The Glendo Skeleton And Its Meaning In Light Of Post-Contact Racial Dynamics In The Great Plains

Abstract

A protohistoric burial from the Glendo Site in eastern Wyoming produced a nearly complete human skeleton of a young adult female. Osteological analysis of the specimen reveals predominantly Caucasoid physical characteristics. A skeleton exhibiting such an anatomical pattern, and coming from a grave clearly exhibiting Plains.lndian cultural affinities, raises interesting but somewhat difficult questions for interpretation.     

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.     

Demography And Disease Patterns In A Protohistoric Plains Group: A Study ofthe Mobridge Site (39WW1)

Abstract

Epidemic disease has often been cited as the major factor causing historic depopulation of Native American groups. Because a range of infectious diseases introduced by Europeans struck different tribes at different times, the effects of these diseases or the outbreak of epidemics were not uniform for all groups. The Arikara of the American Plains wereamong the last North American Indian groups to experience direct contact with Europeans. However, indirect contact with introduced infectious diseases may have reduced these Plains protohistoric groups prior to established relations with Europeans. Historic depopulation of the Arikara and a demographic study of the skeletal remains from the Mobridge site (39WW1 l are the focus of this case study of the protohistoric population dynamics of a Native American group. Disease patterns are used in the demographic analysis to aid in the interpretation of observed mortality patterns. Evaluation of the skeletal remains from the Mobridge Site includes life table reconstruction and differential diagnosis of skeletal pathology complexes. Results of these analyses show that certain underlying disease processes evident skeletally correspond to deviations in the age distribution. Thus; the protohistoric mortality patterns of Mobridge appear to reflect the early stages of impact from introduced diseases.     

An Analaysis Of Obsidian Debit Age And Protohistoric Exchange Systems In The Southern Plains As Viewed From The Edwards I Site (34BK2)

Abstract

Obsidian is the third most abundant lithic material in the protohistoric assemblage from the Edwards I (34Bk2)site in southwest Oklahoma. Chemical analysis of this material has identified the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico and the San Francisco Mountains in northern Arizona as the primary and secondary sources, respectivel.

These materials as well as various pottery types and other goods were probably obtained through the pueblos o Pecos and Picuris. Because more specific information concerning this protohistoric exchange system may be linke with specific obsidian source localities in the Jemez Mountains, some of the more important elements for charac erizing this source system are presented. Iron (Fe), cerium (Ce), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), yttrium (Y). an possibly rubidium (Rb) may be the most useful for defining specific source localities in this system. Rather the using absolute concentrations to define these localities, we advocate the use of ratios. In addition, future studies of the Jemez Mountains obsidian sources must utilize a regional approach to better characterize the different localities.     

An Initial Study of Blade Technology on the Central and Southern Texas Coast

Abstract

Evidence of a late prehistoric and protohistoric blade technology has been found at a number of sites on the central and southern Texas coast. Blades and cores from two major sites, Kirchmeyer and Indian Island, are described in detail. Wear pattern analyses of the materials indicate that laterally-trimmed blades functioned as cutting tools or knives. Methods used in blade production are examined, and the possible causes for the development of the blade technology are explored.     

Beyond nature: The management of a productive cultural landscape in Las Médulas area (El Bierzo,León,Spain) during pre-Roman and Roman times

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of plant remains (seeds/fruits, charcoal, pollen, spores, and non-pollen palynomorphs) from two archaeological sites (pre-Roman and Roman) located in Las Médulas, a cultural landscape, in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The article explores the way the communities living in the area managed their environment and the impact of productive activities on the landscape. This research has shown the multiplicity of needs this landscape satisfied and the various ways these communities managed the surrounding environment through different productive activities (agriculture, animal husbandry, and mining amongst others).     

The Middle Missouri Tradition: the Late Stage

Abstract

Two prehistoric complexes in the northern part of the Middle Missouri area, the Thomas Riggs and Huff Foci, comprise the late stage of the Middle Missouri Tradition. Although transitional sites are as yet lacking, this late stage is regarded as an outgrowth of the early stages of the same tradition, localized further south along the Missouri River in South Dakota. The Huff Focus postdates the Thomas Riggs Focus and is a direct outgrowth of Thomas Riggs, both foci being assigned to the Fire Heart Aspect. This aspect is the prehistoric antecedent for the Heart River Focus, the protohistoric express ion of Historic Mandan culture. Brief comments are offeredon the history, or1g1ns, distribution, characteristics, dating, and relationships of the Thomas Riggs and Huff Foci.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pteris exigua</Emphasis> (Pteridaceae), a new endemic species from Tucumano-Boliviano forests in northwestern Argentina

Pteris exigua, an endemic species from the Tucumano-Boliviano forests, northwestern Argentina, is described and distinguished from similar species of Pteris that occur in this region.     

A Cache Of Scrapers Near Crow Butte,Nebraska

Abstract

A cache of scrapers and other, possibly associated artifacts found near Crow Butte in northwestern Nebraska is of undetermined affiliation but probably can be placed in the pre-ceramic period.     

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.     

Cyathea bettinae (cyatheaceae), a new tree fern from Bolivia

A new species of Cyatheaceae is described and illustrated:Cyathea bettinae. It is a small tree fern from the mountain forest of northwestern Bolivia.     

Plant Remains From a Woodland Storage Pit,Boney Spring,Missouri

Abstract

An Early Woodland storage pit, dated at 1920±50 BP, was found in the peat layer surrounding the spring feeder at Boney Spring, Benton County, western Missouri, in association with a burial and other cultural material. The pit contents were unusually well preserved, apparently because of the saturated condition of the spring deposits. Materials from the pit were compared with plant remains from a control block removed from the surrounding contemporary peat layer. The pit contained masses of white oak and bur oak acorns, numerous shagbark hickory nuts, and seven species of autumnal seeds, i ncl udi ng squash (Cucurbita pepo), giant ragweed, poke berry, wild pi um, elderberry, cocklebur, and black haw which did not occur in the control block and which indicate the contents were placed in the pit during the fall.     

Cultural Ecology and Ecological Dynamics of the Ceramic Period in Southwestern Manitoba

Abstract

A new research paradigm—the Co-Influence Sphere Model—is developed and applied to the archaeological record to account for the variability in prehistoric ceramics of Southwestern Manitoba. The Co-Influence Sphere Model emphasis the co-existence, interaction, and territorial overlapping of groups in the prehistoric and early historic periods

The model requires an evaluation of the seasonally fluctuating resource potential across the Plains, ‘Aspen Parkland, and Boreal Forest; the mobility and multiple biome utilization of historic groups; and the interaction of historic groups through formalized trade networks, conflict, and sharing of similar resources. The earlier emphasis on chronology and mutually exclusive home territories of historic groups is replaced by a more realistic and dynamic model of groups with core, secondary, and tertiary subsistencesettlement areas in which groups interact to varying degrees

For Southwestern Manitoba, the earlier Chronological Model (with one identifiable phase and one historic tribe per period and area) is replaced by a complicated record of four complexes during the Middle Woodland Stage, nine complexes during the Late Woodland Stage, and possibly 15 different ethnic groups in the protohistoric and early historic periods Furthermore, there is a shift in interrelationships between territorially overlapping occupants from the Boreal Forest and Plains with the advent of the Late Woodland Stage that is accompanied by the development of horticultural villages, the growth and fission of human populations, and symbiotic relationships between horticulturalists and hunters.

Use of the dynamic Co-Influence Sphere Model requires a shift away from defining complexes and seeking causal relationships or processes within a small research region. The environmental limitations, cultural history, and cultural processes of any region, and particularly a region like Southwestern Manitoba (which partly straddles an ecotone) can be determined only by an exhaustive study of fluctuating resources, ethnohistory, archaeological history, and variation in subsistence-settlement patterns beyond the region. In order to apply the Co-Influence Sphere Model to Southwestern Manitoba, local data have been related to developments in the Boreal Forest, Upper Great Lakes, Upper Mississippi, and Northern Plains. Relationships are determined by assessing regions and areas beyond the local research universe, rather than attempting to discover processes on the basis of limited local data.     

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.     

First report of the rare tooth fungus Hericium erinaceus in North African temperate forests

Abstract

The rare fungus Hericium erinaceus (Bull.) Pers. was collected from temperate forests in northwestern Tunisia and described for the first time in Africa. In this paper, we report data about the distribution, ecology, morphology and molecular identification of H. erinaceus. Collected data may help expand our knowledge on this critically endangered rare species worldwide.     

Aboriginal Use of Tongue River Silica in Northwest Iowa

Abstract

One of the raw materials available to prehistoric peoples _of northwestern Iowa is known as Tongue R1ver S1hca. Although the original source of the rock is the Fort Union formation (Paleocene) of the Dakotas, these resistant materials occur commonly in downstream alluvial deposits and along the Missouri River system where they were collected locally in northwestern Iowa for over 7000 years. This paper deals with the recognition of these redeposited Tongue River materials, their archaeological distribution in time and space, a consideration of the most workable color phase resulting from thermal pretreatment, and a general analysis of the types of chipped stone tools most frequently produced.     

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.     

A new species of Eretmophyllum (Ginkgoales) from the Middle Jurassic of Turpan-Hami Basin,Xinjiang, China

A few specimens previously assigned to Eretmophyllum, based on the gross leaf morphology, lack cuticular structures. In this paper, we describe a new species of Eretmophyllum from the Middle Jurassic Xishanyao Formation in the Turpan-Hami Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwestern China, based on fossil leaves preserved as compressions, and characterized by paddle shapes with conspicuous petioles, retuse apices, entire margins and two veins dichotomously branched from near the base. Leaf amphistomatic, the cuticles are composed of stomatal and non-stomatal bands. Based on a detailed comparison of the gross morphology and cuticular structures with previously reported fossils, Eretmophyllum hamiensis n. sp. is erected. The presence of Eretmophyllum indicates that Middle Jurassic climate in the Turpan-Hami Basin was likely warm and humid. On the basis of the geological history and geographical distributions of Eretmophyllum, we conclude that the genus probably originated in Europe and migrated from Siberia to northwestern China during the Middle Jurassic.     

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.     

Grias longirachis (Lecythidaceae), a new species from northwestern Ecuador

A new species,Grias longirachis S. A. Mori & J. L. Clark, with enclosed calyx in bud and unusually long inflorescence rachises, is described based on collections from northwestern Ecuador. A key to the species ofGrias is provided.