Inferring History From Crania: Biological Distance Comparisons Of Mill Creek And Early Middle Missouri Tradition Crania With Mandan And Arikara Population Samples

Abstract

Craniometric data are used to compare available human crania from Mill Creek and early Middle Missouri Tradition sites with a pooled Mandan sample and Coalescent Tradition samples from Crow Creek, Mobridge and Rygh(inferred proto-Arikara). Discriminant functions are computed for the reference samples, and test cases are classified according to their proximity to each population centroid. With one exception, early Middle Missouri Tradition site crania compare most favorably with Mandan. Mill Creek site specimens are unlike the Mandan, most closely resembling early Coalescent samples.     

Morphological Differences Between Mandan And Historic Arikara Crania

Abstract

Arikara cranial measurements are compared with Mandan data to define the nature and magnitude of differences remaining at the beginning of the Historic period. A discriminant function approach is followed. Special attention is given to determining uniqueness of the two sets of crania as estimated by rates of group misclassification. Three validation procedures are applied in estimating these rates: resubstitution, jackknife, and holdout.

Several variables show significant heterogeneity between Arikara and Mandan including nasal height, maximum cranial breadth, and auricular height. Mandan crania tend to be narrower, have less nasal height, and are lower in auricular height. Functions developed for Leavenworth Arikara and Mandan crania have an accuracy of about 84 percent. Data for the Leavenworth Site are expanded with addition of a sample excavated by William H. Over 60 years ago.     

Microevolutionary change in Arikara Crania: a multivariate analysis

Measurements of human crania from five archaeological sites were subjected to canonical analysis. The five sites form a temporal sequence, ranging from prehistoric (ca. 1600 A.D.) to late historic (1830 A.D.), and belonging archaeologically to the Coalescent Tradition, which in South Dakota encompasses the historic Arikara Indians and their prehistoric ancestors. One canonical variate in each sex arranges the sites in their appropriate temporal sequence, presumably reflecting systematic microevolutionary change. The hypothesis that the morphological change resulted from gene flow from either White or Mandan Indian sources was tested using a two-group discriminate function. The function is found to effectively discriminate a Mandan sample and prehistoric Arikara, but becomes progressively less effective on the historic Arikara crania. This would suggest that Mandan gene flow into Arikara populations is responsible for the observed temporal variation. A similar analysis using British White crania suggests the possibility of slight White influence, but the effect is minimal compared to Mandan.     

Craniometric Relationships of Plains Populations: Historical and Evolutionary Implications

Abstract

Large skeletal samples from cemeteries in the Northern Plains near Mobridge, South Dakota have made possible the accurate determination of craniometric relationships between populations ancestoral to the historic Arikara. There is considerable change throughout the approximately 200 years represented, due primarily to gene flow from adjacent Siouan speaking groups. Arikara crania from the Northern Plains are seen to be morphologically similar to earlier crania further south, in particular St. Helena materials in northeastern Nebraska. This offers Support for the archaeological hypothesis that Coalescent Tradition cultures grew out of the Central Plains Tradition. Early crania from the Northern Plains are markedly different from those in the Central Plains and more similar to historic Mandan. The craniometric evidence argues for biological continuity rather than replacement in the Plains area.     

Two human Skeletons from 39LM227, A Mound near The stricker Site,lyman County,south Dakota

Abstract

Two burials from a mound in central South Dakota are considered to be Arikara from a group ancestral to the Arikara, on the basis of observations and measurements.     

Demographic and Osteological Evidence for Warfare at the Larson Site,South Dakota

Abstract

A demographic and osteological analysis of skeletons from the Larson Village Site (39WW2), Walworth County, South Dakota, is presented. The site was an Arikara village dating to about A.D. 1750-1785. Within the village, the scattered and commingled bones of 71 individuals were discovered. Sixty-one of the skeletons were on earthlodge floors, an extremely unusual occurrence in the Plains. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether the cause responsible for these unburied remains was Intertribal warfare: the evidence is strong that it was.     

Craniometric Variation In The Northern And Central Plains

Abstract

Cranial measurements of 13 male and 12 female samples from the Central and Northern Plains region were subjected to canonical analysis. The samples include historic or protohistoric crania that can be ascribed to the Arikara, Mandan, Pawnee, Ponca and Omaha tribes. In addition, two samples belong to the archaeologically defined St. Helena Focus. Both sexes yielded five significant canonical variates, although only four were readily interpretable. The first canonical variate is clearly a Siouan-Caddoan discriminator and reflects variation in cranial vault height. St. Helena sites associate with the Arikara on this axis, supporting previous craniometric analyses which suggest a relationship between these two groups. Subsequent canonical variates deal with more particular aspects of craniometric variation among groups, but are still interpretable in historic or evolutionary terms. The classificatory analysis shows that the Arikara sites are closely related. A major exception to this is the Sully site, which frequently misclassifies with non-Arikara groups. This suggests that the Sully crania have little collective reality; and that there may be non-Arikara components represented at the Sully Site.     

Museums and Collections

Abstract

Certain quill techniques and buckskin shirts of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara; and the Crow are discussed Described are the plaited technique, its distribution, Manufacture, variation of style, pattern, and the type of clothing upon which it appeared. Attention is drawn to specific examples in European collections. The same type of information is covered for the quill-wrapped horse hair technique and quill decorated shirts.     

Ankylosing Spondylitis (Marie Strumpel Disease)In Historic and Prehistoric Northern Plains Indians

Abstract

Ankylosing spondylitis, a form of chronic, progressive spinalarthritis, occurs in about 0.05% of the population of England today. Sporadic reports of this abnormality have appeared in literature pertaining to paleopathology, but to date there has been little opportunity to identify and study this process in large, well documented populations of all ages and.both sexes. In the study of over 2600 Indian burials from North and South Dakota (at least 1415 of which were over 16years of age at death) representing several periods in time, but primarily of Arikara origin, and showing many representative demonstrations of arthritis, we have observed only one specimen with definite Marie-Strumpel Disease (0.07%). Thisincidence compares closely with that found in modern England (0.05%).     

The Redbird Focus: Cranial Evidence in Tribal Identification

Abstract

The Redbird Focus was defined in 1956, and was initially (Wood 1956) related to both Lower Loup and historic Pawnee Focus materials. Wood (1965) later took the position that Redbird was a more probable antecedent to the historic Ponca. These opposing hypotheses are tested using human crania representing the relevant populations. Samples of the following were available: Arikara from 39ST216, Pawnee from 25BU1 and 25WT1, Omaha from 25DK10 and 25DK2A, Ponca from 25KX1, and Redbird from 25KX9. Cranial measurements in a multivariate context were employed to test Wood’s suggestions regarding: (1) Ponca identification of remains from the Ponca Fort site, 25KX1, and (2) the tribal identity of the Redbird Focus crania. The Ponca Fort site is identified as historic Ponca, but with the probable presence of some Arikara females. The hypothesis that Redbird is antecedent to Ponca is found tenable on the basis of available cranial evidence.     

Ante-Mortem Osteopathology At Crow Creek

Abstract

In the mid-fourteenth century, over 486 individuals apparently were massacred at the Crow Creek Site (39 B F 11), located on the east bank of the Missouri River in South Dakota. During the analysis of the skeletons, a search was made for evidence of diseases, anomalies, and abnormalities which had affected these people during life and had left an imprint upon their bones. The salient pathology is tabulated here, discussed briefly, and illustrated. Because these people had apparently lived and died together in a pre-White contact Initial Coalescent variant village and were probably ancestral to the Arikara, data obtained from this study could provide valuable baseline information for comparison with other studies in paleopathology from the Dakotas.     

The Archaeology Of The Breeden Site

Abstract

The Breeden Site cultural sequence reenforcesthe general culture history already established for the Bad-Cheyenne Region and the more inclusive Middle Missouri Tradition. House remains and the bulk of the ceramic materials from the site indicate habitation of the area by peoples of the Initial Middle Missouri Variant and the PostContact Coalescent Variant.Component A at the Breeden Site and the Monroe and Anderson components at the Dodd Site exhibit a complex of diagnosticcultural traits significant enough to define a new phase - the Anderson Phase. A temporal span of approximately A.D. 950to 1250 is suggested for the phase. Component B of the Breeden Site, an early manifestation of the Post-Contract Coalescent Variant, is closely associated with components of the Felicia Phase and the putative Talking Crow Phase. Breeden Component B probably represents an upriver movement of Coalescent peoples from the Big Bend area, eventually being assimilated into the Arikara populations of the Bad River Phase within the Bad-Cheyenne Region.     

Metal Projectile Points From the Deapolis Site,North Dakota

Abstract

Almost nothing is known about what kinds of metal arrowheads were European trade items and which were made bythe various native groups. A large collection of such arrowheads was made at the 19th century Deapolis Mandan Village. Analysis of these specimens has not clarified the problem of European versus native manufacture although manufacturing techniques can clearly be seen on a few. However, a number of hypothetical taxonomic groups are postulated.     

Pattern of invasion by Weed Shiner (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Notropis texanus</Emphasis>), a nonindigenous cyprinid in the Bear Creek system (Tennessee River drainage), USA

Invasive species increasingly threaten global biodiversity with faunal homogenization, and are of specific concern in the highly diverse aquatic systems of the Southeast United States. However, patterns of invasion and variables influencing invasion success remain poorly understood. This study followed the introduction, establishment, and invasion processes of nonindigenous Weed Shiner (Notropis texanus, Family: Cyprinidae), and examined environmental correlates of their persistence. Potential shifts in the native fish assemblage in Bear Creek, Alabama and Mississippi, USA, due to Weed Shiner presence were also investigated. Assemblage shifts were evaluated using Jaccard and Morisita similarity indices and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination. Weed Shiner exhibited an initial rapid expansion in range and abundance, followed by a range contraction in 2012, and range and abundance decline in 2013 and 2014. Weed Shiner persists at the most human-impacted, downstream sites in Bear Creek. Similarity indices and NMDS indicated that despite rapid initial proliferation of Weed Shiner, native fish assemblage did not significantly change. Rather, the native fish assemblage structure in Bear Creek is temporally variable and influenced by watershed area, land-use, high intensity development, mixed-hardwood forest and evergreen forest (pine monoculture). Limiting future Weed Shiner impacts in the system and successful conservation of the Bear Creek fish assemblage will rely on managing land use changes and mitigating development effects in the watershed.     

Blue Blanket Island (39WW9) an Historic Contact Site in the Oahe Reservoir Near Mobridge,South Dakota

Abstract

The Blue Blanket Island site (39WW9), a small, fortified, proto-historic Indian village on an island in the Missouri River, in Walworth County, South Dakota, was partially excavated by a River Basin Surveys crew in August 1961. One centrally located earthlodge, sections of the fortification, storage pits, and middens were excavated. Artifacts were scanty but architectural details were informative. The lodge was 18 sided with a short entry wayto the south (river side) and leaner posts of split cedar. The palisade was of split posts and the ditch was wide and shallow. The site appears to have been an Arikara village of short duration, probably occupied during the 1780’s and 1790’s. The abandoned remains of this village were noted by Lewis and Clark in 1804.     

Mandan And Hidatsa Villages In The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

This paper attempts to specify, as precisely as possible, whichvillages the Mandan 11nd Hidatsa occupied in the period c. 1675 to c. 1800, how long each one was occupied, and the reasons why movement from one to another took place. It isbased primarily on the literary sources, but also makes considerable use of archaeological data, particularly unpublished material supplied by D. J. Lehmer. The evidence relating to the Mandan villages in the century or so before the greatsmallpox epidemic of 1781 is examined in detail, and it is demonstrated that there were about half-a-dozen of these villages in the Heart River district, and two or three others further up the Missouri. There follows a short accountC of the Hidatsa sites of the same period. The paper then details what is known of the northward movement of the Mandan and Hidatsa villages between 1781 and 1787, by which last date most of them had settled near the Knife River. Several accounts ofthese villages in the years before the arrival of Lewis and Clark (1804) are analyzed. The two tribes continued to live near the Knife until after the second great smallpox epidemic, in 1837. New dates are proposed for changes of villagelocations in this period (1804-1837), and it is shown that after 1834 there was only one Hidatsa village near the Knife. The paper ends with brief comments on the obscure period 1837-1845 and with a discussion of the site of the last independent Mandan village, Nuptadi, which was 11bandoned in about 1860.     

Mobridge Site Cemeteries: Controversy Concerning The Location Of The Over And Stirling Burials

Abstract

During the 1920's, W.H. Over and M.W. Stirling excavated skeletal material from cemeteries at the Mobridge site. Their records are not clear as to the exact location of burial recovery. Mobridge has at least three distinct burial areas (Features 1, 2, and 3), and there are craniometric and temporal differences among them. A comparison of crania from Features 1, 2, and 3 with the Over and Stirling samples gives some insight as to the location of their burials. Burials excavated by Over classify primarily with Feature 2, indicating this to be their point of origin. A few burials from Feature 1 also appear to be represented. Stirling's sample groups with areas 1 and 3. His sample possibly originated there, although it seems more likely that they came from a location north of the village which dates to the same time period as Features 1 and 3 and represents the same population.     

Intracemetery Morphological Variation in Arikara Crania From The Sully Site (39SL4), Sully County,South Dakota

Abstract

Canonical analysis is used to examine intracemetery variation in cranial morphology in the Sully site Arikara skeletal collection. The site included four spatially distinct burial areas. lnterarea morphological differences in the crania are shown to relate to the multicomponent nature of the associated village. The proposed temporal relationships based on archaeological data are supported by the cranial evidence.     

The Response of Three Bacterial Populations to Pollution in a Stream

Abstract Practical methods for biomonitoring of natural systems are still under development. Bacteria are potentially useful indicators of water quality because of their species diversity and ability to rapidly respond to changing environmental conditions. In this study, bacterial populations from unpolluted and polluted stream sites in two watersheds were compared to determine their suitability for use as environmental indicators. Upper Three Runs Creek and Four Mile Creek headwaters have had little anthropogenic disturbance, as opposed to lower Four Mile Creek which received thermal, radioactive, and chemical perturbations. Chemical and physical measurements provided evidence that seepage from holding ponds polluted Four Mile Creek. Polluted sites did not have altered total bacterial numbers but had decreased numbers of colony-forming units. Abundances of three bacterial species, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Burkholderia cepacia, and Pseudomonas putida, were determined by colony hybridization with species-specific rDNA probes. Contribution of A. calcoaceticus to the assemblage was higher at polluted sites, which indicated either tolerance of polluted conditions or the ability to utilize compounds existing at these sites to reach larger populations. No differences in B. cepacia populations were detected, and differences in P. putida populations could not be attributed solely to disturbance. The pollution of Four Mile Creek induced differences in bacterial populations that could be monitored using the described approach. Received: 24 September 1996; Accepted: 20 December 1996