The Henry Davis Drum Rite: An Unusual Drum Religion Variant of the Minnesota Ojibwa

Abstract

The Drum religion or Dream dance is basically a variant of the ceremonial Grass dance which has been modified into a religion. Though definitely a revitalization movement, it has no connection with the Ghost dance or “Messiah cult”. The religion is instead accommodative in nature, stressing brotherhood and good will between Indians and Whites. Though presently obsolescent the religion was once practiced by a large number of Midwestern tribes. The Henry Davis drum rite, witnessed in 1963, is a variant of the seasonal drum ceremonies practiced by the Ojibwa at Mille Lacs, Minnesota. It is somewhat unusual, even in terms of the Drum religion, in the large number of Christian elements incorporated into the rite.     

Joe Blackbear’S Story of the Origin Of the Peyote Religion*

Abstract

A folk explanation of certain aspects of peyote ritual and paraphanalia is offered in terms of an origin myth.

There is a story from long ago about the origin of peyote. It goes back to the time the Indians were fighting each other. On the other side of New Mexico, a group of Indians were camped and they were attacked by other bands. The mountains therewereveryhigh. The tribe that was attacked got scattered, There was just one woman and her boy left.     

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.     

Plasma alpha-1-acid glycoprotein as a potential predictive biomarker for non-haematological adverse events of docetaxel in breast cancer patients

Context: Rash and oral mucositis are major non-haematological adverse events (AEs) of docetaxel, in addition to fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, which restrict the use of the drug in cancer therapy. Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AAG) is an acute phase reactant glycoprotein and is a primary carrier of docetaxel in the blood. Docetaxel has extensive binding (>98%) to plasma proteins such as AAG, lipoproteins and albumin.

Objective: To study the association between plasma AAG level and non-haematological AEs of docetaxel in Malaysian breast cancer patients of three major ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians).

Materials and methods: One hundred and twenty Malaysian breast cancer patients receiving docetaxel as single agent chemotherapy were investigated for AAG plasma level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Toxicity assessment was determined using Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events v4.0. The association between AAG and toxicity were then established.

Results: There was interethnic variation of plasma AAG level; it was 182?±?85?mg/dl in Chinese, 237?±?94?mg/dl in Malays and 240?±?83?mg/dl in Indians. It was found that low plasma levels of AAG were significantly associated with oral mucositis and rash.

Conclusions: This study proposes plasma AAG as a potential predictive biomarker of docetaxel non-haematological AEs namely oral mucositis and rash.     

Virginia Deer and the Buffer Zone in the Late Prehistoric-Early Protohistoric Periods In Minnesota

Abstract

Hickerson has proposed the existence of an unoccupied buffer zone in Minnesota and Wisconsin, between the Chippewa and the Dakota, in the period 1780 to 1850. He suggests that the shape and character of the unoccupied region relates to the distribution and density of Virginia Deer populations which became a contested resource.

This paper attempts to statistically test the possibility that an unoccupied buffer zone did exist in Minnesota during the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods from about A. D. 1200 to A. D. 1800, and that site distributions for this period seem to substantiate the existence of such a zone.     

The Identification of the Fall or Rapid Indians

Abstract

An identification of the “Fall” or “Rapid” Indians of southcentral Saskatchewan as Hidatsa is shown to be unlikely; rather, the Fall Indians of the contact period were Algonkianspeaking bison hunters identified as Atsina.     

Indian Boarding Schools And Ethnic Identity: An Example From The Southern Plains Tribes Of Oklahoma

Abstract

In the late 1800s, boarding schools sponsored by the United States government were created for the education and socialization of American Indian youth. These institutions gradually and purposefully pursued a policy of total assimilation of American Indians into the mainstream of society. The boarding schools failed in their ultimate goal to assimilate Indians. Surprisingly, however, they did attain limited acceptance among many Oklahoma Indians. The segregationist policies of the boarding schools are interpreted as having inadvertently perpetuated the formation of an Indian identity. Frequent visiting by family, segregation of Indian from non-Indian students, and symbolic association of the boarding schools with federal government obligations are identified as factors which contributed to the maintenance of this identity.     

Some Materials On The Assimilation Of Oklahoma Indians

Abstract

This article describes, in quite general terms, the current condition of the Indians of Oklahoma, with particular attention given the Cherokee. The author views the system of allotments in severalty and the policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as principal factors underlying the increased rate of assimilation of the Oklahoma tribes. She deals briefly with the Native American Church, and cites this as evidence of a reaction to assimilation on the part of the Indians.     

The Peterson Site (39Lm215) An Earth Lodge Village In The Big Bend Reservoir,South Dakota

Abstract

One circular earth lodge and an interhouse test trench were excavated at the Peterson Site by the Smithsonian Institution, Missouri Basin Projec;t in 1958 prior to the flooding of the area by the Big Bend Reservoir. Surface features indicated that the site was an unfortified village of about 40 lodges. The artifact inventory suggests that the village, which has been tentatively assigned to the Fort Thompson Focus, was probably occupied during the mid-18th century.     

Adoption Practices of The Blood Indians of Alberta,Canada

Abstract

Adoption is practiced in many parts of the world, but its mechanics are rarely spelled out in detail. The following paper is an effort to correct this lack for the Blood (Blackfoot) Indians living in Alberta in 1939. The introduction of a money economy and life on a reservation brought about certain modifications, but at the time this investigation was made “the Indians themselves” said adoption was “frequent in former times.” There is reason to believe that the motives for adoption and the varying attitudes of those who adopt and of those who are adopted have not changed radically through the years. Many parallels in adoption are apparent, not only in other Blackfoot tribes, but also in such North American Indian groups as the Crow, Omaha, Winnebago and Ojibwa.     

A Bird Motif On A Mississippian Pot From The Bryan Site

Abstract

Sections of a large Mississippian pot with unusual bird designs were recovered at the Bryan site in Minnesota. The bird motifs (thunderbird or hawk) are outlined on the side of the pot by trailed lines and punctates. The designs represent a ceramic style not previously known at the Bryan site or at other sites in Minnesota. The author solicits suggestions about this find and information about ceramics with similar decoration.     

Early Woodland in Minnesota

Abstract

A pottery type characterized by a cord-roughened surface, punctates and bosses, and incised line decoration from three sites in southwestern Minnesota is typologically similar to Early Woodland pottery from stratified sites in Illinois (Black Sand Incised) and Wisconsin (Dane Incised). Pending further investigations, the indications are that the Minnesota materials are also Early Woodland and that this may be a fairly widely distributed pottery type.     

Salvage Archaeology at a Site Near Fort Thompson. South Dakota

Abstract

Construction of dams and reservoirs along the Missouri River has resulted in an accelerated program of archaeological field-work. Many sites have been surveyed, numerous others tested, and a lesser number extensively excavated. Surveys and test excavations will add to previously gathered data in terms of the geographical distribution of diagnostic artifacts, speculative routes of migration and cultural diffusion. The minutiae from the tested sites may offer reasons for the re-evaluation of established concepts or they may strengthen current archaeological interpretations.

The Farm School site, reported here, received limited tests. The artifact inventory suggests the presence of 2 ceramic components and contributes to information regarding the Fort Thompson and Campbell Creek foci in South Dakota.     

Hemoglobin variant found in Koreans, Chinese, and North American Indians: alpha-2 beta-2 22 Glu Ala

Hemoglobin G Taegu, an electrophoretically slow hemoglobin variant found in four among 6700 apparently normal Korean subjects, has been shown to have a structural anomaly at position 22 of the beta-chain where an alanyl residue occurs in place of the glutamyl group normally found at that position in Hemoglobin A. The same structural anomaly initially was established by other workers in slow hemoglobin variants occurring in North American Indians and more recently has been reported in a Northern Chinese subject. The identical hemoglobins in the three ethnic groups are Hemoglobins G Coushatta, found in several Alabama-Coushatta Indians in Tex.; G Saskatoon, seen in a few descendants of Santee Indians currently living in Canada; G Hsin-Chu, in a Chinese from the northern province of Liaoning and currently living in Taiwan; and G Taegu in Koreans. It is assumed that the Chinese and Korean subjects have the same hemoglobin variant because of gene flow. No similar assumption connecting these two groups with the North American Indian subjects is considered warranted with the presently limited available information.     

Arrests,Alcohol, and Alcohol Legalization Among an American Indian Tribe

Abstract

In the entire history of the contact between American Indians and Western culture, alcohol has been a source of friction and controversy. This paper attempts to define the contemporary and historical relationship between alcohol, arrests and the Indians of a large tribe on the Great Plains. The situation on and off the Reservation is explored during periods of prohibition and also during one short legalization period. Some questions are raised regarding the relationships between Native American drinking patterns and the unique legal status which alcohol has had in relation to most tribal groups.     

The Ideal Personality Form Seen in Ten Animal Tales of the Salish Flathead Indians of Montana

Abstract

The author uses a projective psychological analysis of ten Salish Flathead animal tales to try to develop information on the pre-white Salish conceptions of aggression, achievement, nature, time, the supernatural, and approved social orientations. As developed in the tales, Salish ideal psychological traits are similar to those previously found among present-day Salish and Sioux Indians.     

Selection intensity in the Pahiras

Quantitative Genetic Variation: Edited by James N. Thompson, Jr., and J. M. Thoday. Academic Press, New York, 1979. $19.50

Sociobiology examined: Edited by Ashley Montagu. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1980. $19.95, cloth; $5.45, paper.

The biology of aging: Edited by John A. Behnke, Caleb E. Finch, and Gairdner B. Moment. Plenum Press, New York, 1978. $18.95     

Origin of the Peyote Religion in The United States

Abstract

Peyotism in the United States was dependent upon the Peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii, which has a very limited distribution along the lower Rio Grande River, centered around Laredo, Texas. The Lipan Apache Indians in the vicinity of Laredo,,1760to 1850’s, learned of the properties of Peyote and the ritual for its use from Coahuiltecan-speaking Carrizo and Tonkawa and in turn taught Peyotism to the Comanche and Kiowa.     

An Alternative Hypothesis For The Origin of the Name Blackfoot

Abstract

Recent ethnographic work with Cree informants supports the hypothesis that the original Cree. term for “Blackfoot” Indians referred to animal (perhaps horse’s) hooves rather than to artificially blackened feet or moccasins.     

Decorative Motifs On Great Oasis Pottery

Abstract

Decorative design motifs on Great Oasis Incised rim sherds from the Great Oasis site in Minnesota are illustrated and described. The usefulness of using decorative modes in ceramic comparisons with pottery of the Over focus is suggested.