Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T11:25:21.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Toward a Processual Understanding of the Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri Tradition: The Case of the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Duane C. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Dayton Museum of Natural History, 2629 Ridge Avenue, Dayton, OH 45414

Abstract

If research on the Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri tradition is to progress, more attention must be given to the development of a processual understanding of the groups represented. This article provides a discussion of the Mill Creek culture as it has been formulated through the culture-history approach. The background information is provided as a means of gaining insights into factors of processual significance that can be investigated deductively. The paper then presents a model of Mill Creek culture process and suggests hypotheses that are believed to have broad implications for understanding the causes of change and interaction within the Initial Variant.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

Access options

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

References

References Cited

Alex, L. 1973 An Analysis of Fish Utilization at Four Initial Middle Missouri Sites. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, The University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Alex, R. A. 1981 The Village Cultures of the Lower James River Valley, South Dakota. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, The University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Anderson, A. D. 1961 The Glenwood Sequence : A Local Sequence for a Series of Archaeological Manifestations in Mills County, Iowa. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 10 : 3.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1969 Mill Creek Culture : A Review. Plains Anthropologist 14 : 137143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1973 Brewster Site (13CK15) : Lithic Analysis. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 20.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1975a The Development of Archeology in Iowa : An Overview. The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science & 2(1)186.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1975b A Long-Nosed God Mask from Northwest Iowa. American Antiquity 40 : 326329.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1977 The Crim Site (13ET403). Research Papers 2(9). ffice of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1981 Mill Creek Ceramics : The Complex from the Brewster Site. Report 14. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C. 1984 Models of Mill Creek Midden Formation : Implications for Future Research. The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science 92 : 5357.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C, and Baerreis, D. A. 1973 The Rock Creek Ossuary, Iowa (13PM65). The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science 80 : 185191.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C, and Tiffany, J. A. 1978 F. L. Van Voorhis : His Contribution to the Archaeology of Northwestern Iowa. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 25 : 17.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. C, Tiffany, J. A., Fokken, M., and Williams, P. M. 1979 The Siouxland Sand and Gravel Site (13WD402) : New Data and the Application of Iowa's New State Law Protecting Ancient Cemeteries. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 26 : 119146.Google Scholar
Baereis, C. J., and Porter, J. W. (editors) 1984 American Bottom Archaeology. University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.Google Scholar
Baerreis, D. A. 1968 Artifact Descriptions : Bone, Stone and Shell. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 1, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 107191. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 15.Google Scholar
Baerreis, D. A. 1969 A Preliminary Analysis of Gastropods from the Mill Creek Sites. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 333343. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Baerreis, D. A., and Bryson, R. A. 1965 Climatic Episodes and the Dating of Mississippian Cultures. The Wisconsin Archaeologist 46(4) : 203220.Google Scholar
Banks, R., and Lilly, D. 1968 Early Investigations of the Broken Kettle Mound (13PM1). Northwest Chapter of the Iowa Archeological Society Newsletter 16(5) : 35.Google Scholar
Benn, D. W. 1982 Woodland Cultures of the Western Prairie Peninsula : An Abstract. In Interrelations of Cultural and Fluvial Deposits in Northwest Iowa, edited by Bettis, E. A. and Thompson, D. M., pp. 3752. Association of Iowa Archeologists, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Benn, D. W. 1983 Diffusion and Acculturation in Woodland Cultures on the Western Prairie Peninsula. In Prairie Archaeology, edited by Gibbon, G. E., pp. 7585. University of Minnesota, Publications in Anthropology 3, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. 1965 The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Bryson, R. A., and Baerreis, D. A. 1968 Introduction and Project Summary. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 1, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 134. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 15.Google Scholar
Bryson, R. A., Baerreis, D. A., and Wendland, W. M. 1970 The Character of Late-Glacial and Post-Glacial Climatic Changes. In Pleistocene and Recent Environments of the Central Great Plains, edited by Dort, W. and Knox, J. Jones, pp. 5374. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Bryson, R. A., and Wendland, W. M. 1967 Tentative Climatic Patterns for Some Late Glacial and Post-Glacial Episodes in Central North America. In Life, Land and Water, edited by Mayer-Oakes, W. J., pp. 271298. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg.Google Scholar
Carneiro, R. L. 1970 A Theory of the Origin of the State. Science 169 : 733738.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. N. 1977 The Food Crisis in Prehistory : Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Conrad, L. A., and Koeppen, R. C. 1972 An Analysis of Charcoal from the Brewster Site (13CK15), Iowa. Plains Anthropologist 17 : 5254.Google Scholar
Cutler, H. C, and Blake, L. W. 1969 Corn from Cahokia Sites. In Explorations into Cahokia Archaeology, edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 122136. Bulletin No. 7. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Dallman, J. E. 1983 A Choice of Diet : Response to Climatic Change. Report 16. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1984 Long-distance Movement of Goods in the Mesoamerican Formative and Classic. American Antiquity 49 : 2743.Google Scholar
Flanders, R. E. 1960 A Re-evaluation of Mill Creek Ceramics : The Robinson Technique. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 10 : 2.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L. 1974 Cahokia : Ancient Capital of the Midwest. Module in Anthropology 48. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L. (editor) 1969a Explorations into Cahokia Archaeology. Bulletin No. 7. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L. (editor) 1969b Middle Mississippian Agricultural Fields. American Antiquity 34 : 365375.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L., and Hall, R. 1975 Archaeological Phases at Cahokia. In Perspectives in Cahokia Archaeology, pp. 114. Bulletin No. 10. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Frankforter, W. D. 1969 Faunal Study of Large Ruminants from Mill Creek Culture Sites in Northwest Iowa. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 286301. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Fugle, E. M. 1962 Mill Creek Culture and Technology. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 11(4) : 1126.Google Scholar
Gibbon, G. E. 1974 A Model of Mississippian Development and Its Implications for the Red Wing Area. In Aspects of Upper Great Lakes Anthropology, edited by Johnson, E., pp. 129137. Minnesota Prehistoric Archaeology Series 11. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1972 Changes in the Adaptations of Southwestern Basketmakers : A Systems Perspective. In Contempory Archaeology, edited by Leone, M. P., pp. 289302. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Griffin, D. E. 1976 A Model of Cultural Change for the Middle Missouri Subarea. In Fay Tolton and the Initial Middle Missouri Variant, edited by Wood, W. R., pp. 3335. Missouri Archaeological Society Research Series 13. Colombia.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1946 Culture Change and Continuity in Eastern United States Archaeology. In Man in Northeastern North America, edited by Johnson, F. S.. Papers of the Robert, S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology No. 3. Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1960 A Hypothesis for the Prehistory of the Winnebago. In Culture in History, edited by Diamond, S., pp. 809865. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hall, R. L. 1967 The Mississippian Heartland and Its Plains Relationship. Plains Anthropologist 12 : 175183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamon, J. H. 1961 Bird Remains from a Sioux Indian Midden. Plains Anthropologist 6 : 208212.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R. 1967 Mississippian Influences on the Eastern Plains Border : An Evaluation. Plains Anthropologist 12 : 184194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henning, D. R. 1969 Ceramics from the Mill Creek Sites. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 192280. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R. 1971 Origins of Mill Creek. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 18 : 613.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R. (editor) 1968 Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 1. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 15 : 1191.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R. (editor) 1969 Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16 : 192358.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R. (editor) 1982 Subsurface Testing Program : Proposed Perry Creek Dam and Reservoir Area, Plymouth County, Iowa. Technical Report 82-05. Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R., Henning, A. E., and Baerreis, D. A. 1968 1963 Excavations in the Mill Creek Sites. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 1, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 35106. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 15.Google Scholar
Henning, D. R., and Henning, E. R. P. 1982 Mill Creek and Great Oasis Sites. In Interrelations of Cultural and Fluvial Deposits in Northwest Iowa, edited by Bettis, E. A. and Thompson, D. M., pp. 1527. Association of Iowa Archeologists, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Henning, E. R. P. 1981 Great Oasis and the Middle Missouri Tradition. In The Future of South Dakota's Past, edited by Zimmerman, L. J. and Stewart, L. C., pp. 3238. Special Publication of the South Dakota Archaeological Society No. 2. Vermillion, South Dakota.Google Scholar
Henning, E. R. P., and Henning., D. R. 1982 Great Oasis-Mill Creek Interrelationships. In Interrelations of Cultural and Fluvial Deposits in Northwest Iowa, edited by Bettis, E. A. and Thompson, D. M., pp. 1014. Association of Iowa Archeologists, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Hurt, W. R. 1951 Report of the Investigation of the Swanson Site, 39BR16, Brule County, South Dakota. Archaeological Studies Circular No. 3. State Archaeological Commission, Pierre, South Dakota.Google Scholar
Hurt, W. R. 1953 Report of the Investigation of the Thomas Riggs Site, 39HU1, Hughes County, South Dakota. Archaeological Studies Circular No. 5. State Archaeological Commission, Pierre, South Dakota.Google Scholar
Ives, J. C. 1955 Glenwood Ceramics. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 4(3, 4).Google Scholar
Ives, J. C. 1962 Mill Creek Pottery. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 11(3) : 159.Google Scholar
James, W. R., and Nichols, H. 1969 Pollen Analysis of Materials from the Phipps, Kimball and Wittrock Sites in Iowa. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 302317. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Jones, V. H. 1977 An Analysis of Maize from the Pulcher Site, Illinois. American Antiquity 42 : 488490.Google Scholar
Keyes, C. R. 1925 Progress of the Archaeological Survey in Iowa. Iowa Journal of History and Politics 23 : 339352.Google Scholar
Keyes, C. R. 1927 Prehistoric Man in Iowa. Palimpset 8 : 185229.Google Scholar
Knudson, R. A. 1967 Cambria Village Ceramics. Plains Anthropologist 12 : 247299.Google Scholar
Larson, L. H. Jr., 1972 Functional Considerations of Warfare in the Southeast during the Mississippian Period. American Antiquity 37 : 383392.Google Scholar
Lee, G. B. 1969 Pedological Investigations at Mill Creek, Iowa Archaeological Sites. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 318332. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Lehmer, D. J. 1954a Archaeological Investigations in the Oahe Dam Area, South Dakota. Bulletin 158, River Basin Surveys Papers 7. Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Lehmer, D. J. 1954b The Sedentary Horizon on othe Northern Plains. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 10 : 139159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehmer, D. J. 1971 An Introduction to Middle Missouri Archaeology. National Park Service Anthropological Papers 1.Google Scholar
Lehmer, D. J., and Caldwell, W. W. 1966 Horizon and Tradition in the Northern Plains. American Antiquity 31 : 511516.Google Scholar
McKusick, M. B. 1964 Men of Ancient Iowa. Iowa State University Press, Ames.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R., Emerson, T. E., Meher, M. W., Williams, J. A., and Esarey, D. 1984 Mississippian and Oneota Period. In American Bottom Archaeology, edited by Baereis, C. J. and Porter, J. W., pp. 158186. University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.Google Scholar
O' Brien, P. J. 1972 A Formal Analysis of Cahokia Ceramics from the Powell Tract. Monograph 3. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Orr, E. 1963 Iowa Archeological Reports 1934-1939, with an Evaluation and Index by Marshall McKusick. Archives of Archaeology 20 : 11702. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.Google Scholar
Over, W. H., and Meleen, E. E. 1941 A Report of the Investigation of the Brandon Village Site and the Split Rock Creek Mounds. Archaeological Studies Circular No. 3. University of South Dakota Museum, Vermillion.Google Scholar
Peebles, C. S., and Kus, S. M. 1977 Some Archaeological Correlates of Ranked Societies. American Antiquity 42 : 421448.Google Scholar
Peterson, M. Q. 1969 Description of the Mill Creek Skeleton from 13PM4. In Climatic Change and the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa : Part 2, edited by Henning, D. R., pp. 281285. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 16.Google Scholar
Plog, F. T., and Garrett, C. 1972 Explaining Variability in Prehistoric Southwestern Water Control Systems. In Contemporary Archaeology, edited by Leone, M., pp. 280288. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Porter, J. W. 1969 The Mitchell Site and Prehistoric Exchange Systems at Cahokia : A. . D. 1000 ± 300. In Explorations into Cahokia Archaeology, edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 137164. Bulletin No. 7. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Reid, J. 1978 Response to Stress at Grasshopper Pueblo, Arizona. In Discovering Past Behavior, edited by Grebinger, P., pp. 195213. Gordon & Breach, New York.Google Scholar
Ruppe, R. J. 1956 Archaeological Investigations of the Mill Creek Culture in Northwest Iowa. American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1955 : 335338.Google Scholar
Ruppe, R. J. 1959a Archeology at S. U. I. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 9 : 911.Google Scholar
Ruppe, R. J. 1959b Archaeological Investigation of the Mill Creek Culture of Northwestern Iowa. Paper presented at the 17th Plains Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Schiner, M. B. 1976 Behavioral Archeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Scott, D. H. 1979 Analysis of Avifauna from Five Sites in Northwest Iowa. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 26 : 4379.Google Scholar
Semken, H. A. 1971 Small Mammal Remains from the Wittrock Mill Creek Culture Site. In Prehistoric Investigations, edited by McKusick, M. B., pp. 109113. Report 3. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Sigstad, J. S. 1970 A Report of the Archeological Investigations, Pipestone National Monument 1956 and 1966. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 17.Google Scholar
Spaulding, A. C. 1956 The Arzberger Site, Hughes County, South Dakota. Occasional Contributions 16. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Stains, D. J. 1972 Seed Analysis : Brewster Site (13CK15), Western Iowa. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Thiessen, T. D. 1977 A Tentative Radiocarbon Chronology for the Middle Missouri Tradition. In Trends in Middle Missouri Prehistory : A Festschrift Honoring the Contributions of Donald J. Lehmer, edited by Wood, W. R., pp. 5982. Plains Anthropologist, Memoir 13.Google Scholar
Tiffany, J. A. 1981 A Compendium of Radiocarbon Dates for Iowa Archaeological Sites. Plains Anthropologist 26 : 5573.Google Scholar
Tiffany, J. A. 1982 Chan-ya-ta : A Mill Creek Village. Report 15. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Tiffany, J. A. 1983 An Overview of the Middle Missouri Tradition. In Prairie Archaeology, edited by Gibbon, G. E., pp. 87108. Publications in Anthropology 3. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Van Voorhis, F. L. 1978 The Mill Creek Pre-historic Indian Culture. Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society 25 : 848.Google Scholar
Vayda, A. P. 1974 Warfare in Ecological Perspective. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5 : 183194.Google Scholar
Vis, R. B., and Henning, D. R. 1969 A Local Sequence for Mill Creek Sites in the Little Sioux River Valley. Plains Anthropologist 14 : 253271.Google Scholar
Wedel, W. R. 1943 Archaeological Investigations in Platte and Clay Counties Missouri. Bulletin 183. United States National Museum, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Weitzner, B. 1979 Notes on the Hidatsa Indians Based on Data Recorded by the Late Gilbert L. Wilson. Anthropological Papers 56, Part 2. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Wendland, W. M. 1978 Holocene Man in North America : The Ecological Setting and Climatic Background. Plains Anthropologist 23 : 273287.Google Scholar
Wilford, L. A. 1945 Three Villages of the Mississippi Pattern in Minnesota. American Antiquity 11 : 3240.Google Scholar
Will, G. F., and Spinden, H. J. 1906 The Mandans : A Study of their Culture, Archaeology, and Language. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R., and Phillips, P. 1962 Method and Theory in American Archaeology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Wood, W. R. 1967 An Interpretation of Mandan Culture History. Bulletin 198. River Basin Surveys Papers 39. Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Zimmerman, L. J. 1971 Skadeland Mill Creek Culture Site. In Prehistoric Investigations, edited by McKusick, M. B., pp. 114124. Report 3. Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Zubrow, E. B. W. 1972 Carrying Capacity and Dynamic Equilibrium in the Prehistoric Southwet. In Contemporary Archaeology, edited by Leone, M. P., pp. 268288. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar