The Primitive Ozarks

Abstract

Chapter 1 briefly charts the prehistory of the Ozark uplift, including the natural history of the creation of the St. Francis Mountains at the core of the region and the severely eroded plateau that surrounds them. This chapter also charts the arrival of homo sapiens and their development through the various epochs identified by anthropologists. In spite of myths and exaggerations such as the Bluff Dwellers, the prehistoric peoples of the Ozarks tended to follow the broad contours of development noted elsewhere on the continent.