sun Dance although they did fall victim to the Ghost Dance phenomenon of the 1890s. They equated the stars with the gods and planted their crops according to the position of the stars. Like many tribal units they sacrificed maize and other crops. There are also references of human sacrifice right up until the mid eighteenth century, where a book refers to a Lakota captive who was tied to a tree and shot with arrows. She was thought to be the last human sacrifice performed by the Pawnee.

The first European to see a Pawnee was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado while visiting the neighboring Wichita Indians in 1541. There, he encountered a Pawnee chief from Harahey, a place located north of Kansas or Nebraska. Little more is known about the Pawnees until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when successive expeditions of Spanish, French and English settlers attempted to enlarge their territory. It was at this time that Pawnee hunters first saw horses, racing back to camp, eager to describe the tall, bizarre "man-beasts" they had seen—creatures with four legs, long tails, hairy faces, and clothing that gleamed like sun on the water. While expanding their territories, the first Europeans traded with the Pawnees in present-day Kansas and Nebraska and the various Pawnee bands established loyalties to the different colonial powers according to each band's best interest.

By the early 19th century, the Pawnee were thought to have numbered between 10,000 and 12,000. In 1818 the Pawnee agreed to the first in a long series of treaties that would eventually culminate in land cessions and placement of the Pawnee on Nebraska reservations in 1857 and in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1875.  In spite of governmental control on the reservations, the Pawnee tried to maintain their tribal structure and traditions.

Today, the Pawnee still celebrate their culture and meet twice a year for the inter-tribal gathering with their kinsmen, the Wichita Indians. A four day Pawnee Indian Veterans Homecoming & Powwow is held in Pawnee, Okhoma each July. Many Pawnee return to their traditional lands to visit relatives, display at craft shows, and take part in powwows. As of 2002, there are approximately 2500 Pawnee , most of them located in Pawnee County, Oklahoma.

 Custom URLs

Add cache to watch list
Log your visit
Picture Gallery

 Hints

tweezers

 Nearby Caches

GC4YR4J Mondo's NAT #448 - Pepikokia (7.63 kms S)
GC70P0P 15 Earthcache 15 States Traveler Challen (14.45 kms NW)
GC70P11 5 Earthcache in 5 Country Traveler Chall (15.69 kms NW)
GC7JEZK Rock (16.18 kms NW)
GC8KJEE Y Not? (16.49 kms W)

   


Driving Directions

 Logs

10 Logs: Found it 10  

Found it 06/30/2019 By cassidyflos
Very easy and fun

Found it 06/21/2019 By TheClanGoodnight
TFTC

Found it 06/19/2019 By FeatheredFriends
Well I finally made it to Colorado. I visited with my niece and then had a couple of hours to do some caching in area before heading back to the hotel.. I mainly did some more of the Mondo series. Fast find. Thanks " mondou2" for a fun time in the area. TFTC.

Found it 06/17/2019 By sujayne
SL TFTC!! On a geocaching adventure with yalehockeymom, looking for counties, geo-art and old caches. We are having a blast. signing logs with our full names or sometimes sj and yhm to save space. Thanks to all the COs!

Found it 06/17/2019 By yalehockeymom
Today Sujayne and I started off to Terryall to find the oldest in Colorado. From there we went to Pikes Peak and finshed the day caching north of Denver.
Many thanks for all the fun! BigSmile

Found it 08/16/2018 By FresnoDancingFool
This is where I had to do a replacement container as I found a very obvious but empty hiding place very close to where my GPSr indicated the hiding place should be; fortunately I had a container with me that fit the hiding place and the hint very nicely; I hope it was okay to do a dropdown for this power series. The CO might want to check on my replacement (and the likely missing container just north of this one); good job and TFTC!

Found it 07/06/2018 By scavengerhunting
Out for a day of geocaching. It was quite hot today, but we still managed to find 55 today! It was a lot of fun to fill up this area with Smileys. TFTC!

Cache: 27/55

Found it 07/05/2018 By waawhoo
Going on a new cache run trying to grab as many as I can before I leave in a few weeks on my trip. thank you for the hide!

Found it 06/30/2018 By dustyriver
Spending a cool Saturday morning with BriGuy, grabbing caches as we gain our goal of "Hidden Creatures" - Thank You for the cache, now on to more finds for the day. - Best Wishes, DustyRiver - Terry

Found it 06/30/2018 By ColoradoA_Team
TFTC!! Out trying to grab all the hidden creatures!! Power trail Saturday!! Cache was melted and damaged so we replaced it, it’s good to go now!