Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T20:15:28.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Archaic Totemism in the Greater American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nancy J. Coulam  and
Alan R. Schroedl
Nancy J. Coulam
Affiliation:
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 125 South State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84138
Alan R. Schroedl
Affiliation:
P-III Associates, Inc., 2759 South 300 West Suite A, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Split-twig figurines, willow branches bent to resemble miniature animals and dating between 2900 B.C. and 1250 B.C., have been found at 30 Late Archaic period archaeological sites in the Greater American Southwest. Two different and geographically distinct construction styles, Grand Canyon and Green River, have been identified for split-twig figurines. Application of ethnographic analogy to the current split-twig figurine archaeological record supports the postulate that the two different styles of split-twig figurines served two different functions. The Grand Canyon-style figurines generally functioned as increase totems whereas the Green River-style functioned as social totems. This is the first example of increase totemism reported for the region. Ritual and social attitudes toward the animal and totem eventually ended and the last split-twig figurine was discarded around 1250 B.C.

Resumen

Resumen

Figuritas hechas de ramitas hendidas dobladas para parecerse a animals miniatures y datando de entre los años 2900 A.C. y 1250 A.C. han sido encontradas en 30 sitios arqueológicos del período a fines de la Época Arcaica en el Suroeste Americano. Dos diferentes y geográficamente distintos estilos de construcción, el Gran Cañon y el Río Verde, han sido identificados como figuritas hechas de ramitas hendidas. La aplicación de analogía etnográfica al informe arqueológico de las figuritas hecas de ramitas hendidas apoya el postulado que los dos estilos diferentes de figuritas hechas de ramitas hendidas sirven dos funciones diferentes, el estilo de las figuritas del Gran Cañon por lo general functionó como tótemes de aumento mientras el estilo del Río Verde funcionó como tótemes sociales. Éste es el primer ejemplo de "totemismo de aumento" informado para la región. Las actitudes rituales y sociales hacia el animal y el tótem eventualmente se acabaron y la última figurita hecha de ramitas hendidas fue desechada alrededor de 1250 A.C.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 41 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Aikens, C. Melvin 1970 Hogup Cave. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 93. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Asher, Robert 1961 Analogy in Archaeological Interpretation. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 17:317–325.Google Scholar
Atkinson, J. H. 1992 Shamanisms Today. Annual Review of Anthropology 21:307–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnard, Alan, and James, Woodburn 1997 Property, Power and Ideology in Hunter-gatherer Societies: An Introduction. In Hunters and Gatherers 2: Property, Power and Ideology, edited by Tim, Ingold, David, Riches, and James, Woodburn, pp. 4–31. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Belier, Wouter W. 1997 The Long-Sought Sacrament: Frazer and Fieldwork on Australian Totemism. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 153:42–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berndt, Roland M., and Catherine H., Berndt 1988 The World of the First Australians: Aboriginal Traditional Life, Past and Present. Reprinted. 4th ed. Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra. Google Scholar
Berry, Claudia F., and Michael S., Berry 1986 Chronological and Conceptual Models of the Southwestern Archaic. In Anthropology of the Desert West: Essays in Honor of Jesse D. Jennings, edited by Carol, J. Condie and Don, D. Fowler, pp. 253–327. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 110. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 2001 Constructing Frames of Reference: An Analytical Method for Archaeological Theory Building Using Hunter-gatherers and Environmental Data Sets. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Brightman, Robert A. 1993 Grateful Prey: Rock Cree Human-Animal Relationships. University of California Press, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Coulam, Nancy J. 1992 An Unprovenienced Split-Twig Figurine from Cowboy Cave. Utah Archaeology 5:136–139.Google Scholar
David, Bruno, and Harry, Lourandos 1998 Rock Art and Socio-Demography in Northeastern Australian Prehistory. World Archaeology 30:193–219.Google Scholar
Davis, C. Alan, and Gerald, A. Smith 1981 Newberry Cave. San Bernardino County Museum Association, Redlands, California.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile 1915 Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: A Study in Religious Sociology. Translated by Swain, J. W.. George Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile, and Marcel, Mauss 1963 Primitive Classification. Reprinted. Translated by Rodney, Needham. Originally published 1903, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Elkin, A. P. 1976 The Australian Aborigines. Reprinted. 4th ed. Originally published 1964, Angus and Robertson Publishers, London.Google Scholar
Elkin, A. P. 1994 Aboriginal Men of High Degree: Initiation and Sorcery in the World's Oldest Tradition. Reprinted. Originally published 1977, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont. Google Scholar
Ellen, Roy 1991 Foraging, Starch Extraction and the Sedentary Lifestyle in the Lowland Rainforest of Central Seram. In Hunters and Gatherers 1: History, Evolution and Social Change, edited by Tim, Ingold, David, Riches, and James, Woodburn, pp. 117–134. Berg, New York.Google Scholar
Emslie, Steven D., Robert C., Euler, and Jim I., Mead 1987 A Desert Culture Shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and the Role of Split-Twig Figurines. National Geographic Research 3:511–516.Google Scholar
Emslie, Steven D., Jim I., Mead, and Larry, Coats 1995 Split-Twig Figurines in Grand Canyon, Arizona: New Discoveries and Interpretations. Kiva 61:145–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1966a Willow Figurines from Arizona. Natural History 75:62–67.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1966b The Canyon Dwellers. The American West 4:22–27, 67–71.Google Scholar
Euler, Robert C. 1968 “Hit-and-Run” Archaeology: A Rejoinder to Jett. American Antiquity 33:509–511.Google Scholar
Euler Robert, C. (editor) 1984 The Archaeology, Geology, and Paleobiology of Stanton's Cave, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Grand Canyon Natural History Association Monograph No. 6. Grand Canyon Natural History Association, Grand Canyon, Arizona.Google Scholar
Euler, Robert C., and Alan P., Olson 1965 Split-Twig Figurines from Northern Arizona: New Radiocarbon Dates. Science 148(3668):368–369.Google Scholar
Farmer, Malcolm F., and Raymond, deSaussure 1955 Split-Twig Animal Figurines. Plateau 27(4): 13–23.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1973a Dated Split-twig Figurine from Etna Cave, Nevada. Plateau 46:54–63.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1973b Editor's Introduction. In The Archeology of Etna Cave, Lincoln County, Nevada, edited by Don, D. Fowler, pp. 1–2. Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences No. 7. Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada.Google Scholar
Frazer, Sir James George 1961 The New Golden Bough: A New Abridgment of the Classic Work. Reprinted. Riterion Books, New York. Originally published 1959, edited by Theodore, H. Gaster. Doubleday, Garden City, New York.Google Scholar
Gayton, Anna H. 1930 Yokuts-Mono Chiefs and Shamans. In University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 24, edited by Alfred, L. Kroeber, pp. 361–420. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Geib, Phil R. 2000 Sandal Types and Archaic Prehistory on the Colorado Plateau. American Antiquity 65:509–524.Google Scholar
Geib, Phil R., and Donald R., Keller 2003 Bighorn Cave: Test Excavations of a Stratified Dry Shelter, Mohave County, Arizona. Bilby Research Center Occasional Papers No. 1. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Gifford, Edward Winslow 1916 Miwok Moieties. In University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 12, edited by Alfred, L. Kroeber, pp. 139–194. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Golden weiser, Alexander A. 1910 Totemism, an Analytical Study. Journal of American Folk-lore 23:179–293.Google Scholar
Golden weiser, Alexander A. 1918 Form and Content in Totemism. American Anthropologist 20:280–295.Google Scholar
Golden weiser, Alexander A. 1946 Anthropology: An Introduction to Primitive Culture. Reprinted. Originally published 1937. F.S. Crofts, New York.Google Scholar
Guenther, Mathias 1997 Animals in Bushman Thought, Myth and Art. In Hunters and Gatherers 2: Property, Power and Ideology, edited by Tim, Ingold, David, Riches, and James, Woodburn, pp. 192–202. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Guenther, Mathias 1999 From Totemism to Shamanism: Hunter-gatherer Contributions to World Mythology and Spirituality. In Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers, edited by Richard, B. Lee and Richard, Daly, pp. 426–433. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gunnerson, James H. 1955 Archaeological Evidence of Hunting Magic. Utah Archaeology: A Newsletter 1:29–31.Google Scholar
Gunnerson, James H. 1969 The Fremont Culture: A Study in Culture Dynamics on the Northern Anasazi Frontier. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology No. 59. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Haddon, Alfred C. 1910 Magic and Fetishism. Constable, London.Google Scholar
Herskovitz, Melville J. 1972 Fetish, Fetichism. In Standard Dictionary of Folkore, Mythology, and Legend, edited by Maria, Leach and Jerome, Fried, pp. 377. Funk and Wagnalls, New York.Google Scholar
Hildebrandt, William R., and Kelly R., McGuire 2002 The Ascendance of Hunting During the California Middle Archaic: An Evolutionary Perspective. American Antiquity 67:231–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodder, Ian 1991 Interpretive Archaeology and Its Role. American Antiquity 56:7–18.Google Scholar
Horn, Amy 2001 Recent Split-twig Figurine Research at Grand Canyon. Paper presented at 66th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Hultkrantz, Ake 1966 An Ecological Approach to Religion. Ethnos 31:131–150.Google Scholar
Ingold, Tim 1982 Recent Adaptive Shifts among Palanan Hunters. Man 17:345–346.Google Scholar
Janetski, Joel 1980 Wood and Reed Artifacts. In Cowboy Cave, edited by Jesse, D. Jennings, pp. 75–95. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 104. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Jennings, Jesse D. (editor) 1980 Cowboy Cave. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 104. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Jett, Stephen C. 1968 Grand Canyon Dams, Split-twig Figurines, and “Hit- and-Run” Archaeology. American Antiquity 33:341–351.Google Scholar
Jett, Stephen C. 1987 Additional Information on Split-twig and Other Willow Figurines from the Greater Southwest. American Antiquity 52:392–396.Google Scholar
Jett, Stephen C. 1991 Split-twig Figurines, Early Maize, and a Child Burial in East-central Utah. Utah Archaeology 4:23–31.Google Scholar
Kaberry, Phyllis M. 1938 Totemism in East and South Kimberley, North-west Australia. Oceania 8:265–288.Google Scholar
Keen, Ian 1994 Knowledge and Secrecy in an Aboriginal Religion. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Google Scholar
Kelly, Roger E. 1966 Split-twig Figurines from Sycamore Canyon, Central Arizona. Plateau 38(3):65–67.Google Scholar
Kinnear-Ferris, Sheryl A. 2000 An Analysis of Canyonlands Region Woven Perishables and Comparison with those of the Surrounding Regions. Unpublished Master's thesis. Liberal Studies, Regis University, Denver.Google Scholar
Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California. Bulletin No. 78. Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 1962 Le Totémisme Aujourd’ Hui. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 1963 The Bear and the Barber: The Henry Myers Memorial Lecture 1962. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 93:1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linnekin, Jocelyn, and Lin, Poyer (editors) 1990 Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Google Scholar
McConnel, Ursula 1930 The Wik-munkan Tribe, Part II, Totemism. Oceania 1:181–205.Google Scholar
Meggitt, M. J. 1962 Desert People: A Study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia. Angus Robertson, Sydney. Google Scholar
Morphy, Howard 1990 Myth, Totemism, and the Creation of Clans. Oceania 60:312–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morphy, Howard 1991 Ancestral Connections: Art and an Aboriginal System of Knowledge. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Morphy, Howard 1997 Maintaining Cosmic Unity: Ideology and the Reproduction of Yolngu Clans. In Hunters and Gatherers 2: Property, Power and Ideology, edited by Tim, Ingold, David, Riches, and James, Woodburn, pp. 249–271. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Munn, Nancy D. 1973 Walbiri Iconography: Graphic Representation and Cultural Symbolism in a Central Australian Society. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. Google Scholar
Myers, Fred R. 1991 Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self: Sentiment, Place and Politics among Western Desert Aborigines. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Olson, Alan P. 1966 Split-twig Figurines from NA5607, Northern Arizona. Plateau 38:55–64.Google Scholar
Pedersen, Jon, and Espen, Woehle 1991 The Complexities of Residential Organization among the Efe (Mbuti) and the Bamgombi (Baka): A Critical View of the Notion of Flux in Hunter-gatherer Societies. In Hunters and Gatherers I: History, Evolution and Social Change, edited by Tim, Ingold, David, Riches, and James, Woodburn, pp. 75–90. Berg, New York.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 1961 Addendum: 1960 Test Excavations in the Plainfield Reservoir Area. In 1960 Excavations, Glen Canyon Area. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 52, Glen Canyon Series No. 14. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Peterson, Nicolas 1972 Totemism Yesterday: Sentiment and Local Organization among the Australian Aborigines. Man 7:12–32.Google Scholar
Piddington, Ralph 1932 Totemic System of the Karadjeri Tribe. Oceania 2:373–401.Google Scholar
Pierson, Lloyd M., and Kevin, Anderson 1975 Another Split-twig Figurine from Moab, Utah. Plateau 48:43–45.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1930a The Social Organization of Australian Tribes, Part I. Oceania 1:34–63.Google Scholar
Watkins, Joe E. 1930b The Social Organization of Australian Tribes, Part II. Oceania 1:206–246.Google Scholar
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. 1965 Structure and Function in Primitive Society: Essays and Addresses. The Free Press, New York. Google Scholar
Reeder, Grant M. 1967 Split-twig Animal Miniatures in the Southwestern United States. Utah Archeology: A Newsletter 13:12–16.Google Scholar
Reilly, P. T. 1966 The Sites at Vasey's Paradise. Masterkey 40:126–139.Google Scholar
Reilly, P. T. 1969 Was Fire Once a Part of Figurine Ritual? Masterkey 43:34–36.Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward 1970 Culture, Language, and Personality: Selected Essays. Reprinted. Originally published 1949, edited by David, G. Mandelbaum. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Schroeder, Albert H. 1953 A Few Sites in Moapa Valley, Nevada-II. Masterkey 27:62–68.Google Scholar
Schroedl, Alan R. 1977 The Grand Canyon Figurine Complex. American Antiquity 42:254–265.Google Scholar
Schroedl, Alan R., and Nancy J., Coulam 1994 Cowboy Cave Revisited. Utah Archaeology 7:1–34.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Douglas W., Arthur L., Lange, and Raymond, deSaussure 1958 Split-twig Figurines in the Grand Canyon. American Antiquity 23:264–274.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Warren 1991 Claude Lévi-Strauss meets Alexander Goldenweiser: Boasian Anthropology and the Study of Totemism. American Anthropologist 93:599–610.Google Scholar
Silberbauer, George B. 1972 The G/wi Bushmen. In Hunters and Gatherers Today: A Socioeconomic Study of Eleven Such Cultures in the Twentieth Century, edited by Bicchieri, G M., pp. 271–326. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Smith, Gerald A. 1963 Split-twig Figurines from San Bernardino County, California. Masterkey 37:86–90.Google Scholar
Speck, Frank G. 1907 Notes on Chickasaw Ethnology and Folk-lore. Journal of American Folk-lore 20:50–58.Google Scholar
Steward, Julian H. 1955 Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. Google Scholar
Strehlow, T. G. H. 1970 Geography and the Totemic Landscape in Central Australia: A Functional Study. In Australian Aboriginal Anthropology: Modern Studies in the Social Anthropology of the Australian Aborigine, edited by Ronald, M. Berndt, pp. 92–140. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia.Google Scholar
Strong, William Duncan 1929 Aboriginal Society in Southern California. Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 26. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Thomas, David, Loranne, S. A. Pendelton, and Stephen, C. Cappannari 1986 Western Shoshone. In Great Basin, edited by Warren, L. D’Azevedo, pp. 262–283. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 11, William, C. Sturtevant, general editor, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Tripp, George 1967 An Unusual Split Willow Figurine Found near Green River, Utah. Utah Archaeology: A Newsletter 13:15. Tuohy, Donald Google Scholar
Tripp, George 1986 Portable Art Objects. In Great Basin, edited by Warren, L. D’Azevedo, pp. 227–237 . Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 11, William, C. Sturtevant, general, editor, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Wagner, Roy 1987 Totemism. In Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea, Eliade, pp. 573–576. Macmillan, New York.Google Scholar
Wallace, Alfred F.C. 1966 Religion: An Anthropological View. Random House, New York. Google Scholar
Warren, W. W. 1957 History of the Ojibway Nation. Ross and Haines, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. M. 1935 A Dry Cave in Southern Nevada. Masterkey 9:5–12.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. M. 1937 Prehistoric Miniatures. Masterkey 11:181.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. M. 1939 Split-twig Figurines. Masterkey 13:42–45.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. M. 1949 More about Split-twig Figurines. Masterkey 23:153–158.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. M. 1973 The Archeology of Etna Cave, Lincoln County, Nevada. Reprinted. Originally published 1942, Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences No. 7, edited by Don, D. Fowler. Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada.Google Scholar
Winkelman, Michael 2000 Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Worsley, Peter 1967 Groote Eylandt Totemism and le Totémisme Aujourd Hui. In The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism, edited by Edmund, Leach, pp. 141–160. Tavistock Publications, London.Google Scholar