Investigation of the Swift Bird House (39DW233) in the Oahe Reservoir,South Dakota

Abstract

The Swift Bird House (39DW233) is a prehistoric structure of indeterminate characteristics. The associated artifacts are directed to a Northern Plains horticulture and hunting complex. A tenuous relationship to the Anoka Focus and a possible occupation date of about A. D. 1500 is suggested for the site     

Rethinking the Dismal River Aspect and the plains Athapaskans,A.D. 1692-1768

Abstract

Shortly before A.D. 1650, two major and separate cultural traditions of Plains Apache of mixed horticultural-hunting economies evolved in the central High Plains, both with different origins. The “northern” aspect is identical with the Nebraska Sand Hills Athapaskans, or the “Dismal River proper,” and the result of immigration by people of the Fremont culture. The “Southern Aspect of Plains Apache Tradition,” extending from south of the Platte to the middle Pecos, developed as a response to changes stimulated and introduced by Pueblo farming in western Kansas, the core area of this aspect, after 1639. The history of both traditions and their transformations are described from 1692 to 1768. Archaeological sites in the central High Plains of the first half of this period reflect but an episode in the continuing culture of Plains Athapaskans of both traditions. Archaeological and historical information is used to elucidate the dynamics characteristic of the time and the area. The prehistory and history of a given area is viewed as a changing functional entity over time.     

The Fremont Culture: Its Derivation and Ultimate Fate

Abstract

Aikens (1966) has proposed that Fremont-Promontory culture originated on the Northwestern Plains and representsan Athabascan migration into the Utah area at circa A. D. 500, their descendents, he suggests, were later forced back onto the Plains by the 12th century expansion of Shoshoneans from the Great Basin. He also proposes that FremontPromontory culture was ancestral to Dismal River culture. In this paper an alternative hypothesis is proposed, i.e., that Fremont and then Promontory cultures were sequential developments from an indigenous Utaztecan or proto-Utaztecan base and that there is no direct cultural relationship between theUtah cultures and the Dismal River aspect.     

A Reexamination of Roper’S Trend-Surface Analysis of Central Plains Radiocarbon Dates

Abstract

A reexamination of Roper’s (1976) trend-surface analysis of Central Plains radiocarbon dates indicates that 1) a nonlinear trend in the data was not recognized, and 2) the dates of the trend-surface contours given in her map of the Central Plains are in error. A revised trend-surface model is presented which better describes the site data and more closely agrees with the Central Plains cultural sequence.     

Notes On Bison In Val Verde County,Texas: Additions To Dillehay

Abstract

Bison remains from deeply stratified deposits at the Castle Canyon Site, an area of southwestern Texas where bison remains are outstandingly rare, date about 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1000. The last bison known in the area died about 1885. It is suggested that environmental conditions in the area may not have changed, and that presence-absence periods might rather reflect changing conditions on the Central or Northern Plains. These data do not alter Dillehay’s conclusions, but present information not available to him.     

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.     

The Grass Valley Horse

Abstract

The head and part of the neck of a baked clay horse figurine from an archaeological site in Lander County is described. It suggested the presence of the Grass Valley horse in Central Nevada reaffirms the strong cultural ties between the PlateauShoshone and the buffalo hunting; horse-nomad Shoshone of the Western Plains, ties already indicated by Shoshone pottery and other plains type artifacts indigenous to the area.     

Late Quaternary Bison Population Changes On The Southern Plains

Abstract

An analysis of faunal lists from 160 archaeological and paleontological sites in the Southern Plains reveals a success of long-term periods of presence and absence of the genus Bison in the region. Two absence periods are from about 6000-5000 B.C. to 2500 B.C. and A.D. 500 to A.D. 1200-1300. These long-term changes seem to indicate a combination of fluctuating bison population densities and range shifts. Certain previously documented prehistoric cultural events in particular subareas ofthe Southern Plains vicinity are examined in light of these data.     

Notes On the Crow-Hidatsa Schism

Abstract

Three lines of evidence bearing on the Crow-Hidatsa separation provide different dates for that separation, but dates which are consistent with the following generalizations: (1) The Crow began to diverge linguistically from the various Hidatsa groups no less than five centuries ago, and perhaps even earlier. (2) The Crow movement onto the Northwestern Plains was accomplished gradually, perhaps by band-by-band movement, rather than as one precipitous migration away from the Hidatsa. (3) Archaeological evidence from sites of the Mandan/Hidatsa continuum in the Missouri Valley suggest that the Hagen site, at least, probably dates at about A.D. 1675 – although alternative explanations for related sites suggest that the Crow moved into the Northwestern Plains several centuries earlier. (4) Ethnohistorical data suggest that the Crow separation dates from the mid-1700s. Rather than dating the initial separation of the two groups, the ethnohistorical data probably reflect the final severing of ties with the Hidatsa – a separation made final by the adoption of the horse.     

The Pelland and Moe Site Blades: Paleo-Indian Culture History in the Upper Midwest

Abstract

Analysis of artifacts recovered from the Moe site located in northwestern North Dakota reveals the presence of 15 blades and three blade-like flakes, the majority of which are made of Knife River Flint and have been modified by retouch flaking. A comparison of the Moe specimens to those from the Pelland site in northern Minnesota, the only other site from the study area which contains blades of Paleo-Indian age, indicates that the Moe specimens are smaller in all dimensions. The Pelland specimens are made of Knife River Flint and have been modified by retouch flaking. Examination of the literature on Paleo-Indian sites from the Plains region indicates that blade production is more common in Plano cultures particularly Agate Basin and Plainview-Goshen than in earlier Clovis or Folsom cultures or later Cody cultures. It is suggested that the Pelland and Moe site blades are Plano in age and most likely Agate Basin or Plainview-Goshen in cultural affiliation. A model provided by Leo Pettipas (1976) is used to suggest an eastward movement of Plains Plano cultures using Knife River Flint across southern Manitoba, eastern North Dakota, and into western and northern Minnesota following the recession of Glacial Lake Agassiz.     

The Late Prehistoric Human Ecology of Birch Creek Valley,Northeastern Oklahoma

Abstract

A multi-disciplinary study of the archaeological sites in Birch Creek Valley examined the valley’s paleoenvironment, prehistoric economy, and demography. The study indicates that during the Plains Village Period (ca. A.D. 800-1,500) the local environment was stable and similar to that of the area today with the valley being occupied during the late summer through winter by dispersed groups containing from 10 to 15 people. The Late Prehistoric occupants of the valley apparently relied on a broad-spectrum foraging economy and did not engage in horticulture.     

The High River Microblade Industry,Alberta

Abstract

A small collection of obsidian and chalcedony microblades, from a site near Calgary, Alberta, is described and compared with other microblades from the Plains and from the Plateau. Although the age and cultural affiliations of the micro blades are not certain, there is some evidence to suggest that they are early in the Plains sequence. The microblades have some distinctive attributes including ridge flakes, for which a typology is suggested. A comparison of the High River microblades with a large sample from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia suggests that the stimulus for the Alberta micro blades did not derive from the Plateau.     

Introduction

Abstract

In the space of 20 years the Plains region has progressed from one of the least known to one of the better known regions as far as skeletal studies are concerned. This paper reviews the development of skeletal biology and the accumulation of the large, well documented samples. It provides up-to-date bibliographic citations of the recent literature relating to the United States Plains, including M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations which deal with or utilize Plains skeletal material.     

Some Wooden Scraper Handles From the Great Plains and The Southwest

Abstract

Adze-shaped scraper handles of antler are well known from the Plains area. Tools of the same pattern, of wood, are less well known and are virtually unmentioned in the literature and the tool in both antler and wood is unmentioned from the Pueblo area. Data on size and distribution of a large group of these objects in wood, from both the Plains and the Pueblo area are presented here, with some discussion of their possible origin.     

T-W-DIamond,a Stone Ring Site in Northern Colorado

Abstract

The T-W-Diamond Site, 4LR200, is a large teepee ring village on the? edge of the High Plains in northern Colorado. Seventeen out of the 47 remaining stone ring areas were excavated or tested by the Colorado State University Archae-ological Field School in 1971. Artifacts, fire hearths and midden materials were scarce but indicated the domestic nature of the structures. Stone and ceramic artifacts indicate cultural affiliations with the Late Prehistoric period as reported at Birdshead Cave, and the Piney Creek sites in Wyoming; and at the Agate Bluff Rock Shelters, and the Dipper Gap site in northern Colorado. Carbon-14 dates of A. D. 1020±230 years and A.D. 1170±220 years support the time of the occupation. A third date of A.D. 400±340 seems improbably early. It is hypothesized that the village was occupied seasonally for a short time by a small group of people, perhaps of Shoshonean affiliation, exploiting a mixedbase subsistence economy.     

Archeological Investigations at the Spawn Mound, 39LK201, Lake County,South Dakota

Abstract

The Spawn Mound, 39LK201, overlooking Brant Lake in eastern South Dakota, appears to be a Plains Woodland burial mound later used by historic Dakota for secondary interments. The 1966 excavations revealed two burial pits believed to be contemporaneous with the erection of the mound, which were assigned to the Plains Woodland component, and a third pit at the center of the mound which has been assigned to the historic Dakota. Each of the Woodland burial pits contained at least three individuals buried in the flexed position. The intrusive pit contained the remains of at least two individuals, apparently “bundle” burials. These intrusive burials were accompanied by European trade items.

On the basis of the limited ceramic material from the mound, including one rim sherd of the Ellis Cord Impressed type, as well as various lithic materials recovered in the mound fill, the Plains Woodland component has been tentatively assigned to the Loseke Focus. The historic burials would appear to date between A. D. 1800-1850.     

Radiocarbon Dates from the Sutter Site,Northeastern Kansas

Abstract

Five radiocarbon dates from the deeply buried, preceramic Sutter site (14JN309) are evaluated. Its relative chronological position in late Plano times is substantiated by a cluster of dates at approximately 6000 B.C. Comments are made concerning the Great Plains hunting and gathering subsistence pattern.     

Archaic Skeletal Remains from the Central Plains: Demography and Burial Practices

Abstract

Recently a number of reports on Plains Archaic skeletal material have been published which quadruple the number of burials described and analyzed in the literature. Although the total number of burials is still relatively small, it is large enough to allow research to begin in paieodemographic aspects of the central part of thePlains and the suggestion of burial patterns for these materials. By combining all Archaic burials from the Plains a demographic profile has been developed. It is compared with other Archaic populations from the eastern United States, and with a Plains population dating after A.O. 1000. The results of the analysis show that with few exceptions burial patterns and the demographic picture of the Plains are quite stable over time, although differences are found in metric and non-metric variations in both the time and space continua. The analysis further shows that certain anomalous conditions in the skeleton appear to be much more prevalent inArchaic material than in recent material from the same area. The results finally suggest that Archaic people in the demographic and burial practice continua are quite similar to later populations, at least through Middle Mississippian populationsin the Plains.     

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.