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.     

a Terrace Habitat and Late Prehistoric Settlement in North-Central Texas: Pollen And Geological Evidence

Abstract

Ecologically oriented studies in archaeology tend to suffer from over-generalized models. Pollen and geological data from the Cobb-Poole site in northcentral Texas illustrate how reconstruction of specific habitats can beof use in building testable ecological models. New evidence is presented that suggests failure to recover prehistoric pollen from alkaline soils in the Southern Plains is thli! result of inappropriate laboratory methods     

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     

High Plains wheat mosaic virus: An enigmatic disease of wheat and corn causing the High Plains disease

Brief historyIn 1993, severe mosaic and necrosis symptoms were observed on corn (maize) and wheat from several Great Plains states of the USA. Based on the geographical location of infections, the disease was named High Plains disease and the causal agent was tentatively named High Plains virus. Subsequently, researchers renamed this virus as maize red stripe virus and wheat mosaic virus to represent the host and symptom phenotype of the virus. After sequencing the genome of the pathogen, the causal agent of High Plains disease was officially named as High Plains wheat mosaic virus. Hence, High Plains virus, maize red stripe virus, wheat mosaic virus, and High Plains wheat mosaic virus (HPWMoV) are synonyms for the causal agent of High Plains disease.TaxonomyHigh Plains wheat mosaic virus is one of the 21 definitive species in the genus Emaravirus in the family Fimoviridae.VirionThe genomic RNAs are encapsidated in thread‐like nucleocapsids in double‐membrane 80–200 nm spherical or ovoid virions.Genome characterizationThe HPWMoV genome consists of eight single‐stranded negative‐sense RNA segments encoding a single open reading frame (ORF) in each genomic RNA segment. RNA 1 is 6,981‐nucleotide (nt) long, coding for a 2,272 amino acid protein of RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase. RNA 2 is 2,211‐nt long and codes for a 667 amino acid glycoprotein precursor. RNA 3 has two variants of 1,439‐ and 1,441‐nt length that code for 286 and 289 amino acid nucleocapsid proteins, respectively. RNA 4 is 1,682‐nt long, coding for a 364 amino acid protein. RNA 5 and RNA 6 are 1,715‐ and 1,752‐nt long, respectively, and code for 478 and 492 amino acid proteins, respectively. RNA 7 and RNA 8 are 1,434‐ and 1,339‐nt long, code for 305 and 176 amino acid proteins, respectively.Biological propertiesHPWMoV can infect wheat, corn (maize), barley, rye brome, oat, rye, green foxtail, yellow foxtail, and foxtail barley. HPWMoV is transmitted by the wheat curl mite and through corn seed.Disease managementGenetic resistance against HPWMoV in wheat is not available, but most commercial corn hybrids are resistant while sweet corn varieties remain susceptible. Even though corn hybrids are resistant to virus, it still serves as a green bridge host that enables mites to carry the virus from corn to new crop wheat in the autumn. The main management strategy for High Plains disease in wheat relies on the management of green bridge hosts. Cultural practices such as avoiding early planting can be used to avoid mite buildup and virus infections.     

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.     

The Poafpybitty Site: A Late Nineteenth Century Kiowa Burial From Southwestern Oklahoma

Abstract

This report concerns the excavation of two Plains Indian burials in southwestern Oklahoma, six miles north of Fort Sill. The landowner, herself a Comanche, had been told by her father that the burials were of Kiowas killed near that place by soldiers from the fort in the latter 1800’s. Removal of the grave fill revealed the skeletons of a middle-aged female and a teenaged boy, plus a large inventory of grave goods acquired both by trade and indigenous manufacture.The grave goods confirm that the burials were Kiowas, buried between 1872 and 1875. The burials from this site are compared to other documented Plains Indian burials.     

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.     

Archaeological Investigations at the Budenbender Site,Tuttle Creek Reservoir,North-Central Kansas, 1957

Abstract

By means of a contract with the National Park Service, and additional support from the University, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas conducted archaeological salvage investigations in the northern part of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir of north-central Kan5as in 1957. Excavations were conducted at five sites, of which the Budenbender site (14P04) proved most productive. The present report describes excavations at Budenbender, the discoveries made, and interprets the data from the excavations in terms of current archaeological interest and taxonomic usages. The single house completely excavated at Sudanbender is identified as a component of the Central Plains tradition, and is placed in the Smoky Hill regional variant of that tradition.     

Status and Role in Archaeology:

Abstract

Three categories of individuals currently interested in the recovery of prehistoric archaeological material on the Plains as well as in the United States generally, may be distinguished: the professional archaeologist, the amateur, and the pot-hunter, or vandal. Each of these types is placed in perspective in relation to the others and to the field of prehistoric archaeology, with special emphasis on the status and roles of different types of pot-hunters.

The amateur is aligned with the professional, especially in terms of objectives and approach, while each is differentiated in status and role from the existing variety of pot-hunters. The position is developed that pot-hunters decidedly do not comprise a homogeneous grouping, there being within their numbers at least 3 subtypes, each manifesting important differences.

Federal and state antiquities legislation is viewed as inadequate, by itself, to check the destruction of prehistoric sites, objects, and related material. Such laws must be coordinated, not only with the effort of the professional and the amateur in undertaking controlled excavations, but also with the equally important task of demonstrating to unwitting pot-hunters the implications of their destructive activity in contrast to the positive contributions of the scientific approach to antiquities.     

House Floors and Native Settlement Populations in the Central Plains

Abstract

The quantitative relationships between aboriginal abuse floor and village areas and the associated native populations have long interested archeologists and lrehistorians. With varying success, formulae for lStimating these relationships have been proposed for some groups in certain regions and at different levels of cultural complexity. The present paper undertakes o correlate Central Plains historical, ethnographical, md archeological materials on the Pawnee and Nichita in search of clues to the estimation of prehistoric population patterns in the region. It is suggested that documentary evidence points toward a atio of approximately 5 square meters per person tmong the historic peoples, who inhabited circular one-room structures with lodge populations someimes reported to reach 50 people per house. rcheological evidence indicates that the subrecangular dwellings of the prehistoric Central Plains Tradition were generally smaller, with one-or two-family habitations perhaps more common than he larger multi-family households of the post-White contact period.     

The Dune Buggy Site, 24RV1, and Northwestern Plains Ceramics

Abstract

The study of ceramics in the northwestern Plains has lagged since Wissler included “the lack of pottery” as one of the core Plains traits. In recent years, however, the poor development in ceramic studies is due to the lack of reported sites rather than a real void. The first part of this paper describes the Dune Buggy site and its large ceramic collection. In the second part, the pottery is identified as belonging to a non-Middle Missouri tradition and related to sites in northeastern Montana, southeastern Saskatchewan southwestern Manitoba and northwestern North Dakota. The combinations of profile, designs, and decoration appear to be heterogeneous, and an analogy is drawn to the historic period for the area to suggest an explanation for the apparent mixing. Specific problems include the lack of absolute dates and stratigraphic relationships, unpublished data, and potentially mixed components.     

The AvonLea Point

Abstract

The authors define a readily distinguished type of small, triangular, side-rotched projectile point previously assigned to the Late Prehistoric Period of the northwestern Plains but which was thought too generalized to be used in studies of cultural and ethnic affiliation.

Type sites are described, geographical distributions made, and factors considered which may have influenced the development of this point type in southwestern Saskatchewan.

It is concluded that the Avonlea point is sufficiently unique and temporally delimited to serve as a useful marker for the early Late Prehistoric Period in the northwestern Plains.     

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.     

Psoralea Esculent A as a Prairie Resource: An Ethnographic Appraisal

Abstract

The role of the prairie turnip, Psoralea esculenta Pursh, in the economy of Prairie and Plains cultures is examined through ethnographic and early eyewitness accounts. Results suggest that these economies were more reliant on vegetal resources than is often conceded, a conclusion in keeping with recent studies of hunter-gatherers. The concept of the upland prairies as an insignificant vegetal resource zone for prehistoric groups is questioned.     

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.     

The Ashland Bottoms Site (14RY603):

Abstract

The Ashland Bottoms site (14RY603) is a multi-component habitation consisting of a turn of the 20th century American corncrib superimposed upon a Kansas City Hopewell occupation. The ceramics suggest the site is late Kansas City Hopewell dating c. 300-500 A.D. while the artifact assemblage indicate it was a specialized, limited activity site, probably a bison and meat/hide processing base camp. Whether the Kansas City Hopewell population is resident in the Manhattan area or seasonally came into the region from Kansas City cannot be completely ascertained on the present data, but there is a strong possibility these people were permanent residents.     

The influence of soil texture on the soil water dynamics and vegetation structure of a shortgrass steppe ecosystem

We analyzed soil water data from three sites with different soil textures in the shortgrass steppe of northeastern Colorado, USA. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between the occurrence of plant functional types and the effect of soil texture on soil water availability. Soil water availability was greatest in the upper soil layers at all three sites, but the loamy sand site had significantly greater soil water availability than the sandy clay loam and sandy clay sites in wetter years at depths below 60 cm. Calculations of proportional water availability by layer using both field data and fifty-year soil water model simulations, showed that the sandy clay loam and sandy clay soils on average had greater water availability in layers 30 cm and above, but that the loamy sand had the greatest water availability in layers beneath this, particularly at 105 cm. This observation can be linked to the occurrence of a fine textured subsoil at this site. The textural pattern in the loamy sand profile effectively creates two water resources: a shallow pool accessible to all plants; and a deep pool accessible only to deep-rooted plants. This is offered as an explanation for the co-dominance of the two main plant functional types at the loamy sand site. At the other two sites, shallow-rooted shortgrass vegetation dominated, being more consistent with the general pattern for the area. Thus the patterns of vegetation structure at the three sites were consistent with the hypothesis. Aboveground net primary production data for the three sites, along with transpiration estimates from the model simulations, indicated that the additional water availability in the coarse textured soil was associated with higher overall plant productivity.Nomenclature: Taxonomic nomenclature follows R. L. McGregor & T. M. Barkley (1986) Flora of the Great Plains. Great Plains Flora Association. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.     

Fristoe Burial Mounds from the Prairie Border Region of Southwestern Missouri

Abstract

Three burial tumuli in southwestern Missouri near the Kansas line, indanger of destruction, were excavated by the University of Missouri. These sites, the Alberti, Amity, and Clemons Mounds, are all interpreted as components of the Fristoe Burial Complex, a Woodland mortuary complex of the we stern Ozarks. The identification of these sites as components of this manifestation has extended the geographical range of the Fristoe Burial Complex to the eastern edge of the continuous prairies of extreme western Missouri and eastern Kansas.     

The Sister’s Hill Site: A Hell Gap Site In North-Central Wyoming

Abstract

The cultural horizon at the Sister’s Hill Site has produced typical Hell Gap points and a small group of associated artifacts. The radiocarbon date of 9650 ± 250 B. C. is in agreement with late Agate Basin or early post Agate Basin sites in the High Plains. On the basis of the current data, Hell Gap points appear to have developed from Agate Basin styles and seem to be developmental to Alberta, Scottsbluff and Eden types.     

A Tentative Cultural Sequence for the Snyder Site,Kansas

Abstract

Prior to the past decade documentation for the Archaic period in Kansas has not been substantial. One reason evidence has been slow in emerging is the discovery that Archaic sites are often buried under several feet of overburden, maKing their detection difficult. The Snyder site (14BU9), north of ElDorado in Butler County, Kansas, is such a site. Four tentative phases are defined: Butler, Walnut, El Dorado, and Chelsea.