Robert W. Neuman

Radiocarbon-Dated Archaeological Remains on the Northern and Central Great Plains

This paper consolidates and summarizes the mass of radiocarbon determinations that has accumulated in various books, journals, newsletters, and manuscripts between 1951 and the spring of 1965. The dates are derived from Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Early Ceramic, and Late Prehistoric occupations in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the Plains areas of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Included are 195 radiocarbon dates attesting to the presence of man on the Plains for the last 12,000 years. IN THIS REVIEW I shall endeavor to show to what degree certain of our archaeological typologies from Plains sites correlate with radiocarbon determinations. Since 1951, Plains archaeologists have been supplied with numerous radiocarbon assays; it is quite obvious that I will not, in this paper, be able to treat each date separately. Beginning with the earliest dates and working toward the Late Prehistoric period I have organized and sorted the material into categories named Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Early Ceramic, and the Central Plains-Middle Missouri traditions. The accepted validity of the dates is based, to a very large degree, upon their extent of association with certain diagnostic specimens, and in the case of the Paleo-Indian and Archaic categories these specimens are stone projectile points. For the Early Ceramic and Central Plains-Middle Missouri groupings pottery types have been the most diagnostic

Atlatl Weights from Certain Sites on the Northern and Central Great Plains

This paper begins with a discussion concerning the development of the term atlatl weight in archaeological literature. It then proceeds to analyze in detail data relative to 60 atlatl weights from 39 locations on the Plains area of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Although most of the specimens are surface finds, a number are from systematically excavated, radiocarbon-dated occupations. Differentiated primarily on their general shapes, five groups of atlatl weights seem apparent: Class I, loaf-shaped; Class II, end-ridged; Class III, long ellipsoidal; Class IV, zoomorphic; and a miscellaneous category. Available evidence suggests that atlatl weights were being made, in the area under consideration, from about 2500 B.C. until A.D. 800.

Copper Artifacts from Prehistoric Archeological Sites in the Dakotas

Thirteen archeological specimens were analyzed spectrographlically, and within defined limits they were determined to be native copper. Twelve of the specimens show close elemental homogeneity and are believed to be of Lake Superior ore; the origin of the other specimen is deviolus.

Additional Annotated References:: An Archeological Bibliography of the Central and Northern Great Plains Prior to 1930

This addendum contains 23 entrees dating between 1859 and 1927 relative to sites in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The ...

North American Indian Tent Encampments:Tipi Rings, Wooden Wall Anchors, and Windbreaks

Abstract Tent encampments of the North American Plains Indians have been studied and reported upon by a host of observers since at least the middle of the nineteenth century. Much of the pertinent archaeological literature addresses what is commonly called “Tipi Rings.” This paper discusses several other ethnological components that go hand in hand with tipi rings but existed in more sheltered locations awayfrom the winter winds, namely timbers to anchor tent walls and the construction of windbreaks for further protection from the strong polar blasts. Drawings and photographs illustrate these practices.