Ponca Fort (Knox County, near Verdel, Nebraska)
Knox County, near Verdel · Nebraska · Indian Wars
History & Significance
Located at the fork where Ponca Creek meets the Niobrara River in Knox County near Verdel, Nanza served as a principal Ponca settlement from approximately 1700 through 1865. The fortified site comprised numerous earth lodge structures encircled by a protective wall about six feet high, with archaeological excavations revealing an original defensive ditch three feet deep and ten feet wide surrounding a berm with an interior earth embankment supporting a post palisade.
Guns, hatchets, knives, beads, kettles, cloth and other European goods recovered from the site testify to the village's important position in the local fur trade. Among archaeologists, the site is renowned for its resemblance to Middle Mississippian fortified towns found in Ohio dating from 800 through 1550.
The settlement contained earth lodges and was surrounded by several cemeteries, probably created during disease outbreaks after European contact. By 1804, largely because of smallpox, Ponca tribal numbers had dwindled from about 800 to around 200.
Key Facts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponca_Fort
- https://poncatribe-ne.gov/culture/history/
- https://history.nebraska.gov/archeology-of-the-sedentary-siouan-tribes-in-nebraska/
- https://www.nps.gov/places/ponca-tribal-museum.htm
- https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=PO007