Bison-hunting Plains indians more advanced than thought
Bison-hunting Plains indians more advanced than thought
mongabay.com
August 15, 2006
A controversial new theory argues that ancient plains Indians may have developed complex tribal social structures far earlier than many researchers believe.
Dr. Dale Walde, an archaeologist at the University of Calgary, says that evidence from bison kill sites together with ceramics found in Alberta and Saskatchewan suggests that pressure from agricultural societies from the Midwestern U.S. may have prompted Bison hunters to change their bison hunting strategies and to organize themselves into larger groups. Previously some researchers had argued that “that the arrival in the 1600s of Europeans and the domesticated horse were the main catalysts that caused Plains Aboriginal people to abandon small bands in favor of large tribes” according to a release from the University of Calgary.
“My theory is that tribal groups from the south and east would have come in and taken the buffalo themselves, had the Plains Indians not developed the means to hunt more bison and trade bison products with them,” said Walde. “This is the first time anyone has suggested this sort of mechanism for that evolution.”
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Examining Canadian kill sites, Walde found a marked increase in the size and frequency of bison kills beginning about 2,500 to 2,000 years ago. He says this indicates the use sophisticated hunting methods as well as the presence of significant numbers of people.
“There may have been as many as 3,000 people living at some of these sites for as long as eight months at a time, so there would have to have been some more complex level of organization to keep them living there in harmony,” he said.
Further, the discovery of pottery and a type of flint that originates from Missouri-area Indians suggests the existence of trade networks between the bison hunters and horticulturally-based tribes to the south.
“Analysis revealed that all of these vessels [pottery found in Saskatchewan and Alberta] contained maize that most likely originated from the Middle Missouri area,” said Sonia Zarrillo, a University of Calgary PhD student who studied the ceramics. “As maize was not known to have been grown in Alberta or Saskatchewan until the historic period, it indicates that trade was taking place between the people of the northern plains and other groups from the Middle Missouri.”
The researchers conclude that their findings provide further evidence that populations native to the Americas were more advanced than commonly believed.
“It’s important that we recognize the achievements of Aboriginal people, prior to the advent of Europeans,” said Walde. “There has been a tendency by some to regard them as simple hunter-gatherers with very basic levels of social organization, living hand to mouth in small bands — but that really isn’t accurate.”
The paper is published in the most recent edition of the journal World Archaeology.
This article used quotes and information from a University of Calgary news release.
