North American Indians of the plains / by Clark Wissler.

  • Clark Wissler
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: North American Indians of the plains / by Clark Wissler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    linguistical and political boundaries. While all cultural traits seem to show the same tendency, this is most pronounced in material culture. Thus, from the point of view of this chapter the Plains-Cree may merit a place in the typical group, but in some other respects hold an intermediate position. The Sarsi and Kiowa- Apache have the typical culture, but as they are very small groups and culturally dominated by the Blackfoot and Kiowa respectively, they were not given separate designation. All the other tribes without exception manifest some traits of material culture found in other areas. In part the causes for the observed greater uniformity in material culture seem to he in the geographical environment, since food, industries, and some house¬ hold arts are certain to be influenced by the character of the materials available. This, however, cannot be the whole story, for pottery clay is everywhere within easy reach, yet the typical tribes were not potters. They also wanted not the opportunities to learn the art from neighboring tribes. It seems more probable that cer¬ tain dominant factors in their lives exercised a selec¬ tive influence over the many cultural traits offered at home and abroad, thus producing a culture well adapted to the place and to the time.