A Study of Two American Indian Societies - Term Paper Example

A Study of Two American Indian Societies Contents Research questions and parameters Selecting the societies for study Organization of the societies.Time period of existence Architecture Geographic regions of existence The Palioenvironment How the background research was conducted Research Design for Fieldwork Laboratory Analysis Glossary Bibliography The study is carried out in five steps; 1. Define research questions and parameters 2. Conduct background research 3. Conduct field research 4. Analyze data 5. Document and publish methods and results 1. Define research questions and parameters The study aims to discuss the following questions; 1. Organization of the society – group size1, religious, economic and social organization, architecture, settlement pattern, with archaeological examples. 2. The paleoenvironment2 3. The time period when these societies existed 4. The geographical regions3 where they existed. Selecting the societies for study Selection of the societies to be studied with a focus on the need to compare common features and differences between them. The societies must therefore possess common characteristics, and have differences as well. Two societies were selected based on the following parameters; 1. One must be a hunter-gatherer4 society and the other tribal5 or chiefdom6 2. One of them must practice agriculture or horticulture. 3. One of the two societies must be pottery makers. 4. The two must be related to timeframe. The two societies selected for the study are Western Shoshone (or Shoshoni) and the Apalachee; both Native American. The Western Shoshone are a hunter-gatherer band-level7 society. Hunting and gathering was the sole economy practiced by mankind for over a million years, until the end of the Paleolithic8 period. The Shoshone relied on small game, fish, and dug for roots for subsistence, hunting, gathering and foraging for food. http://www.fourdir.com/western_shoshoni.htm Hunter-gatherer societies are usually mobile or nomadic, being dependent on their natural environment to provide sufficient resources in order to sustain themselves. The resources available in a geographic area depend on local climatic and seasonal conditions, forcing such societies to keep moving. It is thus that the Western Shoshone lived in a large area around the arid Great Basin and Great Plains, spread out over present day California, Nevada and Utah. Also known as The Snake, the Shoshone are related to the Paiutes, Comanches, and Utes with whom they share many language characteristics. http://www.pcas.org/Vol37N2/GraniteMts.pdf The other society selected for the study is the Apalachee, a tribal Native American society of northern Florida. The Apalachee were farmers who developed a mature agricultural economy and grew Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, squash and vegetables. They also developed pottery skills and the works of pottery were traded far away. Commerce with Native Americans outside Florida brought copper, iron ore, and seeds of maize in exchange for Florida freshwater pearls, conch shells and fish bones. They spoke their own language of Muskogean9 origin. The Apalachees lived in permanent villages and built ceremonial mounds. The Shoshone shared a common period of existence with the Apalachee, towards the end of the Mississippian era. Though geographically separated, the period when they coexisted has been reliably confirmed from early Spanish and other European records consisting of first hand accounts by many explorers, priests and colonists. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/education/guides/Inquiry_Boxes_FL_Native_People_North-Part3.pdf Thus the two societies selected for the study meet the desired requirements. Organization of the societies. The Western Shoshone occupied their Great Basin homeland as hunter- gatherers in minimum bands of about ten individuals. The bands moved across the land utilizing resources that were available in various locations during different seasons. Cultural practices regulated band size, which was determined by the availability of food. They used birth control ritual sexual abstinence and abortion to control band size. The norm was two or three children in a family and social pressure ensured that the norm was followed. The Western Shoshone also regulated death rate using female infanticide, killing of one or both twins, and also through senilicide10 if the elderly hindered the band’s movement in search for food. These were not inviolable rules and exceptions were noticeable. The availability of food and the harshness or otherwise of the environment decided implementation of these practices. Early ethnographic11 records documented these practices and also exceptions, without any explanation for them. These contradictions were partly explained in a larger social and ecological context12 by the concept of maximum band13. The usual band consisted of a few close neighbors and kin and was not a reproductively viable unit. The band in most cases did not have suitable mates of reproductive capability. Mates had to be found in gatherings of many local minimum bands, forming a larger maximum band. Among the Shoshone, the aggregation of the maximum band was called a fandango14, often described as a very big rowdy social function. The fandango was scheduled during periods of relative abundance of food. They provided opportunities for entertainment and renewal of kinship and group solidarity. Minimum bands from many territories arrived and they assessed each other and shared information on resources and environment including births and deaths, helping the minimum band to decide on the optimum desirable strength of the band. Information gleaned from other bands allowed them to plan their movement and ensured that they avoided hardship. http://www.utulsa.edu/about/pdfs/pres_speech_fandangos_and_thermostats.pdf The Apalachee however, lived in independent villages, each with a leader. Maize, squash and beans were planted in summer and hunting for deer, turkey, and small game in the forests occupied the lean winter months. Meat was smoked and stored in tribal warehouses. Each member of the village was born into a predetermined occupational status that rarely changed in a lifetime. Skilled artisans like potters and canoe makers enjoyed a higher status than warriors did. Women, children and the elderly did most of the planting, a division of labor that indicates a stable agrarian society. They cleared the land by burning the brush, and after the soil was prepared using hoes, the women planted seeds with dibble sticks. Two annual crops were planted with fields being used in rotation. Guards in wooden watchtowers protected crops from birds and animals. An inter-tribal dialect developed by traders provided a common media for communications. http://www.floridahistory.org/floridians/indian.htm#first The Apalachee possessed an advanced political system. Tribal leaders lived at regional centers such as Lake Jackson and worked in close cooperation with others in the area. The society had a visible site hierarchy15 with several successive tiers representing lower tiers in the administrative or economic system. The central place16 was the largest site and other sites became successively smaller according to the distance from the central place. Sites17are locations where ecofacts18 and archaeological remains coexist and site hierarchy refers to sites that are found in rank order by size. The Apalachee used body paint and tattoos, particularly the men and chiefs. Shells, bone jewelry and feathers were used to decorate the hair. Walking was the common means of travel, but canoes were commonly used. Apalachee canoe makers also made some specialized types of canoes. The Apalachee made pottery in a variety of vessel shapes with many decorative motifs featuring curvilinear and rectilinear motifs, some with animal-head effigies. http://www.gue.com/Research/Karst/qiena.htm http://www.taltrust.org/lkjacksn.htm Time period of existence The period 1200 AD to 1650 AD is often referred to as the Shoshonean Period in Native American history. Apalachee tribes lived in the Red Hills of Tallahassee, Florida from about 500 B.C. through the 1600 AD, covering both the Formative Era19 (1000 B.C. to 1500 A.D.) and the Mississippian Era20(1000 A.D. to 1500 AD). Reliable documented records by the first European explorers and colonists confirm the reliability of these periods of existence of the two societies. Relative Dating Techniques21 including Superposition22, Stratigraphy23 and Cross-Dating24 have also confirmed the validity of these records. Absolute Dating Techniques25 like Dendrochronology26 are practical only in the case of the Apalachee society that lived in wooded areas. Radio Carbon Dating Technique27 is not very accurate for fairly recent deposits such as the ones studied. http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/archy/dating/datingtech.html Architecture The Shoshone, being mobile hunter-gatherers, had little use for permanent structures28. They lived in temporary shelters and often made use of natural shelters like caves and clearings. The Apalachee were on the other hand considered good fort builders and the early colonists faced effective resistance from them. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Timucua/index.html Many villages had truncated pyramidal mounds29built as platforms that had temples and residences of chiefs and religious leaders on them. http://www.cgcas.org/itxt_fas.htm The first Spanish records mention round or oval houses, though very little archaeological evidence about houses or living facilities is available. Archaeologists30 have found postholes in circles of 65 foot and 120 foot diameters indicating the presence of large structures in Apalachee habitats. Archeologists use such evidences to reconstruct culture histories using scientific methods and techniques, applying humanistic concepts and arriving at an interpretation. During the Fort Walton period around 1000 AD, the Apalachee Indians built ceremonial mound centers including the one at Lake Jackson that served as both religious and political centers. Six temple mounds and a large village with a central plaza comprised the Lake Jackson Mound Complex, with scattered farmsteads around. Temples and houses for priests and rulers were built on the mounds. The Apalachee were believed to worship nature, and conducted ceremonies to honor the gods of the sun, moon, rain and thunder. Smaller villages surrounded by farmsteads existed throughout the province, having a single temple mound, indicating the relatively lower importance of the village. In many respects, the layout conformed to the Thiessen Polygon31 model, with sites spaced at regular intervals around a central place, dividing the region into polygons. Some of the village mounds can still be found around Lake Jackson and Lake Lafayette. Archaeological remains and ecofacts coexist at these locations, qualifying them to be considered sites. Mounds and villages were usually built near water bodies, which provided food and transportation. The reasons for the Apalachee abandoning the Lake Jackson Mounds as their ceremonial center in the 1500s and moving to other areas within the same Apalachee Province are yet unknown. Three earthen temple mounds, one of them 26 feet tall, survive as evidence of the civilization located here at the time. http://www.taltrust.org/lkjacksn.htm Geographic regions of existence The Western Shoshone were spread out over a large area in about 200 small villages or camps. They area extended from central and western Idaho into northwestern Utah, central and northeastern Nevada, and California. The Western Shoshone scrupulously avoided contact with white men. Since they did not have any permanent settlements, very little of their early history was recorded. Domestic livestock destroyed their source of food by destroying the vegetation, forcing them to gradually become semi-sedentary. In due course, they intermarried with the tribes of Southern California. http://www.fourdir.com/western_shoshoni.htm The Apalachee controlled the area between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers known as the Apalachee Province32, centered on the Tallahassee Hills in North Florida. The Palioenvironment The Shoshone lived in an arid landscape, with minimal precipitation, low humidity, strong seasonal winds and diurnal temperature varying widely. Snow, sleet, hail and occasional torrential downpours and thunderstorms added to the harshness of the climate. Average annual rainfall was less than 10 inches, and temperatures varied from 5 F to 106 F. The area, particularly the Granite Mountains area, has been categorized into five environmental zones; The Uplands, which are extremely rocky and have small basins of developed soil. Situated at altitudes between 1300 and 1810 meters, the uplands plant community includes pinion pine, Utah juniper and buckwheat among others. Bajada, area around rocky outcrops and lower slopes with creosote and black bush among the vegetation. Wash, the drainages and flatlands below the bajada with thin and sandy soil that supports scanty vegetation consisting of creosote bush, mistletoe and a few others. Riparian, a compact area around springs and seeps, supports narrow-leaf willow, arroyo willow and water weed. Dunes: These are shifting sand dunes reaching upto 140 meters above the desert floor and covering an area of almost 155 square kilometers. Ricegrass and needlegrass are some of the sparse vegetation found in this zone. The Apalachee lived in large villages usually located near the many lakes and rivers. They continued to source a part of their diet from hunting, fishing and gathering of wild plants, though they were basically farmers who cultivated maize, beans, sunflower and squash. http://sjrwmd.com/programs/outreach/pubs/florida_waters/pdfs/florida_waters_ch1.pdf. They also consumed wild plants like hickory nuts, acorns, persimmons, maypops, wild cherry, saw palmetto berries, cabbage palm and chinquapin, which were available in plenty. The soil, described as red, sandy-clay hills supported a wide variety of plant and animal life, with many of them constituting sources of food. Oysters and shell fish were abundant and they formed an important part of the Apalachee diet. http://www.gue.com/Research/Karst/qiena.htm The Shoshone lived in the harsher Granite Mountains area where the plant environment influenced the animal environment. Studies identified 33 reptile, 115 bird and 42 mammal species in the area. Significant animal food resources were Desert Bighorn Sheep, Gambel Quail and others, which the Shoshone were adept at exploiting. http://www.pcas.org/Vol37N2/GraniteMts.pdf How the background research was conducted The text book “Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice” by Colin Renfrew, Paul Bahn, Paul G. Bahn provided the overall guidance and the definition of most terms. A glossary of terms used in this study is also appended. Popular search engines were used to access a large number of websites, most of them belonging to the government or educational institutions. The internet was seen to be a rich source of information, but the search parameters used were critical in ensuring fruitful searches. Unfortunately, very limited specific data could be obtained from the websites in the public domain. In a number of instances, resources that looked promising were not accessible since they required either payment or authorization. Journals licensed to JSTOR by the Archaeological Institute of America are examples of such inaccessibility. Bibliography of all resources utilized for the study is appended. Research Design for Fieldwork STANDARD AND GUIDANCE for the collection, documentation, conservation and research of archaeological materials, issued by the Institute of Field Archaeologists (http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/icontent/inPages/docs/codes/finds%20standard%202001.pdf) was adopted as the basis, and used as applicable. The aridity of the East Mojave Desert considerably diminished the archaeological evidences of the Shoshone society. The Diagnostic Points were Cottonwood Triangular and Desert Side Notched. Mound 3 of the Tallahassee Hills park which the Apalachee built, was originally 15 feet high and 150 feet on the side. Near the center of the lowest level of Mound 3, a large quantity of charred corn was excavated. Much of the mound consisted of midden materials, red clay, and white sand. Red Clay covered the outer surface of mound 3. Postholes indicated presence of buildings at the top of the mound. The buildings were burned, the mound was raised, and after adding a new layer of clay, new buildings were erected again. Over a period of 250 years, this cycle repeated itself a dozen times. Evidence of 24 burials was also found. Twenty-four burials were recovered from the mound in seven levels.Deep pits, some lined with split logs and all with burial garments characterised the graves. The buried included one woman, and a child. Laboratory Analysis The artifacts are first washed and separated into groups like ceramics, tools etc. They are placed in bags that are marked with the exact location of the find. This location is called a provenience, which is crucial since it gives vital clues about whoever put it there in the first place. The proveniences entered into a database and an artifact catalog is made. Specialized analysis like faunal studies, botanical studies and Radiocarbon dating follow. The plant and animal studies indicate food habits. Radiocarbon dating is used to determine age in studies of prehistoric sites. The Late Prehistoric period (1000 – contact) yielded Tizon Brown Ware Ceramics, Lower Colorado Buff Ware, Southern Paiute Brown ware, steatite beads, various shell beads, and large triangular bifaces from the Granite Mountain sites of the Shoshone. At Mound 3 of the Tallahassee site, Radio-carbon dating of wood and charcoal from the bottom and the top of the mound yielded dates of 760 years and 475 years Before Present, respectively. Upper level graves included many objects of copper, beads and pipes. Glossary of terms used: 1. Group Size: The maximum number of individuals with whom a member can maintain social relationships by personal contact. 2. Palaeoenvironment: The ancient environment, which can be reconstructed using techniques such as archaeozoology and palynology. 3. Region: A group of archaeological sites together with their surrounding landscape, representing a specific culture or culture area. 4. Hunter-gatherer: A way of life in which subsistence is based on the hunting of animals and the collection of wild plants rather than settled agriculture. 5. Tribe: An egalitarian society generally comprised of a centrally organized group of bands, rarely exceeding 1000 in strength. 6. Chiefdom: A form of sociopolitical organization in which their is a chief who is the central authority over a social ranking or hierarchy. Group size 5000 - 20000 7. Band/Band-level: A term in cultural anthropology describing the simplest type of human social organization consisting of a small number of nuclear families (less than 100 people) who are informally organized for subsistence and security purposes. 8. Paleolithic: Pertaining to the early part of the Stone Age, when early human beings made chipped-stone tools, from 750,000 to 15,000 years ago 9. Muskogean : A branch of Native North American languages from the Hokan-Siouan family. 10. Senilicide: Killing of the elderly 11. Ethnographic: Pertaining to the description and analysis of contemporary cultures, which is based almost entirely on in-depth fieldwork. 12. Ecological context: Relating to organisms and the environment: relating to the interrelationships of organisms and their environment 13. Maximum band: Gatherings of many local minimum bands 14. Fandango: Spanish term denoting a gathering of maximum bands for a social function of great magnitude. 15. Site hierarchy: The site size and functional differences within a group of roughly contemporary sites -- possibly indicating different economic arrangements, political hierarchy, etc. 16. Central place: Central places or settlements (town, cities) of the same size and nature will be located roughly equidistant from one another 17. Sites: Individual sites and their archaeological remains 18. Ecofacts: Archaeological remains other than artifacts that provide information about historic environments 19. Formative Era: The period 1000 BC to 1500 AD 20. Mississippian Era: The period 1000 AD to 1500 AD 21. Relative Dating Techniques: Dating methods where phases or objects can be put into a sequence relative to each other, but which are not tied to calendrically measured time. 22. Superposition: The law of superposition states that strata that are younger will be deposited on top of strata that are older, given normal conditions of deposition. 23. Stratigraphy: Stratigraphy is the study of strata, or layers. 24. Cross-Dating: Cross-dating is a technique used to take advantage of consistencies in stratigraphy between parts of a site or different sites, and objects or strata with a known relative chronology. 25. Absolute Dating Techniques: Absolute dating techniques determine the actual age of an object or stratigraphic layer 26. Dendrochronology: Also called Tree-Ring Dating, is based on the principle that the growth rings on certain species of trees reflect variations in seasonal and annual rainfall. 27. Radio Carbon Dating Technique: a means of dating deposits independent of artifacts and local stratigraphic sequences, based on C-14 Decay Profile 28. Structures: Buildings or other shelters or constructions made by humans 29. Mounds: constructed pile of something: a pile of earth, stones, or other material built up for some purpose, for example, to provide shelter, defense, or concealment 30. Archaeologists: Persons who reconstruct culture histories, using scientific methods and techniques, and by applying humanistic concepts to develop interpretations of their results 31. Thiessen Polygon: Dividing a region into polygons to separate sites of similar nature, or to delimit territories. Assumes that sites will be spaced at regular intervals around a central place. 32. Apalachee Province: The area of Florida between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers was known as the Apalachee Province Bibliography “Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice” by Colin Renfrew, Paul Bahn, Paul G. Bahn http://www.fourdir.com/western_shoshoni.htm http://www.pcas.org/Vol37N2/GraniteMts.pdf http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/education/guides/Inquiry_Boxes_FL_Native_People_North-Part3.pdf http://www.utulsa.edu/about/pdfs/pres_speech_fandangos_and_thermostats.pdf http://www.floridahistory.org/floridians/indian.htm#first http://www.gue.com/Research/Karst/qiena.htm http://www.taltrust.org/lkjacksn.htm http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/archy/dating/datingtech.html http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Timucua/index.html http://www.taltrust.org/lkjacksn.htm http://www.fourdir.com/western_shoshoni.htm http://sjrwmd.com/programs/outreach/pubs/florida_waters/pdfs/florida_waters_ch1.pdf. http://www.gue.com/Research/Karst/qiena.htm http://www.cgcas.org/itxt_fas.htm http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/05/65/bbs00000565-00/bbs.dunbar.html http://www.reference-wordsmith.com/archword/dict.html? Read More