Extinct Oklahoma Tribes

Before Coronado and his colleagues landed on America's shores, Indians resided in what would become Oklahoma. 

Remnants of several different hunter-agricultural civilizations have been found in Oklahoma, including a site near Anadarko, where archaeologists discovered the bones of a mammoth and several spear points.

Scientists estimate the mammoth was killed more than 11,000 years ago and have identified the spearheads as belonging to an ancient group of hunters known as the Clovis culture.

From 500 to 1300 A.D., a group known as the Mound Builders lived in an area just west of the Arkansas/Oklahoma border in LeFlore County.  Artifacts left in ceremonial burial site "mounds" show the Mound Builders were highly skilled artisans with a sophisticated economy. 

By the time explorers discovered the mysterious earthen mounds in the 17th and 18th centuries, the culture centered there was extinct, and the Osage and Quapay tribes laid claim to the region.  Today, the area has been preserved for visitors and scientific study as Spiro Mound State Park.