Other names were: Ani-tsiksu (Cherokee), Flat Heads (English), Kasahaunu (Yuchi), Tchaktchan (Arapaho), Tchikasa (Creek), Tcikasa (Kansa), Tetes Plates (French), Tikaja (Quapaw), and Tsikace (Osage).
Villages Ackia (Akia, Old Town), Alaoute, Amalahta, Apeony (Apeonne), Apilefaplimengo, Ashukhuma, Ayebisto, Chatelaw, Chesafaliah, Chinica, Chopoussa, Chucalissa (Big Town, Chocolissa, Chokkillissa, Chukwillissa), Chukafalaya (Choquafaliah, Long Town, Old Pontotoc, Tchoukafala), Chula, Coppertown, Couiloussa, Etoukouma, Falatchao, Gouytola, Hummalala, Hussinkoma (Red Grains), Hykehah, Latcha Hoa Run, Ogoula-Tchetoka, Onthaba-atchosa, Ooeasa (Wiaca – located among the Upper Creek), Oucahata, Oucthambolo, Outanquatle, Phalachehs, Pontotoc, Shatara, Shiokaya (Stand-by-it), Tanyachilca, Taposa, Thanbolo, Teshatulla (Post Oak Grove, Post Oak Town, Techatulla), Tokshish (McIntoshville), Tuckahaw, Tuskawillao, Tuskaroilloe, and Yaneka.
Culture Although generally the least known of the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Chickasaw, Cherokee , Choctaw, Creek, Seminole), no other tribe played a more significant role in Britain’s victory over France for control of North America.
Variously described as the “Unconquered and Unconquerable” or the “Spartans of the what is meetville lower Mississippi Valley ,” the Chickasaw were the most formidable warriors of the American Southeast, and anyone who messed with them came to regret it, if they survived! British traders from the Carolinas were quick to recognize their prowess in this regard and armed the Chickasaw to the teeth, after which, no combination of the French and their native allies was able to dislodge the Chickasaw from the stranglehold they imposed upon French commerce on the lower Mississippi.
From the high ground overlooking the Mississippi River at Memphis, the Chickasaw took on all comers , including tribes four to five times their size and never lost until they picked the wrong side in the American Civil War.
Unlike their Choctaw cousins to the south, the Chickasaw have little or no memories of the platform mounds (which they called navels) left by the earlier Mississippian mound builders and probably represent a later migration into the area.
Further evidence for this is that, unlike their neighbors, Chickasaw towns were spread for 10-15 miles (and up to four miles wide) along the course of a stream, an arrangement which protected them somewhat from epidemics.
Until 1700, they usually maintained seven towns at any given time, and despite the scattered homesteads, each town had its own fort and ceremonial rotunda.
Like their neighbors, the Chickasaw removed all body hair and made extensive use of tattooing , but what was really distinctive was that they flattened the foreheads of infants to “enhanc e” their appearance as adults
The winter house, however, was circular using the wattle and daub (mud spread over a basket-like framework) construction distinctive to the region.
Well insulated and partially sunken into the ground, Chickasaw winter homes were so warm that British slave traders collecting their “merchandise” complained that they were a preview of their probable place in the hereafter.
For some reason, the men appear to have been noticeably taller (6 foot on the average) than the closely related Choctaw just to the south.
Chickasaw women, however, were usually a foot shorter than the men – a physical trait similar to the neighboring, but unrelated, Creeks and Osage.
There was a strict division of labor among the Chickasaw, with women responsible for the supervision of slaves and tending the fields of corn, beans, and squash, while men hunted deer, bear, and buffalo.
Clothing was primarily buckskin with the men preferring a breechcloth with thigh-high deerskin boots to protect their legs from the underbrush.
Rather than the stereotypical Lakota (Sioux) war bonnet, the ultimate badge of honor for Chickasaw warriors was a mantle of swan feathers.
