The Atakapans lived in the coastal and bayou areas of southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas until the early 1800s. Studies of this area suggest that settlements had been there since before American Indians learned to make pottery. The word Atakapa means eaters of men in Choctaw. What is not known is whether the Atakapans' cannibalism was for subsistence or ritual. What little is known about the Atakapan culture comes from second and third hand eighteenth and nineteenth century European descriptions and drawings. They were said to have been short, dark, and stout. Their clothing included breechcloths and buffalo hides. Atakapan society consisted of loose bands that moved from place to place within a set area or territory gathering, hunting, and fishing. The alligator was important to them, for it provided meat, oil, and hides. The oil of the alligator was used as insect repellent. Some of the more inland groups may have grown some crops. The Atakapan disappeared as culture in the early 1800s.
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