The Plains Culture Area in the Light of Archaeology Author(s): W. D. Strong Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1933), pp. 271- 287 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/662490 Accessed: 01-11-2017 18:49 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms American Anthropological Association, Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Anthropologist This content downloaded from 143.107.46.126 on Wed, 01 Nov 2017 18:49:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE PLAINS CULTURE AREA IN THE LIGHT OF ARCHAEOLOGY By W. D. STRONG C ONSIDERING the emphasis placed on ethnological studies among many tribes of the Great Plains it is surprising that so very little archaeological research has been accomplished in the region. Twenty-odd years ago Wissler pointed out the pressing need for scientific excavation in the central area before modern agriculture destroyed the connection be- tween the historic and the prehistoric period.' Only in the last few years has this highly valuable suggestion received attention. Despite this one- sided approach, however, the Plains area has now practically assumed the r61e of a type specimen in North America. Like all type specimens, it must be reexamined and reevaluated from time to time as new material becomes available. Recent excavations in the heart of the Plains area seem to make such a review profitable. Among the tribes of the Plains two distinct modes of life can be dis- tinguished, the nomadic buffalo hunters on the one hand and the semi- sedentary horticultural tribes on the other. The question arises as to which of these two types was most characteristic of the area in strictly aboriginal times. Wissler has described the hunting tribes as "typical" and the horti- cultural peoples as marginal or atypical.2 It is necessary, however, that the influence of the horse be discounted in reaching any correct estimate of purely native culture patterns in the Plains. In his well-known study, The Influence of the Horse in the Development of Plains Culture,3 Wissler con- cluded that from the qualitative standpoint the culture of the Plains would have been much the same without the horse. At the same time, rather paradoxically it seems to me, he showed that the horse culture inhibited tendencies toward agriculture, pottery, basketry, and fixed habitations. Likewise his study indicated that the advent of the horse reversed cultural values in the area, inasmuch as the earlier dominant sedentary cultures of the Siouan and Caddoan tribes were later overshadowed by the Shoshone and other nomads of their old frontier. It is hard to reconcile these two con- clusions, since the inhibition of such basic cultural factors as agriculture and its associated traits would seemingly affect the quality as well as the quantity of any civilization. Since Wissler pointed out in his earlier work that a distinct turnover in Plains cultural values accompanied the introduction of the horse his sub- 1 Clark Wissler, 1908, p. 201. 2 1920, p. 20, and 1922, pp. 220-221. 31914. 271 This content downloaded from 143.107.46.126 on Wed, 01 Nov 2017 18:49:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 272 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 35, 1933 sequent concentration on the nomadic buffalo-hunting tribes might be ex- plained as due to an interest in the very late horse culture alone. However, his tendency to project the nomadic hunting type of life back into the pre- historic past is clearly indicated in more recent papers. It is especially marked in his characterization of the poverty-stricken "Querechos" of the Coronado narratives as typical Plains dwellers of the sixteenth century, whereas the same documents stress the numerous horticultural and seden- tary peoples of "Quivira and Harahey" to an even greater extent.4 Since the present-day concept of the Plains culture area is largely based upon Wissler's characterization, these apparent contradictions assume consider- able importance. Recently Kroeber has approached the problem of basic Plains culture patterns from the geographic and ethnographic standpoint.5 His brief analysis agrees with Wissler's earlier view that the introduction of the horse reversed cultural values in the region. Kroeber, however, suspects that the tendency of ethnologists to place the focus of Plains culture among the northern hunting tribes is historically conditioned, inasmuch as the ad- vanced southern tribes crumbled first under American contact while the more intact northern tribes received the most complete scientific study. He believes that from two to four centuries prior to American contact the cul- tural focus actually lay south of the Platte and that this may have been true as late as the nineteenth century. The advent of the horse, accompanied by alien white pressure, brought about a dominance of nomadic hunting tribes along the border of the Plains, whereas, it appears to Kroeber, the aboriginal culture of the central regions was probably horticultural and of an attenuated Southeastern type. Since the above questions are primarily archaeological, it may be asked what contribution toward their solution has come from the archaeologist. The prevalent picture of Great Plains archaeology is very dismal. Ac- cording to Wissler, pottery is absent from Plains archeological sites, [and] a general enumeration of the objects found in archeological collections from the heart of the Plains indicates that the tribes of the buffalo country never rose above the cultural level of nomadic hunters.6 It has been characterized as a barren area influenced on all sides by ad- jacent cultures. While pointing out that actual field exploration may change 4 1920, pp. 148-150. Compare Winship, 1896, pp. 527-530, 589-593. 5 A. L. Kroeber, 1928, pp. 394-396. 6 1920, p. 150. This content downloaded from 143.107.46.126 on Wed, 01 Nov 2017 18:49:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms STRONG] PLAINS AND ARCHAEOLOGY 273 this picture, Wissler states that tipi rings, quarry sites, scattered stone alignments, pictographs, and simple bone and stone artifacts seem to typify the whole area, while permanent habitation sites and pottery are generally lacking.' Kroeber suggests that the largely negative results of archaeology in the Plains indicate a very sparse and intermittent population for a long time.8 Thus to the present time the native basis of Plains culture, like the pre- history of the area as a whole, has been approached in terms of ethnological analysis rather than by archaeological research. An unequivocal answer is now possible to the question whether this negative contribution of archaeology is due to any actual nonexistence of historic and prehistoric evidence in the Great Plains. Recent investigation in Nebraska and adjacent states has revealed an impressive amount of archaeological evidence awaiting scientific excavation and publication. As a test case, to suggest what we may confidently expect to learn with really adequate excavation in this larger area, it is proposed briefly to outline the results of recent archaeological research in Nebraska. Since Nebraska is situ- ated in the very heart of the Great Plains it may be of interest to check ethnological theories against archaeological facts in so far as the latter are available at the present time.' For this purpose it becomes essential to correlate the local environments, the historic location of tribes, and the protohistoric and prehistoric cultures so far revealed at this embryonic stage of Nebraska archaeology. This can be done schematically as follows. Extending west from the Missouri river almost to the foothills of the Rockies the territory now included within the state of Nebraska bisects the Great Plains in their central portion. Contrary to popular conception, this central section is surprisingly diverse in topography. From the physio- graphic, and to a considerable extent from the biotic standpoint Nebraska is subdivided into four natural regions. On the east, bordering the Missouri river, is the glacial area of loess-covered bluffs and eastern Woodland con- ditions so far as flora and fauna are concerned. The soil is rich and varied, 7 1922, pp. 271-272. This, incidentally, seems a good characterization of the High Plains region. 8 1928, p. 394. 1 The following material is primarily drawn from two papers, An Introduction to Pawnee Archaeology, by W. R. Wedel, and An Introduction to Nebraska Archaeology, by W. D. Strong, to be published as Bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Material from a third paper, Signal Butte, a Stratified Site in Western Nebraska, now in course of prepara- tion by W. D. Strong and M. E. Kirby, is also included. This content downloaded from 143.107.46.126 on Wed, 01 Nov 2017 18:49:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 274 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 35, 1933 water and fuel are abundant, and the conditions for agriculture excellent. It is at present the most heavily populated portion of Nebraska and its advantages would have appealed to horticulturally minded. Indians as well. To the west is the great central Loess Plain or "tall grass prairie" crossed by such rivers as the Republican, Blue, Platte, and the branches of the TABLE 1.