Toward A Partial Understanding Of Complexity In Arikara Mortuary Practice

Abstract

Ethnohistorical references on Arikara mortuary practice are summarized, and the recently proposed hypothesis that Arikara mortuary practice was more complex than previously suspected is evaluated. In addition, the ethnohistorical sources are reinterpreted, and it is proposed that some Arikara mortuary complexity was directly related to season of death.     

The possibility of independent foraging in the rain forest of Peninsular Malaysia

This paper examines the question of whether hunter-gatherers could live in the tropical rain forest of Peninsular Malaysia without access to cultivated foods. It considers the wild food sources used by the Batek De', a contemporary foraging-trading group of Kelantan state, historical and ethnohistorical evidence concerning the Batek economy in the past, and archeological evidence for independent foraging in the Pleistocene and early Holocene. The conclusion reached is that small nomadic groups of foragers can live off wild resources alone in that environment and have done so in the past, although trade for agricultural produce makes life much easier. This suggests that nonseasonal tropical rain forests vary in their potential for supporting human foraging, depending upon the particular species of plants and animals present.     

Big Horn Medicine Wheel Site, 48Bh302

Abstract

This famous site was investigated by the Wyoming Archaeological Society in August, 1958. An earliest date of 1760 A.D. was established by dendrochronological methods for the construction. Neither the identity of the builders nor the function of the structure could be determined. Avenues for further ethnohistorical research are suggested.     

A Qualitative Model For Inundation Studies In Archeological Research And Resource Conservation:An Example From Arkansas

Abstract

Federal and state flood control and water resource management projects are exposing an ever increasing number of archeological sites to long term inundation in reservoirs. The effectsof this inundation on the submerged archeological context is not well understood, handicapping the archeologists in their attempts to mitigate the effects of these projects on this portion of the cultural resource base as required by recent federal legislation. This paper pointsout the inadequacy of our present knowledge, cites the need for research, and proposes a model as a basis for research into the. effects of inundation on archeological sites.     

Growth Arrest Lines in Long Bones of the Casas Grandes Population

Abstract

One aspect of paleopathology, the examination of growth arrest lines, is suggested as a tool in archeological interpretation. Disruption of the normal growth pattern of long bones may result in the formation of transverse lines of extra-dense bone, visible in ordinary X-rays of the bone shaft. These radio opaque lines, presumed to result from temporary growth arrest caused by illness, are described for a sample of tibias and femurs from Casas Grandes, an archeological site in northern Chihuahua, Mexico. The sex and age of each individual at the time of growth arrest is noted, and the possibility of using this information to supplement or clarify archeological data is discussed.     

Temporal and Spatial Order in the Central Plains

Abstract

The major archeological complexes of the Central Plains can be arranged according to the Willey and Phillips system, thus recognizing not only content but time and space diemnsions.     

An Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigation of Selected Areas in Kootenai National Forest,Northwestern Montana

Abstract

During a preliminary archaeological survey of selected areas in Kootenai National Forest, located in northwestern Montana, ten archaeological sites were recorded. The majority of these sites were located on the terraces of the Kootenai River. These sites vary from surface and buried occupations, to numerous buried firehearth sites, a rockpile site and a vision quest site. Data from this survey were utilized in conjunction with ethnohistorical data to determine significant aboriginal use of river bank areas in extreme northwestern Montana.     

Two Historic Period Sites in Theel Rito Valley,New Mexico

Abstract

Two sites bearing Apachean pottery are reported from north central New Mexico. Using the archeological, ethnographic, and historical records, it is suggested that the sites were occupied by Jicarilla Apaches during the second half of the nineteenth century.     

A Guide to the Drafting of Archeological Maps1

Abstract

Scholarly writing in archeology is often accompanied by maps and other forms of graphic illustrations. In the past the quality of these illustrations has been rather poor. Maps are an important form of visual communication, but a map can detract from the scholarly nature of the accompanying written test if it is not drafted and presented in a professional cartographic manner. Too often the archeologist seems to be unaware of the whole, vast field of cartographic technique. The use of even the rudimentary principles from this field would improve archeological mapping significantly. This article outlines some of the basic errors and problems associated with archeological mabls and presents ideas, suggestions, and techniques for solving these· problems.     

Machine Assisted Encoding Of Artifact Characteristics

Abstract

A computer encoding device known as a RAND Tablet can be applied in archeological researchto read off of an artifact, such as a flint projectile point, certain points of data that when used by a computer program to provide measurements from the artifact, can provide a basis for classification.     

Notes on the Ethnogeography of the Yankton Dakota

Abstract

The study of man’s relationship to his natural environment is of increasing interest at the present time. This concern with the environment has fostered interest in cultures with simpler technologies and their uses of their environments. Because they lacked the technological advantages of later European and American invaders, such cultures usually represented a much closer response to the opportunities of the land on which they lived. The cultural ecology of one such group of American Indians, the Yankton Dakota, is examined using archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic information. Place names still used by Yankton informants often provide valuable information regarding use of their traditional historic domain.     

The Construction and Use Of A Scale Model

Abstract

Scale models, constructed from simple, readily available materials are an excellent means of presenting archeological data to the general public.

Scale models of historic and prehistoric sites are one of the most graphic ways of presenting to the public some of the information acquired through arc heological investigation. A miniature reconstruction can be made with a very limited amount of equipment and materials.     

Some Important Developments in Northern Plains Prehistory, 1942-1967*

Abstract

The area of the Northern Plains is defined as by Wedel in his 1961 synthesis. For the period under consideration, the “process” of archeological work is presented in terms of two main areas of growth--the River Basin Survey Program and the opening up of intensive work in Canada. Also for the period considered, the “results 11 of archeological work are presented in terms of the following eight areas of both fact and theory development: 1) The Middle Missouri “Plains Village” development; 2) Paleo-Indian diversity; 3) Meso-Indian gap filling; 4) Projectile points as diagnostics; 5) Functional interpretations; 6) Ecological prespectives; 7)Relationships outsidethePlains; 8) Broad-ranging synthesis. Future developments are seen in the need and possibilities for historic work, preparation of syntheses and the deeper development of micro-analytic approaches.     

Anthropogenic Vegetation Contributions to Polynesia’s Social Heritage: The Legacy of Candlenut Tree (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Aleurites moluccana</Emphasis>) Forests and Bamboo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Schizostachyum glaucifolium</Emphasis>) Groves on the Island of Tahiti

Anthropogenic Vegetation Contributions to Polynesia’s Social Heritage: The Legacy of Candlenut Tree ( Aleurites moluccana ) Forests and Bamboo ( Schizostachyum glaucifolium ) Groves on the Island of Tahiti. In the tropical oceanic islands of the Pacific, vegetation patterns and dynamics are the result of plant dispersal capacities, the physical characteristics of the islands’ ecosystems, and natural disturbances. However, humans have profoundly modified native landscapes through habitat destruction and the introduction of animal and plant species. The candlenut tree Aleurites moluccana (Euphorbiaceae) and the Polynesian bamboo Schizostachyum glaucifolium (Poaceae), intentionally introduced as useful plants by the first Polynesian migrants at least 1,000 years ago, are now widely naturalized in the high volcanic islands of the Society archipelago (French Polynesia), but with an intriguing patchy distribution. The present study consists of a comparative analysis between the most recent existing vegetation map and the known archeological sites on the island of Tahiti. Thirty-nine bamboo groves and 30 candlenut forests were identified and located using GIS and a Digital Elevation Model. The results show that the dispersal and distribution patterns of these two plant taxa are related to the presence and location of ancient sites of Polynesian occupation. The bamboo groves can be used as a bio-indicator of the presence of potential archeological sites. Their currently restricted distribution might reflect habitat requirements and poor dispersal capacities. The candlenut tree and the Polynesian bamboo are relicts of ancient Polynesian society that have persisted and remain integrated in the modern landscape. They can therefore be viewed as introduced species of high cultural heritage value.     

Radiocarbon Dating the Wylie Focus North Central Texas

Abstract

Many archeological complexes in the Southern Plains and Texas have not been adequately dated. Many complexes in northern Texas are still dated by their association with tree-ring dated Puebloan ceramics. This paper describes recent advances in radiocarbon dating the Wylie Focus on the East Fork of the Trinity River. Based upon radiocarbon dates and associated ceramics, it is evident that these sites were occupied before A.D. 1000.     

Shellfish, Gender, and Status on the Northwest Coast: Reconciling Archeological, Ethnographic, and Ethnohistorical Records of the Tlingit

Archeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistorical data provide ambiguous evidence of the dietary and economic importance of shellfish in Northwest Coast cultures. In the case of the Tlingit, I find that understanding shellfish from an emic perspective is critical to reconciling these equivocal data on economic importance. The Tlingit associated shellfish with poverty, laziness, and ritual impurity, and those who sought to be "ideal" persons avoided shellfish. An individual's rank and gender determined the degree to which such dietary guidelines were actually followed. The social and symbolic meaning of shellfish in Tlingit culture is partly explained by ecological factors, including the danger of paralytic shellfish poisoning. The analysis also reveals a number of biases inherent in the ethnographic and archeological data.     

Peyotism and Mescausm1

Abstract

The identity, origin, use and relationship of Peyote or Peyote buttons and mescal, mescal buttons, mescalbeans or mescaline continue to be confused. This paper examines the history of the confusion and uses ethnohistorical data to clarify the situation. Although Peyote, Lophophora williamsii and mescalbean, Sophora secundiflora, share the same general growth area, mostly in Mexico, the Spanish and Mexican reports on Peyote use are ancient and numerous, while nothing has been written about the use of mescalbeans south of the border. The use of the term mescalbean to refer to the red seed of Sophora secundiflora did not appear in print until 1914. A recent study shows that the greatest use of mescalbeans has been as beads. The paper concludes that theorists have inflated the importance of the relationship between mescalbeans and Peyote.     

Replication and Classification of Small Size Lithic Debit Age

Abstract

A summary of attributes of small lithic flakes produced in making bifaces by several force application methods is presented, based on experimental flint knapping. The usefullness of these attributes in classifying manufacturing techniques is discussed. It is shown that attributes commonly measured are not always sufficient to identify force application techniques. It is especially difficult to identify force application methods on archeological sites due to sampling problems and the possibility of a mixture of techniques.     

Chain Mall in Plains Archeology

Abstract

Beginning in the 1880s, chain mail fragments have been found subsurface at five archeological sites in the Central Plains. All were in association with native Indian materials assignable to the Great Bend aspect and datable to the earliest period of European contacts with Central Plains Village Indian communities in the mid-sixteenth century. Among the several types of mail fabric represented, none is inconsistent with a 16th century Spanish provenience. Possible sources from which these items may have reached the Indians by pillage, theft, or trade are considered.