Notes on Omaha Ethnohistory, 1763-18201

Abstract

When first known to Whites, the Omaha were east and north of the Missouri River; they are not reported west of that stream until the late 18th century. At that time they occupied parts of what is now northeastern Nebraska, with their major villages and hunting territory in that area. Trade influences, direct and indirect, probably first reached them in 1700. Contact with the Spanish and later French was principally economic, but there were accompanying major changes in political organization, especially in the authority of chiefs, even before the time of Lewis and Clark.     

The Redbird Focus: Cranial Evidence in Tribal Identification

Abstract

The Redbird Focus was defined in 1956, and was initially (Wood 1956) related to both Lower Loup and historic Pawnee Focus materials. Wood (1965) later took the position that Redbird was a more probable antecedent to the historic Ponca. These opposing hypotheses are tested using human crania representing the relevant populations. Samples of the following were available: Arikara from 39ST216, Pawnee from 25BU1 and 25WT1, Omaha from 25DK10 and 25DK2A, Ponca from 25KX1, and Redbird from 25KX9. Cranial measurements in a multivariate context were employed to test Wood’s suggestions regarding: (1) Ponca identification of remains from the Ponca Fort site, 25KX1, and (2) the tribal identity of the Redbird Focus crania. The Ponca Fort site is identified as historic Ponca, but with the probable presence of some Arikara females. The hypothesis that Redbird is antecedent to Ponca is found tenable on the basis of available cranial evidence.     

Craniometric Variation In The Northern And Central Plains

Abstract

Cranial measurements of 13 male and 12 female samples from the Central and Northern Plains region were subjected to canonical analysis. The samples include historic or protohistoric crania that can be ascribed to the Arikara, Mandan, Pawnee, Ponca and Omaha tribes. In addition, two samples belong to the archaeologically defined St. Helena Focus. Both sexes yielded five significant canonical variates, although only four were readily interpretable. The first canonical variate is clearly a Siouan-Caddoan discriminator and reflects variation in cranial vault height. St. Helena sites associate with the Arikara on this axis, supporting previous craniometric analyses which suggest a relationship between these two groups. Subsequent canonical variates deal with more particular aspects of craniometric variation among groups, but are still interpretable in historic or evolutionary terms. The classificatory analysis shows that the Arikara sites are closely related. A major exception to this is the Sully site, which frequently misclassifies with non-Arikara groups. This suggests that the Sully crania have little collective reality; and that there may be non-Arikara components represented at the Sully Site.     

Population Trends Among Present-Day Omaha Indians

Abstract

Data collected in 1972 from three communities in Nebraska, through intensive interviewing of women of childbearing age, are summarized. Rural-urban contrasts in variables related to population growth indicate that Omaha women are having many wanted children (4.5 by age 34). City residents have (and want) families at least as large as those had (and wanted) by reservation residents. Large families are not explained by (a) religious factors; (b) greater desire for children of one sex, i.e. boys, (c) ignorance or disapproval of birth control or (d) rural residence. Explanation appears to lie partly in large-family values derived from an Omaha past laced with disastrous epidemics which struck six times in the 19th century, killing from 50 to 1500 persons or from 5% to 75% of the tribe.     

The Study of Archaeologically Recovered Plant Materials from the Middle Missouri Subarea

Abstract

Archaeologists working in the Middle Missouri have traditionally relied heavily on historic patterns of hunting and gardening in the interpretation of data. This practice is briefly reviewed and related to the traditionally recovered plant remains. Several recent collection of large-seeded Iva and Helianthus are reported. Problems involving the interpretation of the more recent collections are discussed.     

Tradition and Diversity among the Prehistoric Hunters and Gatherers of Southern Texas

Abstract

Archaeological and ethnohistorical research has been greatly accelerated in southern Texas in the past five years. A new body of data obtained through extensive surveys, major excavations and intensified archival studies make possible a more detailed view of the area’s 11 ,000-year record of hunting and gathering lifeways. We can begin to replace the model of a widespread, homogenous prehistoric cultural pattern (and the early historic “Coahuiltecan” stereotype) with’ a more realistic perspective which documents regional and temporal variations. While a hunting and gathering subsistence tradition dominated the development of prehistoric lifeways, there is now substantial evidence of intraregional cultural diversity. Such diversity was the result of both spatially-and temporally-localized resources within the area, arid perhaps of shifting spheres of extra-areal cultural influences. New geomorphological, climatic, and chronometric data also permit us to examine certain aspects of both tradition and diversity within a suitable chronological framework.     

Intraspecific trait variation and reversals of trait strategies across key climate gradients in native Hawaiian plants and non-native invaders

Background and AimsDisplacement of native plant species by non-native invaders may result from differences in their carbon economy, yet little is known regarding how variation in leaf traits influences native–invader dynamics across climate gradients. In Hawaii, one of the most heavily invaded biodiversity hotspots in the world, strong spatial variation in climate results from the complex topography, which underlies variation in traits that probably drives shifts in species interactions.MethodsUsing one of the most comprehensive trait data sets for Hawaii to date (91 species and four islands), we determined the extent and sources of variation (climate, species and species origin) in leaf traits, and used mixed models to examine differences between natives and non-native invasives.Key ResultsWe detected significant differences in trait means, such that invasives were more resource acquisitive than natives over most of the climate gradients. However, we also detected trait convergence and a rank reversal (natives more resource acquisitive than invasives) in a sub-set of conditions. There was significant intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in leaf traits of natives and invasives, although invasives expressed significantly greater ITV than natives in water loss and photosynthesis. Species accounted for more trait variation than did climate for invasives, while the reverse was true for natives. Incorporating this climate-driven trait variation significantly improved the fit of models that compared natives and invasives. Lastly, in invasives, ITV was most strongly explained by spatial heterogeneity in moisture, whereas solar energy explains more ITV in natives.ConclusionsOur results indicate that trait expression and ITV vary significantly between natives and invasives, and that this is mediated by climate. These findings suggest that although natives and invasives are functionally similar at the regional scale, invader success at local scales is contingent on climate.     

Increased hunting effort buffers against vole scarcity in an urban Kestrel Falco tinnunculus population

Capsule In years with low vole abundance birds visited hunting grounds more frequently and for longer.

Aims To describe diet composition, hunting behaviour, habitat choice and reproductive success of urban Kestrels during changing vole abundance.

Methods For five years, we studied the hunting effort of Kestrels in a medium-sized city during the breeding season. Pitfall traps were used for determining vole abundance. Kestrel diet composition was determined from pellet analyses. The number of eggs and offspring was recorded during at least two consecutive visits for each nest and each breeding stage.

Results In contrast to larger European cities, the Common Vole Microtus arvalis was a key part of the Kestrels' diet and did not fluctuate significantly according to vole availability. Reproductive success was quite high and stable throughout years with different vole abundance. In years of low vole abundance, the arrival frequency at hunting grounds and time spent there increased. During years with a low vole population, Kestrels had less hunting success and the rate of successful visits decreased. Therefore, Kestrels probably had to change hunting grounds more frequently. During low vole years Kestrels used less demanding techniques, e.g. perching, despite the lower success of these hunting techniques, to avoid extremely high energetic costs.

Conclusions An increase in hunting helps to maintain a proper diet and consequently reproductive success. Vole abundance did not change dramatically during the study period, as reported by studies from western and northern Europe. The proportion of ruderal habitats on the city periphery is higher than in more monotonous farmland habitats. Ruderal habitats can be important when Kestrels look for mammals other than voles, especially during vole scarcity.     

Multiple regression for molecular-marker,quantitative trait data from large F2 populations

Molecular marker-quantitative trait associations are important for breeders to recognize and understand to allow application in selection. This work was done to provide simple, intuitive explanations of trait-marker regression for large samples from an F₂ and to examine the properties of the regression estimators. Beginning with a(- 1,0,1) coding of marker classes and expected frequencies in the F₂, expected values, variances, and covariances of marker variables were calculated. Simple linear regression and regression of trait values on two markers were computed. The sum of coefficient estimates for the flanking-marker regression is asymptotically unbiased for an included additive effect with complete interference, and is only slightly biased with no interference and moderately close (15 cM) marker spacing. The variance of the sum of regression coefficients is much more stable for small recombination distances than variances of individual coefficients. Multiple regression of trait variables on coded marker variables can be interpreted as the product of the inverse of the marker correlation matrix R and the vector a of simple linear regression estimators for each marker. For no interference, elements of the correlation matrix R can be written as products of correlations between adjacent markers. The inverse of R is displayed and used to illustrate the solution vector. Only markers immediately flanking trait loci are expected to have non-zero values and, with at least two marker loci between each trait locus, the solution vector is expected to be the sum of solutions for each trait locus. Results of this work should allow breeders to test for intervals in which trait loci are located and to better interpret results of the trait-marker regression.     

A Survey Of Paleo-Indian Sites Along the Middle Rio Grande Drainage

Abstract

Sandia Cave is so important to the Paleo-Indian picture that it dominates the “classic” hunting site complex in the middle Rio Grande. As a result there is a tendency to minimize the considerable variety of other “classic” hunting points that have been found in the region, expecially in the Estancia Valley where such pluvial lakes as Lake Estancia and the Galisteo Basin once existed.

In addition 3 sites in the Rio Grande valley exhibit a different cultural horizon associated with the period of extinct fauna. This complex is characterized by lack of projectile points, a dearth of milling stones, and the dominance of crude scrapers, and choppers.     

Declining Orangutan Encounter Rates from Wallace to the Present Suggest the Species Was Once More Abundant

Background

Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) currently occur at low densities and seeing a wild one is a rare event. Compared to present low encounter rates of orangutans, it is striking how many orangutan each day historic collectors like Alfred Russel Wallace were able to shoot continuously over weeks or even months. Does that indicate that some 150 years ago encounter rates with orangutans, or their densities, were higher than now?

Methodology/Principal Findings

We test this hypothesis by quantifying encounter rates obtained from hunting accounts, museum collections, and recent field studies, and analysing whether there is a declining trend over time. Logistic regression analyses of our data support such a decline on Borneo between the mid-19th century and the present. Even when controlled for variation in the size of survey and hunting teams and the durations of expeditions, mean daily encounter rates appear to have declined about 6-fold in areas with little or no forest disturbance.

Conclusions/Significance

This finding has potential consequences for our understanding of orangutans, because it suggests that Bornean orangutans once occurred at higher densities. We explore potential explanations—habitat loss and degradation, hunting, and disease—and conclude that hunting fits the observed patterns best. This suggests that hunting has been underestimated as a key causal factor of orangutan density and distribution, and that species population declines have been more severe than previously estimated based on habitat loss only. Our findings may require us to rethink the biology of orangutans, with much of our ecological understanding possibly being based on field studies of animals living at lower densities than they did historically. Our approach of quantifying species encounter rates from historic data demonstrates that this method can yield valuable information about the ecology and population density of species in the past, providing new insight into species'' conservation needs.     

Theodore H. Lewis and his Northeastern Nebraska “Forts”1

Abstract

The inveterate fieldman and surveyor, T. H. Lewis, visited northeastern Nebraska in his quest for archaeological sites in the fall of 1890. He recorded four earthworks there, only one of which (Ponca Fort, 25KX1) was recorded by later workers. His field maps, published here for the first time, are accompanied by comments on the success the author has had in relocating these earthworks. Only Ponca Fort is clearly identifiable today. One enclosure, near the town of Wynot, may be part of the “Bad Village” of the Omaha; another, near Hartington, has been plowed level and yields no surface remains. The fourth earthwork, near the town of Ponca, cannot be located.     

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     

Origin of the Mckean Complex:Evidence from Timberline

Abstract

The Fourth of July valley site (5BL 120), a singlecomponent hunting camp at timberline in the Colorado Front Range, was occupied approximately 6000 radiocarbon years ago. Projectile points from the occupation area are typologically intermediate between James Allen and McKean Lanceolate points, and between Pryor Stemmed and Duncan points. The age and timberline location of the site, together with the transitional nature of the projectile points, support Husted’s (1968) hypothesis that the McKean complex developed from Plano progenitors in high-mountain Altithermal refuge areas.     

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

ABSTRACT

We studied the echolocation behaviour of Nycticeius cubanus in the field in western Cuba. During hunting, N. cubanus search for insects emitting cries that sweep from 80 to 40 kHz in 4 to 12 ms. Search call characteristics correlate with the clutter structure of the hunting areas. Bats hunting in an uncluttered space broadcast longer and narrower signals, while bats hunting in cluttered space broadcast shorter and broadband signals. Longer calls were emitted with longer intervals while the duty cycle was kept below 15 % during search and approach phases. The call's minimal frequency remained about 43 kHz showing variation coefficients of less than 3%. As a consequence, bandwidth correlates positively with the maximal frequency. Calls emitted by different sympatric individuals are accurately classified by sender using a discriminant function analysis, suggesting vocal signatures in N. cubanus. The statistical analysis of several passes of calls broadcast during the hunting activity of a single individual, demonstrates a high intra-individual plasticity in vocal signatures and points to a dynamic system.