Bibliography
Barghoorn, E. S., M. K. Wolfe, and K. H. Clisby, 1954.
Fossil Maize from the Valley of Mexico.
Bot. Mus. Leaflets, Harvard University 16: 229-240.
Christensen, B. Brorson, 1945.
Measurements as a Means of Identifying Fossil Pollen.
Danmarke Geologiske Undersgelse IV R., Bd. 3, Nr, 2.
Firbes, F., 1937.
Der pollenanalytische Nachweis dos Getreidebaus.
Zeitschrift für Botanik, Bd. 31: 447-478.
Geisler, F., 1945.
A study of Pollen Grains of Thirty-two Species of Grasses.
Butler Univ. Bot. Studies 7: 65-73.
ETHNOGRAPHIC COMPARISONS
Below we shall summarize the life habits of two ethnographically known groups who lived near the Plains-Great Basin fringe. This is done in an effort to present a brief outline of the type of life people in the Morrison area could have lived. It is designed to serve as a guide for interpretation of the archaeological remains, and should provide insight into areas of social and religious action. The first group, the Ute, are known to have lived for a time in the region; the second, the Pawnee, were never in the area proper, but do represent the sort of pottery-using, corn-growing Indians that had occupied it in the past.
This use of comparative ethnology and the reconstruction which follows are in the nature of a theory, a theory of methodology. Too often, as J. O. Brew (1946) has pointed out, archaeological fact gathering has run riot ahead of the interpretation of these facts. Brew quoted C. C. Kluckhohn in this respect: “In any case the alternative is not between theory and no theory or a minimum of theory, but between adequate and inadequate theories.... For I am afraid that many of our anthropologists who are most distrustful of theory are like Molière’s character who spoke prose without knowing it, for a complex theoretical viewpoint is usually implicit in some of the most apparently innocent statements of facts.” (Brew, 1946, p. 45; but for full context see Kluckhohn 1939). We have striven, however, to remain aware of the assumptions involved.
On the Ethnology of the Ute
The Ute were among the first Indians to get horses from the Spanish. Subsequently they moved about rather freely and were rather quick to adopt the white man’s culture whenever this was present in their area. There are almost no early accounts of the Ute. They had neither the spectacular aspects of the true Plains Indians, nor lands close to the trails frequented by pioneers and early explorers. On the other hand, they did not enjoy the isolation of many of the Great Basin tribes which preserved their ways of life into comparatively recent times. Thus ethnography of the Ute is relatively scant except for a few accounts and short articles. There are three principal works. The first is Robert Lowie’s Notes on Shoshonean Ethnography (1924), based primarily on observations at Ignacio, Navajo Springs and White Rock. The second is Omer Stewart’s “Culture Element Distribution: XVIII, Ute, Southern Paiute”, (1942), while the third is Edward Gifford’s Culture Element Distribution XII: Apache-Pueblo (1940). Another short paper by Ralph Beals (1935) on the ethnology of Rocky Mountain National Park adds to the picture, though he draws heavily on Lowie’s work. Finally there is a collection of articles gathered by the Durango Public Library and edited by H. S. Daniels (1941). This is composed of a series of interesting papers by people intimately connected with the area surrounding the present Ute reservation. J. Alden Mason’s article “Myths of the Uintah Utes” (1940) contains numerous myths which may yield scraps of ethnographic material if care is used in selection. Other short works can be found in the bibliography and will be referred to in the text.