A Ceremony For The Preparation Of The Offering Cloths For Presentation To The Sacred Calf Pipe Of The Teton Sioux*

Abstract

The following ceremony, according to my informants, must be performed each and every time an offering is made to the Sacred Calf Pipe of the Teton Dakota. When it is completed the Sacred Pipe Bundle can then be opened and prayed over.     

Yanktonai Ethnohistory And The John K. Bear Winter Count

Abstract

The John K. Bear winter count is a calendrical history pertaining to the Lower Yanktonai Dakota. The count was named after its regular keeper, John K. Bear, but has been attributed tothe well known Yanktonai chief Drifting Goose. The count, preserved in the form of a written Dakota text, embraces a time span from 1682-1883. In addition to being the longest Plains Indian winter count in existence the count concerns the least known group of Dakota, the Yanktonai, and has a great deal to say about their locations and inter-tribal relations during the period covered. Other subjects treated in the count are encounters with supernatural beings, epidemics, floods, ceremonialism, astronomical phenomena, and the necrology of chiefs.

As background for the detailed consideration of the various year events included in the count, this study includes sections concerning the recent history of the count, a brief sketch of Yanktonai history and culture, a biographical sketch of Drifting Goose, and a discussion of the methodology of winter count studies. The appendix consists of a catalog of the extant published and unpublished winter counts, and will hopefully serve as a useful tool for ethnohistorians and archeologists interested in winter counts.     

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.     

The Boundary Mound Group (32SI-1): An Eastern Woodland Complex in North Dakota

Abstract

This site represents the first systematic investigation of a mound on the Missouri River in North Dakota. The mound group consists of 3 mounds on the North Dakota - South Dakota state line several miles southeast of Ft. Yates, South Dakota. The mounds are from 1-3 feet high and about 80’ in diameter. The reports covers the investigation of one of the mounds which had been partially removed by a railroad cut. Three excavations were carried out (1) along the edge of the railroad cut, (2) thru the center of the mound, and (3) an exploratory test pit east of the north end of center cut.

In the center of the mound was found the remains of a log covered tomb 10 x 12 feet containing 5 burials and a number of artifacts.

The Boundary Mound group suggests the presence of a Woodland group extending from eastern North Dakota to the Missouri River. This complex tenatively cross-dated at about 1000 A.D. is present but rare along the Missouri in South Dakota.     

Knife River Flint

Abstract

Twenty-four Knife River F I int quarries have been newly discovered in Dunn County, North Dakota. Five were previously known in Mercer County. The flint occurs as pebbles, cobbles, and boulders in alluvial, slope-wash, and colluvial lag deposits of Pleistocene age. The flint in these deposits was originally derived from a silicified lignite bed in the Golden Valley Formation of Eocene age and possibly also from other lignite-bearing formations. The flint has a characteristic petrography and can be readily distinguished from all other commonly used rock types in North Dakota and adjacent areas.     

An Assessment Of The Radiocarbon Dates For The Helb Site, 39Ca208, South Dakota

Abstract

Eleven radiocarbon dates from the Helb site (39CA208) in north-central South Dakota are presented and interpreted by techniques recently advanced by other authors. The results appear to substantiate two occupations of the site, one in the mid-eleventh century A.D. and anotherin the early or middle portion of the sixteenth century A.D.     

Some Aspects Of Diet And Butchering Techniques Among Prehistoric Indians In South Dakota

Abstract

Faunal remains from ten South Dakota archaeological sites, ranging temporally from ca. 600 B.C. - A.D. 1600, are identified and analyzed by the method of White (1952). This analysis shows what species were used, and in what numbers, in sites of the three major temporal divisions; Woodland, Middle Missouri and Coalescent. Bison are the preferred animals in all time periods. Group related butchering techniques are discussed.     

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.     

The Oglala (Teton Dakota) Sun Dance: Vissicitudes of its Structures and Functions

Abstract

The structure and function of the traditional Oglala Dakota Sun Dance is compared with modern versions of the dance performed at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.     

A Green Pigment from North Dakota Burial Mounds

Abstract

A clayey, green pigment was found in association with human interments in 3 mounds at the Boundary Mound site (32S11) on the Missouri River 16 miles downstream from Fort Yates, North Dakota.

Samples submitted to the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. were identified by microscopic and chemical analysis as Greensand, a sedimentary deposit containing greenish grains of glauconite. The nearest present day exposure appears to be just south of Wessington Springs, in Jerauld County, South Dakota. This report is the first identifi - cation of greensand as a pigment mineral.     

Western Dakota Winter Counts:

Abstract

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries witnessed the movement of the Western Dakota across the Missouri River and onto the High Plains. Concomitant with this movement were increasing White trade, contact with Whites and other Indian groups, and the impact of disease. The existence of several Western Dakota winter counts provides unique documentation of these groups’ own records of this critical period of change. This paper examines the form and content of Western Dakota winter counts. References to environmental phenomena, locations, inter-group contact, ceremony, disease, and death are examined for changes through the primary migration and early contact period.     

Cultural Factors in Crime Among the Dakota Indians

Abstract

In spite of the breakdown of traditional Dakota social systems, especially the kinship structuring related to criminality, the modern pattern and rate of Dakota crime appears to reflect old norms of behavior. The comparatively low crime rate against property and the high rate against per sons is particularly suggestive of the traditional pattern operating in a modern context.     

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.     

Archaeological Inference in Societal Modeling: Social Organization of the Bad River Phase

Abstract

The Bad River Phase refers to the archaeological content of a group of 18th century Arikara villages in central South Dakota. The homogenous content and structure of the material culture reflects a homogenous and tightly structured society. By applying functional relationships, the social organization is deemed matricentered and cohesive, with reinforcing mechanisms between female technologies and structural levels of organization. Ethnohistoric accounts are used to reflect the organization of Bad River peoples, as well as the post-Bad River shift to a more loosely structured society. The shift is considered an ongoing adaptive mechanism that permits identification of a discrete group.     

The Seven Pipes of the Dakota Sioux*

Abstract

Ceremonial uses of the seven major pipes of the Dakota Sioux are described.     

The Ghost Dance Religion In Saskatchewan,Canada1

Abstract

The “Ghost Dance” religion taught by the Paiute Jack Wilson (Wovoka) was carried to Saskatchewan at the beginning of this century. Its most successful proselytizer was an Assiniboine who inspired the most northern Dakota Sioux community in the province to become a congregation. Surviving members of this congregation profess a creed that closely follows Wilson 1s later teachings, recorded by Mooney, but that differs significantly from the more militant versions Mooney heard from some United States Dakota. The Saskatchewan creed appears to have been a viable accommodation to early reservation-period conditions.     

Directions for Miss Deloria: Boas on the Plains

Abstract

A summary of the collaboration between Ella Deloria and Franz Boas and the work produced from this collaboration is presented. A rare example of a Boasian “research design” for ethnographic studies among the Sioux of South Dakota is also reprinted and discussed.     

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.     

The Fire Cloud Site (39BF237), Buffalo County,South Dakota

Abstract

A bottle-necked cache pit was excavated near Old Fort Thompson, Buffalo County, South Dakota in June of 1955 by a University of Kansas field party as part of a non-reservoir salvage project.

The site is interesting due to the presence of three variants of Talking Crow Straight Rim pottery apparently unreported up to this time. These consist of a square orifice vessel, a vessel incorporating what most closely resembles Stanley Tool Impressed incised lip decoration, and a vessel bearing three bands of differing design motifs on the lip and upper rim exterior.

This site is tentatively assigned to the Fort Thompson focus of the Pahuk aspect. It probably dates to the first half of the 18th century.