The Caddo Indians of Louisiana

Chapter 12: THE DOUSTIONI

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About This Book

A combined archaeological and historical study traces Indigenous occupation of northwestern Louisiana from millennia-old hunter-gatherer camps through the emergence of Caddoan farming communities around A.D. 800–900 and into the historic contact period. It examines settlement patterns concentrated in Red River and tributary valleys, ceramic styles and decorative traditions that allow chronological sequencing, subsistence strategies emphasizing successful river-valley agriculture, and trade and cultural ties with neighboring Southeastern and Plains peoples. The narrative integrates artifact typologies, site interpretations, and ethnohistoric sources to reconstruct village life, ritual practices, and long-term cultural change revealed by excavation and survey.

THE DOUSTIONI

Swanton (1942) translates Doustioni as “Salt People,” and they seem to have lived near the salines northeast of Natchitoches. Little else is known about them, and they do not seem to persist into the nineteenth century. They either disappeared or mingled with the Natchitoches.

A large village site, on Little Cedar Lick, has yielded shell-tempered sherds, Venetian glass beads, and French faience, all early to middle eighteenth century artifact types. The site probably was the major Doustioni settlement. Other evidence of late occupations appears at Drake’s Lick. Williams (1964) points out that the Doustioni once had a village below the Natchitoches, and, though it has not been located, it may have been near the confluence of Saline Bayou and Red River, somewhere below Clarence, Louisiana. Saline Bayou provides easy access to the salt licks and was described by several early travelers (Le Page du Pratz 1774).