Structure And Complexity Of Medicine Bundle Systems Of Selected Plains Indian Tribes

Abstract

A general overview of the medicine bundle complex of historic Plains Indians is presented in order to elucidate its systemic components. A working definition of the medicine bundle complex is offered, based on the following criteria: acquisition, purpose. material makeup of the bundle, ritual use, and disposition. The underlying conceptual principle of power transfer is discussed in conjunction with these systemic components.By drawing on selected tribal examples, the structure and complexity of specific tribal manifestations of the medicine bundle complex or system are examined in light of ecological adaptations and organizational complexity. It is suggested that the complexity of tribally-oriented bundle systems within the sample are a function of the level of organizational complexity of the selected tribes. Organizational complexity, in turn, is seen as developing out of certain ecological conditions, augmented by the pre-horse cultural backgrounds of the representative tribes.     

The Gore Pit Site: An Archaic Occupation in Southwestern Oklahoma and a Review Of the Archaic Stage in the Southern Plains

Abstract

The Gore Pit site (34CM131), which is within the city limits of Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, has been revealing evidence of Archaic occupation through excavation and surface collection since 1963. The site is contained in the bottom of a large borrow pit which was sera ped to a depth of 15 to 20 feet by he Highway Department.The pit is on the active flood plain of East Cache Creek and borders the creek a few feet to the east. The artifacts recovered by surface collection include projectile points, scrapers, scraper planes, Clear Fork gouges, andgrinding stones and basins. Three burned rock middens were excavated, one of which yielded radiocarbon dates, 6030 + 300 B.P. (Bastian 1964) and 6145+ 130 B.P. (GX1558). In the spring of 1968, a partially preserved, semiflexed human burial was discovered in the pit. There were no associated artifacts. A radiocarbon date obtained from the apatite fraction of the bone resulted in a determination of 7100+350 B.P. (GX2009). The earliest Archaic on the Southern Plains is presently dated around 6000 B.P. However, there is a paucity of dated and documented sites for the preceding 2000 years. Archaic subsistence patterns occur at least 2000 years earlier in areas to the west and east. The origin and age of the earliest Archaic in the Southern Plains remains undetermined. The Archaic must ultimately be identified on the basis of subsistence patterns and not on the basis of projectile point styles.     

The Great Bend Aspect: A Multivariate Investigation Of Its Origins And Southern Plains Relationships

Abstract

The origins of the Great Bend aspect as well as its relations with a series of southern Plains sites are analyzed using ceramic attributes and multivariate statistics. Although the data is inadequate in certain areas the results suggest that in-situ development from earlier cultural groups is a more likely explanation than is a migration of peoples from the southern Plains.     

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.     

The Giveaway Ceremony Of Blackfoot And Plains Cree

Abstract

The modern giveaway of the Blackfoot and Plains Cree is described and analyzed. It is a twentieth century development of formal ritual from a more diffuse. nineteenth-century social bonding practice. Today It serves to announce Indian ethnic affiliation social networks, and status ranking     

Puerto Rican High Achievers: An Example of Ethnic and Academic Identity Compatibility

Although research finds that members of some involuntary minority ethnic groups tend to develop oppositional identities, Puerto Rican students studied in this research project at an urban high school did not associate school success with "whiteness." These students were academically successful while still maintaining their ethnic identity. They were not accused of acting white, did not mask their academic accomplishments, and did not assume raceless personas. Different conceptualizations of ethnicity, sociohistorical context, and class may account for their maintenance of ethnic identity while achieving success in school.     

The Elcor Burial Cave: An Example Of Public Archaeology From West Texas

Abstract

The discovery of a small sinkhole cave in West Texas led to the recovery of seven human skulls that represent a secondary burial of undetermined age. Radiocarbon dating of two skulls and anthropometric study of the entire sample suggest that the skulls belong to prehistoric indians physically similar to those of the Trans-Pecos about A.D. 900-1100. The study stresses the importance of following up leads from the general public and involving concerned citizens in various forms of public or rescue archaeology     

Ethnic Identification Of An Historic Sac Burial From Northeastern Kansas

Abstract

A partial human skeleton, associated with a number of white manufactured goods, has been excavated on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. It is a male about 20 years of age and about five feet two inches in height. He is identified as a Sac Indian who was interred between 1840 and 1860.     

Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience

Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience. Heard Museum, Phoenix. November 2000-05     

The Evolution of Plains Indian Kin Terminologies:

Abstract

The striking similarity in basic terminological pattern among Plains tribes, and the absence of this pattern elsewhere in North America, is not accounted for by existing general theories of the evolution of kin terminologies. The development of this pattern is explained here in terms of a theory which abandons the assumption that terminological patterns are reflections of social structure. It is argued that the basic process in this development was the tactical or metaphoric extension of sibling terms to cross-cousins as a response to the increased importance of solidarity under the conditions of Plains life, and the subsequent incorporation of this extension into the meanings of the sibling terms. This hypothesis not only accounts for the distribution of terminological patterns in the Plains area, but illuminates the general relationship of kin terminology to social structure.     

The Stylistic Development of Plains Indian Painting And Its Relationship to Ledger Drawings.

Abstract

This paper attempts to trace the stylistic development of Plains Indian figurative hide painting. Beginning with its possible origins in the petrographs and bark drawings of the pre-and early historic Northeast and Southwest it ends with the ledger drawings of the late 19th century. The early (pre 1860) hides are shown to have indicated events through a form ofvisual shorthand in contrast to the detailed refinement of the illustrated scenes on later hides. The ledger drawings include both traditional warfare themes and scenes from reservation life, ending with views of the white world drawn in the white man’s manner. One drawing by Bears Heart, a Cheyenne prisoner in Florida, is examined in some detail and in relationship to the historical, biographical and cultural world in which it was created.     

Places Of Transformation: Building Monuments From Water And Stone In The Neolithic Of The Irish Sea

Using the Irish Sea area as a case-study, we argue that both sites and landscapes can be understood as containing a series of components procured from the landscape and from human, animal, and object bodies. These components were organized in a way that commented on and related to specific cultural relationships between these different locations and through the substances found within them. This idea is explored by examining Neolithic monuments, material culture, and natural materials in southwest Wales, northwest Wales, the Isle of Man, and southwest Scotland. We trace some metaphorical schemes which were integral to Neolithic activity in this part of the Irish Sea. In particular, we highlight the metaphorical connections between water and stone in places associated with transformation, particularly the repeated transformation of human bodies. We suggest that the series of associations present in the Neolithic were not invested with a uniform meaning but, instead, were polyvalent, subject to conflicting interpretations, contextually specific and variable through both space and time. The relationship between these elements was therefore dependent on the contexts of their association. Nevertheless, the association of water and stone can be found repeatedly throughout the Neolithic world and may have been the medium of a powerful trope within broader conceptions of the world. This article is intended as a preliminary consideration of these issues (particularly the links between stone, mountains, water, quartz, shell, and human remains) and is offered as a thinking-point for ongoing research in this area.     

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.