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American
Anthropologist Bandelier,
Adolph F. Aboriginal
Myths and Traditions Concerning the Island of In this article, Adolph F. Bandelier sets
out to summarize some myths and tales of the The article begins with a discussion of Titicaca origin
myths. In his recounting of these myths, he includes quoted passages
from informants.
For example, he writes: "while we were at the pueblo of Tiquina,
the parish priest, Father Nizarro Vizcarra, recounted to us the following tale, one in which
a "dumb girl" who herds llamas, gives birth to a fatherless
child who is protected by a deer in a cave." He notes that this
tale bears a striking similarity to "the Montezuma story as told
in New He continues his exploration in this article by including, through long
passages directly quoted, certain South American myths with reputed origins
in the In the end, he concludes that the body of tales indicates
that "the
Inca and their origin on Titicaca island," and that " CLARITY RANKING: 4 MARSHALL JAMES University of South Carolina (Ann Kingsolver)
Bandelier, Adolph
F. Aboriginal Trephining in During excavations around Although implements were available (knives) to the medicine men during his fieldwork, obsidian blades or sharp glass were preferred for both trephining and bleeding of other injuries. Bandelier explains the popularity of trephining as a medical procedure perhaps being due to the Aymara use of blunt weapons such as the bola, which would increase the incidence of blunt trauma to the head resulting in fractures and hemorrhages rather than, sharp instrument trauma, as in the case of the use of spears. He also mentions the Indians’ extensive use of coca as anesthetic during any sort of surgery. CLARITY: 4
Bandelier, Adolph F. The Cross of Carabuco in Bolivia. American Anthropologist, October-December, 1904 Vol. 6(5): 599-628. Bandelier relates the history of the cross of Carabuco, a village of Aymará Indians on the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. The cross, made of a rough unpolished wood that is supposed to have originally been approximately six feet in length is the center of a number of myths and local stories relating to the supposed history of the artifact. The earliest references to the cross come from early Spanish travelers in the 16th century who claim to have heard various stories from the Indians of the Lake Titicaca region. These include the legend that one of Jesus’ apostles or followers brought the cross to the area and planted atop a mountain where he preached. The Indians then tried to destroy the cross, to them a symbol of domination by the Spaniards, by various means depending on which source the tale is being related from. Both secular and religious, native and non-native people relate relatively similar tales. Another popular variation of the history of the cross includes the idea that it was a saint who carried the cross to Carabuco and was then stoned by the inhabitants. When the Spanish heard this tale, they took it upon themselves to preserve the cross and keep it within their protection. While the presence of the cross is undeniable, many issues are raised by Bandelier that would refute these claims. First of all, there is great variation among the supposed location of where the cross. Second, none of the Jesuits of the area, who specialized in the history and lore of the local Indians made any mention of the cross. This suggests a number of things, one suggestion made by Bandelier being “pious fraud”. Bandelier then relates tales from the local Indians that predated the arrival of the Spanish, most of which he looks at extremely skeptically, and providing alternate explanations to these tales that would suggest them to be fabricated by different groups. Both in the introduction and the conclusion of the article, Bandelier clearly states that he is presenting the history known about the cross not to draw any conclusions or to state opinions, but rather to relate the information that has been gleaned from different sources about the artifact. This he says is done to promote more complete study about the cross. However, the tone of the article suggests that Bandelier is not quite as impartial as he may claim to be, giving an extremely skeptical tint to the entire article. CLARITY: 5 ASHLEY DAILIDE Loyola University Chicago (Kathleen Adams)
Boas, Franz. The Vocabulary of the Chinook Language. American Anthropologist 1904 Vol.6:118-147. Franz Boas, along with Dr. John Swanton, William Jones, and H.H. St.Clair, studied the Chinook languages to understand and write out the vocabulary of the Chinook language. Boas demonstrates that although there are many differences between the English and the Chinook languages, there are definite similarities. The main purpose of Boas’ article is to show the formation of the Chinook language through the use of word stems. He dissects the vocabulary into categories and from there he divides the categories further. The vocabulary categories are determined by whether an affix is attached to the stem or not. In the first category, stems usually do not have any affixes attached to them and in the second category other stems always have pronominal prefixes. Attribute complements, adverbs, interjections, conjunctions, and adjectives are the stems which rarely have prefixes attached to them. Like in English, only to a greater degree, many attribute complements are onomatopoetic, meaning the word sounds like the sound the word makes. For example, in English the word crash sounds like the sound it makes, and in Chinook the word h‘’h‘ means to laugh. Another characteristic of attribute complements is that sometimes words are double or tripled to express repetition, but sometimes they are doubled to convey another meaning. The next group is adverbs. Many adjectives are changed into adverbs by adding and e to the end. Adverbs can represent verbal moods, like in English. Some adverbs are not derived from another word. Like attribute complements, interjections contain many onomatopoetic words. Boas’ next group is conjunctions. Conjunctions are used in the Chinook language as they are in English, to link two words together. The last group is adjectives. Adjectives contain color terms, as do attribute complements, and the numbers 2 through 9, and indefinite numerals without prefixes. The category containing the stems used with pronominal prefixes includes nouns, pronouns, and verbs. Gender and plurality is determined by the prefixes of stems. One major difference between English and the Chinook language is that English has significantly more nouns derived from verbs. In Chinook some verbs have been derived from nouns. Boas also points out in English many words are derived from a common stem, but in Chinook common terms have no similar stem. As seen beforehand, onomatopoetic words are found frequently in Chinook nouns and doubling of the stem indicates repetition. Another major difference between the two languages is there is an influence of culture in the naming of animals and occupations. In the next group, Mr. Jones classified pronouns into two series of three forms. The last group is verbs. Boas found there were not that many true verbs, but the ones he considered true verbs were often brief, with one syllable or sound verb stems. Boas and his colleagues dissected the Chinook vocabulary, deciphered and classified each word into categories and then into groups within these categories, and as they completed this task they compared the vocabulary to the English vocabulary. CLARITY RANKING: 3
Bushnell, D.I. Jr. Archaeology
of the Ozark Region of The cave sites are generally found in limestone bluffs along the rivers
and streams of the Ozarks. These include the Piney, Niangua, and Village and campsites are found on the bottoms and banks of rivers,
and a village site is always found at the confluence of two rivers. A
large site is located on the Gasconade having a shell heap fifty to sixty
feet in length, while another is located on the Finally, large groups (one hundred to one hundred fifty) of small artificial
mounds are found in CLARITY: 5
Chamberlain, Alexander F. Iroquois
in The Iroquois, although originally from the territory now known as the
northeastern CLARITY RANKING: 3
De Fabrega, H. Pittier. Numerical Systems of the Costa Rican Indians. American Anthropolgist 1904 Vol.6:447-458. In this article, De Fabrega explores the number systems of six Costa Rican `tribes’. In doing so, De Fabrega indicates that he also wishes to amend and correct the work of some other researchers doing similar work on Central American languages. De Fabrega divides the paper into six sections, and each section is devoted to one Costa Rican ethnic group. For example, the first group that he discusses is the Bribri. In this section, he explains that the Bribri have six ways of counting that depend on the nature of the object being counted. The six objects include people, round objects, small animals, long objects and large animals, trees and plants, and houses. For each category, he lists the numbers up to one hundred and then includes for each number the Bribri translation. He states that prefixes may differ even though the basic counting system remains consistent: "Here, as in every other case, the name of the objects to be counted precedes the numeral, and the only distinguishing feature is a slight variation in the form of the latter." While the Cabecara people have a counting system similar to that of the Bribri, the fourth group that De Fabrega discusses, the Tirub, have quite a different system. The author explains that they seem only to count up to seven, but he admits that further research may reveal a more complex system after all. The Brunka, on the other hand, only count up to eight in their own language, and beyond that they use Spanish numbers even though "they are by far the most intellectual and civilized of all the Costa Rican aborigines." In his conclusion, De Fabrega presents
a chart in which he lists the names of all of the Central American
languages
and their words for the numbers one though ten. The purpose, as he explains
it, is to determine what features they have in common. While on the face
of it, the languages would seem to have little in common, he concludes
by saying that "Costa Rican Indians have a double mode counting, i. e, they use their fingers in current oral computations,
and grains of corn whenever they wish to keep a record of any number." He
continues by arguing that "several, if not all, of the tribes of
southern CLARITY RANKING: 5 MARSHALL JAMES University of South Carolina (Ann Kingsolver)
Dorsey, George A. An Arikara Story-Telling Contest. American Anthropologist 1904 Vol. 6: 240-243. During moments of a ceremony’s intermission, men of the Arikara tribe relate brief accounts of their personal experiences. Most of the stories center on hunting. These tales often include supernatural details that make the other men question whether or not the story is true, but all of the storytellers insist while they are in the midst of their story that the event really happened. The stories share another commonality: several of them involve finding odd anatomy in the creatures they hunt. For example, one story ends with a man finding an eye in the behind of a buffalo; another one speaks of a rabbit with two hearts, and yet another involves a cow with a calf in her paunch instead of her womb. Other stories suggest that the animals have supernatural powers themselves. A bird comes back to life after being killed in one story. In another tale, a rabbit turns into a deer, and in the final account, an eagle comes to a man in his dreams twice and tells him that he will not die of his wounds. Laughter follows all of the stories that appear in this article, and the author points out that these types of story-telling contests are separate from the telling of tribal traditions and teachings which occurs in ceremonies and in the "family circle." Thus, Dorsey emphasizes that this competition is only among the men of the tribe. The men narrate their tales while waiting for the women to finish preparing the food, and the contest stops when the feast is about to begin. Dorsey begins his essay with an introduction describing the context of the contest, and then, he includes the stories by directly quoting the storytellers. Dorsey does not ask or answer a specific question in the article; he merely reports the event and the stories that the men tell. CLARITY RANKING: 5
Fewkes, J. Walter. Ancient Linear figures and animal forms are two prominent categories of decoration
in ancient CLARITY RANKING: 4
Fewkes, J. Walter. Prehistoric
Culture of Fewkes is focusing in this article on two
prehistoric groups who lived in Fewkes goes into describing several artifacts
that have been found on the Eastern side of the island. These are primarily
small stone clay statues, similar to those found in CLARITY: 3
Gerard, William R. The Tapehanek Dialect
of Gerard Williams provides a description of the Tapehanek dialect
of Algonquian Indians, introducing the region through a short historical
account of early English exploration in In his analysis, Williams uses writing by early 17th century
English explorer Captain John Smith, who was captured by a native Virginian
hunting party and subsequently taken to various Algonquian towns. In
Smith’s account, he describes a river that is alternately referred
to as either Rapahanocke or Tapahanocke by
native populations. Williams uses this as an introduction to his argument
for three distinct native dialect groups in the Williams states that letter-changes associated with Algonquian language
can be traced to the Cree group, whose use of the letter-t phonetically
resembles the letters r, l, n, s, and sh in
various Cree dialects. Williams describes the rules of Cree speech as
it relates to the letter t, demonstrating how the word nitt, meaning ‘to descend,’ was
transcribed as niss, nish, and nich in various accounts. By analyzing dialect letter-changes,
Williams traces the origin of the Tapehanek dialect
to a Cree group that originally migrated from Using his understanding of the Algonquian letter-changes, Williams devotes the majority of this article to a ‘Glossary of the Tapehanek Dialect.’ The glossary, containing over thirty words taken from Strachey’s Dictionarie, consists of the Tapehanek entries, richly detailed definitions, transliteration comments, and the equivalent spellings in multiple Algonquian dialects. Although the article is at times slightly difficult to follow, Williams’ combination of linguistic analysis with historical background into the region makes for a very interesting account of early American colonial interactions as well as Algonquian dialect variation. CLARITY RANKING: 4 CHRISTI GINGER
Hewett, Edgar L. Studies
on the Extinct The author, concerned by diminishing evidential sources of Pueblo Native
American history, values studying what he says might appear to be an historically insignificant CLARITY RANKING: 5
Hewett, Edgar L. Archaeology of Pajarito Park, New Mexico. American Anthropologist, October-December 1904 Vol.6(5): 629-659. Hewett discusses the expedition of 1900 in which he ventured to Pajarito Park, an area between the Jemez Mountains and the Rio Grande. The main problem confronting Hewett is the lack of data from this region; his motivation for choosing this site is to increase the collection of prehistoric artifacts and data for an accurate portrayal of the culture. Furthermore, a comparative study with other regions in New Mexico would be possible with the newfound evidence. Hewett focuses on ruins in the forms of cliff-dwellings and pueblos. He proposes that residents of cliff-dwellings and pueblos lived contemporaneously. Subsequently, Hewett examines three types of cliff-dwellings, distinguished as Type A, Type B, and Type C. Type A are open-front dwellings that exhibit no masonry or other advanced forms of construction. These are usually single-chambered. Type B are excavated dwellings with front closed either by natural rock formation or the use of masonry; they are usually multi-chambered. According to Hewett, early peoples constructing Type B would have to possess more skill than those digging Type A. Type C are pueblo-like cliff dwellings that are rare and can only be shown by restoration. Hewett then investigates the three main groups in the region: Tyuonyi Group, Tchrega Group, and Puye Group. The Tyuonyi Group is the southern-most and exhibits both pueblos and cliff-dwellings, which are numerous and of the Type B construct. The Tchrega Group displays cliff-dwellings of all types, including advanced masonry and plaster walls. Evidence of windows has suggested to Hewett their possible use as ventilation devices. Many areas of Tchrega have cliff-villages surrounding an open mesa of pueblos. The Puye Group is best known and shows evidence of small, scattered pueblos and a vast number of cliff-dwellings. Hewett then compares the aforementioned sections of Pajarito Park with an area called Chaco and explains that Chaco dwellings are composed of thin blocks well-fitted together, whereas Pajarito Park blocks are imperfectly constructed and, therefore, susceptible to weathering and subsequent collapse. Other cultural features Hewett explores are subsistence and mortuary customs. With the support of archaeological evidence, he claims present unproductive areas were once productive, arable lands. No evidence of pre-Columbian irrigation exists. However, there was also abundant game in the mountains, and an ample number of fish bones carved into awls and other implements exhibit the utilitarian value of aquatic life. Hewett explains hunting was done in groups and the game was chased to an intersection of paths where a pit trap was waiting to consume the unsuspecting animal. Hewett describes four types of burials: communal mounds, caves and crypts, intra-mural chambers, and underneath fireplaces of residences. Artifacts were found with some corpses, but this does not seem to signify burial ritual. Finally, Hewett concludes by using his evidence to claim open-front dwellings are more archaic than others because constructing Type B and Type C require advanced skill in masonry, carpentry, excavation, painting, and plastering. Also, numerous small pueblos are more archaic than a combination of cliff and pueblo villages because the latter is designed to accommodate a larger population and more advanced technology for everyday chores. Hewett reiterates that these sites were contemporaneous. CLARITY: 4 BROOKE MORGAN Loyola University Chicago (Kathleen Adams)
Hrdlička, Aleš. Notes
on the Indians of This article provides an ethnologic overview of the predominant indigenous
groups in the state of CLARITY RANKING: 5 KOSKO,
Jochelson, Waldemar. The Mythology of the Koryak. American Anthropologist July-September, 1904 Vol.6(4):413-425. In this article, Jochelson examines the core
myths of the Koryak in "extreme northeastern Therefore, the goal of his article is to examine the "similarities
in the beliefs and myths of the Koryak and
the American tribes." In order to do so, Jochelson looks
at a number of categories in which these mythical elements can be grouped.
The categories he examines are Raven Stories, The Supreme Being, guardians,
sacrifices, festivals, and the role of the Shaman. In addition, Jochelson reports that an examination of Koryak myths has enabled him to extract one hundred and
twenty-two episodes that frequently recur. His examination of these episodes
lends further support to his argument that there are significant similarities
between the worldviews of the Koryak and the
American Indians of the Jochelson concludes that the similarity of the religious concepts between these two cultures may have arisen either from a common origin or from cultural borrowing that most likely resulted from the fact "these two tribes must have been at some time in close contact." CLARITY RANKING: 4 MARSHALL JAMES University of South Carolina (Ann Kingsolver)
Jones, William. Some Principles of Algonquian Word-formation. American Anthropologist 1904 Vol.6: 369-413. Jones attempts here to outline some of the linguistic principles of
the dialects of the Algonuquian Indians who
reside near the Great Lakes from Jones begins by analyzing the sounds, their formation, and the conditions under which they change within words. In this first section, he presents a chart containing a phonetic description of all of the consonants and vowels. His chart includes a comparison between the sounds in these dialects and their English counterparts. In addition, he includes, in this first section, a discussion of diphthongs, stress, and pitch. He also explores the manner in which vowels are elongated. He notes that there are vowels that are long, short and some so short as to be nothing more than a "faint puff of breath." For the most part, vowel quality is the result of position within the word. Consonants are generally short. Jones notes that syllables are composed of "1) a single vowel sound; 2) two or more vowels joined together into a diphthong; and 3) a vowel sound in combination with a single consonant or a cluster of consonants, the vocalic sound always following the consonant." In the second section, Jones discusses the formation of word groups and sentences – processes that he places under the general heading "Composition." The first kind of composition that he discusses is the "Formative." He notes that there are two types of formatives – "pronominal and morphological." In addition, some formatives are prefixes and some are suffixes. Pronominal formatives indicate, among other things, gender while morphological formatives indicate "mood and manner as –fug in pya’tug, he probably came." The next kind of composition is the stem. He notes that stems may be divided into "initial and secondary members." Initial stems can function as adverbs when they stand alone; otherwise they must always precede secondary stems which can never stand alone. He offers a number of examples of initial and secondary stems. "Pem (I)," an initial stem, "expresses the notion of movement by, past, and alongside, as in peminagaw – he passes by a-singing." "Nagu," a secondary stem, "stands for the idea of look appearance, resemblance," as in "pe’kina’gusiw – he looks like a foreigner." The section on stems is comprehensive and Jones includes upwards of one hundred of examples of the different kind of stems, their meanings, and their functions. CLARITY RANKING: 4 MARSHALL JAMES University of South Carolina (Ann Kingsolver)
This article provides a preliminary sketch of data collected on aboriginal urn-burial in the United States. The author, Clarence B. Moore, makes it clear that the amount written on the subject is negligible compared to the amount of urn-burials that have yet to be discovered. Nonetheless, he uses his own data that he had collected in conjunction with that of other researcher’s data in order to piece together a more complete picture of the practice of urn burial. Moore systematically recalls the data starting from the west coast, and works his way easy. He notes that all records of urn-burial are located in the American South, but believes it improbably that the practice arose and subsequently diffused from any one area. Moore also argues about the distinctive properties that are found within the realm of urn-burial. He discusses variables such as number and type of bones found in the vessels, the material that the vessel is composed of, plurality of the persons within the vessels, and cremation of the bones. Despite all of the variables that can be found within urn-burials, he notes that one constant in the practice is that all vessels are associated with other forms of burial. While Moore is the first to confess that this is not a complete picture, he hopes that his research will be of interest to some. He also notes that with additional examples and further investigation, a better study on the subject can be achieved. CLARITY: 4 JACKLYN KENNY Loyola University Chicago (Kathleen Adams)
Monroe’s objective was to examine the importance
of counting-out rhymes among school-aged children in CLARITY RANKING: 5 ALISON MC LETCHIE University of South Carolina (Ann Kingsolver)
Nuttall, Zelia. The Periodical Adjustments of the Ancient Mexican Calendar. American Anthropologist July - September, 1904. Vol. 6(4): 486-500. This article is a response to and critique of Edward Seler’s article "The
rectifications of the year and the length of the Venus year," published
in Zeitshrift für Ethnologie. According
to Nuttall, Seler had
proposed that ancient Mexican peoples intercalated 10 days every 42 solar
years to rectify the solar calendar, and subtracted 4 days every 55 Venus
years to adjust the Venus calendar. He had disparaged the theory that
ancient Mexicans rectified their calendar using a 13-day intercalation
every 52 years, stating that no "old" records exist to verify
that. Nuttall, however, extensively cites the writing of a Mexican
priest from 1656, Jacinto de la Serna’s Manual
de los Ministros de las CLARITY RANKING: 4
Safford, William. The Chamorro Language of The article seeks to be an academic reference of a Safford’s method is mechanical and academic. He creates a resource for further study and speculation with the only real interpretive elements being in the comparison of Chamorro numerals with those of neighboring Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian peoples. Such comparisons are useful to Linguistic Anthropologists for studying settlement patterns and for creating a timetable of island colonization. The data Safford provides is comprehensive and organized into linguistic segments such as descriptions of the formative elements of noun-making, and the fluid relationship of Chamorro nouns with their verb counterparts. The effort in his organizational methods is to allow the English speaking audience a glimpse of the formative process of language, not merely to teach us a few Chamorro words and sentences. He attempts to come up with and apply rules to the Chamorro language in ways that are meaningful to English speakers, oftentimes offering direct comparisons of said rules to the rules governing English grammar and word formation. CLARITY RANKING: 5 TUCKER KOPF
Safford,
William Edwin. The Chamorro Language of Guam – IV. This article highlights the study of verb usage in the Chamorro language, which is unique compared to all other languages of Melanesia and Polynesia in that it utilizes the verbal infix um. However, with the use of a word table, Safford shows that there are some commonalities between the Chamorro language and languages of Madagascar, Cambodia, and the Philippines. In the remainder of the article, he delves further into the grammatical structure of the Chamorro language with few cultural references. First, Safford describes how verbs are constructed by presenting several word lists. First, he provides examples to illustrate the verbal particle, which always precedes the verb as a clitic, specifying person. Next, the possessive form of the verb is described in regards to its preterite, present, and imperfect forms. Regarding the passive voice, it is noted that the particle in must be used for singular person, while ma must be used for plural or unexpressed person. Next, the author discusses the four modes of Chamorro verbs which include imperative, infinitive, indicative, and conditional. The two imperatives comprise the definite and urgent, which indicate a command that must be obeyed immediately and a command that allows a delayed response. The infinitive mode is simply constructed by placing the particle um prior to the first vowel of the root in all transitive verbs. Finally, the indicative and conditional modes are illustrated with examples regarding various tenses. Person and number are then addressed, demonstrating that the Chamorro language has two modes for the first person plural, which delineates who is addressee. The author then states that verbs are quite versatile in the language, and therefore may be conjugated in many ways. For instance, there are eight forms of verb conjugations, where the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth include various affixes. The third and fifth forms require the usage of the particle fan or the lack thereof. Finally, Safford ends his analysis of the Chamorro language with more detail concerning the various verb types. He presents the reflexive verbs, reciprocal verbs, and defective verbs, which are then broken down into the subcategories. Stafford concludes the article discussing denominative verbs, which are fashioned from nouns or adjectives. Overall, this article explains a portion of the Chamorro language, but lacks cultural contextualization. CLARITY: 3 BETHANY RIEBOCK Loyola University Chicago (Kathleen Adams)
Simms, S. C. Cultivation of "Medicine Tobacco" by the Crows – A Preliminary Paper. American Anthropologist 1904 Vol. 6:331-335. The author examines the annual Crow ceremony for the cultivation of medicine tobacco. Simms provides an accurate account of this culturally significant ritual and gardening technique that promotes the preservation of this tradition. This brief article documents cultural adaptation, significant symbols, and Crow songs (translated to English). Simms also emphasizes the gender roles within the scope of this one tradition. Simms appears to be strictly an observer bent on giving
a true description of how the Crow cultivate this ritualistic plant.
According to Simms
the ritual surrounding the planting of tobacco changes slightly over
time. For example, "with slight variation the performance of the
ceremony is still observed…To-day beef is used
in lieu of buffalo meat" (p. 331). Symbols significant to the Crow
people appear throughout this ceremony. For example: earth from molehills;
the cardinal directions; repeating different steps in the ceremony 4
times; significant floral and fauna such as: the Bald Eagle, Crane, No one enters the enclosure until harvest time and it is not said if it is the Crow men or women who harvest and prepare the plants for use. The harvesters rub a mountain root on their hands before harvesting but, other than that there is no specific ceremony or song during the harvesting or preparation of the roots, stalks, and leaves. Nor is it said who keeps the seeds in their buckskin pouch until the next planting. CLARITY: 4
Skinner, George A. "Casco Foot" in the Filipino. American Anthropologist April, 1904 Vol.6 (2):299-302. The author of this article has observed a condition of the feet of many Filipinos, which he calls casco foot. He derives this name from a type of boat called a casco because it seems that the workers on these boats tend to have severe cases of deformed feet. Skinner goes into great detail to describe the boat and to show how the deformation helps the workers. The cascos vary in size, ranging from twenty feet to a hundred feet. Each boat is made up of seven pieces, which are laced together through holes placed in the edge of each piece with thongs. If it is available, each hole is then calked with a "cocoa-nut fiber", which has been dipped in pitch and tar. These boats are not very deep; a hundred-foot casco is usually about five feet deep, and as the boat gets smaller, the proportion to the length stays the same. The bugadores (boatmen) propel the boat by pushing the bottom of the river with long bamboo poles. These poles are pressed against their shoulders and the men walk toward the front of the boat. The men exert the most work when the boat is carrying a heavier load; at this time they grasp the cross-pieces with their hands and their feet. They do not wear shoes, and this work strains the feet creating a larger toe, which becomes separated from the rest of the toes. Skinner also noted that a tumor has developed on the shoulders of the bugadores, where the bamboo pole is placed when they propel the casco. The tumor apparently develops early on in their career, and after the bugadores stop working, Skinner believes the tumor becomes much smaller. George Skinner concludes that the deformity in the feet of the bugadores is due to the strain placed on the feet and large toe while propelling the cascos. Skinner also believes that the deformation of the big toe was an adaptation to the occupation, and is not inherited. CLARITY RANKING: 4
Spitzka, Edward Anthony. Hereditary Resemblances in the Brains of Three Brothers. April 1904 6(2):307-312. In the quest to demonstrate the influence of hereditary on the morphology
of the human brain, Spitzka has analyzed the
brains of three brothers executed for murder in While it is obvious to the modern reader that morphology is significantly dependent upon genetics, Spitzka sees his research as further proof of this. What he does not recognize, and never mentions, is the effect of other criteria, such as prenatal conditions, childhood environment or even cranial pathologies on the morphology of the brains of these brothers. CLARITY: 4
Swanton, John R. The Development of the Clan System and of Secret Societies Among Northwestern Tribes. American Anthropologist 1904 Vol.6:477-485. Swanton seeks to find the origin of the maternal clan system among several
tribes in Since the interior tribes’ clan system originated with
the coastal tribes of the Northwest, Swanton sought the origin among
the coastal Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. He cites evidence that the Tlingit originally
lived at the mouth of the Skeena and Swanton argues that in seeking the origin of the clans the Tsimshian should be excluded because of their four-clan system. The Tlingit, who have two clans, have a privileged group that can marry into either clan, and this makes it easy for new clans to form. He also holds that it would be logically acceptable to believe there could be one exception to this idea, but nearly impossible to accept the notion of two tribes, Haida and Tlingit decreasing from a four-clan system to a two-clan system. Referencing his personal notes, Swanton pieces together information regarding the origin of the Haida and Tlingit tribes. According to Tlingit traditions, the most prominent group was the Wolf or Eagle and the Ravens came from outside, while among the Haida, the opposite was the case. Since these tribes allowed intermarriage, it may be possible that the system of two clans originated from intermarriage between the two tribes. Based on his hypothetical argument, he concludes that the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian are the origin of the maternal clan system, and among them he favors the origin to be Tlingit. Institutions, namely secret societies, which spread throughout tribes located near each other give Swanton’s argument more validity. Secret societies once spread among tribes in the same area, although at a different point on the coast. Tribes that he discusses in the spread of secret societies were the Kwakiutl, Heiltsuk, Bellabella, Salish, Chilkotin and the Bellacoola. CLARITY RANKING: 1
Tooker, William Wallace. Derivation of the Name Powhatan. American Anthropologist 1904 vol. 6: 464-468. Tooker discusses the origins of the word Powhatan and
how it was an Algonquian name recorded on a Tooker then begins to relate the word powwow to powhatan. Because a powwow was a ceremony, or a meeting, Tooker makes the connection between powhatan and powwow; where powhatan becomes the place in which powwows take place. CLARITY RANKING: 4
Tooker, William Wallace. Some Powhatan Names. American Anthropologist Oct.-Dec., 1904, Vol.6(5):670-694. Tooker addresses problems in understanding
the Powhatan dialect. Specifically,
he believes that the translations made by William Gerard in “The Tapahanek Dialect of According to Tooker, the Powhatan dialect
is actually more closely related to the The body of the work involves an in-depth exploration of words specifically addressed in Gerard's article. While the discussion is fascinating, it may be too advanced for readers unfamiliar with language studies. Overall, Tooker is convincing in his argument, which could be due as much to the clarity of his examples and evidence as to his ability to analyze language. CLARITY RANKING: 4 ASHLEY MCBRIDE
Wilder, Harris Hawthorne. Racial Differences in Palm and Sole Configuration. American Anthropologist 1904 vol. 6: 244-293. Wilder makes it clear that Arthur Kollmann, Frans Galton, and Hepburn all attempted to observe similarities and differences among the soles of the feet and the palms of hands of different racial groups. Wilder also states that these three people failed to produce or find results. Wilder then, through the body of the article, fully explains how certain formula can be derived, which, in turn, help to calculate similar or different traits between races or within them. Wilder's next step is to explain all terminology and descriptive qualities of the palm and sole. From this, he draws pictures that show the lines and patterns that appear on palms and soles. He uses this for his formulas that calculate the palms and soles he examined for the article. His first "race" tested was the Maya. Wilder took prints of hands and feet, which he claimed to be the best to do for study, and classified the lines and prints to certain names and patterns. From this information, Wilder can then plug in the corresponding patterns into a formula, and then after calculation, he can see a difference or similarity between the people of one race, and then apply it to another race. He believes that this formula actually predicts variability among and/or between groups of people, native to specific backgrounds. He was able to show through numerous figures and tables, that there were significant differences between sole print configurations of "Mayans" and "Whites". The "American Negroes" were the next group tested. Through the same calculations, Wilder demonstrated similarities to Whites that Mayans did not have, but managed to categorize these "American Negroes" as being distinct, or having a "Negro characteristic" related to palms. He blames the almost exact similarities between White and Negro sole patterns to "the infusion of white blood, which is conceded to be universal" (288). Therefore, he finds no characteristic "Negro formula" for soles. His examination of very few Chinese subjects was less impressive to him. He states that the names were too similar, and the Chinese people he sampled were probably closely related, thus throwing out a real "racial character". In his conclusions, he demands that palm and sole "characters are of no value as racial criteria", since so many patterns within them repeat between "races", as the people are probably not "absolutely pure" (290). He also concludes that there is more variation within one group (race) than there is between groups (races). His last idea is that the "nearer one gets to a primitive race the less the amount of variation", and studying the "purest racial stocks now living" will prove or disprove this idea or hypothesis. CLARITY RANKING: 2
Wilder, Harris Hawthorne. The Restoration of Dried Tissues, with Especial Reference to Human Remains. American Anthropologist January, 1904 Vol.6(1):1-17. Wilder explores a method of restoration in which a dried specimen will return to the normal size and shape, and will display the markings present before death. He happened upon this experiment while he was restoring embryonic skeletons, and wondered if air-dried specimens would yield the same results. Wilder altered his method for restoration because he was now dealing with air-dried specimens. He tested this method by placing a frog in a 3% caustic potash overnight. Restoration of the frog’s soft tissue to the condition of it before death was impressive. He became interested to see if this method would work for air-dried human remains. He was able to obtain human remains to use as experiments and improve the method for restoration. Using this method he places the specimen into a solution of 1-3% caustic potash. He used less caustic solutions for brittle subjects. It soaks between twelve to forty-eight hours, but due to the possibility of the object falling apart, it is constantly watched. If the specimen is left too long in the solution then it starts to turn abnormal and may degrade, but if taken out too soon, it will not reach its full size potential. The potash swells the remaining tissues to the size before death. After removing it from the solution, soak the specimen in water, and then in a 3% solution of formalin to harden and finish the preservation. Some of the human remains he experiments with are a right thumb of a Peruvian mummy, two infant heads and one of the bodies, which belongs to one of the infants, from the Cliff-dwellers, the head of a young adult Peruvian, and two adults of the "Basket People" in Utah. He is able to determine the size of the people, what they had wrapped around them, how they may have been mummified, any distinct markings, such as tattoos or scars, what they had eaten, and other information about each subject, which were not known before restoration. Wilder does not make it clear what his background or field is, but he suggests that further investigations need to be done of the specimens and future specimens, preferable by someone who has a knowledgeable background of the natural sciences, like anatomy and botany, but also someone who is interested in or has past knowledge of the people’s culture and history, to provide more insight. CLARITY RANKING: 4
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