From Band To Tribe On The Plains11

Abstract

Cultural ecologists, such as Steward and Shirnkin, hold that the core features of a culture, namely socio-political systems, are closely related to subsistence activities and economic arrangements which, in turn, are influenced but not ecessarily determined by the natural habitat of the group. A study of the Plains adaptations of the Piegan, Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Cree, and Plains Shoshone throw some doubt on this the sis. The Piegan (and other Blackfoot tribes), Plains Shoshone, and Kiowa share common forms of political organization with other Plains tribes but the Comanche and Plains Cree represent atypical cases in. this regard. The first three tribes developed pan-tribal sodalities while the latter two did not do so. The presence or absence of these pan-tribal sodalities conditioned the extent to which tribal integration occurred in these groups. The subsistence activities of these tribes alone do not account for the weak or strong development of pan-tribal structures. Factors in the total environment of each tribe, or niche, account for these differences. These differences in political organization cannot be attributed solely to differences in subsistence activities nor economic arrangements as they are influenced by the specific natural habitat of each tribe.     

Fort Union Porcellanite And Fused Glass: Distinctive Lithic Materials Of Coal Burn Origin On The Northern Plains

Abstract

Among the most common surface indicators of archaeological sites in south central Montana and northern Wyoming are the grey and red porcellanite flakes resulting from tool making activities. Although one of the major lithic materials used by prehistoric inhabitants of the northern plains region, porcellanite’s identity has remained relatively unknown. Amateur and professional archaeologist alike have loosely referred to this material as “metamorphosed siltstone”, “baked shale”, “Powder River chert”, “grey chert”, “fired brick”, “jasper”, etc. Similarly, fused glass is often misrepresented as obsidian. Because of its unique origin, definablearea of occurrence (the western coal region, the European coal fields, and perhaps other coalbearing areas), and its extensive utilization by the prehistoric populations of the region, porcellanite and fused glass deserve additional attention from archaeologists.     

Notes on the Weasel in Historic Plains Indian Culture

Abstract

One of the smaller mammals of the Creat Plains is the short-legged, slender-bodied, agile and aggressive weasel. The historic Indian tribes of this region did not eat the weasel, but the northern tribes snared these animals in winter to obtain their handsome white pelts. Winter weasel pelts were coveted items in both intratribal and intertribal trade and were used by many tribes to decorate war bonnets, and the finest men’s shirts and leggings. Whole weasels were sometimes tied to shields as war medicine, and some Siouan tribes carv, ed representations of the weasel at the ends of their wooden war clubs. Among the Plains Indians the association of the weasel with warriors’ clothing and weapons appears to have been derived from their recognition of the fighting qualities of the weasel.     

Notes on Chronological Problems on the Northwestern Plains and Adjacent Country

Abstract

A methodology is presented for the analyses of cultural chronologies covering the last 7300 years. With this we can isolate problem areas within the local sequences. No sequence in any of the six subareas discussed here has a chronology that is not marked by one or more significant time gaps in absolute dates over this temporal interval. These breaks include ones during the later Altithermal, during the time period assignable to the McKean Technocomplex, and even more recently. This being the case, no hypothesis which assumes occupational (or population or ethnic) continuity is supportable by refering to the stratigraphic record of the last 7300 years in any of the six subareas.     

Some Wooden Scraper Handles From the Great Plains and The Southwest

Abstract

Adze-shaped scraper handles of antler are well known from the Plains area. Tools of the same pattern, of wood, are less well known and are virtually unmentioned in the literature and the tool in both antler and wood is unmentioned from the Pueblo area. Data on size and distribution of a large group of these objects in wood, from both the Plains and the Pueblo area are presented here, with some discussion of their possible origin.     

Ceramics From the Highwalker Site: a Study of Late Prehistoric Period Cultural Systematics on the Northwestern Plains

Abstract

The Highwalker site is a two component prehistoric encampment located in the Pine Parklands region of southeastern Montana. The Late Prehistoric period occupation represents a briefly used, special purpose site occupied by a Native American group primarily engaged in the final butchering of bison and the processing of its by-products. Two radiocarbon samples date the Late Prehistoric period occupation between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1100. Ceramics recovered from this component shed some light on the debate concerning “Crow Pottery” and Late Prehistoric period cultural systematics. The ceramics represent the earliest known representatives of a localized Powder River Basin pottery tradition which appears to be related to Extended Middle Missouri Tradition ceramics. These nomadic Powder River Basin ceramic-using groups maintained contact with the Middle Missouri village farmers and were influenced by their pottery technology. Later when the ethnographically known Crow moved into the area, the Powder River Basin hunting groups either were amalgamated into Crow society or were driven from the area.     

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.     

Central Neural Systems Subserving a Homoplasous Periphery

Vertebrates display a variety of sensory and motor adaptationsin addition to a set of generalized systems. In some cases functionallyequivalent adaptations have evolved independently in one ormore vertebrate lines. In each case the central nervous system(CNS) is remodeled to accommodate the peripheral change. Infunctionally equivalent, but independently derived, systemsmany of the CNS areas involved are homologous even when theperipheral adaptations are clearly homoplasous. The patternof CNS remodeling reflects two pressures: the need for functionallyequivalent peripheral systems to interface with equivalent centralcontrol centers and the interaction of a peripheral change withprocesses controlling neural development. These developmentalprocesses allow peripheralperturbations to cause changes manysynapses deep within the CNS while at the same time restrictingthe pattern of CNS remodeling.     

From the Crest to the Periphery: Control of Pigment Cell Migration and Lineage Segregation

Pigment cells are one of many cell types derived from the neural crest. This review focuses on the mechanisms that control the timing and pathways of migration of pigment cells into the epidermis and determinants that control the differentiation of pigment cells. Several factors may control the timing and pattern of pigment cell migration in the dorsolateral space including the loss of inhibitory molecules in the pathway, the appearance of chemotactic molecules emanating from the dispersing dermatome, and the differentiation of pigment cells, which may be the only neural crest derivative capable of utilizing the substratum found in the dorsolateral path Control of pigment cell differentiation remains controversial. A working model presented in this review suggests that multipotent neural crest cells that disperse ventrally upon separation from the neural tube preserve neurogenic ability and lose melanogenic ability, whereas those cells that are arrested at the entrance to the dorsolateral path lose neurogenic ability so that the population becomes primarily melanogenic. During the time that the latter population is arrested in migration it is speculated that the neural crest cells are exposed to an environment comprised of specific extracellular matrix molecules and/or growth factors that enhance pigment cell differentiation.     

From Passive Periphery to Active Agents: Emerging Perspectives in the Archaeology of Interregional Interaction

Traditional archaeological approaches to interregional interaction or culture contact have relied on unidirectional, Eurocentric interpretive frameworks such as the world systems and acculturation models. More recently, researchers from diverse fields such as prehistoric archaeology, the archaeology of ancient literate societies, and historical archaeology have begun to develop a new perspective on interregional interaction. Problems with these more traditional approaches to the archaeology of interregional interaction are summarized, and the main elements are outlined for a new research perspective to study culture contact. A set of methods are suggested to translate this theoretical framework into effective field research. Finally, the expansion of Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C. Uruk period is presented as a case study to illustrate some of the ways that models derived from this emerging perspective can be used to better understand interregional interaction in the world's earliest known colonial system. [Keywords: interregional interaction, culture contact, colonies, trade diasporas, Mesopotamia]