University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2005 Biological, Linguistic, and Cultural Variation among 19th Century Plains Indians Brad Jamison University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Jamison, Brad, "Biological, Linguistic, and Cultural Variation among 19th Century Plains Indians. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2005. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/4547 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Brad Jamison entitled "Biological, Linguistic, and Cultural Variation among 19th Century Plains Indians." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. Michael H. Logan, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Richard Jantz, Hector Qirko Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the GraduateCouncil: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Brad Jamison entitled "Biological, Linguistic, and Cultural Variation among 19th CenturyPlains Indians." I have examined the finalpaper copy of this thesis for formand content and recommend that it be accepted in partialfulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Acceptance forthe Council: CA.� Vice Chance::::� Graduate Studies BIOLOGICAL, LINGUISTIC, AND CULTURAL VARIATION AMONG 19TH CENTURY PLAINS INDIANS A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Brad D. Jamison December 2005 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Dennis Jamison and Diane and Jerry Parker, who have given me life and shown me how to live it, to my sister Ashley, who has made that lifeso much brighter with her great depth of soul, and to my wife Tricia, who has given endless supportand has had the patience of a saint during this whole process. I could not have done it without her. ii Acknowledgements I give my profoundest thanks to all who have made this project possible and have helped me through many unexpected turns along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Michael Logan forintroducing me to and guiding me through the literature of one of anthropology's mostclassic areas of study, the Great Plains region, and fortirelessly editing countless partial drafts. I would like to thank Dr. Richard Jantz for helping me so much with the Boas database as well as giving invaluable statistical advice. I would like to thank Dr. Hector Qirko for giving me a strong groundworkin evolutionary theory and also providing very helpfuleditorial comments. Thanks again to all my family and friends, here and gone, who have helped along the way. 111 Abstract In this study I have examined relationships between biological, linguistic and cultural patternsof variability among 19th CenturyIndian groups of the American Great Plains. Through this research I have sought to address Cavalli-Sforza et al.'s (1994) call for studies regarding cultural and biological correlation and also to partially assess their methodology of equating linguistic relationships with biologically influential, ethnic boundaries. I have constructed biological, linguistic, andcultural distancematrices, based on the Boas database of anthropometric measurements, Ruhlen's(1976) and Campbell's (1997) linguistic taxonomies, and Murdock's (1967) EthnographicAtlas, respectively. Furthermore, I constructed a geographic distance matrix and a social distance matrix, based on ethnohistorical accounts of intergroup relations among the Plains groups. I subjected all matrices to the Mantel test of matrix comparison. There were no significantcorrelations between biological and linguistic, linguistic and cultural, or cultural and biological matrices. Biological relationships correlatedwith geographic distances in one out of fourcases. Social distances correlated variously with biological, linguistic, and cultural distances, with correlations ranging fromweak to moderately strong. These results indicate a considerable break with the assumptions of Cavalli-Sforza et al.' s ( 1994} model of clinal diversification. Furthermore, they indicate thatlinguistic boundaries are not always reliable indicators of ethnicity, inasmuch as ethnicity implies an inherent tendency towardMendelian delineation. iv Table of Contents Chapter Page I. Introduction . ...................................... 1 II. Conceptions of Biological, Linguistic, and Cultural Variation ....................................................... 8 III. The Plains Culture Area: Ecological Constitution, Anthropological Conceptions, and Culture History ............................... 76 IV. Data and Methods ............................................ .135 V. Results ....................................................... 155 VI. Discussion and Conclusion .....................................214 Works Cited ........................................................ 243 Appendices .........................................................265 Vita ................................................................288 V List of Tables Table Page 1 Population Sample Sizes and Weight According to Population Size ........ 144 2 Cultural Categories and Traits ......................................146 3 Diagonals of the R Matrix and Regional Fst: Excluding Cree .............157 4 First Two Eigenvectors of the R Matrix (Scaled by the Square root of their Eigenvalues): Excluding Cree .....................................159 5 Diagonals of the Scaled R Matrix: Excluding Cree ..................... 164 6 First Two Eigenvectors of the Scaled R Matrix (Scaled by the Square Root of their Eigenvalues): Excluding Cree ................................. 166 7 Diagonals of the R Matrix and Regional Fst: Including Cree ............. 170 8 First Two Eigenvectors of the R Matrix (Scaled by the Square Root of their Eigenvalues): Including Cree ...................................... 172 9 Diagonals of the Scaled R Matrix: Including Cree ......................175 10 First Two Eigenvectors of the Scaled R Matrix (Scaled by the Square Root of their Eigenvalues): Including Cree ..................................177 11 Tribal Abbreviations used in Distance Matrices . .. .. .. .. .. .. 181 12 Boas D-Square Matrix: Excluding Cree ..............................182 13 Boas Scaled D Matrix: Excluding Cree .............................. 183 14 Boas D-Square Matrix: Including Cree .............................. 184 15 Boas Scaled D Matrix: Including Cree ..............................185 16 Linguistic Distance Matrix: Based on Ruhlen (1976) ................... 187 17 Linguistic Distance Matrix: Based on Campbell (1997) ................. 188 18 Cultural Distance Matrix: Composite ................................189 19 Cultural Distance Matrix: Kinship and Marriage .......................190 vi 20 Cultural Distance Matrix: Economy and Technology ..............191 21 Cultural Distance Matrix: Subsistence ......................... 192 22 Cultural Distance Matrix: Socio-Political Organization ............ 193 23 Cultural Distance Matrix: Mode of Inheritance ...................194 24 Cultural Distance Matrix: Various Customs .......... ........... 195 25 Geographic Distance Matrix .................................. 196 26 Social Distance Matrix . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .197 27 Mantel Comparisons: Excluding Cree ..........................199 28 Mantel Comparisons: Including Cree ...........................202 vii List of Figures Figure Page 1 Plot of the First Two Scaled Eigenvectors of the R Matrix: Excluding Cree .................................................. 160 2 Plot of the First Two Scaled Eigenvectors of the Scaled R Matrix: Excluding Cree ..................................................167 3 Plot of the First Two Scaled Eigenvectors of the R Matrix: Including Cree .................................................. 173 4 Plot of the First Two Scaled Eigenvectors of the Scaled R Matrix: Including Cree . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 178 5 First Two Eigenvectors of the Mantel Comparisons: Excluding Cree ..................................................205 6 First Two Eigenvectors of the Mantel Comparisons: Including Cree .................................................. 206 viii Chapter I Introduction Anthropologyhas long sought to record and explain human diversity. Why have members of our speciescome to exhibit such striking variations in our biological, linguistic, and cultural composition? An emerging research trend has addressed this question in terms of fissioning populations and their progressive biological, linguistic, and cultural diversification over time and geographic space. L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, and Alberta Piazza have brought a new depth to this endeavor in their pioneering work, The Historyand Geographyof