Mariellen Griffith

The Mystery of the Disappearing Village Mariellen Griffith

This book is a work of historical fiction based on the early indigenous people, the Quapaws, living near the Arkansas River in the late 16th and 17th centuries and the Arkansas Post, first non-native village in Arkansas. This book follows the history of the previous book, Mystery of the Ancient Burial Site, which was about the early indigenous people of the Mississippian culture and the arrival of de Soto's expedition in 1543. The Quapaws were descendants of the early Mississippian Culture Mound Builders that date from 900 A. D. to 1541. During the 130 year interval separating the 1543 departure of de Soto expedition survivors and the 1673 arrival of Marquette and Jolliet, many changes occurred both in the indigenous people and in native culture. There is little information about this interval. It has often been called the "Protohistoric dark ages."