American Anthropologist 1934

Andrews, E. Wyllys. Glyph X of the Supplementary Series of the Maya Inscriptions 1934 36: 345-354.

This article is very difficult for someone who has no formal training in the Mayan calendrical system. It is suggested that only those who have a strong background in the Mayan calendrical glyphs to read this article.

It is intended to clarify dates on a Glyph X, of which there are six different forms of the glyph. He compares Glyph X to the coefficient Glyph C. It is not stated where these glyphs are found. There are two different changes within one hotun (five years) seen between the Glyphs X and C. Dates range from to

Andrews suggests that there are two obvious lunar months shown, 1) the period from new moon to new moon (seen in Glyph C), and 2) the period between any two days where the moon rises at the same time (seen in Glyph X). He provides an equation that states the relationship between the two glyphs. The C-cycle would consist of five groups with six months, and the X-cycle would consist of four groups with six X-months and one group with five X-months. Andrews provides several illustrations, drawings and charts to clarify the distinction and comparison between the two glyphs studied.

MELANIE V. PILECKI California State University, Hayward (Professor Peter Claus)

Andrews, E. Wyllys. Glyph X of the Supplementary Series of the Maya Inscriptions. American Anthropologist. 1934 Vol. 36: 345-354.

Andrews begins with the some of the history of research on Mayan inscriptions. Sylvanus G. Morely and his initial work on the Glyph X are first described. After a seventeen-year break from studies, Teeple arose with a new discovery in 1928. Andrews then discusses his research findings and insight into Teeple’s discovery.

Six forms of the glyph are introduced by Andrews in his article, each of which only one could appear with consecutive coefficients of Glyph C. Texts introduced as evidence, seventy in total according to Andrews, showed that only two did not correlate with Teeple’s findings. Andrews explains that Glyph X and Glyph C work in dependence of one another and relates this to the lunar phases. It is shown through Andrew’s explanation that the C-Cycle contains five groups of six synodical months and the X-Cycle contains four groups of six X-months and one group of five X-months. Thus in relation to the astrological cycle, Andrews explains that the X-system is one month short of the end time. Andrews concludes strongly with the knowledge that there is substantial proof that a uniform moon date and legible Glyph X are indeed evident.

This article, extremely complex in nature, is a research paper in style, geared towards those considered specialists on Mayan inscriptions. Andrew’s research is so inclusive and current as of publication, that he even includes an addendum on the latest find in the field. In addition to the complexness and inclusion of information, a number of tables and figures are presented, designed to help the reader better understand the data in the article. Among these visual aids are information on dates with uniform C-Dates and legible forms of X, the relations of Glyphs C and X, forms of Glyph X, sources of forms of Glyph X, a diagram of cycle between Glyph C and X, and a chart showing complete C and X cycle.

KRISTIN MOZER Santa Clara University (George Westermark)

Beals, Ralph L. A Possible Culture Sequence at Mitla, Oaxaca. American Anthropologist 36 (1):89-93.

The analysis centers on the apparent presence of two types of building construction techniques in and around Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico. Type I buildings, as designated by Beals, are characterized by extraordinarily fine stone cutting which is accomplished with such precision that mortar is rarely observed. The second feature is the unique fretwork carving. This work is from solid stone in subterranean areas but is constructed of carefully carved interlocking pieces of stone in above ground fretwork. Type II buildings are constructed of adobe with mortar and some evidence of plaster.

Beals supports his theory that Type I construction preceded Type II by discussing the details of the construction of the Fortaleza, a ruin which is located 2 miles west of Mitla. The Forteleza was constructed on top of hill with steep sides on all except the southeast portion which allows access. A wall of natural stone in adobe mortar surrounds the site. The interior structures were construct of exceptionally hard adobe such that some 10 feet high walls remain. Only one cut stone appears in the foundation of the wall.

Type II construction is frequently observed built on top of Type I and occasionally uses cut stones which apparently came from a Type I building. Large amounts of pot sherds are observed in the adobe of all Type I structures and sherds are found in and around both Type I and Type II buildings. Beals concludes that the Type I construction occurred first and that some dramatic change in population resulted in the drastic change in building styles. Beals concludes by noting that the Mitla construction and pottery does not resemble that seen at Monte Alban.

KATHY O’BRIEN California State University, Hayward (Peter Claus)

Beals, Ralph. A Possible Culture Sequence at Mitla, Oaxaca. American Anthropologist. January-March,1934 Vol.36 (1):89-93.

Beals suggests that the ruins at Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico are representative of two different time periods because of distinct differences in building construction at these sites. He also suggests that entirely different builders could have built the two types of structures he has observed. The structures for which Mitla is known Beals dubs type one structures and characterizes them as the earlier of the two types. Examples of these are the Palacio, Hall of the Monoliths and Hall of the Paintings. Beals proposes that type two structures were constructed at a later date and by different people. Examples of these type two structures are the Mitla pyramid and the Fortaleza, fortress.

Beals characterizes type one buildings as those that lie North of the river and are faced with cut stone. The interior walls of these structures are made of rubble and adobe similar to type two structure’s freestanding walls. There are subterranean chambers containing intricate fretwork carving underneath type one structures. The superstructure is decorated with detailed stone carvings as well. It is also significant that no potsherds were found in conjunction with type one sites. In comparison the less well-known type two buildings can be found on either side of the river and are much more ruinous. They are built of adobe brick and rubble stone over the type one structures but are not faced with cut stone. No subterranean chambers or carvings are found in these structures. However many varieties of potsherds were found.

Beals constructs his argument around observations he has made in the field and presents them as hypotheses which, he asserts, can easily be proven by reviewing the works of previous excavators and/or a small amount of excavation. He uses construction methods to prove that there are two types of construction that characterize two different periods of time. The fact that period two structures are sometimes built over period one structures using the cut stone for bases provides the strongest physical indication for the proposed chronology. Beals loosely organizes his data in opposing descriptions of type one and type two structures. Beals also extensively describes the Fortaleza, which is the structure in which the differing types were first noticed. He closes by summarizing the characteristics of the two types and the possibilities they suggest.

STACEY THOMPSON University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Blish, Helen H. The Ceremony of the Sacred Bow of the Oglala Dakota. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36:180-187.

In her article, Helen Blish describes the origins and ceremonies of the organization of the Sacred Bow. Because this is the first ethnography about this particular organization, there is no previous evidence that Blish is concerned with refuting or agreeing. Blish wants only to show that the organization of the Sacred Bow is like other warrior societies, but that is more spiritual.

Blish explains that all of the information that she receives is from a pair of elders from the Oglala. They explained to her the myth of a young Oglala who had a vision to create the organization. Blish then explains that the organization is actually borrowed from Cheyenne Indians, but that it is truly Oglala. The ceremony of the organization is performed for war preparation. Although the ceremony is only for resignations and induction of officers, these things usually coincide with battle. The organization itself was highly structured with detailed rules about how many men served, and what kind of rules they had to follow in battle. Blish also describes the ceremony of the organization, as well as the various symbols of the organization, and the types of war paint on both the men and their horses.

This article maybe of interest to people whom simply want to know about organizations of the Dakota Indians. Blish never really accomplishes her attempt at showing the Sacred Bow organization to be more spiritual than other warrior societies because she does not compare it with any other societies. She says only that the Indians that she talked to spoke with great reverence about the Sacred Bow, but they were Oglala. Blish mentions, at the end of her article, that the Sacred Bow is a reflection of the attitude of war as an everyday existence. Blish seems to be holding on to a stereotype of Indians as savages, rather than truly trying to explore their traditions.

FRED PENNINGTON University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Blish, Helen H. 1934. The Ceremony of the Sacred Bow of the Oglala Dakota. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 180-187.

In “The Ceremony of the Sacred Bow of the Oglala Dakota,” Helen Blish addresses what the Ceremony of the Sacred Bow is to one Dakota tribe, the Oglala, a topic that she believes has escaped the attention of fellow ethnologists. Blish argues that the Sacred Bow society is more than a common warrior society; it also has a significant ceremonial and spiritual role. Her most important sources are two older members of the society, He Dog and Short Bull. Through them, Blish constructs a history of and describes the elements of the Sacred Bow society. She begins with the spiritual origins of the group. While sick with the small pox, one man, Black Road, dreamed of the Thunder who told him of the ceremony. Black Road, a medicine man, became the leader and appointed the men who would carry the Sacred Bow. Blish continues by discussing the obvious purpose of the ceremony, “preparation for war.” She then describes the participants, what they carry, their taboos, their prominence in the society, and how they dress. She discusses the significances of regalia, the painted markings on the participant and his horse, and different material objects used in the ceremony. After examining each of these elements, Blish interprets the different symbols related to each of these things. Most of these elements connect to spirits such as the Thunder and others like the long-tailed deer believed to carry powerful magic. They symbolize different representations of both strength and prayer for protection in warfare. Thus, the ceremony, Blish shows, is more than a preparation for battle by showing one’s strength; it is also a plea to the spirits for protection.

MICHELE A. PARKE California State University, Hayward (Dr. Peter J. Claus)

Butler, Mary. A Note on Maya Cave Burials. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 223-225.

In “A Note on Maya Cave Burials,” Mary Butler discusses the connection some individuals have made between a pre-conquest cult and a Maya Cave Cult that arose after the Spanish arrival. Butler argues that the connection between the two cults is nonexistent. She believes that scholars mistakenly connect the later cult, described as Nagualism by the Spanish, to a term from the earlier cult “Nagual,” which refers to the individual’s guardian spirit. Her sources include the records of the discovery of the Mayan caves, and other scholars’ studies of the cults. To support her argument, Butler first discusses the Nagual cult. A sorcerer, Butler explains, usually determined an individual’s Nagual by learning about the individual’s horoscope. Butler acknowledges that the term Nagualism can describe this cult. However, the author argues that the post-contact cult was not based on the religion of the pre-contact. Instead, post-contact Nagualism had a different origin. After the Spanish arrival, the sorcerer continued to have an important role within the community. Butler argues that the Maya, who resented the Spanish, formed a cult which was lead by the sorcerer. The cult held its meetings in empty buildings and caves because the Spanish forbade its practices. As the cult continued to practice its beliefs in caves, the Cave God came to be their protector. This is the basis of the new cult, Butler argues, not the ancient practice of Nagual. Thus, Butler concludes, other than the use of the name, there is no connection between the earlier and later Maya cults.

MICHELE A. PARKE California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Claus)

Butler, Mary. A Note on Maya Cave Burials. American Anthropologist. 1934 Vol. 36: 223-225.

Mary Butler’s article, A Note on Maya Cave Burials, addresses the debate of a possible connection between various Maya cave burials found in Old Empire Maya cities with a Maya cave cult or even with a post-conquest Nagualist cult reorganization. She contends that while there may be a cave cult associated with the burials, it is not viable to conclude a relationship exists between the cave burials and the ancient, native religion of Nagualism.

Her presentation begins with a reference to the burial sites found in Yucatan Oxkutzcab, Piedras Negras, Tabasco, all of which have been assumed to be associated with Maya occupation of the surrounding area and a burial site near Copan where the pottery found differs from that of nearby cities. Butler acknowledges B.B. Gordon’s deduction from early Spanish writers that the cave sites may be associated with a cave god and a Nagualist cult, but refutes the reasoning claiming that available materials do now allow for such a conclusion to be made.

Butler continues her argument with a description of Nagualism as an Indian religion the Spanish believed was organized in opposition to them and the confusion and questions surrounding its penetration into pre-Columbian Maya life through the animal spirit of Nagual. Through this spirit, Butler claims, it is possible to connect Nagualism with pre-Columbian Maya, but to what extent there are no means of knowing.

Mary Butler believes the caves could be associated with a pre-Columbian nagugal cult, but any later occupation of the caves was not related to Nagualism. The discoveries of the cave cults identify Old Empire use of the caves, perhaps as a place to celebrate its rites after being pushed by social and political forces. The fact that post-Conquest occupation cannot be found in these cave burials leads Butler to conclude there is no connection between the sites and Nagualist reorganization.

SARAH MILLER University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Cole, Fay-Cooper. Frederick Starr 36 (3): 271

This one page article is an obituary of Dr. Fredrick Starr. It summarizes his academic field, interests, and contributions. Dr. Fredrick Starr died on August 14, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. Once a professor in Biology, he switched his interests to Anthropology. He performed fieldwork in several countries such as Mexico, Japan, the Philippines, Africa, and with various Native American tribes in the United States. He was always trying to identify himself with his subjects. The obituary states how he was very enthusiastic about his fieldwork, which was an attraction for the students in his classes.

He was the author of many publications including “First Steps in Human Progress”, “Indian Mexico” and “Korean Buddhism”. Dr. Fredrick Starr was adored by his students, and also accepted many honors and medals from institutions around the world.

MELANIE V. PILECKI California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Claus)

Cole, Fay-Cooper. Frederick Starr. American Anthropologist March, 1934 Vol. 36: 217

Fay-Cooper Cole wrote a superb obituary summarizing the extraordinary life of Dr. Frederick Starr, Associate Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Dr Starr began his life in academia after graduating from Lafayette College in 1882. He then went on to earn a Ph.D. and was appointed as a biology professor at Coe College. As time went on, his interest in anthropology increased and in 1889 he accepted a job at the American Museum of Natural History, focusing on ethnology. After a successful run at the museum he was asked to organize anthropological teaching at the University of Chicago and eventually became an Associate Professor there.

While Dr. Starr was clearly an amazing professional, it should also be noted that he took great pride in his field studies and writings. He authored numerous papers and fifteen volumes. Dr. Starr also took full advantage of the variety in our world and studied in places far beyond the United States such as Mexico, Japan, the Philippines and Africa. He prided himself on becoming as close as possible to the people he studied, which is a true testament to his anthropological spirit.

Dr. Starr was a world-renowned anthropologist who established strong friendships wherever he went. He received multiple awards from several different countries including being a Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Italy along with countless other honors. However, beyond the awards and publications lies his overall popularity among colleagues and students alike. He had a passion for anthropology that he expressed in the classroom and all over the world. Dr. Frederick Starr died of bronchial pneumonia in Japan on August 14, 1933.

STACEY CRESPO Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Densmore, Frances. A Study of Indian Music in the Gulf States American Anthropologist 36(3): 386-388.

Four different Indian tribes participated in the recording of their traditional songs. Song types include dance, ritual, games, war, and medicinal. The purpose of the study was to not only preserve the songs, but to also analyze and compare them to other Indigenous songs from all over the Americas in the meanings of the words, melodies and patterning.

The tribes studied were the Alibama Indians of Livingston, Texas, the Chitimacha of Charenton, Louisiana, the Choctaw of Philadelphia, Mississippi and the Seminoles of Florida. A description as to what tribes were studied, where they lived, and how the writer got to their site is given. Who the writer contracted to sing the songs is also provided.

Densmore gives the number of songs that each tribe recorded, the type of songs they were (dance, ritual, games, etc.) and how each tribe’s songs were unique to them by their melodic structure and the meanings of the songs. Some songs are given their folkloric description and what they meant to the singers themselves.

Songs are referred to having similar stories or same melodies as to those in the Yuma tribe, Pueblo Indians, Florida Seminole and Cow Creek Seminole, and other Indian tribes in Panama, Brazil, and Peru.


Densmore, Frances. A Study of Indian Music in the Gulf States. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 386-388.

Frances Densmore’s article focuses on a study of Indian music in the Gulf states. There were a couple of purposes to the study, the more obvious being the preservation of Indian songs, the other purpose being to follow the discovery of a peculiar formation of melody found among several Indian tribes. The melody formations can be characterized as having a long initial period, followed by a short period that is higher in pitch and different in rhythm and melody.

Four Indian tribes were included in the study. The writer that conducted the first study went to Livingston, Texas to study the songs of the Alibama Indians. None of the melodies contained the period formation that the writer was looking to compare. The next tribe visited were the Chitimacha from Louisiana. There were no songs remembered by them, but the chief and other prominent members of the tribe documented information on musical customs. The Choctaw Indians from Mississippi were the next tribe studied. The period formation was evident in their songs, especially those of later recordings. Densmore examined several renditions of the songs and suggested that improvisation and elaboration of a melody was a phase of Choctaw musical culture. Among the Seminole songs studied, one of two songs about Indian removal to Oklahoma was in period formation.

Throughout the article, Densmore tries to connect the musical customs of a tribe with the use of period formation. Many of the tribes used songs for healing, for dance, or to communicate history. Densmore’s article expresses the need for an increased awareness of comparison in Indian music among different tribes.

SARAH COLLINS University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Eggan, Fred. The Maya Kinship System and Cross-Cousin Marriage. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 188-202.

Fred Eggan, in “The Maya Kinship System and Cross-Cousin Marriage,” interprets the relationships between individuals and determines a possible method to confirm if a couple could marry among the Maya. He argues that the kinship terms of the Maya reveal that cross-cousins were the preferred marriage partners. Through an analysis of the kinship terms of the Maya recorded in two dictionaries of the Maya language, Eggan interprets how one individual understood his or her relationship to others. He suggests that, the nature of many terms, such as cic, meaning “older sister, man’s mother’s brother’s daughter (if older), and man’s son’s wife’s mother,” suggests cross-cousin marriage. He continues to study other terms, such as those for daughter-in-law and brother-in-law, which he understands as also suggesting cross-cousin marriage. In his conclusion, Eggan goes on to examine two other possible interpretations of the terms recorded in the Maya Kinship System: exogamous moieties or daughter exchange households. Using studies completed by others, however, Eggan argues that the cross-cousin system is more plausible than the exogamous moiety possibility. Some terms appear to fail to fit correctly into this latter interpretation. Eggan is willing to consider the second option, however, because the exchange of daughters between households is common in the cross-cousin system. He examines evidence that suggests tribes in Honduras and Nicaragua use the cross-culture system. Thus, he concludes, the evidence that the system was present in the area as well as the terms of the Maya Kinship System suggest the presence of cross-cousin marriage among the Maya.


Eggan, Fred. The Maya Kinship System and Cross-Cousin Marriage. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 188-202.

Fred Eggan, in The Maya Kinship System and Cross-Cousin Marriage, focuses on the issue of how social organization and marriage practices of the ancient Mayan culture have been underestimated by American ethnologists. Many researchers have collaborated and have come to the conclusions about the existence of cross-cousin marriages among the Mayans. The Mayan kinship terms included in the article strongly indicate a marriage system of the bilateral cross-cousin type. Research has indicated that the kinship system is of the “classificatory” type in that the father is classed with the father’s brother and the mother with the mother’s sister. Sexual differentiation is also stressed.

Eggan examines Mayan kinship terms and their applications to illustrate cross-cousin marriage. For example, under the cross-cousin marriage system, a man’s elder sister may, in certain cases, also be his son’s wife’s mother and so on. The broadness of the kinship system in vague but relatives seemed to have been recognized to the third or fourth cousin at least. Eggan hypothesizes that the terminology may also suggest that a system of exogamous clans with reciprocal daughter exchange by households is possible in Mayan culture.

Eggan concludes that the accuracy of the information on Mayan kinship must rely upon what is found in literature, information from surviving Maya groups, and on the internal consistency that is achieved within the kinship system. There is a possibility that a social structure based on cross-cousin marriage is also evident and widespread in Central America, and even northern South America. Eggan’s main point of the article is that because the available information concerning social structure and kinship of the ancient Mayans is unsatisfactory, it is hoped that more literature will come to light on Mayan kinship, and that additional fieldwork in Central America will warrant more information on existing trends in cross-cousin marriage.

SARAH COLLINS University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Gillin, John. Crime and Punishment Among the Barama River Carib of British Guiana36(3): 331-344.

John Gillin provides an ethnographic account as to the types of crimes and punishments amongst the Carib Indians. They are an Indigenous group that live along the Barama River near the Venezuelan border in British Guiana, or now currently called Guyana.

Gillin believes that their location hinders their development of a legal and judicial system. His general take on the judicial system in the Carib tribe is that because they are in an unfavorable environmental condition and have exterior political influences does that confound to their development of a stable political system. Therefore they have not been able to develop a stable judicial and legal system.

There are two types of offenses seen by the Carib: those against humans and those against religion. Gillin describes their system of hierarchy, with each settlement having their own headman who helps to instill punishment.

Gillin gives examples of crimes committed by the Carib and also shows how the Carib

try to prevent crime from happening. He then details two types of punishment: public and private. There are three different types of public punishment as well as three different types of public punishment. He gives examples as to the six types of punishments, and what would constitute that particular type of punishment.

MELANIE V. PILECKI California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Calus)

Gillin, John. Crime and Punishment Among the Barama River Carib of British Guiana. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36(3): 331-344.

The article, as evident from the title, concentrates its discussion on crime and punishment among the Carib Indians. Prior to presenting the political aspects of that society, the author describes the environmental surroundings as well as the subsistence patterns of the Carib. The Indians live in small communities that are very isolated and depend on hunting, fishing, and some agriculture. The article mentions the lack of central authority, formal law, and official standards of justice among the Carib Indians. A headman is chosen by others, based on personality rather then leadership qualities; he appears to be a symbolic leader rather then a voice of power.

The author then proceeds to provide a detailed description of the kinds of crimes that take place and the punishments that are carried out. The two kinds of crimes in the Carib society that take place consist of those against spirits and humans. The former result in subtle inconveniences that the spirits exert upon the offender, while consequences for the latter take a more direct and physical form. There are certain rules that the Carib Indians follow in order to evade the punishment from the spirits. Once the crime has been committed it is still possible to evade the punishment from the spirit by contacting a sorcerer.

The author provides a more detailed description about the crimes and punishments that take place among the individuals. He discovers the most serious offenses to be murder, poisoning, use of sorcery, theft, and adultery. Interestingly enough, there are no strong beliefs about right and wrong; all of the aforementioned offences are not seen as inherently wrong and become crimes only if an individual is harmed. If a homicide takes place, but is deemed to have been an accident, the offender is not seen as guilty of crime and is not punished. Thus, while the first three are viewed as crimes if committed out of malice, they are also considered types of retribution if used to punish an offender. The last three are considered to be committed only out of malevolence and thus deserve punishment.

To punish an offender the victim may resort to individual sources such as murder, poisoning, or may contact a sorcerer. Most of these punishments take place in secret so not to disturb the existence of the whole society. Aremi emu and kanaima are two means by which an individual can carry out the punishment using magic. Becoming a kanaima is said to be the last resort for punishment and carries many unpleasant characteristics. The author provides a detailed description of how one can become a kanaima, the means by which that individual carries out the punishment, and the consequences that result from entering into the role.

The author suggests that the small size of the Carib society and their environment are the primary factors that contribute to the lack of central authority and result in the individual execution of punishment. The article is a very clear ethnographic description of the Carib Indians that concentrates on the criminal aspects of that society.

NATASHA DOLGINSKY Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Hallowell, A. I. Some Empirical Aspects of Northern Saulteaux Religion 36(3): 389-404.

The Indians studied in this report are the Pigeon River Indians, from western Ontario. They inhabit the area of the Berens River, or in native terminology omi mi si pi, or Pigeon River. The Pigeon River Indians are part of the Ojibwa branch of the Alkonkian peoples. The Canadian government has labeled them the Saulteaux people because of the assumption that they are descendants of an Ojibwa center called Sault Ste. Marie.

The article is an analysis of their religious system, which is a mix of what the author calls Paganism with Catholicism, Christianity and/or the Protestant church, depending on what community has been most influenced by the churches and the missionaries.

The article describes their cosmology, mythology and interpretation of the universe.

In order to have strong faith in their own beliefs, it is necessary that the Indians have 1) direct experiences with nature phenomenon, 2) dreams, and the 3) observances of conjuring performances.

These three categories are very important to their religious philosophy. The first two are ubiquitous to the individual’s experience. Dreams are seen as being important in giving direct knowledge of spiritual entities. The third form is important in that it includes supernormal and psychic phenomena of all different kinds.


Hallowell, A. I. Some Empirical Aspects of Northern Saulteaux Religion. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 389-404.

Disregarding previous ideas on unilinear historical reconstruction of cultures, Hallowell describes the Saulteaux Indians and their religion as a type of coherent philosophy that has rational, empirical support. He had done research with the Saulteaux for the summers of 1931 and 1932. There had been a large Christian influence in the province of Manitoba, particularly along the Pigeon River these Indians call home.

There are several basic religious beliefs in the Saulteaux religion that relate their beliefs to their actions and behaviors. The most fundamental dogma in their religious philosophy is the idea that everything in the universe is animate. Each entity has a soul and a body. The second idea is that all entities have specific “owners” or “bosses.” Different animals have the same “owner”, giant animals like the great snake has an “owner” as well. Human institutions and services, like medicinal information, curative treatment, sorcery and magic, or clairvoyance, also have spiritual “owners.”

Hallowell explains that the Saulteaux employ the same common sense as the next human; that the Indian is using the same mental procedure as common man. Some of the Saulteaux beliefs translated into experience fall into three categories defined by Hallowell. The first is through direct experience of natural phenomena. One example is the belief that no Saulteaux Indian can be convinced the earth is round. Even the way that most people believe this idea today is based entirely on authority. It is rare for anyone to experience this first hand. There is also a belief that bears can understand human language. This belief influenced a man’s behavior when he encountered a bear hunting. Because the bear seemed to have understood the man telling the bear to go away, the man’s faith in this belief was given further empirical evidence to sustain it.

The second belief translated to direct experience is through dreams. At puberty, dreaming is institutionalized for boys. In the dreams, the man becomes familiar with the entities, or protectors, which he believes will be at work in the world around him. If a man wishes to hunt or fish, he can do it without the help of his guardian spirit. But if there is exceptional luck in hunting or fishing, it can be explained because the man probably had a good connection to his guardian spirit in his dreams.

The third source of experience is the conjuring tent. There is an institution of conjuring, and its real purpose is to reveal information about a person or persons at a distance, recover stolen property, or reviving a witched person. There are few bona fide conjurers in the area, probably because of Christianity, but many still believe in the authenticity of the institution of conjuring. Their beliefs in this institution can best be compared to our continued interest in fortune telling, psychics and spiritualism.

ANGELA CAMPBELL Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Hambly, Wilfrid Dyson. Occupational Ritual, Belief, and Custom Among the Ovimbundu.American Anthropologist 36 (2): 157-167.

During a visit to Angola in 1929-1930 to collect handicrafts, an investigation of the impact of European contact on the economic activities of the Ovimbundu was undertaken. Of particular interest was the division of labor between the sexes, specialization by age and aptitude, and the possibility of hereditary occupations. Economic activity is divided into four categories: food supply, handicrafts, medicine-men and education although the latter category is addressed within the discussions of the first three. Hambly is surprised by the detailed knowledge of men and boys regarding game animals and trees and he speculates that women are not nearly so knowledgeable. Boys are trained for 2 years by professional hunters before they are accepted and allowed to hunt. Significant amount of ritual remains associated with hunting which the author attributes to the continuing use of bows and arrows. Women and children participate in collecting wild foods, but Hambly has few specifics on these activities. He notes that agriculture is mainly confined to women although men clear land and participate in the harvest. Chickens have significant ritual value as they are frequently sacrificed in various cleansing ceremonies. Production of handicrafts is also rigidly separated with men being carvers, women weaving baskets, etc. Most important of the handicrafts is blacksmithing and it was not even possible to purchase any of the required tools. A boy wishing to become a blacksmith must serve a 2 year apprenticeship. Hambly intersperses his article with bits of ethnographic information tangentially related to his topic – cooking taboos and burial practices – which provides some background but results in a lack of focus on the subject. He concludes that European influences, although noticeable, are superficial and that indigenous custom and ritual persists.

KATHY O’BRIEN California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Claus)


Wilfrid Hambly did field research on the Ovimbundu in the Benguela highlands of Africa to explore the impact of European contact. His observations of the Bailundu, Elende, and Ngalangi regions were primarily focused on food supply, handicrafts, medicine-men, and education. Comments on education were intertwined with the other three categories. Food supply is brought about by the men’s thorough knowledge of trees, plants, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The boys in the community are very familiar with small mammals, like rats and mice. The women collect caterpillars for soup, but their main focus is on agriculture, domestic work, child care, and collection of firewood.

A large portion of Hambly’s food supply section focuses on the life of a hunter. He describes initiation rituals, dances, sacrifices, and weapons that are specific to this occupation. Other ethnographic tidbits included were the division of labor seen in agriculture and the Ovimbundu polygamous lifestyle. For the harvest, men generally clear the timber and burn the brush. Women’s agricultural contribution includes hoe cultivation, but often with the help of men. Not only is there a division of labor, but in their system of polygyny, the wife gets her own field to cultivate, utensils, and separate hut.

The main occupation of Hambly’s handicraft section is the blacksmith. He points out the stronger superstition concerning blacksmith tools and his difficulty obtaining a large hammer. Blacksmiths begin their apprenticeships at the age of 18 and must be physically strong. Before a the young male becomes a full fledged blacksmith he must make a complete set of tools while saving the big hammer for his initiation day. On this day, the hammer is made red hot and used to kill a pup and the blood of goats and chickens are used to sprinkle over the new tools. Women are usually not trained to be blacksmiths but are experts in basket making. There is careful attention paid to the type of plant used and the extraction of dyes.

House building also exhibits a division of labor with respect to age and sex. The men cut holes, dig trenches, and bind cross pieces with bark. The job of women is to carry water to the clay pit and provide the men with mud to plaster the inside of the house. Children get the fun job of puddling the mud with their feet.

Lastly, medicine-men must first possess the “spirit of the head” and have specialized therapeutic knowledge. Treatments can include the usage of plants, urine, and a cow-tail switch. Medicine-men usually focus on curing sickness, impotence and sterility whereas medicine-women focus on childbirth complications.

DENISE SU Santa Clara University (George Westermark)

Hansen, George H. Utah Lake Skull Cap. American Anthropologist 36(3): 431-433.

This article is a quick write-up regarding a discovery made of a skullcap with unusual characteristics. Three boys who were playing out in the dried-up lake of Utah, which dates back to the Pleistocene age, discovered the Utah skullcap. The area had suffered a drought, so the depletion of the lakes water helped to the discovery of the skullcap. No other parts of the skull nor the skeleton had been discovered.

Two points are given as to the uniqueness of this skullcap: 1). The fact that it was found far out in the middle of the lake and underneath nine inches of mud indicates that it had been there for many years, and 2) that the skull cap is different from those found in the mounds around the lake shore and of contemporary Native American skull shapes, or the Utah Lake Mounds People. The skull is unusually thick and has strong supraorbital development.

The skullcap is compared to other primate skulls physical measurements, including: Modern, Cro-Magnon, Brunn, Neanderthal, Pithecanthropus and Anthropoid apes. It is concluded that based on the Calvarial Height, Bregma Angle, Bregma Position and Frontal Angle that the Utah skullcap is most physically similar to that of a Neanderthal skull.

MELANIE PILECKI California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Claus)

Herskovits, Melville J. Walter E. Roth. American Anthropologist 36 (2):266-270.

In this article, Herskovits examines the life and works of Walter E. Roth who died on April 5, 1993. His most important sources are Roth’s son, Vincent Roth, and the obituary recording his death in British Guiana. In memorandum, the author begins with Roth’s birth and family. He then continues by listing the anthropologist’s scholastic achievements and experiences. After citing Roth’s educational experiences, Herskovits briefly details his field experiences. Roth, the author reveals, traveled to Australia and British Guiana with the British Colonial Service. He studied the peoples of these countries in detail, and, in 1909, received the Clark Medal for his thorough studies. While he was in Australia, Herskovits explains, Roth became the Protector of the aboriginals for Queensland and then the Royal Commissioner. In British Guiana, he drafted the Aboriginal Protection Acts. Herskovits also details Roth’s other experiences and honors, including the translation of texts accounting the discoveries made in British Guiana. As a fine artist, Roth sketched the baskets if the Guiana Indians. The anthropologist was also a Fellow of the Royal Collage of Surgeons. He traveled with actors, as well as on a world traveling ship as the attending physician. Herskovits ends his detail of the anthropologist’s life by listing a bibliography of Roth’s most important works. Thus, Herskovits provides a fully detailed history of Roth’s life and career.

MICHELE A. PARKE California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Clause)

Herskovits, Melville J. Walter E. Roth. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36:266-270.

Melville J. Herskovits’ description of the life of Dr. Walter E. Roth provides insight into a man who contributed to the field of anthropology. Dr. Roth was born in London in 1861. He was very well educated, and after graduating, he went into the field of surgery. Dr. Roth was assigned to Western Australia to study the conditions of the natives there. His studies greatly improved the systems of dealing with the natives there.

In 1906, Dr. Roth was appointed to British Guiana. Here, his humanitarian efforts were again recognized with the passing of the Aboriginal Protection Acts. Dr. Roth was a man of many talents, who especially used his artistic talents to improve the plight of native peoples. He sought to improve humanity through his own endeavors. For his works, Dr. Roth was bestowed many accolades, as well as improving the lives of millions of people.

FRED PENNINGTON University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Jessup, Morris K. Inca Masonry at Cuzco. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 239-241.

In this article, Jessup examines the techniques involved in building Cuzco, the Inca city. He explains, through analysis of the placement of stones, first, how the stones can fit tightly enough that a blade cannot penetrate between them. Second, he describes how the shape of the stones allow them to fit only one position. Third, the author argues that mortar is not necessary for the structures. He begins his analysis by examining one stone in particular, “the stone with twelve corners.” He explains his belief that the Cuzco masons shaped the stones to fit their locations by, first, sliding the rock into its location. Next, the stone was slid along the stones around it and ground into its position to make the sides fit together smoothly. By examining “the stone with twelve corners” and a wall, Jessup shows the reader how this would work. He then moves on to a third example, the Temple of the Sun. He argues that the stones on the sloped side were shaped to fit into place like those mentioned above, but they also had to be smoothed and curved outside of their positions. Thus, the workers used a combination of methods to shape the stones perfectly and to fit them properly. His final argument, concerning his belief that mortar was unnecessary for the process of building Cuzco, is his last topic for discussion. He reasons that when one surface is ground against another, the top of the bottom surface will become concave and the bottom of the top stone convex. Thus, the stones will fit together perfectly and hold each other locked in place. Therefore, through the process of grinding, the stones fit their specific niches, preventing any objects from entering the cracks, and mortar is unnecessary.

MICHELE A. PARKE California State University, Hayward (Peter Claus)

Jessup, Morris K. Inca Masonry at Cuzco. American Anthropologist. 1934 Vol. 36:239-241.

Morris K. Jessup, in Inca Masonry at Cuzco, hypothesizes on the construction of Inca masonry, walls specifically. He tells of two significant features that he believes is the evidence for the awesome, mortar lacking masonry. The first feature is the tightness of the joints between each and every stone. As Jessup tells us, it is said that not even a penknife can penetrate the stones. The second feature is that each stone appears to occupy a unique position in the wall. Thus, Jessup hypothesizes that the stones are shaped in situ.

Jessup uses two Plates with three photographs each as evidence for his hypothesis. He deduces a highly logical procedure for the masonry based on several observations of different samples. He notes the curvature of the joints and how superbly interlocking they are. Jessup cites the famous “stone with twelve corners” as an excellent piece of evidence for the in situ construction. He also speaks of a grinding method, which would lead to the stones interlocking vertically. Thus, aiding greatly in wall stability. Although, having not seen the inner surfaces of the walls, Jessup is unable to cite any evidence for this hypothesis.

Increased quarrying skills are cited as evidence for the increase in the quality of masonry. As evidence, Jessup notes that the stones become more rectangular. He also notes that it appears as if each layer were laid independently and flattened by grinding before the next layer was begun. Thus the walls become more vertically and horizontally oriented. As generations passed, Jessup expected that the number of skilled grinders increased. He believes that this would have led to more skilled grinders transferring to quarrying. Due to the increased quality of quarrying, Jessup speculates that the skill of masonry shifted from an unskilled labor to a more skilled labor.

ROBERT D. HARDY University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Kelly, Isabel T. Southern Paiute Bands. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 548-560

Southern Paiute is divided into fifteen bands. Namely: San Juan, Kaiparowits, Panguitch, Kaibab, Uinkaret, Shivwits, St. George, Gunlock, Cedar, Beaver, Panaca, Paranigat, Moapa, Las Vegas and Chemehuevi. A map is provided to show where all of these bands are located and detailed descriptions are given. The writer points out areas of vagueness. Findings are in agreement in comparison to the Powell-Ingalls report in which the Handbook of American Indians is based upon. Provided is a table consisting of the fifteen bands in the first column, the Powell equivalents in the second, an explanation of the Powell designations in the third and Powell’s location of each in the final.

KOYTA SAEPHARN California State University, Hayward (Peter J. Claus)

Kelly, Isabel T. Southern Paiute Bands. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36:

548 – 560.

Kelly discusses the distinctions of Paiute groups in the American Southwest. The author offers a detailed map that describes the extent of the territory inhabited by each of the fifteen bands she distinguishes based on linguistic evidence. Kelly compares her assertion of fifteen bands to the thirty-one proposed by John Wesley Powell and George Ingalls 60 years before and accounts for the numeric discrepancy. The article is essentially descriptive in nature, but elaborates on the criteria used to narrow down the distinctions to the total of fifteen.

The area inhabited by groups constituting the Southern Paiute language group encompasses the area surrounding what is now Las Vegas in the south, with the western border being Death Valley, the northern extents reaching central Nevada and Utah and running nearly as far east as the Utah-Colorado border. Within this area, Kelly catalogues the territories of bands described as “speak[ing] the same language but [their] voice sounds different.” Using living informants, Kelly tracks the boundaries of their former territories as they existed in the mid 19th century. The majority of the article reviews the information on the map and offers physiographic descriptions of each region and linguistic evidence to distinguish each of the fifteen bands.

Kelly then compares her data to that gathered by Powell and Ingalls, intending to account for the difference of sixteen groups. She offers a chart with her band classifications and those of Powell, offering the territorial outlines and substantiating her claim with dialectic evidence. Kelly posits that the Las Vegas and Moapa groups of Paiutes were subdivided into fifteen other bands based on place names that according to her informants are misleading. Kelly proposes that these extra bands are really components of the two aforementioned groups. Kelly delineates the existence of three other groups, Kaiparowits, Gunlock and Chemehuevi that Powell did not account for. Kelly contends her research basically supports the earlier ethnographic evidence, but offers more fidelity and inclusion based on increased familiarity with the Paiute language.

DAVID MASON Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Klineberg, Otto. Notes on the Huichol. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 446-460

The author provides notes under unfavorable conditions experienced. The village set up and current problems between the people and the miners are described. Materials are from direct observation as well as from an informant.

The bi-cultural syncretism of the Huichol is discussed. The blend of the Catholic and Pre-Colombian cultures through religion is described. Brief descriptions of a number of festivals that are celebrated are given: Fiesta de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Fiesta de las Aguas, Fiesta of the Squashes, Fiesta of the Green Corn, Fiesta of the Harvest, Fiesta of the Planting and Fiesta of the Peyote. The author tells of the significant uses and effects of peyote. Another fiesta mentioned is for the inauguration of the new officers. The author describes the roles of the officers: Gobernador, Juez, Capitan and Alguacil. Other important people in the village such as the shamans who play a significant role are discussed. The author takes notes upon death rituals, childrenEs roles, marriage ceremonies, economic system, products, leisure, and emotional expression.


Klineberg, Otto. Notes on the Huichol. American Anthropologist July-September, 1934 Vol 36 (3): 446-460.

As an anthropologist, it is extremely important to accept the fact that sometimes research observations need more in-depth study before certain interpretative conclusions can be reached. There are times when true insights into a culture can not be accurately obtained due to constraining aspects such as lack of time, language difficulties, and even the possibility of a hostile community. Otto Klineberg spent two months living in Huichol territory in the Eastern Sierra Madre Mountains in 1933. His main purpose did not center around a specific argument or concern, rather he simply went to survey Huichol life with an emphasis on their psychological behavior.

Klineberg intended to collect ethnographic information that illustrated the Huichol’s norms, while keeping a constant focus on their emotional expressions, however, at the end of his project, he felt that he barely scratched the surface to the deeper truths about Huichol. This was mostly due to in insufficient understanding of the language, as well as the unwelcome and distrustful attitude that was at first displayed at his arrival.

Klineberg’s rocky start turned out to be costly in regards to time, yet he was still able to record sufficient amounts of data about basics of Huichol life. His evidence of this culture flowed from one observation to the next. The location of the village was accessible only by horseback over cliffs and gullies into uninhabited areas. The houses were built in a circle with a surrounding low stone wall, and connected to each home was a thatched-roof storehouse. Klineberg took note of social fiestas honoring seasons, gods, deities, and crops. He broke the governmental system down into four main officers, all elected by the kawitero who “dreamed” of who should be in power. Klineberg also observed the fierce faith put into the cuandero, or the healer, and the implicit confidence that the community had in him to cure all. There was also information regarding the isolated strength of childbirth, the parental influences in marriage customs, and the ritual of a five-day mourning period for the death of a loved one.

Throughout all of Klineberg’s notes, he incorporated specific references to emotional expressions, such as his determination that the Huichol were
“a sociable group, laughing easily and often” (p. 447). He also observed that they were quick to lose their temper to anger, although they were even quicker to recover their easy-going and amiable nature. He took note of the outward display of affection towards children, although wives were at times treated with unsympathetic indifference by their husbands. Klineberg was also puzzled by the Huichol’s sense of humor, since, according to him, they often laughed at random and bizarre times. One of Klineberg’s main frustrations, however, was that he recognized outbursts of emotions within the group, but he did not feel that he adaquately analyzed such psychological patterns because of his lack of time and poor linguistic comprehension. It was as if he defined the focus of his ethnological research and had the means to articulate his study only as he was packing his bags to leave.

Klineberg’s main idea was that to truly understand the particular focus you are observing in a culture, you must first have sufficient time, linguistic skills, and acceptance of the people themselves. The comprehensibility of this point was clear because Klineberg accurately described Huichol lifestyle and customs while incorporating behavioral norms, but he also admitted to his incapability to take his observations to a deeper, interpretative level.

BONNIE YOUNG Santa Clara University (Dr. George Westermark).

Kroeber, A.L. Native American Population. American Anthropologist 36 (1):1-25.

Kroeber provides his estimate of native population at the time of contact with Caucasians. The work is relies upon material gleaned from several sources. James Mooney’s figures are used for North America north of the Rio Grande except for California where Kroeber utilizes his own figures. All the estimates for population density and totals for this region rely on tribe by tribe totals. Kroeber is forced to rely on less empirically derived estimates for the population of the remainder of the Western Hemisphere. Regions of Mexico which are contiguous with the United States are estimated based on figures available for cultural areas to the north. The resultant figures are compared with 20th century populations to provide a reality check. Using estimates published by Sapper (which Kroeber adjusts based on what he believes to be the more accurate estimate of the region north of the Rio Grande) and Willcox’s figures (which were estimates of 1700 population and developed for a population growth model) Kroeber completes a tabulation of the Western Hemisphere at 1492 A.D. and places the population at 8.4 million. He maintains that the figure is intended to be a mark for others to shoot at and to spur further investigation, particularly of populations of the regions south of the Rio Grande.

Within the framework of population estimates Kroeber discusses Native American farming methods, the cultural habits of warfare which he viewed as illogical and tending to reduce population, and the surprising results of population density studies which showed that the West Coast of the United States and Canada had supported the highest population densities and not the agricultural areas to the east. Indeed, the Southwest area supported a higher population density than the apparently more fertile East.


Kroeber, A.L. Native American Population. American Anthropologist. January-March 1934 Vol.36(1):1-24.

A.L. Kroeber describes his article as an abstract of conclusions reached as to aboriginal American population in a study undertaken as part of a monograph dealing with cultural and natural areas in Native America.

Most of the article is devoted to estimates of the native population north of Mexico at the time of early contact. He spends the last few pages dealing with the rest of the hemisphere. Kroeber relies heavily on the work of James Mooney who composed the first careful and complete tribe by tribe study of population at early contact. Mooney’s work was published in 1928. Whereas Mooney’s estimates were counted tribe by tribe, Kroeber groups the populations according to cultural areas such as NW Arizona or Pueblo rather than Hopi or Zuni. He examines the population density of these areas and carefully looks at the modes of production responsible for high or low population density.

Kroeber takes into account weather and other factors that play roles in the population control of a region. He also guestimates how much land was under cultivation in the Southeast for example at the time of contact.

Although Kroeber says some of his population estimates were achieved through “dead reckoning”, they seem to be similar to contemporary ideas of native population distribution at the time of contact. Given the vast amount of natives and their different ways at that time, Kroeber’s analysis of culture and modes of production are rather general.

RODNEY LINDSEY University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Loeb, Edwin. Patrilineal and Matrilineal Organization in Sumatra. Part 2. The Minangkabau. American Anthropologist 36 (1): 26-56.

Part 1 of this paper appeared in American Anthropologist 35 (1): 16-50 and presented the organization of the Batak of Sumatra. Part 2 provides a detailed discussion of the Minangkabua, also of Sumatra. The author presents a brief history of the group in terms of their own beliefs and as summarized by Western scholars. The group is described as a disintegrating kingdom at the time the Dutch arrived in the 17th century with a political organization of village states. The date of the introduction of Mohammedan law is uncertain although speculation is that pirates roved the coasts of Sumatra as early as the 14th century. Despite this possibly early contact, the religion and practices of the people remain essentially pagan.

The Minangkabua are matrilineal and Loeb devotes considerable efforts to describing the form of government, social classes, property, land, criminal law, kinship terminology, a linguistic analysis of Indonesian kinship systems, kinship usage, marriage restriction, marriage, childbirth, treatment of children, puberty ceremonies, names, and the division of labor. He then presents his argument that both the patrilineate and the matrilineate developed from a form of bilateral family and that in neither case is the development complete. The conclusion of the article is devoted to a discussion of kinship practices in Oceania and the probability of its being the result of the ancient Polynesian system combined with diffusion of cross-cousin marriage from Dravidian India. This includes a useful summary of the state of knowledge regarding the multiple cultures of Oceania including Melanesia, Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, the Banks Islands, New Hebrides, and the Solomon Islands. The article ends by raising the question of whether or not the custom of cross-cousin marriage in East Africa and the Americas should be considered the result of diffusion or independent development.


Loeb, Edwin. Patrilineal and Matrilineal Organization in Sumatra. American Anthropologist. 1934. Vol. 36: 226-256.

This article focuses on the familial and cultural customs of the Minangkabau people. This cultural examination acknowledges the history of colonialism in Sumatra, folk etymology, government, social classes, property, criminal law, kinship terminology, kinship usage and linguistic analysis, marriage, childbirth, divorce, puberty ceremonies, naming rituals, and division of labor. Each description incorporates the history of diffusion of each element, and how it differs from other islands in Sumatra.

Beginning with the influence of colonialism in Sumatra, Minangkabau land received names of Indian origin. Yet the name Minangkabau itself refers to its fight for independence, meaning “original home.” This attributes to the understanding of the etymology of the people. Following the Indian influence came that of the Dutch, and, eventually the influence of the Islamic law. It was this conglomeration of influences that made up the rich diversity of the Minangkabau societies.

The Minangkabau government was based on tribal partnerships rather than land territories. Although the formation of each council became complex, what is clear is that each male chief was based along female genealogical lines. No contracts were legal without the approval of the chief. The chief listened tentatively to his people before making such decisions. For if he did not, he was removed from his position. This possibility ensured that the chief responded to the needs of his people.

Different from other islands in Sumatra, the Minangkabau did not stress social classification. Had it not been for the Hindu influence, there might not have been any cross-cutting classifications, except for by age or sex. As for property, there are only two types: communal and private. Things that are moveable, considered as private property, were handed down to children after death, but that which was not was considered communal. This practice of communal property alleviated the chance of the hoarding or the wasting of wealth. Land was distributed along a level of communal leadership, not to be sold, but distributed for agriculture. Each family received enough land to fulfill its needs, and no more. The women ensured the full cultivation and development of this land, and they did most of all other work as well.

In terms of kinship terminology, it is important to know that children believed that their reason for living derived solely from their mother. Each female relative’s title is one that reiterates the female genealogical line. It is through the study of each title that one can see the importance of the matrilineal line.

Furthermore, the child was raised by only female relatives. Names were given by five days of age and generally had a Hindu influence. At initiation rites circumcision was the norm for boys and incisions were performed on girls.

The evidence given does seem to support the author’s claims on the matrilineal and patrilineal influences on the Minangkabau people. It incorporates complex descriptions to analyze the social structure and reasons for that development.

ROBIN CHAPDELAINE Santa Clara University (Dr. George Westermark)

Lowie, Robert H. Some Moot Problems in Social Organization. 36(3): pp.321-330.

This article is a critique of two papers written by E.M. Loeb and R. L. Olson. They both describe social organizations as having been originated from one single center, and diffusing out. Both Loeb and Olson are highly analyzed in their writings by Lowie. He points out their statements and arguments, and refutes them with backup information. Lowie claims that both Loeb and Olson lack sufficient data and need to prove their arguments with good original facts.

Lowie divides the paper into five sections, each one referring to a type of argument made by Loeb and Olson. These divisions are as follows: 1) Axioms, 2) Historical Connection and Historical Connection, 3) Concepts and Realities, 4) Moiety and Sib, and 5) Methods of Proof.

He proves his arguments with empirical information and claims that both Loeb and Olson are throwing out unproved data. He focuses a lot of the paper on clans and moieties of the North American Indians, and pulls in information from Lewis H. Morgan. Lowie consistently argues against Loeb and Olson’s information (or lack of) and demands that they provide sufficient evidence to back up their claims. Lowie’s scientific worldview of cultural anthropology is clearly seen in this article and is a joy to read.


Lowie, Robert. Some Moot Problems in Social Organization. American Anthropologist July-September, 1934 Vol. 36: 321-330.

Robert Lowie, in his article about the social organization of humans, contrasts two opposing theories about how different geographic areas conduct similar life practices. In one premise, called diffusion, people are assumed to have come from one area and migrated to other locations to form today’s organization of people. Independent evolution, the other principle, argues that people originated in their current arrangements and separately came up with similar ways of life. Lowie provides evidence of the two ideas using written works by authors, Drs. Olson, Loeb, Morgan, and his own work, and he critiques all of them. Loeb’s and his own work attempt to prove that human life had multiple places of origin, while Olson and Morgan note that humans must have had a “unilateral descent.”

Lowie then attempts to demonstrate that the concept of the existence of one common origin is purely an abstract one; he uses the contrast between maternal and paternal types of societies as proof. Calling it slack and unsubstantiated, Lowie denounces Olson’s argument about the likeness of moieties and sibs and the existence of moieties before clans as confirmation of unilateral descent. In addition to condemning Olson for lacking evidence, Lowie also accuses Morgan of needing to prove the authenticity of his Mandan list.

Finally, Lowie makes his own claim of the history of social organization by stating that “scientific evidence” supports his findings that matrilineal and patrilineal societies are distinct and separate groups; thus, he believes they could not have come from the same origin. Lowie creates a convincing case about the distinctness of social organizations; however, the article seemingly only points out negative aspects of Olson’s and Morgan’s works, leaving out any positive features. In order to persuade the reader to agree with his theory, Lowie makes the complex problems concerning human origin seem simpler than they actually are. While he does disparage opposing theories too much, Lowie does present a strong claim for the existence of independent origins of human society.

JUSTINE HAIR University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Martin, Paul S. The Bow-Drill in North America. American Anthropologist 36 (1):94-97.

The author provides a lengthy summary of contemporary thinking regarding the use of the bow-drill in North America. The general belief at the time was that the technology was limited to the far northern reaches of the continent. The Arctic and Alaskan groups were known to have employeed the bow-drill and they had been reported as far south as the Great Lakes region although some researchers believed that the evidence indicated that the technilogy had been introduced by Europeans as the early French explorers did not note the bow-drill and mentioned instead the simple hand-drill used to start fires. The author then describes in detail a bow-drill which was obtained by the Field Museum of Natural History which it is claimed were excavated in a cliff house in Grand Gulch, Utah in1890 and sold to a preacher in 1891, exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and subsequently acquired by the museum. The specimen is described in detail regarding materials and measurements. Several persons, including Dr. A.V. Kidder attest to its authenticity. The author speculates that the specimen is from the Pueblo III period and that if one bow-drill was present during this time it is likely that the entire culture made use of the technology.


Martin, Paul S. The Bow-Drill in North America. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 94-97.

In this short article, Martin examines the possibility that the bow-drill was common in the Southwestern Indian tribes. It was previously assumed that only Alaskan and Canadian tribes possessed this technology. The bulk of the first half of the article consists of quotes from other anthropologists claiming that the bow-drill was only found in the North. Birket-Smith found evidence of the bow drill in eastern tribes but claimed that it was introduced to the Indians by Europeans. He also asserted that the bow-drill was introduced to the Eskimos by Asians.

Martin excavated a bow-drill in Pueblo III, in New Mexico. The bow was made of willow and is 59 centimeters long and 1.2 centimeters in diameter. The drill-spindle is made from cottonwood and is 23.4 centimeters long. This includes a stone drill point that is 2.5 centimeters in diameter. The hand piece is also made of cottonwood and is 8 centimeters long and 2.2 centimeters wide.

Martin concludes that even when the bow and hand piece are not present, a drill spindle should be enough to prove the presence of a bow-drill. He states that if the drill spindle contains a cord-worn groove then that is evidence of it being spun by a bow. If the spindle was spun between a person’s hands there would be no groove present. Martin then states that it is inconceivable to imagine that only one village possessed this technology. He surmises that if one pueblo had this knowledge, other pueblos did too.

MATT SPARKS University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Mekeel, Scott. An Appraisal of the Indian Reorganization Act. American Anthropologist April – June, 1934 Vol. 46(2):209-217.

Mekeel’s article provides a critical appraisal of the Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Bill) upon the 10th anniversary of congressional passage of the bill. The Act, which was designed to radically transform the functioning of the Office of Indian Affairs, was comprised of three administrative objectives. (1) To restore to the Indian management of his own affairs; (2) prevent further depletion of his material resources; (3) build up an economically sound basis for his livelihood. Mekeel, who served as the Director of the Applied Anthropology Unit in the Office of Indian Affairs for almost three years from 1935 through 1937, describes how spotty implementation and unforeseen circumstances conspired to prevent the necessary reforms. In particular, he argues that the Act did not take into account the widely varying conditions in the Indian country nor the traditional methods of social control of the various tribes. Consequently, the Act appears to have only benefited the most assimilated tribes. This situation was further exacerbated by the fact that the majority of Indian Office personnel were unprepared for this major policy change and, according to Mekeel, generally lacked an interest in Indians as human beings. The fact that implementation of the Act necessitated referendums and the development of constitutions by the tribes often led to abuses by the Indian Office superintendents who dominated Tribal Councils. This requirement also led to conflict among Tribal Council members or to the undercutting of the authority of elder members by younger members who were better positioned to understand the advantages of the Act. Unfortunately, many tribes opted not to participate in this reorganization out of suspicion of any program advocated by the Office of Indian Affairs. They feared that the Act was in reality another attempt to disenfranchise them and steal their lands. The stipulation that quick implementation was necessary and lack of resources devoted to evaluating how the Act functioned in practice meant that it was impossible to address mistakes in time. Mekeel’s conclusion is that the Act served to force rather than retard the process of assimilation among the Indian tribes.

EIAL DUJOVNY University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Michelson, Truman. The Identification of the Mascoutens. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 226-233.

Truman Michelson attempts to correct a mistake in his article “The Identification of the Mascoutens.” He argues that scholars incorrectly identified two tribes, the Potawatomi and the Mascoutens, as the same tribe. Using ethnographies and reports completed by other ethnographers and scholars, Michelson explains that they are in reality separate tribes. He first shows the reader that a misquote in one article stated that a scholar alleged that the Fox called themselves Muskútäwa. However, this scholar, Michelson explains after examining the original manuscript, never said that. This is just one of many mistakes connected to the name. Next, the author examines the meanings of the names of the tribes and how other groups referred to the tribes in question. Additionally, Michelson provides a list of primary sources from the seventeenth century, which suggest that the tribes must be separate. He next examines the 1843 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which suggests a Powatomi tribe existed independent of the Mascoutens. Throughout his article, Michelson discusses other materials, such as those already mentioned, which support his argument. At the end, however, he looks at one person’s claim that they must be the same because one tribe referred to them by the same name. However, Michelson explains that this is invalid reasoning because that term means something similar to stranger. Thus, the author concludes that the tribes are not the same.


Mumford, W. Bryant. The Hehe-Bena-Sangu Peoples of East Africa. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 203-222.

W. Bryant Mumford discusses the Hehe, Bena, and Sangu, three different tribes, in his article “The Hehe-Bena-Sangu Peoples of East Africa.” Writing in the form of an ethnography, Mumford addresses who these peoples are, examining those tribes that share similar cultures. First, Mumford considers how the Hehe peoples define their tribes. The author explains that a person will first name the Hehe tribe, second he or she will identify a smaller unit. As Mumford reveals, the reason for this is found in the past, when the Hehe tribe spread via marriage and birth into other tribes, as well as through warfare, leading to an increase of control over others. He then focuses on his primary concerns, which include the organization and customs of the members of each tribe. Mumford primarily looks at groups living in a region in which all three tribes meet. The writer’s sources include personal experience in the field, informants, and essays written by native schoolteachers. By using these different sources, Mumford is able to detail the culture that the Hehe, Bena, Sangu share. Throughout the article, the author addresses where they live, their family and political organizations, their customs, and their religion. Specific topics examined include kinship terminology, the role of a chief, and marriage practices. Other topics include the role and place of a woman, as well as initiation ceremonies for girls to signify womanhood and marriage eligibility. The final discussion focuses on taboos, which affect daily life, such as food- and sex-taboos. Through an examination of these and other elements, Mumford presents ethnographic data detailing the daily life of the members of the three tribes.


Mumford, W. Bryant. The Hehe-Bena-Sangu Peoples of East Africa. American Anthropologist. 1934 Vol. 36:203-222.

W. Bryant Mumford tells of East African peoples in The Hehe-Bena-Sangu Peoples of East Africa. His primary focus is on these three groups. He believes that the tribal unit is not always the most important to observe because it may be a changing unit. Mumford supports his thesis by explaining the origins of the different tribes. He also notes that when a native is asked what tribe he is of, the native’s first response is most often to the general group. Then, if further inquiry were made the native would refer to the smaller political unit he is more directly associated with. Mumford uses these two ideas to develop his explanation for telling of the Hehe, Bena, and Sangu peoples of East Africa together.

Mumford then continues in the essay to tell of the three groups in general. He mentions specifics for certain things, for example the differences in housing structure and layout, but refrains from any further breakdown of the groups. Mumford keeps a great distance from what he originally defined as tribes or smaller political units, intentionally focusing on the more general group.

Mumford mentions the geographical and physical features of the specific groups. However, he tells of the family organization rather extensively describing the native terms in relation to western terms. With these terms, Mumford constructs a diagram to show the relations between three generations. The places of the man, woman, and child in the family are also highly discussed. He too discusses native political organization including the main chief’s responsibilities and relationship with the people, as well as warrior ethics and conquest. To demonstrate this, Mumford utilizes a table to display the similarities in the three groups’ general political organization concerning government, army, and household.

Finally, Mumford tells of the general customs, ceremonies, beliefs, and religious ideas of the groups. These are based on essays written by native schoolteachers. Mumford admits that these topics are kept less detailed because they vary from place to place. Examples of the ceremonies and customs he uses are those of a girl coming into womanhood or likewise a boy’s transition to manhood. Others are how pregnancy is perceived, the upbringing of children, and marriage. In speaking of religious ideas, Mumford tells of taboos, specifically the effects and consequences of sexual taboos. Overall, the essay depicts a wonderful view of the similarities between these three groups of East Africans.

ROBERT D. HARDY University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Murdock, George Peter. Kinship and Social Behavior Among the Haida. American Anthropologist 36(3): 355-385.

This article is a description of the kinship system within the Haida tribe and how everyone interacts with each other based on where they stand in their moiety and family. The Haidas have an elaborately well-organized system of affinities and consanguinity as proved in this paper.

A description as to the roles of each person in a family is given in the section titled Primary Terms of Consanguinity. The roles and the terms are: grandfather (man and woman speaking), grandmother (man and woman speaking), maternal uncle (man and woman speaking), mother (man and woman speaking), father (man speaking), father (woman speaking)

paternal uncle (man and woman speaking), paternal aunt and father sister daughter (man and woman speaking), male cross-cousin (man and woman speaking), cross-cousin and brothers child (man and woman speaking), younger brother and younger sister (man and woman speaking), younger brother and younger sister (man and woman speaking), brother (woman speaking), sister (male speaking), child of father clansmen (man and woman speaking), child (man and woman speaking), daughter (man and woman speaking), sister child (male speaking), and grandchild (man and woman speaking).

The article further describes the relationships, roles and terms between a husband and wife and their affinities in Primary Terms of Affinity. In the Etiquette section, it describes how family members address each other, and the correct way for non-kin to address one another, especially when one speaks to another people of another moiety.


Murdock, George Peter. Kinship and Social Behavior Among the Haida. American Anthropologist. 1934 Vol. 36: 355-385.

During the summer of 1934, Murdock conducted fieldwork, sponsored by the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University, with the Haida tribe focusing on their kinship system and its sociological implications. Murdock divides the Haida tribe into four branches based on cultural and linguistic differences. Three of the branches are located on the Queen Charlotte islands off the northern coast of British Columbia, and the Kaigani Haida group from Prince of Wales island, Alaska is in Hydaburg. Murdock worked with three of the four branches due to the “extinction” of one of the groups. Placing the Haida kinship within the framework of its social organization, Murdock divides the Haida tribe into two exogamous matrilineal moieties, the Eagles and the Ravens, each of which are comprised of about twenty local clans. A clan consists of a various number of households of one or more biological families each.

Murdock asserts that every kinship relationship entails a certain kinship term(s) and particular patterns of social behavior. He utilizes the Haida kinship system to demonstrate how a kinship system permeates every corner of their life and determines their social behavior. Therefore, a study of the Haida kinship system provides an understanding of their culture. In the paper, he analyzes the folkways associated with each relationship and the definition of the term. Using Sapir’s phonetic orthography to record the terms, Murdock organizes his evidence into four groups: primary terms of consanguinity; primary terms of affinity; terms of etiquette; and compound descriptive terms. Providing a holistic perspective of the system, he brings the terms together in four genealogical tables. Murdock explains that the system can be analyzed for comparative purposes on the basis of Kroeber and Lowie’s criteria.

ELIZBETH HANSEN University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Murray, Frederick G. Pigmentation, Sunlight, and Nutritional Disease. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 438-445

The writer argues that the cures for rickets, which are sunlight, cod liver, and ultra violet irradiation by the mercury vapor quartz lamp are also important to the fields of organic chemistry and anthropology. The author gives biological and historic reasoning for why peoples of the world have different shades of pigmentation due to where there was an adaptable environment. He argues that African American babies are more susceptible to rickets than Caucasian babies are. This claim is backed up with descriptions of physical features that the writer finds to be more common in African American children such as bowlegs and square heads, which are signs of rickets. He argues that the pigmented skin gives resistance to the ultra violet rays thereby making it necessary for more intense light on the pigmented skin to cure rickets. Samples of children from the United States are taken and related to all colored and white babies of the world.

A distinction in regards to high latitudes and the distance away from the equator is made. The writer argues that because rickets deform the female pelvis and thus cause reproductive problems, there is a natural tendency for the extinction of the colored people in high latitudes and for the white race to succeed.

The writer gives factors that account for the evolution of whiteness or blondeness. Eskimos who are very far from the equator but are darkly pigmented do not easily fit into the theory are mentioned. The writer claims that they are free from rickets because their diet is high in cod liver oil. He also claims that there is much biological evidence such as the high prevalence of neurasthenia to show why whites have been unable to colonize or survive in the tropics.


Murray, Frederick G. Pigmentation, Sunlight and Nutritional Disease. American Anthropologist September, 1934 Vol. 36(3):438-445.

Frederick Murray explores the evolutionary effect of nutritional and biochemical disease related to solar radiation on the trends in skin pigmentation from the tropics to the Arctic latitudes. He proposes rickets related to sun deficiency as a negative selective pressure against dark pigmentation in higher latitudes and neurasthenia as a pressure against pale pigmentation in the tropics.

He begins by summarizing the recent developments in medical knowledge of sunlight and ultra-violet radiation as a therapeutic agent, its biochemical effect on calcium/phosphorus metabolism, and proposes its relevance to the anthropologist in the study of racial characteristics. Based on an observation of the greater prevalence of rickets in ‘little colored children’ in the USA than whites, Murray proposes that this may be the primary evolutionary factor explaining the prevalence of Caucasian populations in northern areas. It would be due, he writes, to the greater atmospheric filtration of solar radiation in the north providing insufficient UV penetration of heavily pigmented skin, thus predisposing rickets. In its severe form, osteomalacia, the female pelvis is deformed, so reducing reproductive ability.

He supports this theory with observations of modern arctic populations and the significant exception of the Eskimos, who are darkly pigmented. This is possible, he says, because of the high level of vitamin D in their fish diet, which has a similar preventative effect against rickets, so removing the selective pressure against their skin pigmentation.

From this premise, Murray turns his attention to the predominance of dark skin pigmentation in the tropical and equatorial latitudes. He predominantly takes the perspective of selective pressure against pale skinned populations attempting migration to and colonization of the tropics. After discounting infectious diseases and sunstroke as not being racially selective, he suggests tropical neurasthenia, a common condition of whites in the topics, and seemingly removed from its western predispositions of stress and anxiety. He postulates that neural tissue is highly vulnerable to radiation damage and may be selective pressure against pale skin. The author admits that this is still speculative, and suggests some alternatives, but concludes that the explanation for ‘negroid’ pigmentation may be determined through further study of the metabolic effect of intense sunlight.

This article is an interesting stage in the development of a biocultural approach to human diversity, while still being influenced by the earlier concepts of racial characteristics.

CHRISTOPHER DAGG University of Georgia (Pete Brosius)

Oberg , Kalervo. Crime and Punishment in Tlingit society. American Anthropologists 36 (2): 145-156

Tlingits are organized into three phratries although one phratry is so small as to be insignificant. Phratries are exogamous and must perform certain functions for members of the opposing phratry. Of more importance to the Tlingit are clans, of which there are many. Clans have crests and emblems gained through their history and are ranked. Clans as a whole own no property but local clan divisions possess hunting and trade territories, houses and other property and have local chiefs. Individuals within clans are also ranked.

Murder is punishable by death if the victim is not a member of the same clan. But the life demanded by the injured clan must be of equal rank as the victim thus if a low status individual murders a high ranking individual the payment will be exacted by the death of a high ranking member of the perpetrator’s clan. The perpetrator becomes a household slave as partial payment for this sacrifice. However, if a high ranking individual kills a low ranking person the injury may be satisfied by a payment of property. Punishment for other crimes follows a similar pattern where the clan affiliations and ranks of the parties involved plays a critical role in determining the punishment. Incest is punishable by death as the crime brings shame to the clan. Punishment for adultery varies widely depending on the rank and clan affiliation of those involved. In all cases, it is the shame brought upon the clan which must be repaid. Failure to pay the debt can result in the injured clan appropriating a clan emblem or crest which must then be bought back by the perpetrator’s clan. Feuds and war may result if crimes are not appropriately repaid. This may result in a peace dance which can be seen as marking the return to normal relations.


Oberg, Kalervo. Crime and Punishment in Tlingit Society. American Anthropologist April-June, 1934. Vol. 36(2): 145-156.

Oberg’s article is essentially a data sheet of information obtained about the Tlingit Indians of Southeastern Alaska during a field study carried out from 1931-32, themed in crime and punishment. It contains no reference to anthropological or other sort of theory but does in some instances compare the Tlingit organization of law to Western systems.

He begins his article by introducing two groups every Tlingit Indian identify his or herself within: one of the three matrilineal phratries, and numerous, more politically emphasized clans. He goes on to explain the clan in more detail, then what follows is the bulk of the article, an itemized discussion of various crimes: the way each is regarded, the rules for how to punish the offender, how these rules are carried out, the rituals involved. The crimes Oberg discusses are (in this order): murder, incest, adultery, theft, assault, induced suicide (when a man kills himself and it is shown to the clan that his reason was the abuse or neglect of his wife, the wife is held responsible), and debt (when someone does not repay a debt or return a borrowed thing in a reasonable time).

Following this discussion is an analysis of about 2 pages in which Oberg notes 1) the importance to Tlingit Indians of the clan as a sovereign group, 2) the importance of social status in decisions concerning punishment, 3) the disctinction between political crimes, or criminal acts, and an act that is an embarrassment to the clan, or shameful act, and 4) that in Tlingit society criminals are not held captive pending settlement, while the injured party remains indoors until his honor is cleared (assumedly to bring comparison to the western norm).

He then goes on to give a 1/2-full page treatment each to other social functions and phenomena related to the crime and punishment theme. He discusses sweat bath sessions, in which clan-elders meet in sweat-baths to discuss how to resolve a pertinent dispute, drawing an analogy between sweat-baths and the western court house. He discusses Tlingit beliefs concerning witchcraft, sorcery, and shamanism, noting the function of a shaman in crime detection, as well as the uncontestable authority of his accusations of witchcraft, and also the capital punishments in place for him or her whose guilt is established. He closes the article with a discussion of the ritual peace dance, another component of the Tlingit legal system which follows settlement of a dispute. The discussion includes a lively discription of the dance.

LUCIUS SCHOENBAUM University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

O’Neale, Lila M. Peruvian “Needleknitting” 36(3): 405-430.

This paper is an analysis of the Larco-Herrera textile, and other textiles found all over Peruvian archaeological sites. The intricacy of the needleknitting is so detailed that it deserves recognition, which has been done by several textile experts.

O’Neale sets out to describe the colors seen in the textile (blue, pink, plum, rose, green, yellow), the patterning in which the maker presented them, and the way the thread was woven.

She describes techniques and designs of other textiles found in the pre-Incan textile manufacturing state. Most textiles were made out of cotton or wool applying a monochrome or polychrome pattern with many different colors.

There are two main forms of needleknitting found in the textiles: vertical and horizontal. She covers five different forms of construction in the needleknitting found in the Peruvian textiles: 1) Edge bindings. 2) Seam coverings. 3) Decorative garment details. 4) Garment accessories. 5) Fabrics.

She then attempts to replicate a Peruvian textile by instructing how it can be done, step-by-step, in The technique of needleknitting. She does state though that to try to reconstruct an exact replica of a textile is impossible, for no one knows how it was done and the tradition of the ancient needleknitting has been lost forever.


O’Neale, Lila. Peruvian “Needleknitting”. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 405-430.

This article focuses on the art of Peruvian “Needleknitting”, but more specifically the basic stitch that is unique to this kind of work. Lila O’Neale goes into great depth analyzing the way these different fabrics were ornamented by the art of needleknitting. She first discusses the piece that belonged to Larco-Herrera of Peru, referencing the work of Mme Levillier. She then presents her argument that though the Peruvians used needleknitting in many different ways on varied pieces of clothing, that they did not vary from the basic stitch, the single stitch unit. This single stitch unit, is what O’Neale finds to be the most remarkable part of the needleknitting, due to the complex designs created with such a simple stitch.

Peruvian needleknitting is done as embroidery on cotton and wool garments, and serves many different functions. The knitters, referred to by O’Neale as women, would use a wide range of colors to make mainly two basic designs of bird and flowers. Many pieces have the birds interacting with the flowers, but O’Neale documents no other forms in this article. Needleknitting was done in the central and southern areas of Peru, for as long as there is evidence of textiles. Not all pieces done had needleknitting on them, but it has been found on at least some pieces in all time periods represented in the archaeological record.

Others have studied Peruvian needleknitting; Mme. Levillier documented much of a piece called Larco-Herrera. O’Neale agreed with the majority of Levillier’s work, discussing the stitches used for the different areas of the fabric. She disagrees, however, with the statement by Levillier that all Peruvians have the characteristic of using an irregular color sequence that brings a different sort of rhythm to the piece. O’Neale found this to be the characteristic of the Larco-Herrera piece, but few others she has studied.

O’Neale backs up her theory of the one type of basic single stitch unit by going into great detail on stitches she has found on pieces. She discusses edge bindings, seam coverings, decorative garment details, garment accessories, and fabrics. In these she only finds variation of the same single stitch unit, to achieve many different styles and functions. This article is a great reference tool with much data, though probably only of interest to those with a great deal of knitting knowledge.

CHARLOTTE MATTHEWS Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Osgood, Cornelius. Kutchin Tribal Distribution and Synonymy. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 168-179.

In the article “Kutchin Tribal Distribution and Synonymy,” Cornelius Osgood addresses the problem created when tribal names are misapplied. He is specifically concerned with separating the true Kutchin tribal groups from groups misnamed Kutchin. Osgood argues that there are “The True Kutchin Tribes” and then there are “The So-Called Kutchin” tribes. To discover which is which, one must examine both geographical locations and the definition of the tribes’ names. In order to support this assertion, Osgood compares the information acquired from Kutchin informants in 1932 to studies completed by other ethnographers. With the help of these informants, and their interpretations of their own connections to tribes within and outside of the group, Osgood argues that the definitions of the names of the tribes identify the location of their homes geographically. The word Kutchin, he explains, means “one who dwells” and is used to identify different tribes when combined with a word describing a location. Osgood also applies the information acquired by other ethnographers to support his claims. He then considers other tribes called Kutchin. He argues that these other Kutchin tribes are not members of the true Kutchin group. He believes that those ethnographers who consider the tribes to be Kutchin are incorrect. By examining their geographical locations, he shows that they do not belong in the true Kutchin group. Thus, Osgood concludes that there are eight true Kutchin tribes which share a geographical location, as well as many cultural elements, including the same language, forming what he deems a nation.


Osgood, Cornelius. Kutchin Tribal Distribution And Synonymy. American Anthropologist April-June, 1934 Vol. 36 (2): 168-179.

In the regions of Alaska and Northwest Canada, there was historically some confusion about the nomenclature of several tribes of Native Americans, all members of the Athapaskan speaking community. Many of these tribes were placed under the false identifier of the Kutchin people, while in reality a variety of these people belonged to other distinct tribal groups in the area. In particular, the author discusses which tribes are actually Kutchin and which tribes or bands fall under one of the other groups, such as the Han, and other Athapaskan tribes in the region. The author names and details the eight true Kutchin tribes, discusses their relation to the other members of the Kutchin Nation, as well as clarifying which tribes were erroneously placed in this category and how such misnomers occurred.

The author’s primary argument selects eight specific tribes he believes are the only true owners of the Kutchin namesake, and describes their geographical context, their linguistive relations to their neighbors, and other aspects of their culture which ties them together. One of his most particular definitions for the Kutchin people is the actual use of the word Kutchin by the tribes themselves, because only a true Kutchin tribe would define themselves with this term. The final aspect of his argument is discussing several of the other tribes who were mislabeled into the Kutchin tribal group, giving their history and linguistive affiliation, and eventually associating them with their proper tribe (on the basis of information from informants).

The author constructs his arguments in a clear manner, using a logical and linear approach to discuss the issue. He uses information gathered through field research, especially information gleaned from his research informants who were typically elderly men with a strong knowledge of the neighboring Native American communities. He employs this data, combined with a map of the area to demonstrate the geographical proximity of these populations and historical documents and accounts of the original indigenous populations, both illustrating and emphasizing his points, resulting in an effective and interesting article with sound arguments and understandable conclusions.

NATHAN WILLIAMS Santa Clara University (George Westermark).

Park, Willard Z. Paviotso Shamanism. American Anthropologist 36 (1): 99-113.

The author provides a summary of Paviotso shamanism gained on a field trip to Nevada in 1933. Park summarizes the three ways of acquiring shamanistic powers: unsought dreams, inheritance, and a power quest. Men and women can be shamans although there is disagreement regarding whether or not women go on power quests. All shaman are helped by a specific spirit, usually an animal but there are spirits of the lakes and water holes, called water babies, which are very powerful. Shamans doctor people for illness and injury. Each shaman usually works with an interpreter who repeats the mumbles, songs, and other words of the shaman for the people to understand. Both the shaman and interpreter are paid for their work. Curing invariably includes singing/chanting and smoking a pipe. White paint is used by the shaman, on the attending fmiliy and friends, and usually on the patient. Failure to follow the shaman’s instructions will result in failure of the cure and illness or death to the shaman. There are some shamans who can call antelope and others, the most powerful, who can control the weather. In the old days there were shaman who could find lost things and if they had been stolen they could identify who had stolen them. It is generally agreed that shamans are not as powerful as they used to be. Shaman may also use their powers to cause illness. A second shaman can determine this and if a shaman is accused of witchcraft frequently the people will grow to fear them and may kill them for the collective safety. Women in menses or pregnant are taboo at healings. The author concludes the article with a brief comparison of Paviotso shamanism and other forms practiced by native groups in the region.


Park, Willard Z. Paviotso Shamanism. American Anthropologist April, 1934 Vol.36:98-113

In this article, Park gives a detailed account of the role that Shamans play in Paviotso Indian tribes. The majority of the information presented in the article comes from personal ethnographic accounts including first-hand stories from informants. Park also cites other ethnographic studies to strengthen and support his data. Park’s summary of the role of the Shaman in this Native American tribe is very well laid out and organized in a detailed, objective manner. He systematically presents aspects of the shaman and his/her role in society including the sources of shamanistic powers, detailed rituals of shamanistic healings, as well as the responsibilities the shaman has which regulate the abuse of his/her supernatural abilities.

At the beginning of the article, Park gives a brief history of the Paviotso tribe which smoothly leads into his summary of the role of shamans in their society. He begins his synopsis with the way in which most shamans acquire their powers. A shaman procures his powers in his dreams through the role of animal spirits. These animal spirits initially tell a tribesman to become a healer and are also responsible for teaching the shaman the songs he/she sings during healing rituals and ceremonies. Park continues with the way in which Shamans seek and develop their powers in cave rituals.

The article moves on to describing the practices and healing methods the shamans use. Only a few shamans in the Paviotso tribe actually go into trance during healing ceremonies; however, they are considered to be the most effective healers since they consult their animal spirit in these trances. Most shamans have interpreters to help explain to the people present the peculiarities and strange behaviors of the shaman during healing performances. Park concludes the article with detailed accounts of a number of different shamans and spiritual rituals.

Overall, Park presents the Paviotso shaman in a clear, succinct, and organized manner which makes the article easy to read and comprehend. His detailed observations are well-laid out and play a key role in personalizing the supernatural phenomena of shamanism.

JONATHAN RAYBURN University of Georgia (Peter Brosius).

Parsons, Elsie Clews and Beals, Ralph L. The Sacred Clowns of the Pueblo and Mayo-Yaqui Indians. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 491-514

A summary of what was already known about the clowning groups of the Pueblos is given for following comparisons made. Physical appearances and organization of the four distinct clown groups are described, namely: Chukuwimkya, Paiyakyamu, Koyimsi and the Piptuyakyamu. Similar characteristics are mentioned making apparent the diffusion of traits amongst the different groups. Notes upon the membership, chieftaincy, masks, face paint, and the behavior of the clowns are taken. Parsons states that the function of the Pueblo clowns are punitive and policing in ceremonial and domestic matters. A table of the Pueblo clown traits is given in terms of organization, outfit and function.

Beals gives her descriptions of the Mayo-Yaqui clowns. She argues that the Mayo and Yaqui are the same, yet also states that they are different in terms of costume and organization. The organization, costume, behavior, functions and clowning behaviors by dancers are described. A second table is provided consisting of descriptions of the organization, outfit, behavior and function of the Pueblo and Mayo Yaqui clowns.

The conclusion summarizes possible historical connections and explains how the authors differ in their biases. The authors give their separate comparative interpretations of the diffusion of traits based upon their findings.


Parsons, Elsie and Ralph L. Beals. The Sacred Clowns of the Pueblo and Mayo-Yaqui Indians. The American Anthropologist October-December 1934 Vol. 36 (4): 491-514.

One of the most significant points in this article, whether stated or not, indicates a clear metamorphosis of piety among the Indian groups of the Pueblo and the Mayo-Yaqui. In both cases, one can see that the Pueblo and Mayo-Yaqui clown figures maintain specific socio-functional purposes. In the first case, the Pueblo clowns are a source of fear and respect, demanded by their supernatural sanctions connected to weather control and fertility. In many cases the politically minded are quick to take advantage of this understanding as a means of social control. Specifically, the figures maintain punitive and police powers over ceremonial and religious matters, striking fear and love in the Pueblo people during religious and social events.

The mechanism of communication is a further example of the function these figures represent. There is a note of “backwards” speech described, that is, saying the opposite of what they mean and also acts that are the opposite of social and cultural norms, such as practical jokes and eating and drinking in excess of things which are normally revolting and unaccepted. These figures are both comical and spiritual, providing a strong weapon of ridicule among citizens of the group and as a sexual taboo. The sexual taboos are significant, especially in this community where bodily contacts are not readily accepted, and “…where people are timid about gossiping, and where sexual expression in public is very restrained” (499). But these figures are loved and feared, because they provide health, healing and natural elements necessary for crop growth and, also, because the clowns amuse the Pueblo people during social gatherings.

In the functional area in which the Mayo-Yaqui clown figures prevail, the most striking figures appear during lent, in which these figures “are part of a complex organization centering about extensive ceremonies culminating in a week-long dramatization of the life and death of Christ” (500). The combination of Indigenous and Spanish religious motives strikes the author of this essay as one of the most interesting confluences of sacred Indian beliefs and Spanish missionary influence, as formulating one religious whole.

In conclusion, it is clear that in both cases, each group of people employ the clowns during religious, social, political and cultural functions. These clowns represent both a lineal membership and a following of verbal and traditional constitutions marked by religious seasons and eclipsed by modified survivals “…of an aboriginal institution which the missionaries found easier to adapt than suppress” (506). What is also significant in the comparisons made among many of the functions between Matachin-associated Abuelos of New Mexico and that of the Yaqui-Mayo clown figures, and as the authors of this article states, there are many other unexplained associations among Pueblo clown groups and those of the Sonora. The comparison of the similarities of functions and beliefs of the two groups indicates a complex social and cultural function encountered by a powerful religious force, left with no other alternative but to assimilate apparent differences of original religious devotion and practices for a new synthesis.

RAUL S. ZAMUDIO Santa Clara University (Dr. George Westermark)

Reagan, Albert B. A Navaho Fire Dance. American Anthropologist 36(3): 434-437.

Albert B. Reagan gives a summary account as to the Navaho Fire Dance that he experienced in Steamboat Rock, Arizona. This is a detailed description of the ceremony, which was attended to by over five hundred Indians. The ceremony took place in a pine and cedar twig enclosure. They sat in a huge circle with a fire in the center of them. Also, each family had their own fire.

The main dance, the Navaho Fire Dance was preceded by several other dances performed by many different people. Of the dances, included were the Sun dance, Cactus dance, and the Lightening dance. A description as to what they were wearing, how they entered, what they held, in what directions they moved, how many times they circled the fire, and for how long they danced is provided.

The center of the ceremony was focused on two sick people, a lady and a gentleman who were put in the southwest corner of the dancing area. Performances were done with gestures towards them.

At the end of the series of dances was the Fire Dance. This dance was the finalizing performance. At the end of the Fire Dance, the forty-seven men, each carrying a bundle of cedar wood would light them on fire until they burned out. They would then leave the dance floor and the audience would gather the charred remains for medicinal purposes. The sick couple was then taken outside and the ceremony was over.


Reagan, Albert B. A Navaho Fire Dance. American Anthropologist. November, 1934 Vol. 36:434-437.

Albert Reagan’s article examines one of the main aspects of the Navaho community. The main aspect that he bases his piece upon is the Navaho Fire Dance. He uses very descriptive imagery to recount his experience during a Fire Dance ceremony. An interesting aspect that he alludes to is the healing of the ill by way of the Fire Dance.

Reagan begins his article by setting the environment of the Fire Dance. He conveys the information to the audience in a series of progression of the dancers and their actions. He begins by describing the garments of the participants, their headdresses, and the direction they face while dancing. The dancers not only dance in a certain manner, they also make hawk-like noises and use arrows as a part of their dancing routine.

As the dance progresses, there are intervals in which different dancers come in and the previous ones leave the circle. In certain parts of the dance, the individuals that are ill are brought to the center and the have direct interaction which the dancers, mostly by means of the dancers pointing their arrows at the ill individuals. At other times, the ill are taken back to the outskirts of the circle and wait until it is time for them to rejoin the center.

The majority of the dance involves a number of individuals; some have a certain name such as the cactus dancers or the sun and moon dancers. Each one of these dancers has a certain appearance, which epitomizes the symbol they are representing. . The cactus dancers for example carry sticks that protrude out and are the “finger” of the cactus. The sun and moon dancers carry shields that are painted with a mouth and eyes, so that each shield represents the face of either the moon or the sun. The dance is comprised mostly of individuals representing different aspects of the Navaho community.

This article will be of interest to individuals who are interested in the study of not only the Navaho community, but also in Native American tribes. It also will capture the attention of individuals who are interested in the ritual practice of healing through natural methods. Reagan’s rich description of the Fire Dance provides his audience with a preview of his experience.

ADRIANA CUBEROS University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Redfield, Robert. Culture Changes in Yucatan. American Anthropologist 36 (1): 57-69.

Redfield begins with a discussion of historically derived cultural traits and the temptation to analyze a society to determine the origin of present day practices. This is particularly true when two disparate cultures are known to have come in contact at a particular time and to have resulted in a mixture of traits. Redfield uses the Yucatan, a region where he is doing ethnographic research, as his example and demonstrates that while some cultural elements are clearly Mayan or European (maize agricultural practices and the novena, respectively) other elements are not so easily assigned. He concludes this introductory section with the note that such historical research is fraught with problems such as poor documentation and unlikely to yield much.

Redfield then focuses on the idea that culture change can be studied in the Yucatan by observing the cultures of people more or less exposed to the influences of modern civilization. He selects a village which has had a school for a number of years but is not yet connected to civilization by means of a road, a town which serves as the local government and is on the railroad, and the state capital at Merida as his three cultures to study. It is his contention that by researching the various institutions of the three locals one can observe culture change. Although all the locales are studied at the same time, distance or amount of exposure to the encroaching civilization provides the control. Such studies remove the difficulties of dealing with poor historical records or relying on memory of older residents. The advantages in an area like the Yucatan are considerable.


Redfield, Robert. Culture Changes in Yucatan. American Anthropologist. Jan-Mar, 1934 Vol.36:57-69.

Robert Redfield’s article Culture Changes in Yucatan primarily focuses on contemporary culture in the Yucatan peninsula, however he devotes his introduction to a discussion of Mesoamerican history and the European encounter. After reading only several pages into this paper, Redfield’s nomothetic approach to the discipline becomes evident.

Redfield begins his article with a rather extensive reference to the cultural fusion that took place in the 16th century European encounter. He constructs a straw-man argument that would pretend to understand contemporary Maya culture through a historical analysis. This historical approach would identify cultural traits with either the American Indian or the Spanish European influence. Redfield then halfheartedly proposes some fundamental, obvious differences between the two cultures but then his prepared conclusion reveals that too much gray area exists to make clear distinctions of acculturation. He uses this example to devalue historical particularism arguing that information gained through that approach is useless and non-comparable.

Redfield then moves to the body of his paper to examine the present day Yucatan folk culture and how increased communication and mobility are changing the region. The method he employs involves a comparative study of three Yucatecan communities which he calls the city, town and village. The communities stand far apart on the spectrum of modernization and each have a distinct ethnic composition. Redfield’s stated hypothesis seeks to discover a logical sequence of culture change that he believes is affected by the developed city, (Merida), and other outside influences. Redfield first makes the general statements that as one moves from the village to city the communities become more mobile and heterogeneous. He follows this broad statement with a series of detailed compare/contrast examples between the village, town and city. Arranged marriages, the compadre and god-parental relationships, and religious rituals are all examined in their different communities. In an attempt to fashion his anthropological work to the nomothetic, anti-Boasian trends of the day, Redfield closes his article with several more universal laws and even explains that his study of culture change by no means should be limited to the Yucatan region.

This article not only provides anthropological information about a specific region, it also includes a significant theoretical debate that led to the continuing evolution of anthropological thought.

ROY A. KITE IV University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Schapera, I. Herding Rites of the Bechuanaland Bakxatla. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 561-584

A brief description of some cultural changes since European contact is given. The author argues that although there has been change, the traditional practice of magic persists in all aspects of daily life. Magic, medicine and herding cattle is central to this article. Detailed descriptions of animal husbandry, ritual activities in herding, the magical ‘foundation’ of the kraal, doctoring the cattle, special doctoring of the bull, recovery of stray cattle, treatment of cattle diseases, ritual avoidance of the cattle, beliefs relating to castration and taming, and lastly, omens relating to the cattle are given.

Various rites are summarized and the writer states that the major magical rites can be classified as follows: strengthening of the kraal with doctored pegs, promotion of fertility by sprinkling or direct implementation of medicine, protecting the cattle by burning medicine and immunization of the herd-boys with magical ointment. The writer did not witness all of the rites. Some of the material is based upon his informants who were professional magicians, cattle owners and former herd-boys.


Schapera, I. Herding Rites of the Bechuanaland Bakxatla. American Anthropologist October-December 1934 36(4):561-584.

Schapera’s article describes the strong persistence of magical rites of livestock husbandry among the Bakxatla, in the face of contact with European civilization. Although much of Bakxatla culture has changed dramatically under the influence of English and Afrikaans (Dutch) culture, including homeland area, economic life, use of the English and Afrikaans language, and religion, magic remains one aspect of their pre-contact traditions that remains largely unchanged. The people regard magic as indispensable for insuring safety, success and prosperity. Christianity, although widespread as a form of worship, does not inspire the hope and confidence of magical ritual. Livestock raising is a core cultural activity for the tribe, important not only as a source of material wealth and in subsistence, but in various other areas of culture including marriage contracts and as a source of prestige.

Schapera describes the magical animal husbandry rites of the tribe, which raises cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys. This includes: rituals of herding, of the kraal (central stock pen), of insuring potency and fertility of cattle, for recovering strays, for the treatment of cattle disease, and for castration and taming. There is magic for avoiding cattle when people are ritually unclean and a magical lexicon for reading the behavior of cattle for omens.

Schapera groups the various Bakxatla magical rites into four distinct classes: strengthening the kraal, promotion of fertility, the safeguarding of cattle, and the inoculation of the herd-boys. Magical ointments are very prominent in many Bakxatla livestock husbandry rituals. However, magic spells appear to be only important in livestock fertility rituals. Schapera stresses that medicines are vitally important in all Bakxatla magic. Husbandry medicines are used by the magician or are used by the herdsmen. According to the magicians, it was not so important who applied the medicine or how the medicine was applied as long as it was used. An important taboo observed by any magician before working on livestock rituals was to refrain from sexual intercourse. Human sexual purity appears to be vital to protect the wellbeing of the livestock.

JAMES SIEGEL University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Shryock, John K. Ch’en Ting’s Account of the Marriage Customs of the Chiefs of Yunnan and Kueichou. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 524-547

The author gives background information about Ch’en Ting, a Chinese man born in 1651. He describes past translations and argues why this new translation was needed: a very old text was used, it is important and appears to be unfamiliar to English ethnologists and T’ang, the original translator made many mistakes. The author gives a list of T’ang’s mistakes. Some historical evidence is given to prove T’ang’s misuse of the term “opium” to mean “tobacco.” He states that much of the material now is inaccurate but argues that the work of Ch’en Ting is very valuable because it offers a glimpse into the lives of the high class Chinese in 1667. Ch’en Ting was a scholar and of a custom that a European has never encountered. The writer closes his introduction and provides Ch’en Ting’s preface and text.


Shryock, J.K. Ch’en Ting’s Account of the Marriage Customs of the Chiefs of Yunnan and Kueichou. American Anthropologist 1934 Vol. 36: 524-547

Only 3 1/2 pages of this 23 page long article was written by Shryock. The remaining pages are written by Ch’en Ting, who from first hand experiences is able to give a descriptive account of marriage rules and customs of the upper class Chinese during the Han dynasty around 1667.

Shryock begins this article by introducing Ting’s background and the ramifications of his work. For example, Shryock claims that the original translators of Ting’s work made many mistakes with the translations and interpretations. Ting’s work, however, is very valuable for it gave insight into a culture that many knew little about. Though Ting was not an ethnographer, he was a well-trained scholar and an acclaimed writer. I agree with Shryock in that Ting effectively gets his readers to feel a personal connection, an understanding of the Chinese situation despite cultural differences.

It took me a while to understand the purpose of the list of Chinese characters that are on the second page. Though I believe that they are randomly placed, Shryock explains the meanings of the characters by adding footnotes. His use of footnotes is used throughout Ting’s essay, which help the reader get a better understanding of the text. Shryock ends his introduction by providing the reader with the actual preface and text of Ting’s work.

In sum, Ting’s life story is as follows. Ting was not immersed into the upper class that he speaks about until the age of 10 when his immediate family suffered a mishap and sent Ting off to live in the Yunnan with his well-to-do relatives. He had to learn as he went about how to conduct himself in this upper class societal structure. His literary ability and achievements added to his social status making him a more eligible candidate for marriage. Ting’s writing talent is what ultimately got his foot in the door and, as a result, his life became more or less pre-determined.

Tings writing exhibits how rules, customs, and rituals are attached to and are inherent in social class. The act of marriage occurred at a young age and was not out of love, but about maintaining social status. For example, Ting was unable to communicate to his wife due to the language barrier, but that didn’t matter for he was marrying into another prosperous family. Marriage was also not just between the two people. Everyone was involved in the marriage process from immediate to extended family members, concubines, masters, and the matron. Ting, for instance, wasn’t married only to his wife, but in a sense to all eight of her bridesmaids who consisted of members of her family or other well-to-do families.

Marriage was a lengthy and formal process. Some of the ritualistic events included prostrating, the use of a veil, carriage rides, and wine. Direction was also a key element. The masters of ceremony were well trained in the traditions and were present to make sure that the ceremonial events occurred in the most ritualistic manner. Though the masters played a vital role to keep order, it was ultimately the matron who was in charge of regulations. She was the boss who made the wedding party abide to her strict rules.

Cultural norms about whom you could marry and rules about conceiving and sex all led to societal conformity. Those that refused to follow the prescribed norms suffered grave consequences. This article shows how powerful social structures and ideologies are in a society and that the concept of marriage differs depending on its historical and social context.

MARIKO KAWAKAMI Santa Clara University (Dr. George Westermark).

Spencer, J.E. Pueblo Sites of Southwestern Utah. American Anthropologist 36 (1): 70-80.

Evidence for Pueblo sites in Southwestern Utah along the Virgin River is provided and discussed. The geology, climate and other environmental factors of the area is briefly described with an emphasis on the locations of the sites. A discussion of the current condition of the sites is included to alert the reader to the extensive looting which is prevalent. A sketchy map of the area provides the location of the sites.

Spencer discusses the evidence for structures at the various sites and then provides a lengthy discussion of the various pottery sherds recovered from the sites. The sherds allow identification of the sites as part of the Pueblo culture of the American Southwest and can also be used to date the occupations. Spencer also presents an argument for the elimination of the distinction between black-on-white and black-on-gray pottery due to the impracticality of distinguishing the two. He proposes a distinction between slipped and unslipped ware as more useful and less susceptible to error. Details are then provided on the 13 pottery styles found at the sites. The technical details (color, temper, decoration, etc.) for each type is listed and its place in the Pueblo chronology is indicated for most of the types. This is followed by a brief description of each of the 20 sites included in the survey. In addition to a brief description of the site, a brief list of the artifacts recovered is included and, where possible, an estimate as to where the site belongs in the Pueblo chronology is given.


Spencer, J.E. Pueblo Sites of Southwestern Utah. American Anthropologist January-March, 1934 Vol.36 (1):70-80.

Spencer begins this review of Dr. Edward Palmer’s work by stating that Dr. Palmer is single-handedly responsible for the exploration of the Pueblo sites along the Virgin River in southwestern Utah. Spencer states that, because of the lateral cutting of the river that began in the late nineteenth century, many Pueblo sites were destroyed before they could be formally excavated. Dr. Palmer excavated the last of these Pueblo riverside sites in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Thanks to Palmer the western spread of the Pueblo population has been recognized as an area worthy of more extensive study.

Dr. Palmer’s results from the twenty sites he studied do not vary greatly between sites and are tainted by the great number of missing artifacts that have been taken by land-owners and looters over the years. Artifacts include yucca cloth, arrowheads, scrapers, bone needles, pots and potsherds. There are also a few sites in which Dr. Palmer found the remains of structures built and used by the Pueblo. Consequently Dr. Palmer considered the earliest of the sites examples of Pueblo I and the newest sites examples of Pueblo III.

Spencer describes Dr. Palmer’s study of potsherds and site location separately and in detail. He begins with a long introduction of setting and an overview of Dr. Palmer’s general conclusions about the sites. He follows these generalizations with two extensive lists. The first list classifies the thirteen different types of pottery Palmer found and is followed by a list of sites with references to the aforementioned pottery. The second list supplements the first through Spencer’s description of the physical locations of each of the twenty sites, their variances and the different potsherds found at each site. These two lists are a basic summary of Palmer’s discoveries after which Palmer concluded that the pottery he found along the Virgin River was unlike that of any of the surrounding Pueblo sites. (Mr. Lyndon Hargrave, when asked to examine the potsherds, concluded the opposite, however no further conclusions were made.)

STACEY THOMPSON University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Strong, W.D. North American Traditions Suggesting a Knowledge of the Mammoth.American Anthropologist 36 (1):81-88

The paper presents the ethnographic evidence for a contemporaneous association of the mammoth and Native Americans. Folklore provides the basis for this analysis and the author first establishes two classes of myths or oral traditions: those which appear to be based on rationalization of fossils which the North Americans observed. These are termed “myths of observation.” The second class is referred to as “historical traditions” and is comprised those myths which appear to embody some actual knowledge of the mammoth although often much disguised by the long period of oral tradition. Only the latter class is of interest to the subject.

Strong then provides several examples of each type of myth with, of course, an emphasis on those myths which appear to most clearly demonstrate some knowledge of the mammoth or an elephant like creature. He discusses the possibility of European influence on the oral traditions of Native Americans and provides an example of an instance where a group which was shown a picture of an elephant incorporated some of the specifics into their myth. Regardless the limitations of oral history, Strong is inclined to believe that these oral traditions do reflect a knowledge of the mammoth.

Strong concludes the article with a discussion of the present day reluctance on the part of paleontologists to grant the contemporaneous existence in North America of the mammoth and human due to the early extinction of the former and the insistence on a late arrival of the latter. Strong briefly criticizes the refusal to grant that humans could have entered the hemisphere at the same time that other fauna did but provides to argument to support his view.


Strong, W. D. North American Indian Traditions Suggesting a Knowledge of The Mammoth. American Anthropologist. 1934. Vol. 36: 81-88.

In this article, W. D. Strong attempts to illustrate to the reader the existence of the knowledge of the Mammoth in Native North American culture. He gives examples of many Native American myths and legends about an animal similar to the modern idea of the Mammoth. Strong takes the reader through a journey of ancient Native American life and tales about monsters and heroes that effectively describe an animal very similar to a modern day elephant but bigger and with more hair.

Strong describes many tales including tales from the Eskimo traditions of Alaska to tales from the Naskapi Indians of the Labrador Islands. Moreover, the interesting aspect of all these tails as Strong points out is the fact that they are very similar in the description of the giant animal. He describes a monster from the Naskapi tradition called Katcheetohuskw, which is consistent with the description given by the Alabama of the Southeast of North America. Strong also attempts to discredit claims by his critics about this matter. Of those who said that European influence might have caused these descriptions of the monsters to change into the mammoth, Strong states that even when examining elder tribe members, the descriptions of these animals were the same and have not changed since the ancient times.

Strong makes a very valid argument in this essay that brings into question the modern understanding of the date of the Mammoth’s extinction and the arrival of the Native Americans into North America. He calls into question the understanding about the Fauna that first arrived from Asia to North America. Moreover, Strong writes this article very clearly and in an interesting fashion. This fact definitely makes this article very interesting to read. Most reader’s will enjoy this article and at same time will be introduced to a very important question about the history of both man and the Mammoth in North America.

VIKRAM BHATTACHARJEE University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Thalbitzer, William. Knud Rasmussen: In Memoriam. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 585-594

The writer illuminates the lifetime achievements of Knud Rasmussen, a folklorist and geographical explorer of a Danish-Eskimo heritage. The author lists Rasmussen’s lifetime journeys such as his seven Thule Expeditions. Information about Rasmussen’s educational background and several of his humanistic Eskimology publications are discussed.

The author gives much respect to Rasmussen for his knowledge of Eskimo mentality having been raised bi-culturally and having a deep sense of pride for his heritage. The author argues that Rasmussen is the grandest of interpreters because he has an Eskimo soul and a European mentality. He distinguishes Rasmussen’s fieldwork methodology from others giving reasons why his work was more profound. He also states that books written by others about Eskimos were of great importance but gives much more praise to Rasmussen for his connection to those that he studied.


Thalbitzer, William. Knud Rasmussen: In Memoriam. American Anthropologist October-November, 1934 Vol. 36(4):585-594.

This article is an obituary of Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933), folklorist and geographical explorer of the Greenland Eskimo (Inuit) who devoted his life to chronicling the spiritual and mental life of northern people. Born in Ilulisaat (Jakobshavn), Greenland to the Danish Pastor Christian Rasmussen and his Danish-Eskimo wife (neP Fleischer), Rasmussen grew up in the spectacular Greenland scenery mostly with local Eskimo, learning to speak Greenlandic long before he learned Danish. Returning to Denmark after the appointment of his father to the pastorage of Lynge in North Seeland, Rasmussen attended public school followed by studies at the University of Copenhagen. Upon completion of his studies at the age of 23, Rasmussen returned to Greenland to pursue his dream of searching out the last pagan Eskimos, rumored to be living along the North Coast somewhere near Cape York. He joined the Danish author Mylius-Erichsen as an interpreter for the 1902-4 “Danish Literary Expedition” which mapped the West coast of Greenland to Cape York. Upon his return, he published his influential book Nye Mennesker (Krbenhavn, 1905), which was translated into English as The People of the Polar North. The work provided an intimate picture of individual Eskimos while chronicling local folklore and spiritual life. Upon its publication, Franz Boas acclaimed the book for supporting his theory of a connection between Greenlanders and the people of Hudson Bay. In 1910, Rasmussen founded the “Arctic Station of Thule” from which he was to carry out a further seven expeditions to the Arctic North. He died on December 21, 1933 while on the 7th expedition. He is remembered for his numerous books and articles and for enriching the field of Eskimo studies through his profound and personal understanding of Eskimo culture and his ability to penetrate the Eskimo mentality. While not a trained scientist (the University of Copenhagen granted him an honorary Ph.D. in 1925) his extensive research enriched scientific knowledge of northern peoples while at the same time remaining both sensitive and imaginative.

EIAL DUJOVNY University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Underhill, Ruth. Note on Easter Devils at Kawori’k on the Papago Reservation. American Anthropologist vol. (36.): 515-516

The author gives a very brief description of the making of the costumes and the masks. A concise account of the day is given of the devils’ acts and the people they encounter. Whipping is briefly mentioned and the author gives a written version of what the devils chant as they throw their masks into the fire that consumes everything that they have taken from the people.


Underhill, Ruth Note on Easter Devils at Kawori’k on the Papago Reservation. American Anthropologist December, 1934 Vol 36(4):515-516.

This short paper describes the tradition of Easter Devil impersonations, which are a combination of moral mischief maker and community scapegoat on the Papago Reservation. They are compared somewhat with another character called the ‘nawitcu’, although he is not described. The article follows from the preceding paper in the journal, on which it relies for context and reference.

The characters are variously called ‘djidjiaur’, ‘fariseos’ or ‘nanawitcu’, and are three or more volunteers, usually youths, that are disgused in masks of calfskin, peccary and deer, wear ragged clothes and bear a long pole of cactus rib. Until more recently, they were naked apart from the mask. The role is held for four years and is seen to earn blessings for the individuals. The knowledge of the role is held by an old man in who’s house the masks are made by the volunteers.

The devils are active on Wednesday-Friday of Holy Week. They may steal anything from yards not protected with a cross, and run around scaring children and touching adults with their poles. They can be repelled by sign of the cross and stolen property can be liberated using a crucifix or a barter of cigarettes. They are seen as providing training in how to deal with ‘bad people’.

On the Saturday after Good Friday, all the goods stolen by the devils is piled before the church and unless redeemed by the owner with a cigarette or ten cents, it is burned. During the burning, the devils docilely submit to being whipped with branches of Encelia farinosa and flowers are thrown onto them as part of a prayer for rain in the name of Santa Maria Guadalupe. After whipping the devils remove the masks and burn them.

CHRISTOPHER DAGG University of Georgia (Pete Brosius)

Winston, Ellen. The Alleged Lack of Mental Diseases Among Primitive Groups. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 234-238.

Ellen Winston argues in her article, “The Alleged Lack of Mental Diseases Among Primitive Groups,” that mental diseases do exist in primitive groups. In this article, Winston addresses the assumption that modern life is the cause of mental disorders. She argues that mental diseases are as common in primitive cultures as complex ones. To support her argument, she uses evidence of mental diseases recorded in ethnographies completed by Weeks, Junod, and others. Using the work of these anthropologists, she presents many cases in which an individual suffered from a mental disorder. Her most important source, however, is Margaret Mead. By comparing Mead’s research among the Samoa with the occurrence of mental disorders throughout the United States and within the rural populations in the U.S., Winston suggests that not only can mental disorders occur in primitive societies, but they are about as common as within the rural population of the U.S. She goes on to compare the rate of mental disease within the total population of the U.S. with Mead’s findings. While there appears to be a large difference between these two percentages, Winston reminds the reader that the age ranges between the two countries differ. The U.S. has a larger population of older generations but fewer children, while the Samoa have the opposite statistics. This difference, plus the fact that the rate of mental diseases increases with age, supports Winston’s argument. Thus, she concludes that civilization does not determine the occurrence of mental diseases.


Winston, Ellen. The Alleged Lack of Mental Diseases Among Primitive Groups. American Anthropologist. 1934. Vol. 36:234-238.

Ellen Winston’s article questions the assumption that mental diseases and nervous disorders are restricted to those people who live in complex societies and that primitive peoples are free of those afflictions. Winston challenges the reader to look at and perceive primitive peoples in a more realistic light, rather that the perfect, romanticized existence that is too often imagined. Not only does this article challenge the reader to reevaluate his or her perception of primitive people, it also dares the reader to reevaluate mental disease itself and its causes.

Winston begins her argument by explaining why many people assume that mental disorders can only affect people in complex civilizations. She says that these people believe that the stress of having to adapt to the industrial world is too much for some people and they develop a mental disease or nervous disorder. Winston then continues to present evidence that mental disorders do in fact exist among primitive people. The evidence she presents is gleaned from the fieldwork of many of her contemporaries–most notably Margaret Mead and her work among the Samoa. Winston quotes specific examples from the fieldwork and explains how the ailment is indeed mental illness. She also quotes how the primitive people treated their afflicted comrades.

Along with the specific examples of mental disease among the primitive people, Winston also includes a set of statistics comparing numbers of individuals in Samoa and the United States who have been admitted to a hospital for mental disease. She also compares which age groups are most affected by mental disease in the two countries. She finds that the frequency of mental disease per 100,000 people in Samoa and in the United States is similar.

Winston accomplishes her goal in providing enough evidence to say that yes, mental disease does exist among the primitive peoples of the world. This article would be of great interest to anyone doing research into the effects of civilization and primitive peoples’ reaction to mental disease. Winston made her argument very clear and concise and opened a door to possible future research on the nature of mental disease in primitive societies.

AUDREY M STEWART University of Georgia (Peter Brosius)

Woods, Carter A. A Criticism of Wissler’s North American Culture Areas. American Anthropologist vol. (36): 517-523

The writer attacks Dr. Clark Wissler who popularized the concept of classification of North and South American culture areas based upon material culture in his book titled The American Indian. Woods presents how Wissler obtained his data and gives several examples of how he could be proved wrong. Wissler’s culture areas are as follows: California, Plateau, North Pacific Coast, Plains, Southwest, Eastern Woodland and Southeast. Woods argues that these areas were classified based primarily upon materials and ignores other traits and complexes that are significant such as religion and agriculture. Woods attacks Wissler because of overgeneralizations based upon material culture and his neglecting of non-material traits. More criticisms are: there is no clarity in which areas certain tribes are classified in, his term “marginal tribe” is too vague, he is more concerned with culture centers rather than “culture areas.”

He concludes stating that Wissler’s culture areas leave many questions lingering because he was so careless and gave such broad interpretations thereby failing in many respects to provide true information of the cultures he attempted to classify. Woods reinstates Franz Boas in giving reason why much care needs to be taken when trying to classify for there is too much room for overgeneralization.


Woods, Carter A. A Criticism of Wissler’s North American Culture Areas. American Anthropologist 1934. Vol. 36:517-525.

Woods’s article is a critique of the culture area models of his day. He raises a red flag to those who might accept these models as wholly representative of all the societies within their geographical boundaries. He implies that the culture area models are not the product of a single scientific endeavor but rather an accumulation of the works of various scholars into approximate models. Woods’s specific focus is on Clark Wissler’s application of the culture area concept. He asserts that Wissler’s application of the concept is based on false inferences and unfounded relationships between material and non-material cultural traits. Woods notes that culture areas were originally formed on the basis of material objects, however Wissler “…gratuitously expanded the culture content of his areas…” to include non-material traits. The author also argues that Wissler used a flawed methodology to identify the tribes that form the basis of his culture area models. Woods asserts that these methodological weaknesses resulted in the inadequate representation (particularly with regard to their non-material traits) of many of the tribes located in Wissler’s culture areas.

Woods sought to discern how accurately Wissler’s culture areas explained the distribution of non-material cultural traits (e.g., social organization, division of labor, political organization) by mapping the distribution of sixty traits and complexes. In doing so he determined which particular traits and complexes existed in the tribes of each culture area. Of the seven culture areas Woods examined only two were characterized with relatively high degrees of homogeneity. These two culture areas had 15 traits that existed in all of the tribes that comprised them. In general, the seven culture areas exhibited a relatively high degree of heterogeneity with regard to the non-material traits of the tribes that comprised them. As a result, the culture areas did not provide an accurate explanation of the distribution of non-material traits. The article asserts that in Wissler’s models even the most popular traits within a culture area were, on average, found in only 50 percent of the tribes within the area. As a result it would be difficult to draw accurate inferences about a specific tribe in a particular culture area even when dealing with the most prevalent form of a trait in that culture area (e.g., descent: matrilineal, patrilineal, etc.) Woods’s argument seems logical and founded however his failure to explicitly present all of his results (e.g., geographic distribution of traits) weakened his argument.

JOHN PRIMO University of Georgia (J. Peter Brosius)

Zotz, Lothar F. Culture Groups of the Tardenoisian in Central Europe. American Anthropologist 36 (2): 242-265.

Lothar F. Zotz examines the Mesolithic cultures of Europe in “Culture Groups of the Tardenoisian in Central Europe.” He first claims that a shift occurred from an earlier Swiderian culture to an Eastern German-Polish Tardenoisian culture area. Then, he argues that the Tardenoisian cultures of Eastern Europe were uniform only by the later Tardenoisian period. In his article, Zotz’s first task is to discuss the origin and formation of Tardenoisian cultures. As supporting evidence, he examines tools, such as points and blades, which were discovered in the culture area. Through this examination, he shows the reader that a gradual shift from the Aurignacian culture, to the Swiderian, and finally to the Tardenoisian culture occurred in the area in question. Zotz moves from this topic with an investigation of his belief that the Polish and Russian cultures of the lower and upper Tardenoisian periods are connected. For this discussion, the author examines the tools, such as blades and scrapers, from the two periods and areas. He compares the materials used and how the toolmakers shaped their products. Zotz explains that the tools gradually became similar as the climate changed. He finds in the later Tardenoisian a common tool type with a trapezoid shape. He argues that, as the flora and fauna of the area shifted, so did the culture area, and the Tardenoisian culture became common throughout Eastern Europe. Thus, using a number of archeological findings from different regions, Zotz describes the evolution of the Tardenoisian culture from its birth to its dominance in Eastern Europe.


Zotz, Lothar F. Culture Groups of the Tardenoisian in Central Europe. American Anthropologist April, 1934 Vol. 36 (2): 242-265.

Lothar F. Zotz begins his article by stating that the European Capsian or Tardenoisian culture is categorized into three different stages during the Mesolithic period: lower (inferior) or Swiderio-Tardenoisian, upper (superior), and late Tardenoisian.

Throughout the article, Zotz refers to the work of numerous researchers in the field, especially the groups of Polish and Russian researchers of the prehistoric era. In another example, Zotz gives credit to the researcher Andree, and explains many of his own arguments by citing Andree’s work. Zotz draws his main conclusions from compiling evidence previously used before and analyzing it in a new way.

Zotz uses the different tools found in the area to help support his key points. He goes into detail in describing the tools (scrapers, in particular) that were used by the lower Paleolithic group. There are several diagrams presented that document the actual shapes of the tools. This is in conjunction with a layout of how the prehistory of these cultures combined with environment have produced the culture groups now found today. This table is entitled “Culture Phases and Environment”.

The map of Europe (with a corresponding key) is a helpful guide for the reader to visualize the placement of the different cultures in question. At a few points in the article, Zotz even speculates that diffusion may have been at work, in terms the same tools found in different locations.

Zotz’s main point is that the cultures in question are related, and that the Tardenoisian family of cultures dominates this area in Eastern Europe. He also believes that the plants and animals of the area had a great deal to do with the inhabitants and how they progressed.

KATIE ROMLEY Santa Clara University (George Westermark).