MIDDLE WOODLAND POTTERY TYPOLOGY FROM SOUTHWEST IOWA

Abstract

This paper presents a typology for Middle Woodland pottery from the vicinity of Glenwood, southwest Iowa. It shows that the Glenwood materials have their closest Plains affiliation with Valley Cord Roughened and their closest Eastern Woodland affiliation with Havana tradition pottery of the Illinois River Valley. The main source of influence for the Valley Focus seems to have come from the Eastern Woodlands and not from the Hopewellian instrusion at the Renner site. Finally, it is argued that the Valley Focus and related materials originated in the Middle Woodland period, were composed of generalized Woodland traits, and were imposed onto the life styles of indigenous peoples on the Central Plains.     

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.     

A Local Sequence For Mill Creek Sites In The Little Sioux River Valley

Abstract

Mill Creek ceramics from northwest Iowa are used to derive a sequence of occupations for sites along the Little Sioux River and its tributaries. Previous typologies and attempts at seriation of sites are examined and tested. The methods employed in this study are evaluated, and the resulting seriation is cross-checked with stratigraphic evidence and a series of radiocarbon dates.     

The Bentzen-Little Bald Mountain Site

Abstract

Excavation of a campsite and kill site area situated on a natural animal crossing or saddle between the North Fork of the Tongue River and Beaver Creek just south of Little Bald Mountain, Wyoming, at an elevation of 9,000 feet is described. Among the features found were two firepits containing burned rock, animal bones, and artifacts. The amount of artifacts and animal bones recovered suggested a long and/or intensive occupation, The bones included those of elk and mountain sheep, intermixed with teeth.     

THE LEWIS CENTRAL SCHOOl SITE (13PW5):

Abstract

Due to strong Indian opposition and ambiguous state laws, Iowa archaeologists have found it impossible to investigate aboriginal cemetery areas in recent years. The accidental discovery of an Archaic ossuary at a construction site on the grounds of the Lewis Central School in southwestern Iowa provided a turning point in Indian-archaeologist relations which ultimately led to a resolution of the problem through the enactment of new sections in the Iowa legal code. This article traces the history of events leading up to the discovery of the Lewis Central School site (13PW5), and provides substantive data concerning materials recovered from that site. This is done to demonstrate that a considerable amount of information is obtainable through such studies and to provide archaeologists and physical anthropologists with a frame of reference to evaluate the results obtained. The paper concludes with a presentation of additions and changes in the Iowa legal code and a discussior, of the effects the Iowa precedent may have on anthropologists, Indians, and state officials elsewhere.     

Reservoir manipulations and benthic macroinvertebrates in a Prairie River

Samples were taken on the Tongue River, Montana, USA, during 1974 and 1975 to determine the distributions and abundances of the benthic fauna after various reservoir manipulations. The upper cold water section, influenced by hypolimnial discharge from the Tongue River Reservoir, was impoverished in insect fauna and dominated by the molluscs Physa and Sphaerium. The lower warm water sections of the river contained two communities determined primarily by turbidity and periphyton cover. The upper warm water area was dominated by Strophopteryx and hydropsychid caddis larvae. The lower river was dominated by Cheumatopsyche. The summer fauna, in the warm water area, was dominated by short-lived mayfly species. During the summer, 1975, the cold water section was invaded by many insects due to warming of the area when no hypolimnion was formed in the reservoir. Invasion was apparently due to increased thermal fluctuations which caused diapause eggs to hatch and influenced the upstream migration of older nymphs and larvae.Results of drift and distributional samples after closure of the Tongue River Reservoir Dam for repairs showed that massive drift of all invertebrates began at a discharge of 130 c.f.s. (3.68 m³/sec), a drop from 190 c.f.s. (3.38 m³/sec) over a period of three days. Community composition was radically altered by reduced discharge.     

The Northern Cheyenne Sun Dance and the Opening of the Sacred Medicine Hat 1959

Abstract

In 1959, after several years of teaching the Northern Cheyenne on the Tongue River Reservation in Montana, the writer was able to observe the annual Sun Dance in some detail, to photograph it, and to be present at the rare opening of the Sacred Medicine Hat Bundle which followed. This account reports the main events which took place, and establishes that the Northern Cheyenne Sun Dance has not only survived but has undergone relatively little change since it was reported by Grinnell in 1910. Marked similarity is also seen with the older Southern Cheyenne ceremony recorded by Dorsey in Oklahoma in 1903.

The Medicine Hat, still an object of much veneration, was inspected after a series of misadventures to determine whether its contents were safe, and thus was provided an opportunity to view for the first time in more than 25 years an old and famous object of significance in Plains religion.     

The Simonsen Site: Report For the Summer Of 1959

Abstract

Isolated surface finds of probable Archaic and Paleo-Indian sites have been made in western Iowa for the past decade. Recently 3 sites have been found in this area, along tributaries of the Missouri River, containing cultural material buried in sediments 13-17 feet below the modern surface. One of these sites, the Simonsen, exposed on a loop of the Little Sioux River, is described.

Bison bones were eroding below the top of an alluvial terrace. This profile is divided into 8 stratigraphic zones, Zones 1 and 2, were 9 feet thick and composed of sterile loam, sand and gravels. Zone 3, contained several disintegrated bison bones, fine ash, burned earth, a fire pit with charred log fragments and a hearth containing a large canid but no artifacts. Zone 4, 1-2 feet thick was composed of sterile interbedded gravels and sand. Zone 5, from a few inches to 2 feet thick contained small flecks of charcoal, and a fragment of a projectile point. Zone 6 was a very stilty sand interbedded with sand silts. Zone 7, 2-3 feet thick was the most profilic source of cultural material but considering the large area exposed, produced few artifacts. These were knives, flakes, 2 anvil stones and 3 points. Zone 8, a gravelly deposit of unknown thickness, underlay the cultural deposits.

A total of 7 bison skulls or partial skulls were collected in addition to abundant remains of other parts of the skeletons. These remains were tentatively assigned to the extinct specie, Bison occidentalis. Measurements of the metapoidals of these specimens agreed in massiveness with those from Scottsbluff and were smaller than specimen from the Brewster and Lipscomb sites which contained bison antiquus and Folsom artifacts.

The 1959 collection from the Simonsen site supports earlier observations of affiliations with the Logan Creek Site of Nebraska and argues for assignment within the late Paleo-Indian to early Archaic horizon.     

A Marine Shell-Pottery Find in North Dakota

Abstract

Seven specimens of a recent West Coast marine snail, Olivella baetica Carpenter, were found in apparent association with 50 small potsherds near the top of a butte 8 1/2 miles south of Flasher, in southern Grant County, North Dakota. The tips of the spires are missing from all of the shells and thus their use as beads is suggested. The pottery sample appears to represent only one vessel of which a significant portion was reconstructible. Although the sherds are not precisely comparable to any illustrated types, spacial proximity and basic design similarities suggest affinities to the Late Heart River Mandan pottery tradition.

In July 1961, while collecting Lower Tertiary marine fossils in southwestern North Dakota, Cvancara discovered seven specimens of a recent marine snail in apparent association with approximately 50 small potsherds. The specific locality is: Three Buttes, near the top on the east side of the south-southeast butte of those two which are more or less “joined”, SE 1/4 NE 1/4 Sec. 20 (the east slope of the butte is on the section line common to Sees. 20 and 21), T. 133N., R. 84W., about 8 1/2 miles south of Flasher (southern Morton Co.), southern Grant County, North Dakota. Only afew potsherds and one shell were presumably collected in place (most of the material was found scattered about a three-yard radius), i.e., from a few inches of fine sediment on a small ledge about 12 feet below the top of the butte (Figure la). This ledge is within and about five feet above the base of a sandstone of the Tongue River formation which caps the butte. In the fine sediment were also noted several fragments of mammal bone, flint and charcoal.     

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.     

Physicochemical limnology of the Tongue River Reservoir,Montana

A one year physicochemical survey was conducted on the Tongue River Reservoir, a run of the river impoundment in southeastern Montana. The Tongue River was the only significant inflow and supplied 93, 96 and 97% of the nutrient, major ion and water inputs to the impoundment. Heat advected from inflowing water accounted for 17% of the energy gained during the summer heating cycle. The annual nutrient load to the reservoir from the river was 20.2 g m^–2 total nitrogen (TN) and 3.8 g m^–2 total phosphorus (TP). Due to the absence of reducing conditions at depth and the complex seasonal pattern of water movement through the reservoir, 99% of the TN load was discharged but 49% of the TP load was retained in the reservoir.     

Rummells-Maske: A Clovis Find-Spot in Iowa

Abstract

The first controlled excavation of a Clovis site in Iowa revealed a concentration of complete and fragmentary Clovis Fluted projectile points. The site, in eastern Iowa, is interpreted as a projectile point cache destroyed by agricultural implements. Measurements and photographs are provided to facilitate the comparison of the collection with assemblages from other states.     

Abstract

Abstract

This study contains a definition of the Redbird Focus of the Chouteau Aspect, in north central Nebraska, and attempts to relate it to the problem of Ponca prehistory. The four excavated sites of this focus, near the mouth of the Niobrara River (25HT2, 25HT3, 25KX4, and 25KX9), are small open villages of circular earth lodges. Unexcavated camp sites are also identified on the lower Niobrara River and on the middle reaches of the Elkhorn River. The remains from these sites are similar to those of the Lower Loup and La Roche foci, but they are sufficiently distinct to warrant designating them as a new focus. Trade goods at 25KX9 date it at about A.D. 1700, but the other sites lack trade goods. Redbird is estimated to date between A.D. 1600 and 1700, or perhaps somewhat later. Shelltempered pottery in two of the sites implies contemporaneity with the Oneota Aspect, perhaps the Orr Focus, which is identified as the remains of the protohistoric Iowa Indians. Site location, settlement patterns and size, burial data, and the dating of the focus intimates that it is attributable to the Ponca Indians. Conflicting data must be resolved before this identification is verified.     

Population genetic structure of white-tailed deer: Understanding risk of chronic wasting disease spread

Understanding factors that influence the spread of wildlife diseases can assist in designing effective surveillance programs and appropriate management strategies. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal prion disease of cervids, was detected in south-central Wisconsin in 2002 and over time has been identified increasingly farther west in the state leading to concerns about CWD spreading to Iowa. Our objective was to characterize genetic connectivity between white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin to assess the risk of CWD-infected deer dispersing to Iowa. We hypothesized that the Mississippi River, which separates the states, may restrict the movement of deer and thus disease. We genotyped hunter-harvested female deer collected from both states at 12 nuclear microsatellite loci (n = 249) and sequenced a portion of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region (n = 173). Microsatellite data indicated there was low genetic differentiation (Φ_PT = 0.005) between states and weak spatial genetic structure across the study area as a whole. Verifying expectations that dispersal in deer is male-biased, maternally inherited mtDNA data showed stronger spatial structuring across the study area and greater genetic differentiation between the states (Φ_PT = 0.052) such that clustering analysis grouped the majority of deer from Iowa and Wisconsin into separate clusters. The low level of genetic differentiation between deer in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, primarily the result of dispersing males who have greater CWD prevalence than females, indicates that the Mississippi River is unlikely to prohibit the westward spread of CWD, and underscores the importance of continued CWD surveillance in Iowa. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

Extensive diversification of pebblesnails (Lithoglyphidae: Fluminicola) in the upper Sacramento River basin, northwestern USA

Mitochondrial DNA sequences from the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes were obtained from the nine extant, previously described species of the northwestern North American freshwater gastropod genus Fluminicola (commonly known as pebblesnails) and from a large number of taxonomically undescribed populations of these animals from the upper Sacramento River basin, California and Oregon, which is composed of the Sacramento River headwaters, and the McCloud and Pit Rivers. Phylogenetic analyses of separate and combined molecular datasets yielded well‐supported and largely congruent trees delineating 13 genetically divergent and morphologically distinctive upper Sacramento basin lineages, which we describe as new species. These include two groups of closely related and geographically proximal species that are further united by unique radular or shell features. Most of these novelties have narrow geographical distributions and are restricted to headspring areas, whereas several are more wide ranging and typically occupy larger, well‐integrated habitats. The highly endemic fauna of upper Sacramento River pebblesnails is not a single species flock, but instead a polyphyletic assemblage spread among four separate clades. Our phylogeny, together with the application of a COI molecular clock for Fluminicola, suggests that upper Sacramento River clades originated as a result of late Neogene separation of this basin from neighbouring regions (northwestern Great Basin, Klamath River basin), which is consistent with previous biogeographical hypotheses based on the distributions of fishes. The upper Sacramento River pebblesnails evolved in association with the complex late Cenozoic history of regional landscape and drainage and diversification was also facilitated by the invasion of and adaptation to insular spring habitats. Our findings are consistent with the generally limited dispersal ability and geologically ancient (mid‐Tertiary) age of this genus and imply that other portions of northwestern North America may also harbour a large number of undescribed pebblesnail species. Journal compilation © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149 , 371–422. No claim to original US government works.     

Edwards II: Report of An Excavation In Western Oklahoma

Abstract

Edwards II is located on the North Fork of the Red River in western Oklahoma. It is one of two sites excavated in 1968 by the University of Oklahoma Field School in Archaeology. The major excavation area consisted of 19 contiguous five foot squares. Two test pits were also dug to determine the limits of the site. Nine features were uncovered; all were pits which exhibited a variety of shapes. Ceramic materials and projectile points are similar to Custer and Washita River foci manifestations, but the low proportion of bison bone, and the presence of a few corner notched and stemmed points suggest placement early in the time span represented by these foci.     

A new species of Talauma (Magnoliaceae) from Bolivia

Talauma boliviana is described as new and illustrated. This species, first collected in 1989, is the only Magnoliaceae known from Bolivia. It seems to be most closely related toT. sambuensis of northwestern Colombia and eastern Panama.     

High Country Adaptations

Abstract

A general model of high country adaptations by hunters and gatherers is proposed. It is derived from a consi eration of the specific nature of high country resources and the social structure that seems to exploit them most efficiently. The general model is then illustrated by two test cases, one from northwestern Wyoming and one from southwestern Asia. The paper concludes with a comparative perspective. and discusses the problem of why Native Amen cans 1n the central Rockies failed to domesticate wild sheep while hunters and gatherers in southwestern Asia did.     

An Analysis Of Four Survey Collections From Armstrong County,South Dakota 39Ar2 (No Heart Creek Site), 39Ar4, 39Ar5 And 39Ar 7

Abstract

The materials collected from four sites on the Little Bend of the Missouri River are described and analyzed. In the conclusion, these manifestations, referred to as the No Heart Creek complex, are compared to seven other sites along the river in north.-central South Dakota. The sites are related to the Le Compte Focus and are characterized by a distinetive settlement pattern.     

Jacquinia pauciflora (Theophrastaceae), a new species from Puerto Rico

A new species,Jacquinia pauciflora, is described from subtropical moist forest on karst hills (mogotes) in northwestern Puerto Rico.Jacquinia pauciflora is similar toJ. stenophylla Urban, from which it differs in several floral and leaf characters, but is possibly most closely related toJ. umbellata A. DC. A key to the species ofJacquinia occurring in Puerto Rico is provided.