Native American Sites Research Articles

Kolomoki: settlement, ceremony, and status in the Deep South, A.D. 350 to 750

Kolomoki - one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the southeastern United States - includes at least nine large earthen mounds in the lower Chattahoochee River valley of southwest Georgia. The largest, Mound A, rises approximately 20 meters above the terrace that borders it. From its flat-topped summit, a visitor can survey the string of smaller mounds that form an arc to the south and west. Archaeological research had previously placed Kolomoki within the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1000-1500) primarily because of the size and form of the mounds. But this book presents data for the main period of occupation and mound construction that confirm an earlier date, in the Woodland period (ca. A.D. 350-750). Even though the long-standing confusion over Kolomoki's dating has now been settled, questions remain regarding the lifeways of its inhabitants. Thomas Pluckhahn's research has recovered evidence concerning the level of site occupation and the house styles and daily lives of its dwellers. He presents here a new, revised history of Kolomoki from its founding to its eventual abandonment, with particular attention to the economy and ceremony at the settlement. This study makes an important contribution to the understanding of middle range societies, particularly the manner in which ceremony could both level and accentuate status differentiation within them. It provides a readable overview of one of the most important - but historically least understood - prehistoric Native American sites in the United States.

Coccidioidomycosis among workers at an archeological site, northeastern Utah.

In 2001, an outbreak of acute respiratory disease occurred among persons working at a Native American archeological site at Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah. Epidemiologic and environmental investigations were undertaken to determine the cause of the outbreak. A clinical case was defined by the presence of at least two of the following symptoms: self-reported fever, shortness of breath, or cough. Ten workers met the clinical case definition; 9 had serologic confirmation of coccidioidomycosis, and 8 were hospitalized. All 10 were present during sifting of dirt through screens on June 19; symptoms began 9–12 days later (median 10). Coccidioidomycosis also developed in a worker at the site in September 2001. A serosurvey among 40 other Dinosaur National Monument workers did not find serologic evidence of recent infection. This outbreak documents a new endemic focus of coccidioidomycosis, extending northward its known geographic distribution in Utah by approximately 200 miles.

Perspectives on the Use of European Material Culture at Two Mid-To-Late 17th-Century Native American Sites in the Chesapeake

This article examines the assemblages of two Contact period Native American sites: Posey (c. 1650-1700) and Camden (c. 1680-1710). While the collections from these two sites share many similarities, their analysis revealed that occupants of the Posey site had far greater proportions of European material goods than their counterparts at the Camden site. The amount of European artifacts at each site was scant at best, but Posey residents used European artifacts as commodities for trade while Camden inhabitants possessed a number of formal European tools, suggesting that they were more directly integrated into daily activities.

Recent advances in airborne survey technology yield performance approaching ground-based surveys

Airborne magnetic and electromagnetic systems have been very effective over the years for mineral prospecting and in support of petroleum exploration. More recently, these towed-bird systems, operating at sensor altitudes of 30–50 m, have supported environmental investigations. The towed-bird systems can provide regional data for site investigations, such as locating or delimiting the boundaries of waste areas, identifying geologic contacts that influence environmental issues, or mapping saline intrusion. However, these conventional systems cannot provide the resolution required in many environmental and engineering problems because the distance between sensors and target objects is too great. Ground-based surveys are often suitable for addressing these problems but, for many sites, the area can be too large to be expediently addressed with surface geophysics. Contamination of government land with unexploded ordnance (UXO) is one such large-scale problem. As military bases are being closed and returned to civilian use, the removal of UXO has become a critical problem. By one estimate, about 11 million acres within the United States, roughly the sum of the areas of the states of New Hampshire and Vermont, are contaminated with UXO. This includes Department of Defense (DOD) sites, Department of Energy (DOE) sites, Native American sites, and National Park lands. At some DOD sites, large areas are currently off limits for training pending removal of UXO. In other parts of the world, UXO threatens people's lives every day. In the 1990s, two coauthors of this article, Holladay and Gamey, began to address the UXO problem while working at Aerodat in Toronto. They devised a three-magnetometer system, the HM-3, in which the sensors were mounted in booms attached directly to the helicopter. This architecture provided an opportunity for the pilot to safely fly much closer to the surface. During subsequent joint projects with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers, both …

The Black Rock Desert

Review: The Black Rock Desert By William Fox and Mark Klett Reviewed by Agah Uguz Uludag University, Turkey William Fox; photographs by Klett Mark. The Black Rock Desert. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2002. 77 pp. ISBN: 0-8165-2172-7 (paperback). $US13.95. Acid-free paper. When I first started reading this book I had a feeling that William Fox could have been a poet. Than, I made an investigation about the author and found out, not surprisingly, that he had written more than a dozen books on poetry. His poetic nature is quite obvious in this book. Although it is not a poetry book, The Black Rock Desert was written in a lyrical language. Mark Klett, who is one of the eminent photographers in America, has been photographing the West for many years. This book is the collaboration of the duo; their first book, View Finder, was published in 2001. The book begins with a preface that tells you how a photographer and a writer work together. The titles of the succeeding chapters are as follows: circumference, detritus, speed, panorama, surface, mirage, sky and circumference (once again). I quite like the way Fox describes the playa: the playa resembled nothing so much as a jigsaw puzzle fit together with impossible precision (I told you that he was a poet). There are exactly sixteen black and white photographs in the book and they are really aesthetic. However, one should not expect much from a 15 cm × 18 cm format book only 77 pages long. I am a bit disappointed and so will you be. This northern Nevada area, including the High Rock Canyon, has archaeological, paleontological, and geographical resources and includes many prehistoric and historic Native American sites and also mammoth sites. You will not find much about geography or history about this region in this book. It is not a travel guide either. The book is more like Fox's memoirs of the Black Rock Desert. It is just a peaceful bedtime book (at least it was for me). Fox and Klett wanted to have a nice time by making a short trip in the Black Rock Desert and afterward decided to write a book about their trip. And there it is... Agah Uguz , Ph. D., Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Uludaga University Distric Gorukle, City, 16059 Bursa, Turkey.

Dendrochronological Investigation of Disturbance History for a Native American Site in Northwestern Pennsylvania

RUFFNER, CHARLES M. AND MARC D. ABRAMS (School of Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802). Dendrochronological investigation of disturbance history for a native American site in Northwestern Pennsylvania. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 129: 251-260. 2002.-Dendrochronological methods were used to identify the disturbance history of a Late Woodland Seneca Iroqouis settlement in northwestern Pennsylvania. The impacts of aboriginal disturbance on the landscape are widely speculative and few studies have attempted to characterize these disturbances. Increment cores taken from a 426 year old white oak forest remnant yielded information on the disturbance regime on this site during Native American (Late Woodland 1550-1700; Historic 1700-1800) and European (post 1800) settlement periods. Disturbances during the early and late native periods were more synchronous and of lower intensity (increase in growth rate) with a disturbance free interval (DFI) of 26.2 ? 4.0 years and 11.0 ? 0.7 years (mean ? SE), respectively. The shorter return interval during the later native period is attributed to the increased population pressure at this site due to immigration of natives in the face of European expansion from the eastern seaboard. The disturbance regime following European settlement is significantly longer with a DFI of 28.5 ? 2.8 years, representing the selective removal of merchantable timber for the sawmill located at the site. Although investigated, no climatic variables showed significant correlation with tree growth to explain these patterns. This study represents a rare opportunity to document the changes in disturbance regime between two drastically different cultures and land uses.

Pipestone argillite artifacts from old mobile and environs

Four different mineralogical varieties of pipestone have been recognized among 51 analyzed artifacts recovered from the Old Mobile site (1MB94) and from a contemporary, adjacent Native American site (1MB 147). X-ray powder diffractometry permits 11 specimens to be recognized as mineralogically simple Kansas pipestone and 35 specimens as mineralogically complex catlinite pipestone. It is possible to designate the specific original provenances (i.e., geologic sources) of the two types of pipestone, neither of which can be distinguished on the basis of diagnostic visual attributes in hand specimen. The Old Mobile site also yielded four examples of a very soft, grayish-red, easily carvable material interpreted as an unusual variety of catlinite, largely composed of poorly-crystallized talc, a raw material that has not been recognized previously in catlinite pipestone. A single pipe fragment from Old Mobile is composed of pale grayish-green “pipestone,” a well-crystallized, iron-rich chlorite of undetermined origin. Ten specimens from the contemporaneous Upper Creek Indian site of Fusihatchee (1EE191) consist of essentially identical chlorite, except that one also contains a minor amount of moderately well-crystallized talc.

Eighteenth-century glass beads in the french colonial trade

French colonial sites and French contact Native American sites in the Louisiana colony are considered in an attempt to further refine bead chronology. Research is almost to the point where bead introductions can be assigned to particular decades. Such tight dating is one of the ultimate goals of bead chronology. If this goal is reached, we can date undocumented contact period sites, or perhaps even individual features on sites of long occupation.

Strong in Body and Spirit

To determine the effects of a culturally appropriate diabetes lifestyle intervention for Native Americans on risk factors for complications of diabetes. A nonrandomized, community-based diabetes intervention trial was conducted in three Native American sites in New Mexico from 1993-1997. Participants were assigned to intervention or control based on community of residence. Intervention sessions were held approximately 6 weeks apart over approximately 10 months. The intervention was delivered in site A in family and friends (FF) groups (n = 32); site B received the same intervention in one-on-one (OO) appointments (n = 39); and site C received usual medical care (UC) (n = 33) (total participants, n = 104). Primary change in HbA(1c) level was assessed at 1 year. Adjusted mean change in HbA(1c) value varied significantly across the three arms at 1 year (P = 0.05). The UC arm showed a statistically significant increase in adjusted mean HbA(1c) change (1.2%, P = 0.001), whereas both intervention arms showed a small nonsignificant (P > 0.05) increase in the adjusted mean change (0.5% and 0.2% for FF and OO arms, respectively). The increase was statistically significantly smaller in the combined intervention arms (0.4%) compared with the UC arm (1.2%, P = 0.02). Lifestyle intervention has the potential to substantially reduce microvascular complications, mortality, and health care utilization and costs if the change is sustained over time.

Mississippian Towns and Sacred Spaces: Searching for an Architectural Grammar

Architecture is the most visible physical manifestation of human culture. The built environment envelops our lives and projects our distinctive regional and ethnic identities to the world around us. Archaeology and architecture find common theoretical ground in their perspectives on the homes, spaces, and communities that people create for themselves. In this volume, prominent archaeologists examine the architectural design spaces of Mississippian towns and mound centers of the eastern United States. The diverse Mississippian societies, which existed between A.D. 900 and 1700, created some of the largest and most complex Native American archaeological sites in the United States. The dominant architectural feature shared by these communities was one or more large plazas, each of which was often flanked by buildings set on platform mounds.

Evidence of probable scurvy in subadults from archeological sites in North America.

The authors surveyed subadult human skeletons from Native American archeological sites in the United States for evidence of skeletal lesions associated with scurvy. Geographic regions surveyed include the Midatlantic area, the Southeast (Florida), the Southwest, and the Plains. The prevalence of probable subadult scurvy ranged from zero in the Plains samples to 38% in a small sample from Florida. These data indicate the likelihood that scurvy was a significant childhood disease in many Native American groups. Reasons for variation in prevalence remain speculative but include regional and seasonal variation in food types and abundance, cultural patterns of storage and utilization, periodic food shortages, and the relative importance of corn in the diet. These factors are part of a nutritional complex that is related to disease prevalence which can be studied through evidence seen in archeological human remains.

More Help from Online Resources Around the World

As a follow up to the March Question of the Month that discussed Internet access and AWWA's website, this article describes several other sites that give information on regulatory updates, changes in treatment technologies, and educational opportunities. They are also broken down into geographic areas such as the United States, Native American sites, Canadian sites, and international sites.

Chiefly power and food storage in southeastern North America

Recent research on late prehistoric and early historic Native American sites in southeastern North America reveals a series of changes in the nature of food storage activities. These alterations are related to changes in sociopolitical complexity and household organization, and shed light on the importance of storage in the emergence and collapse of complex, hierarchically‐ranked societies in this region. It is argued that the ability of elites to control surplus foods and communal storage facilities played a major role in the emergence of chiefdoms in southeastern North America (c. AD 1000), and that the return of primary food storage to individual households during the Protohistoric and Historic periods (AD 1550–1750) played an important part in their collapse.

"Land Is Itself a Sacred, Living Being": Native American Sacred Site Protection on Federal Public Lands Amidst the Shadows of Bear Lodge

"Land Is Itself a Sacred, Living Being": Native American Sacred Site Protection on Federal Public Lands Amidst the Shadows of Bear Lodge

Asking More than Where: Developing a Site Contextual Model Based on Reconstructing past Environments

Contract archaeology accounts for the majority of archaeological studies conducted in Vermont. As these studies serve the development community, the focus of investigation has been to identify and avoid sites, not to research and evaluate the information they contain. Native-American site locational models have limited application because they are based primarily on the landforms' proximity to water. The Archaeology Consulting Team is developing a contextual model based on reconstructing the pre-European settlement environment. Hypotheses comparing expected size and function of Native-American sites in different environments can be posed at the Phase I level of archaeological studies. Furthermore, with Phase I level data, these hypotheses can provide the framework for research designs at Phase II and III levels of archaeological study.

The Hollywood Indian: Still On A Scholarly Frontier?

Film & History, Vol. XXIII, No's. 1-4, 19931 The Hollywood Indian: Still On A Scholarly Frontier? Peter C. Rollins The quincentenary of Columbus in 1992 set into motion a reconsideration of the place of the Native American in our historical memory. A recent eruption of interest (and controversy) has focused on a proposed Disney Historical Theme Park in Haymarket Virginia. A local newspaper for Manassas, Virginia, speculated on how the Native American might be included in a controversial Disney version of history. In doing so, he gave ample evidence of the distance Americans still need to travel along the path of understanding : The theme park concept probably never penetrated the thick skulls or shadowy minds of the prehistoric men who once dragged their knuckles across what is now present-day Haymarket. Certainly, no caveman ever grunted Disney. According to some local historians, the Walt Disney Co. regards the legacy of those primal progenitors with equal indifference. The local writer ridiculed the notion that Disney might consider the Native American site as important. Within the context of discussion of the park by cultural experts, this kind of troglodytic attitude received ardent condemnation; indeed, the electronic bulletin board of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association (H-PCAACA at H-PCAACA@uicvm.uic.edu) lit up. Wilkie Leith, a student at George Mason University, found it difficult to curb her anger and asked for confirmation from the list: My intention here is to see if others find this issue outrageous. I will fax the entire article to anyone wishing to read it. In the meantime, is anyone interested in a full-scale protest against both the paper and Disney? Or am I just—overreacting? At the opposite extreme of the spectrum of attitudes toward Native Americans is the kind of project being advertised by Readers Digest in a mailing of August, 1994. While promoting a "FIVE MILLION DOLLAR GRAND PRIZE" in a special sweepstakes, the powerful media giant on Readers Digest Road offered a volume entitled "Through Indian Eyes." No author, editor, or creator was cited in connection with the book offer. Instead, the brochure promised the following cornucopia of romanticism: As you will see, it is a bittersweet story filled to the brimming with a love of nature and the land... The Indian sees time not as an elusive river that flows Peter C. Rollins is Regents Professor of English and American/Film Studies at Oklahoma State University 2 Rollins / Introduction relentlessly in one direction, but as a deep and eternal lake on which past and present mingle. . . .What was it like riding with Plains hunters in pursuit of buffalo? Watching the coming of the Iron Horse and the pandemonium of the Gold Rush? Fighting the good battle, answering the call of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo? And what must it have been like to dream the lost dream of a land before the strangers came? Here empathy for a lost cause spills over into sentimentality and revives most of the romantic notions of a "passing West." (Students of American history will remember that this kind of romanticism was once directed against Native Americans. Indeed, Andrew Jackson used just such a portrait to justify his "Trail of Tears" approach to preserving Adamic Native Americans from the "infection" of civilization.) While contemporary ignorance and stereotypes in popular culture certainly deserve condemnation, those of us who study the legacy of visual media need to go further down the trail. And the trail leads west to Los Angeles where the Hollywood Indian was molded into a commodity to draw audiences. This collection of essays attempts to examine Hollywood's commercial image, what we call "the Hollywood Indian" — its construction, its aesthetics, its major productions, and its impact. We asked Ted Jojola, Director of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) , to survey very recent cinematic productions and to give us his impressions. He reports that the Native American community is disappointed with the meager attempts to portray life as actually lived by his people. The community is especially outraged that familiar non-Indian actors (for example, Racquel Welch as the lead character in The Legend of Walks Far Woman [1984]) take...

The Spirits Will Leave: Preventing the Desecration and Destruction of Native American Sacred Sites on Federal Land

The Spirits Will Leave: Preventing the Desecration and Destruction of Native American Sacred Sites on Federal Land

Middle and Late Woodland Settlement Systems in the Interior Fall Zone of the Potomac Valley: Not a Live Oyster in Sight

Recent excavations at two sites, Karell and Taft, in Fairfax County, Virginia yielded significant information on Middle and Late Woodland ceramics. These in junction with other Native American sites in the Fairfax County inventory have yielded many valuable insights into settlement patterns in interior (non-riverine) and upland environments.

Protecting Native American Sacred Sites and Religious Freedom

Traditional religious practices of Native Americans are inseparably bound to land and natural formations. These may be places where spirits dwell, where sources of power are, spots where spirits often reveal themselves. A relationship to specific physical areas is fundatmental in traditional Native American religions. From one generation to the next, continuity of spiritual and traditional belief is maintained through the natural world. Tribal religious do not incorporate a set of established truths (theological doctrines) as do western religions; rather they are based on the performance of rituals and ceremonies, many at specific sites, which have the ability to generate new revelations, These sites are often related to tribal creation stories and other historical events of religious significance. For many tribal religions, there is not alternative place of worship. When of is discussed in the context of traditional Indian religion, it is the right of practitioners to maintain relationships with the natural world that is at issue. Many sites sacred to Indian religions are located on what is currently federal land (or the subject of activities which are, at least in part, federally funded). Thus, actions of federal agencies (and specifically federal land managers) are of great importance to traditional Indian religious practitioners. As has historically been the case in regard to the Indian's relaitonship with the land, the institutions of the federal government frequently have failed to respect the needs of Indians where incompatible with the needs and philosophy of western society. Specifically, where western notions of resource development, i.e., logging, mining, tourism, conflict with the preservation of the integrity and sanctity of sacred sites, the inclination of most governmental (and private) authorities is to recognize and understand the goals and needs of those who want to develop, but not the deep-seated religious beliefs of Indians who might be affected by that development. The Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment reflects this historical insensitivity, if not callousness. Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protection Assocation, 485 U.S. 439 (1988) involved the construction of a road (the G-O Road) by the Forest Service which would marginally improve access to timber and recreational resources. The Forest Service's own expert found that the construction of the road was potentially destructive of ceremonies... which constitute the heart of the Northwest [Indian] religious beliefs and practices. Both the federal district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the government's interest in building the road did not justify the destruction of the Indian religions that utilized the affected sites. The United States Supreme Court reversed, ruling that such a balancing test was not applicable to the government's management of its land. It ruled in favor of the Forest Service based upon a conclusion that the freedom of religion clause in the First Amendment does not restrict the government's management of its lands so long as: (1) the government's purpose is secular and not specifically aimed at infringing upon a religion; and (2) the government's action does not coerce individuals to act contrary to their religious beliefs. Thus, in essence, Indian religious practitioners have no First Amendment right to challenge land management decisions which affect or destroy the integrity of sacred sites. Since such sites are an integral part of traditional religions, the impact of this decision is to place Indian religions outside the protection of the First Amendment to a very large extent.

Bone strontium in pregnant and lactating females from archaeological samples.

Because plants and animals consume or absorb different amounts of strontium and calcium, anthropologists are able to use strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratios from archaeologically recovered human bone to estimate the relative contributions of meat and plants to paleodiets. Often females exhibit higher Sr/Ca ratios than males, a fact usually attributed to lower meat intake among women. However, in vivo and in vitro experiments with laboratory animals show that pregnancy and lactation elevate maternal bone strontium and depress maternal bone calcium because 1) strontium is discriminated against in favor of calcium in the transport of ions to the placenta and mammary glands and 2) pregnancy and lactation facilitate absorption of alkaline earth metals from the gut. In this study, bone Sr/Ca ratios and strontium concentrations were compared between reproductive-age females, postmenopausal females, and adult males from two late prehistoric Native American sites in Georgia: the King site (N = 43) and the Etowah site (N = 51). At the King site, the mean Sr/Ca ratio of females was over 14% greater than that of males. At Etowah, the mean strontium level of reproductive-age females exceeded that of postmenopausal females by almost 25%. Most of the difference, it is argued, is due to pregnancy and lactation. A dietary preference among pregnant and lactating women for foods high in alkaline earths, particularly nuts and corn, may also be partially responsible. Until we assess the influence variables other than nutrition exert on trace element concentrations, our reconstructions of paleodiets will be suspect.