Spatially mediated cultural transmission and the distribution of horse blanket styles among post-contact and reservation-period tribes of western North America

Abstract

Large elements of anthropology and archaeology study the circulation of ideas through and across communities and the spatial and temporal patterns this produces. Examination of case studies with known particular dynamics are one means by which relevant factors can be examined, and so come to understand the underpinning of patterns that might be observed. Decorated saddle blankets produced and used by Indigenous peoples of western North America during the nineteenth century are used to examine these issues. From the perspective of studying cultural transmission and related factors, these saddle blankets offer much of interest: they vary in form across different ethnolinguistic groups, their outline form has a physical visibility when a rider is observed, yet they are subject to associations of both gender and status that theoretically may have a bearing on their contextual visibility, or be the subject of positive or negative (selective) biases which either promote or impede their adoption by other groups. Results show that the spread of ideas regarding the use of particular blanket styles was geographically mediated. The role of female captive taking and intermarriage among groups is emphasized, especially given that women were the primary users and producers of these blankets. However, specific issues of contextual (social) visibility also come into play in generating the geographic pattern observed. Indeed, the analyses highlight that social factors come into play even prior to the issue of selective biases.