Hudson, Charles. 1990. The Juan Pardo Expeditions; Exploration of
the Carolinas and Tennessee 1566-1568. With Documents Relating to
the Pardo Expeditions Transcribed, Translated, and Annotated by
Paul E. Hoffman. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Michlovic's first name is Michael.
Here is a very useful survey of Plains archaeology. It doesn't handle
the immediate valley of the Mississippi from about Illinois down, or
Wisconsin, but it is still useful to anyone interested in (western)
Siouan archaeology:
Schlesier, Karl H., ed. 1994. Plains Indians - A.D. 500-1500: The
Archaeological Past of Historic Groups. Norman, OK: Univ of
Oklahoma Press.
Dating Brainerd, which I suggested might represent an early
(pre-Dakotan) Athabascan intrusion into the Dakotan homeland, proves
to be a difficult proposition. No wonder I couldn't remember a
date! (By Dakotan homeland I mean the area in which Dakotan emerged
as a specific variety of Siouan, not the ultimate point of origin of
Siouan in general.) In the Schlesier collection, David Meyer and
Scott Hamilton, 'Neighbors to the North: Peoples of the Boreal
Forest', pp. 96-127:
"The similarity between Avonlea and Brainerd net-impressed pottery is
striking. This similarity has led Morgan [ref] to postulate a
cultural relationship between Avonlea and certain archaeological
remains in west-central Minnesota. Indeed she (ref) has argued that
Avonlea had its origins in a westward expansion of peoples from the
upper Mississippi Valley." (110-111) [This eastern origin
hypothesis for Avonlea is definitely a minority viewpoint. Note that
the ref annotations replace references in the original material. JEK]
"Apparently Brainerd ware in northernmost Minnesota was produced
during and after the Laurel "withdrawal" from this region, and,
perhaps, before the development of Blackduck [ref]." (110) [Laurel
may represent early northwestern Algonquian - Cree, and perhaps very
early Ojibwa. Blackduck is probably (later?) Ojibwa, though it has
also been seen as representing Assiniboine. JEK]
"This pattern of avoidance and co-occurrence provides suggestive
evidence that the cultural materials recognized as Avonlea, Laurel,
and Besant relate to three distinct cultural groups. These groups
appear to have been characterized by ethnic boundaries. Across some
of these boundaries there was little interaction (e.g., Avonlea/
Besant, Laurel/Besant); in one case (Avonlea/Laurel), there was a
certain amount." (112) [Note: Avonlea is usually associated with
early Athabascan; Besant underlies somewhat indirectly the Middle
Missouri Village tradition (Siouan in historic times), and has been
connected more directly with Blackfoot and Cheyenne. For what it's
worth, in the historic period all the groups tied to Besant seem to
have had age-grouping societies or un-age-grouped military societies
similar in other respects to the age-group societies of the
age-grouping groups. Age-grouping is a rather rare practice. JEK]
In the same collection, Guy Gibbon, 'Cultures of the Upper
Mississippi River Valley and Adjacent Prairies in Iowa and
Minnesota', pp. 128-148:
"Two cultural phases may be defined for this period [Transitional
Phase, AD 300-800], although the arcaheological cultures and cultural
dynamics of the period remain poorly known. The St. Croix phase ...
greatest density in the Mille Lacs Lake-Snake River region. The
second phase, called the Brainerd phase here, stretches from the
Mille Lacs-Nokasippi River region in the east into the aspen
parklands in the west and northward, although its area of greatest
concentration is the [Mississippi River] headwaters region." (p. 142)
Gibbon goes on to say that dating is uncertain, and Brainerd ware
resembles more westerly Avonlea ware that could date as late as AD
1200. (Avonlea is usually dated c. AD 100 to 1000, but there are
some very late manifestations.)
Gibbon has introduced a term Psinomani (representing Dakotan
psi~-o'ma~ni~ `rice gatherers') "for a widespread archaeological
complex that contains Sandy Lake ceramics and their associated
artifacts and features in central Minnesota." (145-6) He reports
that estimates of the dates for Psinomani vary greatly, and cites
various authorities for c. AD 1000-1200, AD 1300-1400, anhd AD
1000-1100. "Establishing the time and place of origin of the complex
is critical, for it is generally assumed that the Psinomani culture
abruptly replaced the Clam River-Kathio-Blackduck continuum across
central Minnesota and in the Wisconsin tributaries of the St. Croix
River. While the Psinomani culture may have emerged as early as AD
1000, then, the timing of its spread across central Minnesota remains
uncertain." (146) "These societies emerge in the historic record as
the rather amorphous groups of Dakota speakes that were labeled the
Santee or eastern Dakota for convenience." (147)
However, in Michael L. Gregg, 'Archaeological Complexes of the
Northeastern Plains and Prairie-Woodland Border, AD 500-1500', pp.
71-95:
"Sites of the Sandy Lake complex are situated primarily in central
and western Minnesota, southern Manitoba, and eastern North Dakota,
straddling the prairie-woodland ecotone. Dates range from AD 1000 to
1700 [ref]. This and other Late Woodland complexes are defined
principally only the basis of ceramic wares, Sandy Lake in this
case." (85) "Sandy Lake ceramics are thought to have been brought
into historic times by the Middle Dakota or western Dakotas (Yankton,
Yanktonai and Teton (refs)) or the closely related Assiniboine
(ref)."
I think that the difference between Guy's and Gregg's discussions is
principally that Guy concerns himself with the wild rice oriented
(Psinomani) Sandy Lake manifestations in Minnesota, while Gregg is
concerned with the corn-oriented manifestations further west. In
short, both believe that Sandy Lake ware, independent of subsistance
patterns, represent Dakotan speakers. It is also being increasingly
recognized that a lot of ceramic material of the general area,
assigned to other complexes before Sandy Lake was recognized, is
actually Sandy Lake, which is having the effect of extending Sandy
Lake northward and westward, i.e., into the area where the
Assiniboine-Stoney groups were initially encountered living
intermingled with various Algonquian groups.
I'm sorry the latter part of this posting has been so long, but I
thought that some discussion of the probable archaeology of Dakotan
might be of interest to the subscribers.
Let me reemphasize that I believe that most Tetons (Lakhota speakers),
at least, among Dakotan speakers in general, have a view of their
history and origin that is not consistent with this archaeological
analysis. I don't know the view of other Dakotan groups. I assume
that the Santee believe that they originated near Mille Lacs, but
I have not heard or seen any contemporary Santee discussion of this.