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A N INFORMAJION ANALYSIS OF

David Eric Vogt

B j c . i~onours, . Tile Universrty of British Columbia, 1977

6 ,A The. Universit), of British Columbia, 1978

THF RIEQL'IRE)LW?S FOR THE DECREE OF

a DOCfOR 'OF PHILOSOPHY *

%-' ' .% .&-, ~p$bat .%nrtgements

In n h o + or in part. by photocopy or other means.

\ t ~ t h o u t penniss~on oi the author..

Canadran Theses Servtce Servce des t h k e s canadiennes

The author has granted an inevocable m- t 'auteur a amxci4 une t i irr&mAAe e t e>ii=lusive Licence a~owhg the f4atkxd &my m exclusive pemettant A ta E3iWiotMque of Care& to repduce , h, chs&bute or seEl n a W e d u Canada ck reppoduire, p&ter, copies of hisfher tks& by any nwms and in distriir w vendre des copies de sa these a n y f o r m a r f ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ de quelque rnanike et sects qu&que forme ts interested persons. & que ce soit pour meltre des exernptatres de

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The author retains ownersh~p of the copyright L'auteur conserve ta pcopnete du droit d'auteur in h i she r thesis. Neither the Wsis nor cp i protee sa Wse. Ni ta # b e ni des exb-aits substmbal extracts from'it m y be printed or substantiets de celte-ci ne doivent &re other+ise reproduced without hisrher per- imprimes ou autrement reprduits sans son rn i s sm. autorisation.

ISBH 8-315-66232-8

APPROVAL

David Eric Vogt

DECREE - Doctor of Philosophy

A N lNFORMATlON ANALYSJS OF GREAT PLAINS tMEDfCJNE WHEELS

john ~ c r ~ j r e t - i - Rroressor Senlor S u ~ e n ? , o r

David Pokotylo Assistant Professor The i2nwersit-y oi B.C.

2

Roberl Russell P r o k f f 0:

Stephen Straker i issistant Professor The a r s i b of B.i?

CIive Ruggfes Proiesso; Universih of Leicester Extemai Examiner

PARTIAL COPYRlGHT LICENSE

B

, . . ,

I hereby grant to Sirmn Ftaser ~nive'rsity the right to lend

ITI~ thesis, project or extended essay (the t i r l e of which i s shown below)'

to users of the S i m n Fraser University Library,'and.tio make paitial OF - single copies only FGF; such users or i n responsg fb a request f r m i h e

B library of any other Gniversity, or other educational institution, o?

irs own behalf or for one of its =ers. 1 further agree that permission

for ~ u i t i ple, copying of this A r k for. scholarly purposes may be granted

5. j ,ye or the Dean of G'raduate S t u d i e s . ( t is undentood that copying

or -pub1 ic3tion o f this * i r k f o r financial gain s h a l l not be allowed

T i t l e o f Thesis/Project/Extended Essay

iii

- . .

. >.

Medicine Wheels are enigmatic boulder configurations created by nomadic Plains Indian

bison hunters in the time period since the last ice age. Current theories ascribe t o .them.

a variety of purposes, including use for burial, commemorative and other ceremonial - '

functions 'or even .as astranornical observatories, and also speculate - o n =the use of,

geometrical methods in their layout. An additional theory is introduced here, based on . . -

the a s u m e d presence of a central gnomon - a tipi or pole - within the Medicine

Wheels. It is suggested here that such a gnomon, which is consistent with archaeological

f ind~ngs as well as Plains Indian ceremonial and spiritual culture, was used t o determine

the layout of ~ e d i c i n e Wheels as part of ceremony-based celestial observations. The

purpose of this study is t o provide a critical assessment of the theories w h i c h suggest

there were systematic influences o n the design of Medicine Wheels.

4n approach based o n in!ormation science has been adopted. The approach centers o n

an analytical classification of Medicine ~ h e e l s , and subsequent tests' of the extant theories

o n the resulting groups. A comprehensive site file of Plains boulder configurations has

been created, along with a database of the digitized boulder positions for more than

one hundred Medicine Wheels. When necessary, the database has been calibrated by field

measurements. As well, relevant information concerning early humanity, Plains Indians, and 5 -

the Plains environment has been considered. .- .

The results provide the first unambiguous kvidence for the celestial orientation of

Medicine Wheels. Furthermore, the character and diversity of the orientations suggest

associations with ceremonial functions rather than calendric o r scientific purposes. The

celestial orientations are demonstrated without identificatron of the objects viewed or the

dates o f observation, bo th of which would be inappropriate specuiatib& considering

current levels of information. The results are significant t o wor ld awhaeoastronomy, Plains

. anthropology. and in particular t o future Medicine %el studies.

. To Sam, Megan and Eric.

Thank you.

g?

i ' "

Acknowledgements . - . .

I wou ld like to take this opportunity t o acknowledge the contributions o f - a great many

indrvrduals and islstitutions in the completion of this

I will never forget the late M~chae l Ovenden, whose interests and love of

ph i t ohphy introduced me to Medicine Wheels and allowed this research t o begin. Len

Berggren provided a warm new home for the project when it was needed, and I am , ,

enormously grateful t o h ~ m for managing everything, and for infusing me, by fine .

example, with the value of true scholarsh~p

Davrd Eaves played a major r'ok In the course of these stud~es, and , I thank him

especially for his effort, the great guidance he provided, and his patience with me. 6-

,- Leaprng across disciplines, 1 also thank Davrd Pokotylo and I o n Driver for their direction

and resourcefulness in he lp~ng me to establish the anthropologic&%itegrity of this work.

As well, I really appreciate the constant encouragewnt and many stimulatmg disc~ssrqns 1 ' 4 . .\

rece~ved from Stephen Straker and Bob Russell ' 4

Rhrannon johnson provided great service with respect to the field work in aska at chew an, and Sanjay Parikh +and Roxanne Louie were a real he16 with the data. Site and survey .' .-

data arrived from many sources hut in particular I thank t tk ~ r c h a e o l d ~ i c a l Survey 'of * . C

Alberta and John Brumley in Alberta, and Ian Brace in Saskatchewan for their help. A

General Heritage Grant from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Parks, ~ec rea t i on and Culture

enabled the 1987 field work 3'

i

F~nall)., I thank S ~ m o n Fraser Un~versity, and especially Bruce Clayman, for the Special

Arrangements program which enabled this research t o proceed,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of Tables v i

' t

List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi i

CHAPTERS

CONTENTS

AN INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. The World Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3. The Northwest Plains Setting, . . , . , . , . . , . 361 .., +.

~ -~

\ , - . ..,

4. Medicine Wheel Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 .. , . . . . ..- ..

5. A New Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. Structural Tests 150

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. Orientational Tests 164

APPENDIX * L -

I. Great Plains Boulder Codigurations 197

. . . . . . . . . . . Site Index by Classification 198

. . . . . . . Site Index by Borden Number 412

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Site Index by Name , 417

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:. Site Index by Region 421

REFERENCES

A. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . 427

- . . . . . . . & : . .

, - .

vii . .

LIST Of TABLES, \

A N INFORMATION ANALYS~S OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

TABLES:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medicine Wheel Index. 4

Variable Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Variable Correlations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Classification Data. ,'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i 120

Croup Membership Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

ANOVA Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 . .

Orientations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Croup I Spoke

Croup 4 Spoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orientations 6.. ' 169 ,

' /

LIST OF FIGURES

. . . .

IGURES: . -7-

., .

\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Great Plains Medicine Wheels 3 \ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: The. Northwest Plains Region " . 37

4 . Ribstones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1 5 . ~bse rva to r~ Interpretation . d Moose Mountaip . . . . 79 6 . Overlayed Spoke Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3 .. Overlayed Tipi Ring Features .. . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 . . 8 . Some Entryway and 'Effigy Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 9 . The Rinker and Red Deer sites'. : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 10 . Geometrical Interpretation of Moose Mountain . . . . . . . . . 88 11 . Overlayed Central Ring ~eatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 . . .1 2. Clustering Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 13 . .Group 1 Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

\ 14 . Cr. oup ' 2 Composite . . . ! . . . . . . . . . . . i . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 15 . Croup 3 Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . f31 16 . Group 4 Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 17 . .Group Characterizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . 137 18 . Group Geographical Extent . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 19 . Spline Analysis of an ~ d i c i a l Egg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 20 . Spline Analysis of Moose Mountain . . : : , , . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 21 . Groups 2 & 3 Rings - Radial Distributiorr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 22 . Group 1 Cairns . Radial Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 23 . A l l Groups. ...L.~airn40.~airn Separations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 24 . A l l Groups . 'Combined Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

2 5 . Groups 1 & 4 . Overlayed Spokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 26 . Grour 1 & 4 . Spoke Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 27 . A Subset of Groups 1 & 4 sites . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . 174 28 . Spoke Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 29 . Group 1 . Spoke Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . 177 30 . Outer Cairn Orientations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A . . . 182 31 . Group 2 Rings . Orientation with respect to Extent . . . . . . 183 32 . Group 3 Rings . Mean Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . Group 3 Rings . Angular Distribution 185 34 . Group 1-4 Tipi Rings . Angular Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

INTRODUCTION I AN INFORMATiOFJ,ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

4 '5

1.1 Medicine Wheels It

P -

i'

Medicine Wheeli are patterns of boulders found atop high hills and river plateaus over

t'he Great Plarns of North America. The usual form -is a combination of features, including - &

cams (piles of bouldek), nngs (circles of boulders), and spokes (lines o f boulders), all J %

arranged in an ostensibly rad'ial configuration. Quite often there are other features such as t

tipi rings (boylder rings presumed t o have held down the edges o f domestic tipi

structures against the, wind), andB occasionally boulder effigies in human or animal form.

The choice, number and interplay of the features eihibit a high degtee of variability, as

do the physical srze, number of i$_oulders, and overall complexity qf the sites. There is

n o 'typical' Medicine Wheel, but a plan of the relatively well-known Moose Mountain 1 . .

Medicine Wheel provides an example (FIGURE 1). 6

Approximately 1 3 5 examples of Medicine Wheels, or sites, are presently known. The

greatest concentration of these sites is in the Northwest Plarns, identified w i th !he

southern portrons of the provinces o f Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, and the state

of Montana in the United States. FIGURE 2 is a map of the Medicine Wheel distribution,

and TABLE 1 provides a listing o f the 135 sites, along with their geographical lotat ion

and a page reference t o the detailed site description i n the compilation of Plains boulder .

configurations in Appendix I.

Medicine Wheels were largely ignored by the archaeological community until the

mid-1970's, when a profound shift occurred in the thoughts concerning them: U p until

that time i t was generally considered that Medicine Wheels might have been burial

rknurnents, but few excavations had been done because they seemed relatively devoid

of artifacts for interpretation. Then, in 1974, astronomer john Eddy claimed that Medicine

Wheels were prehistoric observatories. .This idea, which rode a wave of general interest in

'archaeoastronomy' which began a decade earlier with Stonehenge in Britain, immediately

overwhelmed all other interpretations. Unfortunately the evidence for the observatory idea

was not carefully analysed, and the widespread interdisciplinary debate which ensued has

added to the auestions about Medicine Wheels rather than resolvine anv of them

1

. 2 ' . 4

* .. >

B 4

' . t *

d Figure 1: M 0 0 6 E MOUNTAIN MEDICINE WHEEL *

#

I B

hi Moose Mountain medicine. wheel caps a windswept hilltop in sotitkern Saskatchewan. Local Indians protect it as a sacred spot, even though they do not claim to understand its origins. Medicine Wheel boulder$ are usually small (20 lo 30cm in &meter), and are ofien deeply embedded in the soil. '

s

Figure 2: GREAT PLACNS MEDICINE WHEELS

107' W

Longitude

The I20 possible Medicine Wheels for which accurate location information is known arc displayed.. There i s a significant concentration of sites in southernL,Alberta, but the apparent distribution is more likely the result of varying provincial and state archaeological activity levels than it is of an original distribution. This is discussed further in chapter 4.

. 4

Table 1: MEDICINE WHEEL INDEX

ALBERTA

Alkali Creek . . . . . . . . Anderson 1 . . . . . . Anderson 2 . . . . . . . . .

. . Anderson 3 . . . . . . 1 Antelope Hi l l . . . . . . . Barry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bindloss . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . British Block . . Bryne's . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo Bird . . . . . . . .

. . . Buffalo Hi l l Cairn . . . . . . . . . . . Coulrers

Dark Horse . . . . . . . . . Eagle Child . . . . . . . . . Ellis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gentle Cairn . . . . . . . Crascy lake . . . . . . . . Half Moon . . . . . . . . . . Hutton . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hurley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jamieson's Place . . . . Jim Allen . . . . . . . . . . Lone Antdope ...:.. Loose Wheel . . . . . . . Majorville . . . . . . . . . . . . Many klands b k e ... Many Spotted Horses . Manyb+es . . . . . . . . McNeill ............

... Middle Sand Hi l ls Miner 1 ........... Miner 2 . . . . . . . . . . . Miner 3 ........... h4urphy . . . . . ....... Neutral Hil ls . . . . . . . . Nitapinaw's . . . . . . . . . Police ............. Red Deer . . . . . . . . . . Rinker ............. Ross .............. Rumscy Gim ....... Running Wolf . . . . . . . S t M u ) r s .......... s t 4 ..............

. . . . . ...... Suffteld :

Suitor 1 ........... Suitor 2 ........... Suitor 3 ........... Sundi i l Hilt . .......

. . . . Sutherlurd Gim T r d u .............

The 135 possible Medicine Wheel

Twin Ptaks Cairn . . 3tl8 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 39ll P OKLAHDMA Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnam'ed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Unnamed Wetzel . . . Wolfchild Zeigenbein

A R I Z O N A

Zodiac Ridge . . . . . . . Unnamed . . . . . . . . . .

COLORADO

Trail Ridge . . . . . . .

M A N I T O B A

M O N T A N A

W l e Geek . . . . . . . . Chain o f Lakes . . . . . Cherry Ridge . . . . . . . Eagle Butte . . . . . . . . . Fort Smith . . . . . . . . . Fresno . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lowry ............. Mud Geek . . . . . . . . . Nelson . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396

SASKATCHEWAN

Alameda . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Bird Foot Shrine . . . . 294 Canuck . . . . . . . . . . . 29b Claybank . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Doug Wade . . . . . . . . . 209 Forget Circle . . . . . . . 332 Giles Circle . . . . . . . . 323 Giles Turtle . . . . . . . . 321 Glen Ewen . . . . . . . . . . 284 Halbrite . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Ctardy Turtle . . . . . . . . 326

. . . . . . . . . . . Whghton 355 jelly Ranch . . . . . . . . . 305 Minion Turtle . . . . . . . 292 Moose Mountain . . . . 298 Ogerna . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Oxbow 1 . . . . . . . . . . 286 Oxbow 2 . . . . . . . . . . 288 Oxbow 3 . . . . . . . . . . 290 Plenty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 . Roy Rivers . . . . . . . . . 236 Stranraer . . . . . . . . . . . 392 l ipperary Geek . . . . . 272 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 398 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 398 Wilson Russell . . . . . . 303

SOUTH DAKOTA jennings . . . . . . . . . . . 311

. . . . . . . lame johnny 377 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396

W A S H I N G T O N

Saddle Butte ....... 397 Sun Bear . . . . . . . . . . 397 Sun Rives . . . . . : . . . 281 unnamed .... . . . . . . 397 WYOMING Whitewater . . . . . . . . . 320 Wi ld Horse 379 . . . . . . . . . . Big Horn 275 .........

Tensleep . . . . . . . . . . . 310

NORTH DAKOTA Unnamed . . . ....... 3% Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396

C h q Knol l ........ 359 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396 Omhood ........... 316 Unnamed . . . . . . . . . . 396 Unnamed .......... 397 Young ~ o u n & n . . . . 357

. . . . . . . . . . Unrumed 397

sites are listed alphabetically in their geographical areas; along with each site name is a page reference to Appendix I where each of the Medicine Wheels is described in more detail .

I

A v e y few Medicine Wheels can be reliably dated to the historic period, but the vast

majority were constructed and used for unknown reasons over an undetermined period of

- prehrstor). by unkho\n;n Native. peoples. Historic and current Plains Natives, their customs,

and even modem structures called Medicine Wheels supply little o r n o useful ,information

toward understandtng what the ong~naf funct~on(s) o f M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheels may have be-en. . - \

The gdal of thrs stud) IS to clear up some of the confklsron It IS the frrst systematrc

analysis of the full range of Ideas concerning Medicine Wheels using the full range of

information availaMe for them. The essential plan is to describe what Medicine Wheels . '

are... in terms of the information they represent. This involves classifying Medicine Wheels,

testing tk& ideas which can be tested, and determining what can and cannot be

concluded about Medicine 'WheeJs at this time. This approach will hopefully lead to

better understanding of ~ e d i c ~ n e wheels, as well as better management and more

productive future research

1.2 The Problem ,

f

Nobody knows what Medicine Wheels are, but everybod), seems t o know that the)( a-e

someth~ng That s what makes thrs problem so mterestrng

The srngle Itern of unrversal agreement about Med~cme Wheels IS that there are a lot of

them (on order 100) o n the Great Plains of North America. This is curious, because so

vert. few (on order lO i=have been ~nvestigated in any detail beyond mapping. As well,

there are v e v few (on _&der '%) relrably accurate dat~ngs of these structures, S n t o

within 5.000 years, and the same number of reliable cultural associ;itions: ~ o r n e h o w a

single label has been applied t o 'a diverse group o f .essentially unknown objects.

Therefore, asking the question, "What are Medicine Wheels?", raises t w o different

, problems. The most obvious problem is t o discover the meaning(s) or function(s1 o f

Medicine Wheels (if such exist). The second problem, which i s most of ten overlooked, is

~n the definition of 'Medicrne Wheel': what qualities or quantities constitute the

' boundaries of the set and the rules for membership o f the objects whose meaning(s)

and function(s1 are to be dkcovered? It boils down -to a chicken-and-egg problem: you -

'can't have a definit ion \z,ithout a -'function, nor a function without a definition. Practically, , ,-

h o n w e r , you can't test a theory regardhg Medicine Wheels without first having formed a

group of them Th~s requlres makmg a number of assumpt~ons about the relatronsh~ps

bet~l ieen members o f the group assumpt~ons ~ h c h will ~nev~tab ly affect the results of

the tests performed I t IS clear then that one must first and carefully ask the quest~on,

"What is a 'Medicine Wheel '?" before asking, "What are Medicine Wheels'"

- 1.3 What is a 'Medicine Wheel'?

The term 'Medlcrne Wheel ' f~ rs t arose In assoclatlon w ~ f h fhe Big Horn boulder

c o n f ~ g u r a t ~ o n o n M e d i c ~ n e Mountarn rn the Big Ho rn Mountams of Wyommg n h l c l i

recerved p u b l ~ c gttentron In the September 1895 Forest and Stream (see Crrnnell

1923 299) The term had n o mtnns lc meanmg nor e x p l ~ c ~ t descrrptwe gapacltl Medlclnc

Wheel was a very g o o d name, however because it captured the enigma ( r ned~ r l ne -

c o n n o t ~ n g power and m a g ~ c ) of ~ t s funct~ora and the essence of ~ t s rad~al desrgn at once

The name wCas apt enough fo r o ther boulder confrgurat~ons as well and graduall) more

than o n e hundred drfferent structures across the Great Pla~ns have been glven that label

Natrve temrs xe no t helpful, the very few that exlst most o f ten de r~ve from the namr

o f a person w h o ma) o r ma) np3 have had an assoc~a t~on w t h the o r ~ g ~ n a l const ruct~on L

of the slte To compl~ca te t h ~ n g s further o ther amb~guous pseudo-descripttvr t e rm~no log i

has been Invented by researchers such as 'V~s l on Quest Structure Ceremon~al C ~ r r l e

4nrmal Eff~gy Bur~al Monumen t and 'Boulder Mosatc M o d e m names for these

p r e h ~ s t o r ~ c const ruct~ons have always been conven~ent Eatch-alls M e d u n e Wheel renidlns

the best because ~t conveys apprbxlmatel) what w e know o r suspect

Another part o f determining what a Medic ine Whee l -is involves look ing at t h ~ many

thinks it is no t . Boulders are as abundant as nightt ime stars over the plains, and during

thousands of years of occupat ion hundreds o f mil l ions o f boulders have'. been l i f ted and . . . =

arranged by human hands for all kinds of reasons. There are several mi l l ion tipi r ing\, f o r - -

instance, along w i th hearths and other structures more easily associated wi th

encampments. There are also boulder walls and lines o f cairns u;ed t o funnel stampeding

b ison toward clitfs, canyons and corrals. O n hills and beside trails there are isolated

cairns which may have served as signposts. places for offerings, and caches And there . .

'. are thousands of configurations whlch are no t explained, idcluding geornetr~cal f~gures. . ,

efiigies, and Medic ine Wheels.

. . . . Given t h i s compl icated situation there are man); ways one might seek t o d e f ~ n e what a

'Medic ine LZiheel' i s . In terms of research design, however, the only way, that makes

sense is t o integrate the search for that- def ini t ion wi th the larger questions that will be

asked once the def ini t ion is in place: the "What are M e d i c ~ n e Wheels?" questlons. Before

proceedrng further then ~t 1s. Important t o conslder those questlons In more de ta~ l

b

7

. 1.4 What are Medicine Wheels?

.,. ,

Mysteries are seldom complete, and a few clues can attract many plausible solutions. '-,

Perhaps this is the redson why Medicine Whee l theories' are so numerous. They fall i n t o

three distinct classes, summarized as fol lows:

A . C E R E M O N I A L T H E O R I E S There are six (6) members -3 this class, each w i th a

different perspective o n 2 e purpose of Medic ine Wheels:

. . A l - Burial Monument: Medicine Wheels were piaces where significant

persons were buried. The ev~dence IS based o n f lnd~ngs o f human skeietal - -

ma te r~ak In relatron t o some ~ e d ~ c l n e Wheels The most complete expressions

o f the theor) have been made by Kehoe (197'21, using e thnoh~s to r~ca l

~ n f o r m a t ~ o n (al though Kehoe most recently supports- t h e Gbservatory theor),. 81,

be low) , and b) Brumle) (1985), based o n a detailed excavation o f a single

site.

A2- Commemorative ~ o n u m e n t : Medicine Wheels were structures created to

commemorate a great person or event, without involving a burial.

Archaeologically speaking, the difference between burial and commemorat ian is . . - . .

very significant. This theory is based partially o n ethnographic, accounts o f

htstoric Blackfoot medicine wheels, as wen as similarities t o k n o w n

commemorat ive monuments. Kehoe (1972) was t h e greatest p roponen t o f this

theory.

A3- SunlThirst Dance Structure: MPdicine Wheels were in some way

precursors t i contemporary Sun Dance or Thirst Dance structures, or

otherwise were intimately related to the prehistoric andlor historic versions

of these events. The evidence is based. o n symbolic relationships between the

M e d ~ c l n e Wheels and cer ta~n aspects o f the contemporary ceremonies and

structures Mode rn Plans Natlves generally celebrate an annual Sun Dance

ceremony involving the entire tr ibe. The northern Plains tribes, i n the ar'ea

ivhere the Medic ine LZ'heels are concemtrated, celebrated -a variant o f the Sun

Dance known as the Thirst Dance. A comprehensive presentation is given by

1- To a ~ . o i d the c o n f u s ~ o n betkveen theor). a n d h&thesis in this work, I wi l l adop t a ,general def ini t ion o i a t h e o n as "a set o f related, ideas w i th respecf t o a b o d y of ;n iormat~on" , a n d an hvpoth,esiz as "a specif ic idea which c o u l d b e tested g iven ~ d e q u a t e ~n io rmat ton" . For the most part, this work w i l l b e deal ing w i th the viabil i ty of e t i o i Ideas. or theories, ~ , k i l e seeking t o test ind iv idual ideas,&or hypotheses, whenever d;)propnate a n d possible

8

Wilson (19811. who concludes that the Thirst Dance IS the most vlable of

modern associatior~s.

A4- Vision Quest Structure: ~ e d i c i n e Wheels were created during or for a

vision guest experience. Plarns Indian males were expected t o undergo a

vrsron quest a solo expenence i n a hrgh remote area dunng whrch therr

personal vrsron or power would b e revealed t o them ,The evrdence for a

connectron wrth Medrcine heels IS based on ethnographrc accounts of the, Y use of Medrcrne Wheels for vlsron quests, (Caldwell 1954) and svmbolrt

assoclatrons with known vrsron quest structures (Frres 1980)

A5- Buffalo Cult Sfructure: Medicine Wheels were structures created as

of bison hunting (which was the primary subsistence of prehistoric Plains

tribes), -perhaps associated with sympathetic magic, secret societies, or .

worship. The evldence comes primarily from archaeologrcal rnvestrgat~ons 3

part~cularly that of Calder (1977)

A6- Petrof orm (art or graff ha): Medicine Wheels were created in association

.I with and/or as an aspect of the practices and beliefs pertaining to

pictographs. The Pla~ns are dot ted with specral p~ctograpl i sltes where Natrve

religious pract~ces and beliefs were maintained for thousands o f years N o

formal evidence has been presented fo r . an association with Medrcine Wheels.

but the idea cannot be ignored as a r e a h a b l e possibility. A discussion i s

provided by Brace (1987).

B. ORIENTATIONAL THEORIES: Two ( 2 ) theories suggest that a function of the Medrcrnc

Wheels was t o point at external features of the environment along the disbnt horizon

B1- Horizon-based Astronomical Observatory: Features of the Medicine

Wheels were consciously and perhaps carefully oriented to, enable

observation of horizon-based rising, and _setting phenomena of the Sun,

Moon, planets and stdrs, presumably for calendric or ceremonial purposes.

The ev~dence IS based o n approxrmately a half-dozen Medrctne Wheels whrch

e x h ~ b ~ t ortentatrons near the presumed target objects The orrgrnal proponent

bvas Eddy (1974). with elaborations from Kehoe and ~ e h o e (1976) and

Robinson (1980, 1981, 1983. 1985, 1989).

B2- Traveller's Signpost: Medicine Wheels functioned as maps or signs to ,

indicate directions and possibly distances to people, places, resources, events

andlor geographically important sites, thereby providing a useful record and

means of communication over' time and space. In roughly the same sense,

they might have served as territorial markers. This theory has always, been st

the level of speculation, n o strong evidence having been advanced. Originally

proposed by Kehoe (1954), it 'has been favoured most recently by Frison

(198'1 ). .. I , . -

C. TEMPLATE THEORIES: Two ( 2 ) theories suggest Medicine Wheels were carefully laid

out according to conscious precepts which were abstract and possibly nonutilitarian

i - C1- Pythagorean Geometry: Medicine ~h'eels were composed mathematically,

exhibiting a dimensionality and form. consistent with simple Pythagorean

geometry. The principles and measures are the same as those which were

proposed to govern the megalithic stone structures of Europe and Asia. The

evidence is based o n geometrical analysis of several Medicine Wheels. The

theory has been borrowed completely from megalithic studies, and was

originally proposed by Ferryn (1978) and, independently by dvenden (1981).

The theory does not address why the Medicine ti eels were laid out in this . ,

wa),.

C2- Gnomon Projection: A central pole or tipi within the Medicine Wheels,

acting essentially as a gnomon (a device to cast shadows and direct light

from above), served to determine their overall composition. This theory is

the bnly one which originates with the present study, and is likewise the only

one which presumes that an additional feature, n o w lost, was once present at

all Medicine Wheel sites. This alternative theory is appropriate because it

naturally incorporates the possible orientational manifestations of the

Observatory theory (B1) and the possible structural manifestations of the

Ceometty theory (C1) into the fabric of Plains lifeways withput necessitating a

'protoscientific' perspective. Rather than interest in calendar or the patterns

created, this t h e o v states that the purpose was cosmological, toward the

ritual~stic recording o f celestial motions inassociat ion with an event or

ceremony. perhaps the Sun Dance. Evidence will be presented from

ethnography, archaeology, and from site morphology.

Note that the ' A ' theories relate exclusively t o presumed functions of Medicine Wheels,

\ \ ,h~le the 'C ' theories relate only t o the design or layout (an anthropologist would say

st\le ) ~rrespectrve of func t~on The 'B' theories rn the mdd le , represent funct~ons which

presumabl\ would Impact In a systemat~c way on the des~gn o f the structures. Thus there @

is not a clear-cut division of the theorier in terms of the classical anthropolbgical debate 4

concerning functibn and style.

Note also that the members of each class o f theory can be regarded as mutuallbt

exclusive, while any inter-class combination of theories is possible. Practically, however,

and considering that there may be different types of Medicine Wheels and indeed may

have been different uses 6f any wheel by different peoples over time, any combination , , . .

of the above theories i ~ . " ~ o $ s i b l e . It is also possible that Medicine h'heels were

something else entirely: that none of the above theor~es captures what h l e d ~ c ~ n e Wheel5

really were. The complications of these many combinations will be d~scussed more

formally in appendix II - .

1.5 Research Goals

,

The present research is limiting itself t o an analysis of the extant information as a means

of directing future research. ~ealistjcafty, this makes the ceremonial theories difficult t o ~.

evaluate analytically because the ethnographic information i s so slight (and s o

well-travelled). As well, there have been few detailed excavations, and n o new infc)rmation

is being supplied by this study. In great contrast, the available data are part~cularly well

suited t o looking at the orientation and template theories, because they suppose the

existence of systematic design elements. This practical consideration of the data dictates

feasible study: there will be a critical discussion of all of the theories, but detailed

analysis wil l focus o n the 'B' and 'C' theories. *.

It must be admitted that a focus on the design elements belies the probability that the

ceremonial and spiritual nature o f Medicine Wheels were foremost in the minds of those

that made them. However, in recent years the 'design' theories have been foremost in

the minds of those that study Medicine Wheels, and so a first thorough examination o f

these is entirely in order. Furthermore, the 'B' and 'C ' theories are all analytically similar

(concerning the orientation and specific layout of Medicine Wheel structures) yet there

has never been any objective consideration of what kinds of structural information the

Medicine Wheels contain. The present study i s therefore fundamentally important a5 well

as timely and feasible.

Looking at Medicine Wheels from an information science2 perspective, they are excellent

2- Information science is the discipline which seeks to understand h o w utilitarian structure (information) is created from raw data, and thence appl ied to decision making . , a n d the reduction o f uncertainty. For an introduction, .see Flynn 7987.

.11

objects of study. In their Plarns environment they are a geogtaphically rsolated

(well-contarned) set of structures composed of an apparently manageable number of

features exhibiting a useful degree o f vanability. This situation can be compared favourably

wrth the megalithic archaeoastronomy o f Europe, where non-uniformity, huge stones, and

few dlscernable features create a statrstical quagmire. For instance, with the megaliths if

one considers that the position o f a stone may have been important, one doesn't know i*

whether to measure from the centre o f the stone, one or " more of the edges, or -

perhaps even the top Add to thrs eroslon, collapse and g o u n d level changes, and *

~rreducible uncertarnties in measurement are substantial. Meanwhile, * ~ e d i c i n e Wheel

boulders, located as they me o n windswept hilltops, are essentially points in

three-dimensional space. This allows for analysis of structure, composition and orientation

to be performed relatively unambigunusly. All in all, the Medicine Wheel data set is -

perhaps the most adenable to such analysis of any o f the stone ring families in the J

world. Even though our knowledge of Medicine Wheels is slight, there i s still an

enormous amount of information available which is appropriate t o the .theories under

' consideration

The single goal of thrs research IS t o reach an understandrng about Medtcme Wheels

through a formal evaluation of all informatlon currently available for them. Three specif~c i

objectives form the steps to achreve that goal .%

to perform the first systematic classification of Medicine Wheels;

to objectively test the orientational and template theories; and

to provide a balanced assessment of the extant theories in the light of

the classificatbn, the tests, previous research and other information.

The tests mentioned above can be put in the form of two specific questions about

hledicine Wheels. The first question concerns the template theories (Cl,C2):

Q1 - Do Medicine Wheels exhibit significant structurd correlations in their

layout, and, if so, are these correlations supportive of the geometry or

gnomon theories?

The second major question is directed to the observat6ry. ( B I ) and gnomon (C2) theories:

4 2 - Do Medicine Wheels

site features to a common

exhibit dpproximate and/or precise orientation of

set of possibly significant horizon bearings and,

, . 12

if so, are these orientations supportive of the observatory or gnomon

theories?

These questions are ' few..and relatively precise. The implications of the answers are 'much

large'r, especially within ':the: context of the overall research goal.

1.6 Methods _ I,. . -. , .

. J

To meet the first research objective a systematic classification of Medicine Wheels ia

required. As outlined earlier, defining what a 'Medicine Wheel' is involves distinguishing

them frpm other Plains boulder configurations and discovering what internal relationships -.

resohe them into groups. It must ;be:assumed that the information needed to establish . ,

such relationships is available. This is' a moot point; relationships have been apparent to

all researchers t o date even though none has sought to define or understand them -

Numerical taxonomic techniques provide a feasible approach to classificatron. It i s apparent

that iGresearchers have always categoized Medicine Wheels intuitively, using information

concerning their visual appearance. This information is available and can be quantified as

values of variables. As well, there is information regarding site, setting and physical

dimensions. Standard multivariate procedures are available t o search for order in such data.

The 'meaning' of such order is intrinsic t o the variables, and so they must be selected

thoughtfully. It is very useful t o this analysi! that so many of the available variables have

a demonstrable potential signficance t o the research questions at hand. Since exactly the

same kind of information used in the classification will be used for theoretical testing o f ,

the groups formed (which is the second objective of the research), it i s an integrated

approach. Details o n the testing methods will be supplied in chapters 5 and 6 u!

The third objective is t o find a balanced assessment of the extant theories. O n one level

this is supplied in the results of the tests o n the classification, but these bare numbers

d o not weigh the full extent of available information, the uncertainties involved, the rangr

i; o f expert opinions, and the effects of bias. Bayesian inference i s a method which can

potentially formalize these additional data dimensions. Bayesian inference has not been

used .- brozdly in archaeology yet, although a recent demonstration o f its application to <r.

modem archaeolcsgical research relative t o classical statistics appears in Ruggles (1986) l .

The applicatian of Bayes' Theorem to the Medicine Wheel problem has been investigated

but the difficulties there place it beyond the scope of the present study. The major

3- See also Freeman (7976), and Conaty et a1 (79821

effort here has been to maintain the u t m a t objectivity- i n the presentation of the

available information, something which every reader can judge- for themselves.

1.7 precepts

Gu~dmg this research are four fundamental precepts concerning progress In dedic ine

Wheel studies. They are -

1. That, cons~der~ng the current state of Med~c ine Wheel research and the

focus of t h ~ s study, r f anything cagent is going t o be said about what

Medicrne Wheels are, or, equally importantly, what they y e not, it will be

based on group information and not individual sites+. ..Medicine Wheels may

have had multiple functions ahd, as well, meant different things t o different

people over time. It ' i s therefore- difficult t o believe that any hypothesis

concerning one or a few sites could ever account for a signifkant portion o f

the features tand variability within those few sites, let alone all .sites. At this -

level such a hypothesis IS no t useful. O n .the other hand, a theory which

accounts for even a tmy portion of the ;ariability o f a large group o f sites

does provide new information. Exactly such new information is essential t o

future research, future excavations and future interpretations at the site specific

level.

2. That one must find support for some theory, even if on l y by inference,

and not just destroy others. This is a practical as well as theoretical

consideration, related to the 'fear of rphingness' syndrome. In recent years

several researchers have shown that there is' n o statistical support for the

observatory theory, while n o new evidence has come from that theory's

proponents (details in chapter 4). Yet both , popular and professional .opinion

appear to support the idea that Medicine Wheels were astronomical

observatories. There are many reasons for this irrational situation, bu t perhaw T .

the greatest is that people f ind it hard .to give up something when there- is

nothing to replace it. Therefore it i s important t o consider all extant theories,

4- This does not imply that an archaeologist, for example, ccu ld no t gain valuable specific information from a single site or small group, such as accurate datings, cultural affiliations, feature assdciations, burial evidence, etc. That 'information, however, cann'ot o n its o w n b e useful to the understanding o f other and al l Medicine Wheels unti l the reasons for calling them al l 'Medicine Wheels' are understood: Such site specific information cannot resolve the current controversy concerning ' ~ e d i c i n e Wheels either. I t is a question o f describing the forest before looking at the trees.

and if n o support is found for some or many of them then this result

should be used for stronger consideration of those that remain. Jt i s also

important t o suggest and consider new theories.

3. That all kinds o f information be considered, not just the structural and

orientational data, Theoretically, this c o n f o m s t o the Bayesian. inference

method. ~racticati j/, it agrees with the criticisms levelled by arrthcopologists at

crusading archaeoastronomers for ignoring existing archaeological, ethnographic ' 0

and ethnohistorical information. Such information concerning the Plains Indians

will be considered, along wi th additional inferential evidence concerning similar

interdisciplinary studies elsewhere in the world. I ' -

4. That n o complete 'decoding' of the Medicine Wheels is going t o take *

place. There is n o direct information o f any kind relating t o the ceremonial,

spiritual and intellectual events which probably wer@ t h h r i m a r y foundat im o f 1 . .-

the Medicine Wheels. It would be t o o much to expect that any significanta'.

port ion of such Information might be 'coded' into the layout of the

structures, or that subsequent research might adequately 'decode' it. The

results obtained here will enable some piecesasf a p u u l e t o be fitted, t

perhaps pieces that the Medicine Wheel builders themselves > w o u l d not havev p-

- considered of primary significance, yet pieces we don't now have. A complete

understanding, or decoding, o f Medicine Wheels (if such is possible) wil l only

, be obtained by combining the pieces here with anthropological data from

future ethnographic and archa~ological studies.

1.8 Directions

AT first glance this approach (which might be summarized as: look at all the sites, all

the theories, and all the information, but don't expect much) might be labelled

'wholistic-pessimistic'. 'Realistic' is also apt. This is an interdisciplinary ~ r o b i e r n with

relatively little solid ground. The p u u l e is one where most of the pieces are missing,

and there are many different rules for h o w those that remain might l i t logether. ..

. . Also ~ealistically, there is t oo much possibly-related information to review and include in

any systematic manner here. The first chapters therefore survey only the most relevant

fields. of information as a foundation for the analysis. Chapter 2 takes a broad 4 k

perspective, looking at what we know about the mathematical and astronomical abilities of

-C

*. early man. The purpose is- t o survey the ideas, the research problems, and the evolution

of thought related t o the Medicine Wheel thlories concerned here. Chapter 3 reviews -?

the Plains setting, particularly the physical, cul tuhl and intellectual environment that was

home t s the Medicine Wheels. Chapter 4 focusses on Medicine Wheels studies and an

evaluation o f the current theories in the context of the history of research and the ,

prima facie evidence.

The analysis section is presented in four steps. The first step is the classification, and

Chapter 5 begins the formal procedure by looking at the data set and reviewing past

classifications. A formal data reduction is then done and the resulting Medicine Wheel

groups analysed. Chapter 6 analyses structural information concerning Medicine Wheels, in . ~

answer to the first question (Q1) stated above. Chapter 7 analyses orientational '

information in answer t o the second question (Q2). Finally, Chapter 8 provides a

discussion of the preceding results, and a conclusion.

For further reference, Appendix I contains an introduction to the site files compiled for

Medicine Wheels and other Plains boulder configurations, including settings, descriptions,

status, theoretical ideas and research results.

techndagy ,f& away and we empathetically conjure 'yuppies' living m caves. Redity is ib -

elusive. .

A

In academlc c~rcles the word 'primitwe' is n o longer used for any modern Homo sapiens. -

.- -<. - <

i 1 6 . . . "

> < 5 .

L

.I6

The current version o f our species began appearing, apparently in many places at once,

/

as much as 700,000 years ago, aod there IS n o evidence of any significant change rn

our anatomy or brarn since thens. Recent a r c h a ~ o ~ o ~ i c a i inyestigations have revealed

2

- _ . < - . . 2.1 Who is -Early Man?

i " < - i

, 'Early' humanity js generaliy considered in terms of preliterate or prehrstoric cultures Such . , simple definitions allow s o b e misconceptions which are wurth disoussirig -

<.> ,- .- 5 - -. During the last century our concept of early humans has changed enormously, arpd

continues -to change. Arising through early Christ iw . thought there was *a sense of

divinely-inspired hierarchy In Natwe, bu t n o sense of" progress, nor any imagk of a

coimon Bncestor unlike ourselves Then came D a w m , whose bas~c ruks of evo iu t r~n -

linear betterment and raw instinct for swvival - painted 3 stark portrait of a primitive 4

man. This animal antecedent has romantic a p p e a l in the .new industrial world. The beast, . .

lurhng still i n our subconscious, inspires emotibns from envy t o fear. The popular

imagination i s confused At one eftreme, prikit ive savages roamed the world up until the , first light of history At the other. extreme, the gloss of modern tiving cond~trons and

CHAPTER '2

THE -WORLD STAGE

AN INFORMATIQN ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE .WHEFLS

unexpected traces o f ancient lifeways, social behaviuur ahd technologies w h ~ c h drag the , -

origrns o f human intellectual culture back at least years.. The new Image i f early - ' - .

-.

man7 IS thus surprisingty similar t o the pre-danvinian concept: except for some window

5- Th~s 1s clearly one of the most d i f f i c d areas of modern archaeology We really can't - say that a human baby from 700,000 years ago wouldn't thrive rn modern social formrng and education as welt as our own. Doubt more often accompanies the opposrte adoption' See, for example, Franco~s Bordes (1 971:4) .and Colin Renfrew ( 7 982~2)

6- For example, ochre for body painting may go back as far as 300,000 years (Wreschner 7980:632), and early 'religious' institutions - evidenced by ritualistic artifacts - were rn place at least 75,000 years ago (Pfeiffer 7969:789/. Other evidence comes from tool technology and adorned burials.

7- he latest image of eariy man was compellrngly rendered on the cover of Na4ional Geographic magazine 17988 October) in a 26,000 year old self-portrait, complete w ~ t h thoughts, feelings and wonderment that are almost tangible.

dress~ng, human beings 100,000 years ago were n o different than ourselves. The initlal

tlme of the human ape has taken a step further back.

Considerat~ons of early mathematics and astronomy blend easily with this n@w image of

early man - perhaps t o o easily. The ability of the few facts t o embrace and engage

romantic notions defies objectivity. The problem is that the humanity of deep prehistory

i~ now considered capable of, say, predicting eclipses. But that doesn't prove they did it.

Mere capability i s not enough. Something as specific as eclipse prediction may be

impossible to prove In the normal sense, and it could have occurred many times without

Ieavmg any record One can find support for 'such speculations if the practical skills (the

functional capabiltty) and the social interest o r need for such predictions can be

demonstrated by other means. Such evidence is often only circumstantial, but it is better u

than ~f the circumstances are not right. That i s the real role of this chapter: t o '

' r!westrgate the circumstances' of mathematics and astro'nomy in early humanity, hopefully

provrd~ng a rat~onal context for what might have been.

One last prefatory thought When did early man stop belng early? The boundary is

usual11 set at the transltlon to Iiteracya. Thls might be reasonable, but i t is also qurte

arbltrar), - wr~ t lng drd not come quickly or only once, 'and may have been an'

adm~nlstrat~ve expediency rather than a ,revelations. Literacy would likely have been a

technological white elephant for many well-developed oral cultures, including most North

Amerlcan l nd~an groups The literacy boundary is reasonable,- however, for two reasons.

hrst the pursult of bo th mathematics and astronomy ultimately benefits from the ability

to srmbol~ze numbers and keep records. Illiterate cultures share a common threshold of

potent~al achievement, and perhaps even interest, in these exact sciences. Second, the

pursuit of the history of astronomy and mathematics changes abruptly when there are w

texts to study. Illiterate cultures are examined o n a strikingv different set of materials,

man) o f them non-uniform but at least uniformly non-textual,

Theretore for the purposes of the9 foHowrng discussion, 'early' refers to all modern homo

5aplens except~ng those ?hat achieved functional literacy. i.

h- There 1s a difference between 'I~teracy' and 'numeracy', but l t rsn't obvious that the drfterrnce IS rmpoi-tant here My sense d literacy rncludes both forms o f facility wlth sr mbnlrc no ta t~on

9- See the discussion o f the origin o f - writing b y Schmandt-Besserat 11978).

18

2.2 The Origins of Exact Sciences

l -don' t recall the source, but 1 d o remember overhearing some speculation at an

ethnoastronomy conference that the ape-like predecessors of humanit), began to \vaIL

upright so as t o get a better view of the stars. This is starting the enquity too earl)

but it does demonstrate a human propensity toward wildly. romantic concepts oi t lw . .

births of astronomy and mathematics.. Most traditionally. astronom) IS supposed t o h a w

begun when an early mind first perceived harmony and per~od~c i t \ , In the mo t~ons of

awesome flying lights 'in the sky. Likewise mathematics is usually .supposed to havr twgul l

with the simple recognition of number words as abstract entitles' h a v ~ n g relatlon5 of the11

own. The first pure thoughts? Not necessarily. Painfully gradual and unasplrlng orlglns ar t

also possible. Astronomy and mathematics more likely each began man) times and t)\,

many means. To us the human brain seems prewired for enjoyment through abstract

thought; this same gift that may have begun the exact sciences is m a k ~ n ~ , it diffrrult to

be objective about those beginnings now.

-. There. are actually two origins, or transitions, to consider. The most '&ciaf one is thc

transition f rom religion to science. Science intends t o be a logical enquiry into nati~rdl

processes acting according t o rational laws. ~ e l i ~ i o n , o n the other hand. presupposes * *

supernatural o r non-rational interaction with metaphysical powers. At face value the)'re

quite distinct; but only t o us - n o such definitions existed or mattered throughout most

of history. Speaking -of pre-Columbian Americans, C. Stresser-Pean sard

"Though i t wou ld be misleading to cal l the religious systems and ' technical - achievement o f these people 'scientific', even the most primitive among them ,

made practical contributions which n o historian o f science cay ignore. "(1 963:292)

< . - A point t o consider i s that historians one thousand years from now might say the same . .

about us. Also, despite the definitions, religion and 'x ience are still in6xtricabl\s muddled

in modern society. In fact, the Science defined above may not exist except as an ideal-

Kepler, Newton and Einstein were all mystics, and it is arguable that ~t is non-rational

thought, not logic, which energizes the greatest leaps of Science eyen today. !n other , *

words, Science has perhaps never been purely rational, and in this chapter we are .

concerned with the scientif~c elements of what probably were largely rehg~ous knowl idge

systems.

The second important transition t o consider is when; -why, where and how 'approximatt.

becomes 'exact'. We consider n o w that Science and precision go. hand in hand, but that

._ .-. wasn't always the case. Babylonian and Sumerian astronomers and mathematicians ' were

htqhly .anthm@trcal, but not geometrrcal or exact In the modem senselo. ~ r & k

ph~losophers were adm~rers of geometry and geometical models, but thew not ion. of ' -

, 7.

exact~tude related more t o poetr) and style. than t o ' Sciencell. Likewise, from what we

knm*. of Mayan thought it was unusually exact but very m k h at the religious end -of . .. -

the religion-science spectrumlz. It can be argued that technology, no t Science, inspires - . .. modern precision. The point is that precision is at least %ewhat a cultural orientation,

and care has to be taken not t o assume that lack o f precision means lack of ability.

Referring specifically to the origins o f scientific astronomy, Aaboe (1974:23) has proposed 4

that astronomy is scientific when it is predictive, in the sense o f a model that

~ncorporates the irregularities of period and is free of the observational record. For him.

this gives the origin o f scientific astronomy t o the mathematical models of Mesopotamia.

Other conclusions are possible. Does such a 'predictive model have t o be formally

mathematical? Does it have to. be right always? Accounting for irregularities of period

while predicting the future is something that oral cultures were clearly interested in, and

ostensibly capable of, nfhether the 'model ' was a cycle of stories or a circle o f stones.

For example, a reading of Hesiod's "Works and Days" displays the enormous predictive

~ntent of popular lore concerning the heavens, a tradition that .remains today in works

such as the Farmer's Almanac. Admittedly, such wisdom may not be overly reliable,

,especially perhaps when predicting the weather, but they still qualify - in the sense of

structured causal relationships - as models. Being free of the observational record is a

moot point - such folk models are also simple enough to adopt a new phenamenon

after appropriate triggers are found. In short, Aaboe's definition is useful, but I find that

i t is amenable to a much greater range of thinking than he proposed.

The origin of early mathematics is difficult t o hypothesize in such a way that the event-

would be evidenced in any lasting way. The human brain apparently naturally perceives

10- See, for example, A. / iaboe's~discussions (7974,1980) o n the Babylonian system, here precision was sought in t6e arithmetical predict ion o f celestial events, but n o effort M 3 a s g i ~ f e n to obtaining exact obsemational data to support those calculations. The sense appears to have been that precision was a part o f numbers, n o t Nature.

1 1 - See Dreyer's history o f astronomy (7953) o r Thureau-Dangin's discussion o f the cultural differences between Creek and Babylonian thought (7939). 1 wou ld summarize the difference between Creek scientists and modern scientists by suggesfing that Greek scientists were seeking ways o f accommodating Nature to mathematical idea, whereas modern scientists seek mathematics to accommodate Natural observations.

1 2 - .A ver), g o o d discussion o f the ov&whelming differences between western and Mayan thought i s presented by A. Aveni et a1 (7982).

- . .. c , ~ . .

, . 'I. -. -... -: . ..

, I . . . , . ,

. - B 20 . .

, , . .. .

I . - the number in." set of objects up to * or 5, and with practical training can

unconsciously perceive the quantity in a much larger set of numbersll. If this .IS. ." -,:, >'..

mathematics the6 its origin is so early that it may never be found. Similarly, - investeations . .

of the origin of magical numbers and the ritual origin- of counting14 are almost wh& \ . . .,- speculative and probably not pertinent. A more hopeful origin to seek is the first

, symbolic representation of numbers, their relations, and the:.'results of their - '_

C ,'

manipulationl5. This would include devices such as the abacus- and knotted string systems

. . found worldwidel 6 , and may someday admit American pecked-cross symbols (Aveni e l al

:jq78;' .Aveni l988), megalithic pockmarldspiral complexes (Michell 1982 and. Davis 1188).

and- ice age calendar stones (Marshack 1972) into the range of &artifacts relevant to thc

genesis of mathematics. Most of this is just counting, however, and many historians rn~gtlt

be looking . f& ' i a higher level of mathematics to establish the threshold. Typicall), s"ucl, a <*

higher threshold would be out of reach for. 'early' humans, only because evidenci~g it\

achievement usually means writing. Also, arguing from lack of administrptive need, it is

usually assumed that higher mathematics had no place in less complex and non-literate

human settings (Schmandt-Besseral 1978). In any case, definjng which higher level would

serve as the threshold might be difficult. It seems most prudent to stay nitti tke

representation/manipulation threshold suggested above.

Modem study of the exact scientific abilities of early man began at the m~ddle of th~s

century in the works of Alexander Thom on the megaliths of' Britain. Thom was mostl\,

ignored at first because the academic community was not ready to believe that the stone

age was compatible with higher notions of mathematics and astronom),. The time was

obviously more ripe ior Gerald Hawkins, whose .two articles in Nature in 1963 and 1964.

and subsequent popular work. Stonehenge Decoded, in 1965' can be said to have

coincided with a significant shift in perspective and to have sired 'a generation of

archaeoastronomers. Curiously, ' this i s despite the fact thqt Hawkins'~"eclipse-computer a \ hypoJiesis was more far-fetched and flawed (but perhaps harder to ignore) than Thom'i

1 work,-. and quickly disappeared fiom discussion. In any case, the appearance ,of Hawkins' - , .. ,

13-. See the discussion by Karl tvlenninger (79691 and Georges lfrah (7985;' on the nature of numbers, and counting systems.

14- Superstitious numbers are discussed by Menninger and lfrah (ibid.'), while the ritual origins are discussed at length. by Seidenberg (7962).

15- lfrah 2nd Menninger (;bid) discuss many forms of representation across the world, and comprehensive discussion of Native American systems has been compiled by Closs (7986ai.

16- See lfrah (79851 for knotted string, systems and Locke (79321 for the Peruvian abacus.

book essentially declared open* season for the ~nvestigation o f the astronomical orientation , -

and numer~cal basis o f every prehistonc rhonument and artifact in the worl'd. The obvious

- 3 problems wifh this approach are summarized by Aveni:

"that often these studies have been conducted without reference to the pre-existing data base relating to the cultural remains; and that too often the central goal o f a field investigator seems to consist of finding an alignment for the sake o f alignment without proceeding t o the far more important questions o f what was the purpose o f the alignment, h o w and why were the astropomy and calendar developed, and h o w dq such matters fit into what we know about these societies in general?" (Aveni 1988:445)."

Even today, more than twenty-five years after Stonehenge. Decoded, there are reports in

the archaeoastronorny literature o f 'untested' monuments in out-of-the-way' places, and of

4 new celestial or numerical interpretations o f heretofore earthly artifacts (eg. Hoskin 1985,

Proverbio et al 1987 and Schhefer 1983). Nothing i s sacredly nonscientific.

Such blind enthusiasm has galled mthropologists. And experience has proven that this

leave-no-stone-untested approach has not provided any simple answers. However, the same

energy has spawned much credible research and better-tempered thoughts over time. The

disciplines are maturing. The following sections will examine the findings so far.

2.3 Ice Age and Neolithic Evidence . . . -

4)

7 ; The first hard data concerning early mathematics and astronomy currently coincides with '

L I .

the last ice age. In the :,case o f astronomy, the most unambiguous ,data rests wjth the

careful orientation o f burials, a, funeral tradition which continues even' today in many, if -

, , not most, cultures around the world. Even Neanderthals (earlier than and contemporary - with early man* and culturally and physrcally less sophisticated) typically laid a body o n its

s ide along an east-west line, face directed south (Gowlett 1984:104-106). olio win^ the

same practice, neolithic men lay o n their right sides (feet east), women on their left

( feet west) (Gowlett 1984:106). A variant allowed burial along a N-S line with eyes

directed to the,_east, presumably toward sunrise1 7 . This clearly indicates an awareness ,and

sensitivity to orientation, and suggests social, religious and cosmological traditions witlj

respect to solar observation going back 100,000 years or more. The most detailed study

o f neolithic burial orientations t o date claims a surprising precision of $-lo in alignment-'

(Schmidt-Kaler et al 1984). However. as these orientations are cardinal rather than

17- I t may be interesting to note here that feet-east was the burial direction o f choice h\ Plains Indians, and that all o f the human effigies andior entryways associated with ' . the hdedicine Wheels have the legs to the east o r southeast.

specifically solar 06 solsticial. it wou ld b e difficult t o use these data t o support the

not ion o f precise observation o r a detailed knowledge of solar mot ion

Another kind of evidence fb; ice age astronomy comes f rom the so-called 'calendar

stones' o f Marshack (1972). These are a collection of bones and stones collected from

human occupat ion sites across Europe and Asia w i th dates ranging f rom 8.000 t o 12.'800

years before present. The objects b e a ~ spiral o r serpentine patterns of pock-marks which

appear under the microscope t o be' a number o f symbols. The patterns, when counted,

are interpreted in terms o f lunar per iod counts. The symbols likewise appear t o provide a

lunar calendar, starting w i th the first day after a N e w M o o n in each case. Marshack

supports this interpretation wi th the later discovery :and analysis o f Nor th American Ind~an

calendar sticks (1985,19891, where the same serpent ine pattern is observed as notches u p

and d o w n the edges o f the stick, and . the same calendar starting o n the first da), after

' a N e w M o o n is uti l ized. Marshack's contect ion is that thousands of different lunar

calendars are possible, and therefore these virtually identical calendars suggest a ver)

ng-standing or thodoxy i n prehistoric calendar -kksping. Such a calendar

require mathemat ics ls , but the ability .to r o a n t apd conceptual~ze

periodic relations is impl ied if the hypothesis is correct. Marshack's work is detailed and

fascinating, but the level o f interpretation required has inhibited widespread acceptance of k

his ideas. . .

A different k ind of ev idence f o r astronomical interest is presented in ice age cave

paintings. At sites such as Lascwx, the relationship of an animal's position o n the wall

w i th respect t o its seasonality (winter coat of hair, rut t ing stance, kt".) seems, t o support

the cave-as-oriented-microcosm concept (Leroi-Gourhan 1967). In other words, the cave

painters were supposedly aware of their orientation in the complete darkness and were

atternpiing t o recreate- the Universe outside according t o seasonal f low. There is n o

d o u b t that the cave painters we're excellent observers of nature and powerfully imaginative .. . interpreters of it, bu t once again this interpretation of their cosmological interest remains , speculative because of the abstract complexity of cave art. ,

Support for the existence ice age mathematics is found mainly through art appreciation as

well. Ice age art is rife ~ ( i t h decorations which might also b e tallies and figures. It has i

18- Marshack himself calls the Nor th Amencan calendar sticks "purely non-theoretical, non-arithmetical, obsen,ational a n d pract ical" (7985:43) while at the same t ime labell ing them "the most advanced calculating a n d p rob lem solving devices so far descr ibed in Nor th American efhnology" (1985:291.

P

'

been suggested that the repeated markings among cave paintings and o n other art

constitutes counting (eg. Phillips 1987:9, Marshack 1979:13). B.A. Frolov has written a

series of papers which present the various speculations and evidence most completely

(Frolov 1977). He argues that the uniformity of ice age technology points t o an . .

educabjon system that might also foster mathematics, and he attempts t o demonstrate that > "

even the earliest paleolithic graphics show a mastery of geometric forms. His strongest

ammunition i s the apparently unusual prevalence of groups of 5 and 10 markings, which

fit well with natural finger-counting19 and with ancient Uruk numerical tokens'

(Schmandt-Besserat 1978). Frolov also provides a plausible base for understanding

paleolithic lunar period counts in association with- historical Asian calendars* O . He weakens

his case by looking for too much detail, such as suggesting that 7 is a universal magic

number because it is 3 of 28, the standardized lunar counting number (Frolov 1977,

17(3).47).

Considering how f e i l materials are available t o understand ice age humanity, the

cumulative evidence for a broad awareness and close observation of celestial events, and

a quantitative interest in the same, is quite compelling. It is still controversial, though. As

more sites' A d artifacts from this period come t o light this will be one of the most

interesting areas of archaeoastronomy t o watch.

2.4 Standing Stones & Precarious Print

The megaliths of Europe, having inspired for the longest time the most discussion of

early mathematics and astronomy, are deserving o f special attention here. They provide

, - many interesting lessons . .

.. ,

The construction of stone rings by early humanity is certainly the most widespread and

enigmatic o f their known undertakings. Across most of the Northern Hemisphere, between

apprdximately 8,000 and 2,000 years ago. rings o f standing/ stones and circular patterns of

'. . boulders were created, usually with a presumed expenditure of industry and time that is

relatively inconceivabl; b y modem standards. The most impressive and numerous are the . ,

megalith; of the ~ r i t i i 6 - lsles and Europe (with -over 1,500 tombs and 900 circles o n the

British lsles alone). Other examples are found in Mediterranean islands, Africa, eastern

Europe, Asia, and North America (a global view i s provided by Michell 1982).

19- See Menninger (7969) and lfrah (79851, and also Closs (7986a) for a discussion o f the wide distribution o f decimal systems in early humanity.

20- The Chuckchi spiral peg lunar calendar is a particularly impressive homology to the interpretations o f calendar stones.

There are intriguing similarities o f general Sorri7< and even specific features, such as

entryways, across the entire populat ion o f stone rings. There also appears t o be a trend

f r om large, standing stone structures in Europe, t o simpler standing stones wi th boulder

complexes in Siberia, t o boulder patterns and . even earthen mounds in North America.

However, so l i t t le is known about the chronology, cultures, and even detailed distribution

of stone rings that such global generalizations are somewhat premature. In a few cases

the sites were unambiguously burial places, but most are not . These were most ,likely

places of great significance for the people that built them, but this knowledge doesn't

he lp wi th priorit izing the many competing, non-exclusive theories, including commemora~ive,

ceremonial and functional ideas.

Speculations regarding the astronomical alignment of megdi ths began in the 1700's (Burl

1988:178), but Alexander Thom raised them t o scientific discussid8 w ~ t h a number of

papers relating t o the astronom~cal orlentations and geometr~cal arrangeme ;k

1961, 1964, etc) It wou ld b e mposs ib le t o describe here all of the megal~ths and the

controversy which concerns t h e m z l , b u t I wil l supply five summary observations:

First, the archaeoastronomy of megaliths is in reverse gear. Using ~ t o r & h r n ~ & ~ a s a rail , +- study (it has always attracted the most attent ion and wildest speculation), 'kere i s . a currently n o aspect o f its archaeoastronomy that is beyond doubt . In recent times even

the summer solstice observation over the Heel Stone has been challenged byea @ 3i

compet ing lunar observation that seems slightly better l l . The story of Stonehenge "is -i

nowhere near complete As w l th most megaliths, there is enough complex~ty at hs & . -

Stonehenge t o admit all kinds of possibilities, but no t enough precise var~a,tion to d e & d t 4

between them At best enormously meticulous studies, even of very large RrOUpS of

megaliths, have found only mi ld support for any of the astronomical theones, -and none P

for the geometrical theories13. Admittedly, i t wou ld b e hard t o conclude that<, the

i

21 - There have been a few recent works nfh ich have at templed that t a d rather wt.11 the best overal l summary is that ' o f Ruggles (7989), a n d a few years before thew ~ . . d i

' Heggie (1981b).

22- In fact, n o w that the Hee l Stone is k n o w n t o have h a d a mate about 78m to the NW, al l alignments are in question.

23- The most meticulous study has been that o f Clive Ruggles (7984,1985) o f 300 . . < I

F megalithic monuments in cotl land. I t f ound evidence of imprecise interest in solar and lunar extremes. A g o o d review is available b y Abar Elleg& (1985); a n d Ruggles (1988) Ruggles' 'soft' support is softened more b y an alternate statistical -treatment o f his data which finds less support (Patrick a n d Freeman 7988). Ruggles himself wonders about the credibil i ty o f his lunar results i n the v o i d o f any ethnographic examples, anywhere, o f interest o r observation o f such phenomena (7988:245).

$3

25

megalith builders were not aware of solar and lunar cycles, -but the data simply do not

support the notion o f 'ast ro~omical observatoryf over that of 'casually-oriented monurn&nt'

Second, it is curlous that n o major new astronomical o r geometrical hypotheses have .

be2n generated since Thorn's time. There are five original hypotheses: 1) that groups of

stones were deliberately oriented t o allow observation of the rising points, cycles and

extremes o f the Sun , M o o n and stars; 2) that megalith sites were iocated with respect

to distant horizon features t o allow precise observation of the same phenomena; 3) .that

the megalith rings are modelled o n simple pythagorean geometry including, circles,

ellipses, flattened circles and ovals; 4) that the scale and dimensions of the rings and

stones were baied o n a common unit of length (the megalithic yard); and 5) that there I

IS an overall pattern linking the specific locations of megaliths (ley lines). This combination

of hypotheses has somehow been stifling to new ideas everywhere:

Horizon-based astronomy often seems to b e the product o f a son' o f 'archaeoastronornico-ethnocentrism' owing its existence to the roots o f archaeoastronomy in British megalithic sites a n d to the Thorn legac)., whereby ideas similar t o those o f Thorn are projected rather bl indly in to totally unrelated situations and cultures. (Ruggles 1987:S50).

The lack of new hypotheses may also be the result of the overwheirning effort which

has gone into dealing with those at hand; either .f inding support for any of them or

putting any of them finally t o rest. More complicated (and more interesting) hypotheses

concerning, for instance, planetars observations, can't be appraised if well-defined

observati~ns of the Sun and M o o n can't be resolved. Nevertheless, I think it bodes

poorly for the genre of hypotheses if stagnation doesn't eventually spark new ideas; one

begins to wonder i f there is really something there. One o f the few imaginative sparks

of the last decade or so is the philosophical treatment by Critchlow in his Time Stands

Still (1979), where he investigates the abstract origins of megalithic iconography in natural

symmetry and forms.

Third, an optimistic perspective is that archaeological research has been making quiet,

steady progress. NOW that there is more in fo~mat jon about the kind of culture(s) that

built the megaliths we may hope for a more reasonable understanding of what the

megaliths might have been. There are even situations where archaeology can provide tests

lor the archaeoastronomical hypotheses. Two examples, Brainport Bay and Kintraw in

Scotland, are noteworth\, because the tests were positive - in both cases excavations

remote from the megaliths revealed possible viewing 'accessories' that were suggested by

the hypothesized a l ig~ments (MacKie 1974). Mackie claims that such a result "sheds a

26 . ,

f lood of light .on the ceremonid- practices o f late Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain"

(1988:230), b u t the evidence is n o t so cogent as that.

- 4

The present- consensus2' is a compromise position that keeps an mterest in astronom) ..

but removes the 'modern' not ion o f precise observation In this vrew Stonehenge and

other megaliths ' may have been symbolicdlly oriented t o solar and lunar events and - *

periods mainly fo r religibus reasons. At first glance this might seem a b l o ~ to the

archaeoastronomers, who traditional$ have been most keen o n precrse observatton

However, symbols relating t o events, cycles 'and geometric f o r m s can only be meanij2giully

: created i f these events, cycles and forms are already well known and meaningful h . -

evicting the astronomers from Stonehenge the current stance confers a less obv~ous place :

but perhaps more significant heritage for astronomy in megalithic cultures.

Fourth, megalithic mathematics remains entirely interpretive. The search for the megalithic , '

yard and megalithic inch has been, at best, inconctusive, and ' the mythic .'t;ace of .

~yperboreans well-practiced in Pythagorean geometry remains mythic. Thorn's well-publicized

geometrical forms may be entirely .accidental15, and the intriguing patterns of the

cup-and-ring markings still evade safe- interpretation (a good recent analysis is found in . . ,

Davis (1988)). Nevertheless, humanity's apparent obsession with carefully laying out his

spiritual monuments, evidenced in the common root o f 'temple' and 'template', still hints

that some pattern may exist. And the megaliths themselves are- enormous circumstantial

evidence that considerable practical, skill in numbers existed. One of the standard logtcal.

arguments against the megaliths being obsewatories i s that the builders were clearly

expert enough as engineers to have infused the kind qf orientational precision that has

never been found. The same a~rgument implies mathematics skills. It i s sometimes hard to !.

believe that the management of megalithic cultures could have been accomplished without

writing, but it i s even harder t o believe their engineering could have occurred without .

m a t h e m a t i c ~ 2 ~ . Urrfortunately, if either form of litegacy did exist it wasn't recorded on . . .

any materials that have lasted or been discovered to datez7. New theories concerning

24- The current thinking is wel l summarized by Ruggles 17989) and Ray (79871. Ray regards the megaliths as monuments related to cycl~cal notions 'of death. q *.

15- A recent experiment b y Barnatt and Herring (79861 has showh that all o f Thom's shapes occur naturall~,, to the available accuracy, when n o attempt at a precise layout i s undertaken. Cowan 17988) has also proposed an alternate constroction method by equal-widths which he claims does as g o o d a job as Thom's.

26- Although this cou ld easily b e modern ethnocentrism - many large cathedrals were =

bui l t without the paper and computer confusion we are familiar with today.

27- Except, as mentioned earlier, i f some plausible interpretation o f the bizarre

- 1 . \

/- L

27 s

megalithic mathematics, as well as good materials for further analysis, remain elusive. ,

i The fifth 'observation is that the megalithic experience has ~ r o v i d e d a tre&ure .trove of

, --, .. ... . . - ,

precepts t'o, ,guide new research. perhaps,. the most crucial one is ,consistency. O n e can't . . , .

s~mply select,+ites or aspects of them which jeem to fit the hypothesir Thom's fine

work suffered irreparable damage because o f his' possibly biased selection of sites and *

choice of interestmg foresights for alignments. Hawkins' eclipse computer at Stonehenge

failed for the same fault A, second precept i; that two dimensions are not enough.

Working only from a plan map ignores the elevations, topography and horizon of the

t h i d dimension, and also the' temporal and cultural setting4 that archaeology can provide

in a fourth (conceptuab, dimension. ;Other dimensions .include subtle specifics of the . . . .. . location, such as th'e <bltural changes in astrondmy . as . one nears the equator (Aveni

1981a) .and the changing dynamics df. such things- as 'refraction and extinctionla which

preclude the unthinking application of textbook-style , . techniques in many casfs.

Archaeoastronomy has benefitted from .it; multidisciplinary nature in the establishment of

these precepts 'sod a host of sophistjcated fddls for analysis. ,..:.

- , ., .

In closing this d~scussion on megaliths, 1'11 bring u p a find. example of current research

t o emphasize what needs to be done. i n bne o f the&; recent pape;s concerning

megalithic mathematics, Mona Phillips (1987) ;uggests that the megaliths and much of

prehistoric art express a basically subcenscious' fascination with t h e golden section. This is

an interesting hypothesis, but because it is a untestable it is no t very helpful. Too

much similar speculation has created much confusion. If there.:.really are interesting

mathematics, or astronomy, intrinsic t o the megaliths, then there are o n 4 two possible

ways to find it. First, one can search carefully for strong statistical support in large

groups o f sites for which group. membeiship can be reasonably established. Or someone

with a daring idea can ..seek the, grail, in a do-or-die test, at unusual monuments such as

the huge, irregular masterpieces of Avebury and Camac. . I t ' is important t o note that

credible research to date falls in the former category, and it 'shovk. that we're still just

scratching at the door of the megalith

archaeoastronomical and everything else

to such basic questions as:

@ who built the megaliths?'

mystery. After centuries

- we don't have -even

of interest - archaeological,

partially' satisfactory answers

27(cont'd) pock-marks and carvings o n megaliths is forthcoming.

38- See Schaeffer's papers (7986, 7987) which have cast doubt o n the validity o f many classic archaeoastronomical results, including those o f John Eddy ' for the Medicine ~ h e d s .

T - , 7 - .

4 how were they built? i , - %

, . --. v.

, - , < - . . 4

what were they used for? a - - , Y

d

why are there so many? - .,

why were they so labour-intensive? (Norris l988:265).

It is Eorsible that reliable answers can n o long;; be found, but the most plausible -a

conclusion is that the edifice o f our ideas about megaliths is out of alignment. ; %

2.5 World Archaeoastronomyz 9

-A tour of the archa&oastronomy literature (in Englkh, * - at . least) *d$esnlt p rov~de an even *

- .. coverageaof the globe. The following brief look at relati\i&y highTprofile sites around the

world probably doesn't say anything about the real distribution or concentratrons of early

astronomy or mathematics.

In Europe, the search for precise orientation d henges, barrows. burial mounds, dolmens , ' 7 .

and causewayed camps have resulted in few success stories. One interesting exception. is ,

the Newgrange burial mound, an impressive corbelled tomb in Ireland (Heggie 1981b:243,

Ray 1989). Consisting of a long passageway of ~ 1 a n d . k ~ stones leading to a vaulted burial '

e . . chamber, the passageway seems oriented t o accept the rays of a rising winter solstice ..' , '

sun. The passage may be intentionally baffled by i&,$nuoslty t o control the light beam,; . . 1 1 - 1

and the dynamics of the solstice may be caught as ,<he beam success~vely falls on a

series of spiral carvings o n the stones; at the back of the chamber. If the speculations , .

are correct Newgrange is, at 5000 BP; q e o f the oldest oriented, megalithic structures - b' , , , - ; :<> ) ( I . I. - 5, known. This was not an observatory, howsver: the entrance and the entire structure were .... _

<-. * ,

buried under a huge mound o f earth and stones. The archaeoastronom~cal lnterpretatlon IS -

that such care was taken in an essentially symbolic gesture .&cause the person buried - - may have been the ancient equivalent of a master astronomer. As always though, the

details of the observation and interpretation remain contentious

-. i

There is relativejy little t o report for Africa. The standing stone complex of Namoratunga

has had interpretations similar t o the megaliths of Europe, but there is more recent work a. ,*

which challenges this o n ethn8graphic grounds (Lynch and Robbins 1978, Ruggles 1987) * .

In Northern Africa and into the Middle East, most work has been directed t o

f

29- A more detailed perspective o n wor ld archaeoastronomy can b e obtained in Aveni /1989/, which is a well-composed selection o f papers from a 7986 conference in Mexico.

t . .

understanding the astronomy ',and mathematics of the many literate cultures. Here the

materials include abundant mathematical and astronomical texts, 'professional' 'mathematicians

and astronomers, deeply-rooted cosmological traditions, and oriented structures such as

Egyptian temples and and - the Kaaba31. A discussion of the pre-literate origins

of such materials in these ancient litprate cultures will fo1lo.w in the next. section.

In Eastern Euicipe and Asia, if there has been much work o n early astronomy and

mathematics, it has largely escaped western notice. Another reason for a relative paucity

of information is that history itself goes back so far for established cultures such as

those which developed in India and China that many o f the earliest artifacts have

vanished, In addition, there are difficulties in doing work in large portions of Asia. This is

unfortunate because Asia is so likely t o contain information crucial t o this area of early

man's development. . - - - a In the Southern Hemisphere there are a number of isolated areas of interest. Australia is

largely empty of monuments, but there is a significant opportunity t o understand the

complexity of Aboriginal cosmology and starlore. The practical astronomy of the Polynesian .,

navigators is well known (Lewis 1974); it is steeped in cultural mythology and well-defined

observational techniques. There has also been much speculation, astronomical and - a

o t h e k s e , conc&hing the statues o f Easter Island. The so-called 'Sun Stones' at the

eastern end o f Easter Island were supposedly aligned t o solstitial events, but recent *. 4 .

careful analysis has all but removed this possibility (Lee and Liller 1988). In South

America, the Nazca Lines in Peru are perhaps as famous as Stonehenge for their

hypothetical celestial connections, but recent comprehensive studies have convincingly

shown that water, not astronomy, is at the root of the explanation for the patterns o f

lines (Hadingham 1987). c 3

The cultures of Central' America were enormously interested in - some would say

obsessed with - astronomy and numbers. The codices are only slowly being understood.

Some very interesting work is being done on the origins o f Mesoamerican astronornkal

systems32. O n the whole, though, most energy" is b-eing directed t o the records and

monuments of the major ,cultures Currently, a careful reassessment of the orientation ~f

30- The interesting results o f recent Egyptian field work is prejented, b y Krupp (79881, while some theory is supplied b y Neugebauer (7980).

3 1 - King 7982 i s considerably better than Hawkins and King 7982. \

3-3- J .D. Stewart, for example, has shown (7985) that the unusual 78-month calendar is a m n m - k a f abstraction o f earlier land more standard) 72- or 73;month luni-solar calendars used in the region.

. ,

7%

30

pre-Columbian cities qnd buildings is underway, following the c o ~ c l u s i o ~ that existing

surveys are woefully inadequate and that the much-maligned pecked-cross symbols are as

much gaming $boards as they ,are survey markers and astronomical symbols (Aveni 1988).

In North America the giant geometrical mound complexes o f Hopewell culture a@ the

most impressive structures t o consider. It is curious that so little work has been done

on the mounds, because even though they are n o w mostly destroyed they were larger

than the megaliths o f Europe, unambiguously geometrical, clearly have the possibility o f

basic astronomical alignments, and show strohg evidence o f the use of standard units. of

length3 3 . They remain a great mystery. Another, Guch simpler, structure has" captured

most o f the archaeoastronomicat interest in recent years. Called the Fajada Butte Solar

Marker tor the Fajada Butte Three-Slab Site by the detractors)3 4 , it IS a set of large

stone lathes o n the side of a prominent igneous intrusion In New Mexico. Behind the

lathes is a spiral carving, and a 'dagger' of sunlight coming between the stones

supposedly pierces the center o f the spiral o n the summer solstlce There IS much

controversy over this interpretation, wi th the balance o f opinion currently rest~ng with

those that doubt the solar association. This is a relatively lnsignrflcant artlfact, as the

focus of a great debate it demonstrates that there 1s a lack of substance to North

Amerlcan archaeoastronomy.

In American southwest, as well as all across the continent, there IS a ,considerable

tradition of sun watching (McCluskey 1982). Chiefs and shamans selected special places to

watch the sun rise each day against the far horizon, and talked of its passage relative to '* the features there. There is some evidence that pueblos were deliberately constructed ?o

allow aspects o f the solar cycle t o be 'caught' through small window? from speciflc

vantage points w~th ln . - *

7

Rock art also features prominently in North American archaeoast r~norn~ Arr "esoteru

preoccupation" (Kldwell 1985:219) wlthin this field is the quest for petroglyphs whlch

supposedly record the v~sual aspect o f the 1054 A.D. supernovaJ5. As much as rock art

might have been a form of writing, our chance of deciphering it n o w to any useful

extent is considerably more remote than understanding the glyphs of the Maya, for ,

33- There are several different approaches to the Hopewel l mounds. The work o f H ~ v e l y a n d Horn (7982,7984) 1s complem6nted by thorough treatments by Marshall ( 7 979,7 987) Other deas are presented by Cowan (7975) and White (7986).

34- See Sofaer et a1 (7982) and Sofaer 17979) for the detailed sun a n d calendar interpretations, and Zeilik (7986) for the rebuttal.

35- The original papers are by Brandt a n d Wilhamson (7975) and Mayer (7975) ,

-

example.

A final observation is that John ~ d d y ' s ideas about Medicine Wheel astronomy have, until

recently 3 6 , been the traditronal centerprece of .printed discussions o f - North American

archaeoastronomy Given that this indicates that the other e~amp les have been bo th less

-dramat~c and less convrncrng, the complete substance has been yes t ionab le . Some

common themes In North American archaeoastronomy are begrnning t o emerge, but ~t is I

n o t l e t a weU-integrated field - x

2.6 From the Edge & History

\\ e v,,ould be at a huge disadvantage r f the only materl*ds" tq which we could study the

astronomy and mathematrcs of early man were mute artifacts 'There are only very few

and spec~al ways that the abstract knowledge of these disclplrnes m ~ g h t $e dwably

exP;essed rn non-l~terate ways Thrs IS particularly true for rnathematn. Also

aichaeoastronomers have found out the hard way that rnterpretat~ons based solely on

ground surveys of ancient sites t o o easily accept a modern context. Finding an

understandrng, b) any and all means, of the culture that burlt the srte provrdes the only

hope for a plausrble mterpretatron Ethnographrc mformatlon is crucral Thrs ~ncludes myths, - /

lore customs and everythmg else that might have been recorded, part~cularly In the

earlrest contacts c

. On the same foken, generalitat~ons based on a number o f cultures are usually regarded -

as dangerous- Recugnrzing thrs, however, thdre is still a good reason t o accept some

cross-cultural generalizatrons concerning mathematics and qstronomy. I wil l present two

areas where such generalizattms provrde notable insight, -The reason for acceptance is that

the abstract nature of the informdion allows i t better contrnuity through cultural contact.

Mathematrcal knowledge IS largely independent of environment. Astronomical lore is

Irkenwt' hrghl), portable the stars are the single aspect of the natural environment which h

remilns essentially identical through any human migiation (except pkrhaps in approaching

the equ i to r l Linguists therefore utilrze number words and star names in cultural

cornpartsons somewhat lrke depth gauges - such details tend t o suwrve cultural contact. "Q

r\ oltrtron and attritron \.er). well . ,

th- h 1s rnterestlng that john Carlson's recent popular rev~erz. o f Amerlcan ~rchazoastronomy (America's Ancient Skywatchers, National Geographic Magazme, March 7990 777(3)_76-7071 makes n o reference to Eddy or Medicine Wheels, even though this i t a s the source that originally poputarized Eddy's work in 7977

-, P

In comparative mythology, nearly universal creation themes such as a wor ld mountain,

r miraculous birth, great f lood, etc, are usually attr ibuted t o c o m m o n psychology. The same

cannot b e done so easily f o r c o m m o n specifics o f starlore and stellar myths. As wil l b c

discussed further in the next chapter, there is an extraordinary consistency t o the

interpretations o f constellations and t o stellar mythology across the Northern Hemisphere. D

For instance, Ursa Major is almost always a bear, Cygnus a water bird, Or ion a hunter,

the Pleiades seven women, and the Mi lky h 'ay a path f o r the dead. When examined In

structural detail i t is clear that these stories share c o m m o n roots and that the, onll,

reasonable explanation is that the original story is vsry old.

It wou ld be diff icult t o believe .that the, "essence o f such stories could sunlive so much . ,

t ime and so many distinct environments simply because the process of oral transmission

was effective. It is mo re likely that they survived because the stars themselves were a

dynamic mnemonic device for preliterate . , societies. Information which is remembered and

related w i th respect t o constellations and the mot ions o f the heavens is more secure - 2 . -

than in any library - i t will sunlive t ime, migrations, accidents and cultural evolut ion

, essentially unscathedS7. A g o o d example is the deep roots of the celestial bear (Ursa

Major ) my th in Nor th America. Asia and Europe, where the connect ion wi th the

transmission of seasonal hunt ing lore illustrates the interwoven didactic, cultural and

entertainment functions of what t o us seems like a simple fairy tale (Hagar 1900)

There are other ways that such early astronomical knowledge can b e inferred, such as

through the Chuckchee wo rd for planets - ' c rooked way stars' (Bogoras 1909:314) -

wh i ch implies more precisely than the Creek 'wandering stars' an awareness o i apparently

irregular planetary m o t i o r . The on ly plausible accounting for such readily apparent patterns

o f knowledge is that earl\, man h a d a greater sensitivity t o the sky than we d o todab,.

and was far more reliant upon it for cultural as well as religious and cosmological

reasons. -,

Another area where generalizations are iorc ing reconsideration ot present v ien~s 1s the

early history of mathematics. \A1hile look ing at the details o f the earliest mathemat~cal

, traditions i n Sumer, Babj4on. Egypt, Greece, India and China. B.L. van der W a e r d ~ n (1983)

has come t o the conclusion that they all represent faithful versions o f an earli*;r.

- 37- Anofher way o f putting this is t o say that the transition to literac), was one of falling stars - what was ~ f r i t t e n in the sk), became words o n a page. Th~s is expressed i n a different way b y Keith Critchlow: "What is the intrinsic value of literacj. .and does

.,-

w o r d reading reduce ou r abilit), t o read our natural surroundings?" f1979:731.,

unknown source of all modem mathematics. Van der Waerden identifies this source with -7 =,

the riiegalith builders of Europe, based o n Thom's geometry. There are strong criticisms

of van der Waerden's ideas38. Indeed, two of the foundation stones o f . his hypothesis - the total belief in Thom's interpretation and the suggestion that the source tradition was

more advanced and well-defined than any of its derivatives - are embarrassingly weak. ( .

However, van der Waerden i s convincing when he presents shared details of the process f

o f mathematics within the separate traditions that seem beyond coincidence. He i s

probably right about a common earlier s0urce3~. He may also be right about the

megalith builders. It is being suggested that a single, well-connected culture created the

megaliths in Britain and all of Europe (Ray 1987). As research o n the continent continues,

connections to the megalith builders across Asia may be forthcoming. This is consistent

with the kind of communication base required i f van d e i Waerden's hypothesis is correct.

Also, the inferential evidence for megalithic mathematics from the engineering technology

'.r and architecture isn't robust, but it is more so id than Thom's geometry. It is entirely

possible that continued research may push the origins of algebra and geometry back

another 3.000 to 5,000 years. - I f so, it's unlikely that the megalith builders will still be

'earl),' man, .and the whole fabric:'of recent prehistory would be altered.

. . r The above .discussion contain; much speculation, of course. A hopeful point is that ample

information i s available to proceed wit6 more formal inquiry. For example, the starlore . . .-

issue has never been approached *from a sfitematic, comprehensive perspective. It is

complicated, but ieasible' O . Strangely enough, it is one area where structural mythology

could shed its cloak o f psychoanalysis (eg. Levi-Stra* 1968, 1971, 1975) and produce

some quantitative results. A related broadly-based. pu;suit might be a comparitive analysis

o f early calendrics. The megalithic mathematics question is also difficult, but part of the

answer may still be in the stones themselves. So much attention has been focused o n

.- 0. Thom's specific geometrical hypothesis that the general architecture has -been mostly

overlooked. An analysis o f the level o f precisjon in the scaling, positioning and layout of

38- One o f the strongest criticisms comes from Knorr (1985), who also condemns most d f archaeoastronom?,.

39- Part icularl~~ convincing i s the similarit?, o f Babylonian and Sume~ian mathematics (see, tor ~nstance, Powell 79761. A4ost Babylonian texts ,*come from two. periods separated b y

r . . .. about 1,000 years. The fact that these texts can b e distinguished b y the evolution o f

the written language but %of any change in the mathematical language suggests an

. . I . . - essyntiall!, simple yet highly evolved mathematical system of a much greater age. This is - ~ n " example o f the classic dictum that "Nature a n d her children make n o leaps" feg.,

' ,

Po\%,e// 7976:47 7 ) . - 40- .4 method and underlying linguistic justifications for such a broad analysis are pesen ted b ~ , Stewart (79781.

34

the megaliths, irrespective o f an underlying geometry, may allow lirqits t o be set o n the

care in construction (and by inference, the :abilities or concerns of tha builders). I t might

also be possible t o measure if there are mathematical aspects t o distinguishing features

such as the perspective-enhancing convexing o f . the Stonehenge uprights. There are man). ...

results which ought be attainable.

2.7 Back to Earth

The simplistic question proposed by archaeoastronorners was "What cou ld we do i f ivt. ~. had stone age technology?". The answers that survey data o f prehistoric monu ents r immediately and sympathetically supplied included precise encoding of celestial hechanisms,

geometv , and measurement. 'We could' meant 'they did'. There really wasn't much of a

counter-argument that anthropologists could on the limited a r c h a e o l o ~ ! 2 t ~

Gradually, however, 01

carefully. The anqwers

original answers aren't

reflect better reseach,

Current thought woulc

ler scientists began t o ask the same simpl~stic questions m w e

became less and less clear. like a mirror tarnishing. Today, the

quite forgotten, but they've changed dramatically - changed 'to

and thinbng, o n many levels.

suggest that early humans did not spend most o f their time

constructing precisely-aligned observatories patterned on simple Pythagorean f~gures Dld

that have to oe a-re,/eiation? The worst part of the simple answers was always tha! it

was inconceivable that even a 'primitive' culture would waste so much energy on

something so mundane as observing solstices or drawing ellipses. This isn't to sa), that

such things were not intellectually important. only that it is denigrating to earl), man t o

consider that such fundamentally simple activities cou ld have become such a fixation. l o

be fair, much of the new respect for early man is a result of such brash and simplistic

thinking. Anthropologists couldn't ignore the onslaught and were forced to consider

higherIfunctioning early humans more realistically.

The deflation of the archaeoastronomy balloon has caused many to leave the f~c ld T h ~ i

t o o is shallow thinking. Looking at things another w q g , the deflation actually elevates the

state o f astronomlr and mathematics in early society. A structure is either ortented with

respect t o something or not 4 s o f t ' orientation cannot indicate a soft knowledge o f the

target: putting precision o n a secondary level most easily suggests a greater maturity

toward the target. Knowing that early ccltures cared enough about astronomy to orient

(at least approximately) t he~ r major monuments is a solid step foward . Further steps

ionvard will be much harder because s~mplistlc questions aren't acceptable. For early

cultures at the edge of history. the ethnohistorical route i s providing the best results. For $ , .

much earlier cultures, reconstruction of cultural dynamics via archaeological research is +: +--

recogn~zed as being a mandatory foundation t o other ~nterpretations. Appropriately, the --.

study of early mathematics and astronomy i s finding a home in anthropology, and

interested outsiders are learning t o be guests in that .home". /

, As a general conclusion here, and as a preface t o discussion of Medicine Wheel

research, a set of comments by Clive Ruggles about his large recent study of megalithic

51tt.s seems particularl)~ appropriate:

"It would be wholly unreasonable to expect the design and function o f - a complete group o f superficially similar sites to have conformed exactly t o any overriding 'master plan'; furthermore the sites and structures investigated in this article cover a wide geographical region, and w e have virfually n o dating evidence to suggest that they cover a time span less than several centuries - maybe even millenia. Thus, having isolated in the first stage any general -. - trends which show up above the background 'random naise', it is desirable. ' to pursue these trends in more detail and in a rather more interpretive manner. Our eventual aim should o f course be to consider the data in the light o f their full archaeological and cultural' context. " (Ruggles 1985:5128).

. . . . Ruggles presents a safe approach t o well-travelled and confused areas of research*^. It is

the only approach that is reasonable here as well. Wi th very few word changes, Ruggles'"

statement applies completely t o Medicine Wheels and this present study. whereas' much

of European and North American archaeoastrbpomy remains different in focus and' method,

the research on stone rings began, remains, 'and .will likely stay o n a remarkably similar

course. <

4 1 - Although, notablk,, most o f the research is still published as a facet o f the history o i science rather than the history o f culture. Gingerich (7989:47) aptly warns that this is d crippling assumption - there is no necessity that any o f these things were prescientific, or ei,en illuminating to the origins o f science. On another level, Aveni (7988:477) warns that the rigor of the scientific method is unrealistic in most areas o f this research.

4 2 - Bes~des megal~ths, for instahce, Ruggles has participated in Aveni's thorough reassessment o f the h'azca lines in Peru, currently in press.

3.1 The '~aleoenvironrnent

36

N o single description applies well t o the Great Plains, either n o w or as ttley were

- throughout prehistory. Generalizations made t o cover such a huge expanse of sljace and

\ t ime are subject t o the many ebbs and flows o f humanity, climate, and resources which

occurred in characteristically arbitrary fashion. Even the extent of the Plains is

indeterminant, varying wi th t ime and theoretical perspective. Approximatelv, they are one

mil l ion square kilometers of land situated between 32"N and 52"N 'l\ri'edel li).77b:183).

the mountains t o the west, and an eastern border which has variously been set at a.

98"W. 100•‹W, the 50cm rainfall line, and the 610m elevation contour line (Gilbert

1980:8). I

.

.

. L The Northwest Plains, whrch are home t o the greatest concentrat~on o f M e d u n e n ' h w l s

are surrounded by forest parklands t o the west, nor th and east (FIGURE 7 ) They are

drarned f rom the west t o the east b y two major river systems the South Saskatchewan

- CHAPTER 3

.. THE NORTHWEST PLAINS SETTING

A N INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

system f lowing t o Hudson Bay and Milk., River heading t o the Missouri-Mississippi drainage

The river systems are deeply entrenched"and o f ten contain wooded flats. Coulees (ancient

glacial spillway channels) are also deep bu t carry little water and support ,few trees. The

Plains vary f rom flat, featureless glacial lake beds..,to pronounced roll ing moraine, and al-r . . \, .

interrupted by major uplands such as the Cypress, Wintering, and Hand hills (Vickers

You don ' t need t o b e a prairie farmer to k n o w that prairie weather is unrelrable I

Although the mean annual rainfall is near 25cm, and most of it tends to fall during Ma)

and June, the detailed records show that the deviations. are large; the actual rainfall i s , .

,very seldom near the mean and rts arnval IS a constant source of doubt (Gdbert 0

1980 10) Temperatures vary f rom mean January lows o f -18•‹C t o Jul) h ~ g h s o f 37•‹C

M'lnd IS very frequent and generall) strong f r o h the southwest, west dnd northwest hut

rare f rom the northeast. just on! measure of the variability in these numbers is that in b

southern Alberta snow has been reported for every mon th 'except July (Vickers 1986:7).

The average 100 day growing season o n the northern Plains can thus be interrupted I.))

crop-kil l ing rapid temperature variations and periodically recurrent years of drought. No

37

Figure 3: THE NORTHWEST PLAINS REGION Z

' w 1120 W 108' W 104' W loo0 W 9€

Longitude

The Northwest Plains have natural parkland for much of their northern border (shaded area - taken from Cordon 1979). Note how the Medicine Wheel distribution (dots) 6ts into the exfent of the Plains.

38

wonder that prehistoric cultures kept t o hunting rather than farming. $

Short term climate les may be associated with twice the eleven-year sunspot cyck,

and longer shifts may be tied t o the 26,000 year precession of the Earth's axis (Gilbert

1980:12). Looking at the Earth'% present position in the longer cycle, we can see that

70,000 B.P. it was noticeably 'warmer and drier than it i s now, corresponding to the

warming period immediately after the last ice age during which the non-glacial climate ' ,

established itself very quickly (Gilbert 1980:13). This in turn led t o an altitherrnal (raised

temperature) period from 7.,000 )o 4,500 B.P. with an internal rapidly fluctuating climatic

interval from 6,500 t o 6,000 B:'P. (Bryson 1970:53-55). The Plains region has thus s u f l e r ~ d

some extreme long term changes over the last ten millenia.

3.2 The Cultural Chronology

The matter of the first entrance of mankind into North America i s one of continuing , . '

debate. Between 75.000 B.P. and 10,0b0 B.P. ( the Wisconsin Period of heav), glaciation)

there were probably many opportunities for early humans to enter North America from

Siberia (Rutter 1978, Fiedel 1987:463'. Evidence 3f pre-projectile-point cultures is growing.

but until pre-Clovis b ig game hunter i l ' can be confirmed, Clovis (11,500 B.P,) is still the

earliest recognizable culture complex. Vickers' (1986) summary of Northwest Plains cultural

chronologies is an excellent. treatment of the various systems that have been suggested. . .

as well as their problems. 1 wiJl fol low his sequence of:- the major periods, beginning

after the Pre-Projectile Point Horizon at 11,500 B.P.. '.:..

THE EARLY PREHISTORIC PERIOD (71,500-7,500. B.P.) is a period of big game hunting . . (mammoth and giant bison) characterized by large, lanceolate projectile points thought to

have been hafted t o heavy, stabbing' . . spears. The period begins with the Clovis and then

the Folsom culture colnplexes from' about 11,500 to 10,000 B.P. in what was once ,

termed the Paleo-Indian Period ( johnson et- al 1980:38). Both were widespread on the

Northwest Plains (Frison 1978:27). Later complexes include the Agate Basin, Hell Lap.

Alberta, Cody, Frederick and Lusk, ending at the beginning of the altithermal., .

THE M I D D L E PREHISTORIC PERIOD (7,500-7,750/1,250 B . P . ) is characterized I)),

medium-sized, notched or stemmed projectile points thought t o have been propelled by

atlatls (throwing sticks). The period is further divided into:

A) Early M i d d l e Prehistoric 1 (7,500-5,000 B .P . ) , .represented by the Mummy

Cave Complex existing through the Altitherrnal climatic episode.

6) Early Middle Prehistoric 11 (5,000-3,500 B.,P.), represented by the Oxbow,

McKean and Late' Mummy Cave materials.

C ) Late Middle Prehistoric (3,500-7,750/7,250 B.P.) , which includes the Pelican

Lake, Besant and possibly the Hanna phase.

THE LATE PRE?iISTORIC PERIOD (7,750/7,250-250 B.P.), characterized by small, notched o r .

triangular projectile points thought t o have been hafted to arrows, propelled by bows.

Avonlea and Late Side-Notched points are included

3

THE PROTOHISTORIC PERIOD (250 B.P. to 7910 A.D.) is characteri;ed by the addition

of European trade goods to the Late Prehist~ric material cultwe, and u!tirnately the

complete use of trade items

i", . ,

The above sequence i s appropriate t o the Northwest Plains area of the Medicine Wheels,

rather than the entire Plains. The sequence itself is not without problems, representing as

it does mainly changes in technologies rather than measurable shifts of humanity or ::

culture. It is also impossible t o consider the Northwest Plains in isolation from the

-. surrounding areas and the occasional occupation by populations from tl)e west, east and ' r

south. Considerable trade existed with the more sedentary Plains ~ o o b f % d s and Plains

Village complexes and others. This i s evidenced by consistent use of imp6 \ ed goods,

such as projectile point materials. like Knife River flint. Communication also existed t o as

far as the West Coast, whence the b o w and arrow technology is thought t o have

arrived with periodic populations f rom the interior of British Columbia (Reeves 1983). The b

Sul tura l chronology is thus primarily a convenient means of identification, it is not a

good measure of cultural continuity, o r lack of it J

3.3 Anthropology

The remarkable diversity of human heritage fostered by the Great plains is only n o w

beginning to be understood after a centur). of research. The popular .'image of the typical

Plains Indian is as unfair to Plains Indians as similar stereotypes are t o all the other

North American Natives. Small populations, great nomadicity and considerable. external

inteiaction has created a complex web of customs, beliefs, technologies and lifeways in

which few are unique and yet few are typical.

hluch has been written about the decline of Native peoples due t o contacts and

conflicts in the last two centuries or more. The factors of disease, war, legislation and

culture shock have certainly taken their toll. O n the Great Plains the inadvertent

introduction of the horse as a second domestic animal and* wealth determinant altered

the culture core beyond immediate recognition (Ewers 1955), and the destruction of the

buffalo herds after the newly-mounted hunters gained repeating rifles was tantamount t o ,i

technological meltdown Certainly the ultimate destruction of the Plains Indian l i lelvap

came with' this decimation of the buffalo, along with the subsequent removal of horse . ) .

holdings and restrictions placed o n range and travel (Cox 1973:172). -

Much cultural attrition h a d . taken place long before .the arr!val of the iirst anthropolog~~ts.

The early work of Franz Boas greatly influenced the first generation of Plains - n

ethnographers, who approached the subject of Plains culture w i th an adolescent appetitt, b

that caused 'digestion pains for decades following. People such as Wissler (Blacktoot and

Sioux), Kroeber (Arapahoe and Cros Ventres), Lowie (Crow), Grinnell (Northern Cheyenne)

and Dorsey (Arapahoe and Southern Cheyenne) embarked on massive data -collecting

missions, publishing volumes upon volumes of information aimed ai determining ,. the origii, *

and spread o f the omkipresent Sun Dance ceremonies and Military Societies (Hoebel

1980:17). The problem with these early monumental efforts was that they paid very little .'.: , 1

attention t o the functional aspects o f the social institutions they were dissecting. By

ignoring the possible political, economic and religious reasons fo r the creat~on and

maintenance of the institutions they were rendering their ethnographic tours de force

effectively useless - numbers games without any rules. From the 19,30's and on,

reconstructions were based heavily o n functionalism (Hoebel 1980:19).

Meanwhile, Plains archaeology hadn't even begun. Promising early work and pleas fo l

attention by such as Lewis (1889, 1890, 1891) were ignored b&ause the prolessonal

opinion was that the Plains had nothing to offer archaeology. Just as tipi rings have

been ignored unti l very ;ecently because they were considered devoid o f artifacts (Quigg

1981b), the Plains themselves were thought t o contain evidence of at most only a few .

centuries of occupation (Hoebel 1980:18). Once the 'early man' proponents gained somc

credibility, ' interest in Plains archaeology was st imulated by the desirfc. to resolve the la<t

doubts about human entry into North America. A paper by Strong (1940) can be 1

credited with showing that the Plains horseman was simply a thin historical layer atop a

deep prehistory. Almost immediately, however, most of the resources of Plains archaeolog\

were directed t o salvage archaeology, racing against giant engineering projects under less

than ideal scientific conditions t o rescue what information could be had. Salvage, along

with impact assessment and mitigation, has absorbed the attention of Northwest Plains

archaeologists, particularly those from Alberta, until the early 1980's. This has tended t o

subvert the normal scientific prbcess, forcing an entrenchment of artificial systems, y c h as

cultural chronologies, which are ' ho t directly related t o excavation (Vickers 1986). It

appears that the return t o a more scientific process i s n o w well under way. . -

3.4 Subsistence Patterns I - i

By far the greatest proportion of human utilization of the , ~ o r t h w e s t Plains was through

,dog nomad' lifeways (Wedel 1977a:i87). Subsistence included the \upting o f intelopp,

mountain sheep, elk, and rabbit, the gathering of natural frora such as 'lndian turnip, and

s~mple horticp,lture, all to varylng degrees 5 t different places and rtrfferent tlmes, b u i the '

overwhelming emphasis of human activity was directed t o following and using bison % -

herds The one great advantage of the buffalo as a food source was the amount o f '

usable meat per animal; a single kill provided for a large number of people (Frison t

197819). Everybody recognized this, and even forest groups such gs the Cree would .:.

periodically venture out t o hunt bison for bulk food (jenness 19?7:316). 'As the bison

herds were the main subsistence base for t en thousand years, fluctuation$ . i n . their -.

populations inevitably affected human populatihns. Periods where climatic conditions - '

depleted the herds'were thought t o precipitate a genaal abandonment o f the Plains

(Wedel 1977b.188). Although it might seem that the Plarns people were totally at the , . .. mercy of :the elements, there is some evidence that they pract~ced grasslands Conservation

for many centuries through controlled burnings, thereby providing. better nourishment for

the herds (Gilbert l 9 8 O : l l ) .

Systematic communal hunting efforts began early as the Clovis . and Folsom hunters

learned t o capture many of the larger, early bison (bison antiquus) by means o f traps

and jumps. The Late Middle Prehistoric Besant cultures employed sophisticated coralling

techniques (Frison 1978:247). During the ethnographic period bison procure'ment

technology included four basic methods: the surround, the impound, encbclement by fire,

and cliff jumps (Lowle 1963.15) Such hunting would have rpquired excellent working .

knowledge of bison behaviour, migration routes, and crossing -.places,':.as well as efficient. , -.

processing and preservation techniques (Frison 1978:243, 301-316). In his summary of work .

at Head-Smashed-In, Reeves sums u p the situation well:

"their hunting methods required more sophisticated socia! mechanisms than many scholars have been prepared to credit even the historical Plains .Indians with. fo r al l their deceptively simple material culture, these earliest plainsmen were at the same time excellent organizers and daring coordinators when . .- man), o f the white man's ancestors were still simple'hunters 'and gather&~ i n the chi l l forests o f Mesolithic Europe." (Reeves 1985:135)

42 . . - *. 3 +

Plains 1ndk-i; subsistence patterns also involved an acmh7modation t o the seasons. Winter

(NovemberIDecember towMarch) forced a sedentary occupation o f forested valley bottoms, -. r

foothdls and parklands, and subsistence o n dried meat and some hunting. Both i.

aggregation and dispersion of population occurred. Spring (April-MayIJlh7e) involved moving \

t o sunny and dr). valley edges for stalking and communal hunting. S h m e r (lune/]uly t o " AugusWSeptember) allowed great mobility with smaller, more dispersed encampments

relatively distant from w o o d and water. Geremonial events may have drawn the

populations together occasionally in this time. Fall (0ctobe~-,November) brought removal

f rom the dty Plains for major communal kills, preparation *of.. dried 'stmes, k d -qltimately

removal t o winter camp locales..(Vickers 1986:8). Given this generally mobile response to . ...

the 'sebons, it is 9easonable to 'speculate that the location of Medicine Wheel sites and - their seasonal usage may have been well associated also. This reasoning suggests that

spring and summer were the seasons of use, but- there has Seeri, n o formal,test of this

hypothesis. . . . .

L

The constant movement o i <tribes by foot and dog travois are evide~ickd by innumer&le .. ' P

tipi rings dotting the Plains. One esti+&e is that there are 630,000 such rings in

southern Alberta alone (Forb&. 1970:26): b r l y debate o n the exact funct ionJof the rings.

has been settled wi th cogent demonstrations of their uses for habitation, death lodges, ,

sweat lodges, vision quests, menstrual lodges, and chi ld4kar ing I ~ d g e s (Quigg 1981b:48).

A f lood of work o n tipi rings occurred in the late 1970:s haidy.. in advance of development projects, with ,ri-ew excavation and analysis techniques making them accessible.,

t o study despite their relative. poverty of artifacts. The major results can be found with

Quigg (1 978, I 979). d dams (1.978'). CaJder (1 979). Keyser (1 979a). and ~ lnn igan (1 980.

. Tipi ring studies are yielding information o n prehistoric economy, cultural dynamics, . settlement patterns, and resource utilization. A tipi ring can be defined as a stone circle

from l m t o 5m in radius, composed of 20 t o 60 boulders of average weight 9kg i

(Hoffman 1953:3). The vast majority exist on, main travel routes near water, fuel and

good hunting, alone or in clusters up to 100 or more (Malouf 1961:381), attesting to

their placement at good camping spots and use by all cultures in the area. As it takes

6 bison skins t o cover a 1.5m radius tipi and 12 skins t o cover a 2.5m one, it has

been suggested that the introduction of the horse provided the means for transporting

much larger dwellings (Dormaar 1976: l ) . Such a size-age relation for tipi rings has been , .

tested unsuccessful~y

numbers and wealth

, elsewhere, however, and it may J#P that ring size indica!ed occurdnt

only (Quigg 1981b:59, Finnigan 1981.70). Finnigan found n o .. 2 7

.difference in the E-W and N-S diameters- of tipi dngs, but d id , f ind that the westernmost -

t ~ p ~ s of an encampment tended t o have more boulders, presumably because they served

to break the west winds (1980:5). Anomalous rings such as ones up t o 10m in radius

AMalouf 1961:386), ones with as many as 300 boulders, o r in extremely inhospitable

locales (Keyser 1979a:138).'fnay have been created for ceremonial o r other functions. Such

supposedly ceremonial rings, ' indeed . . many with spokes, were quite often found among

normal rings in more typical locat.ions, not always on hilltops (Malouf 1961:382): '1 . .

I .. 'ii

3.6 Tribal Groups

C

Plains lndians fall in to six basic language families and many su

unintelligible speech, yet there was also a common system of

the extent that entire folktales could be communicated by signs alone (Lowie 1963:5). - The list o f Plains tribes include: he Cheyenne and Arapaho (Algonkin) f rom the east; the

Cree from Manitoba; the Kiowa and ,.Comanche who ended u p in ' the Southern Plains , ,

trom the northwest; the Utes, Crow and Hidatsa (Shoshoni) in the northwest; the

~ lack fob t , Cros Ventre and Nez Perce o n the eastern slopes of the Rockies; the Apache,

~ i ~ a n s , ~ Mescaleros and Tejanos who once inhabited the Plains; the Oglah, Teton, Brule,

Miniconjou, Yankton, Santee and Assiniboine (Sioux) in the north from the Great Lakes

area; the Osage, Omaha, Quapaw, Ponca, O t o and Iowa from the Mississipi; and the

Wichita, Pawnee and Arikara (Pawnee) from further south (Marriott et al 1975:2). There

are also other gro"ps''&hich made transient use of the Plains.

f

Td a certain extent the Plains cultures were highly mixkd, wi th the semi-sedentary trading

vhages and nomadic hunting groups sharing much of their culture and resources (Kehoe

1988:l). However, the differences are also amazing. For $stance, even thcsgh the

Cheyenne and Crow had very similar religions their basic philosophies vi.ile c ~ m p l e t e l y at

odds. The Cheyenne Sun Dance was based o n world renewal and tribal welfare while the

Crow sought success in warfare and revenge. The Cheyenne valued virtue and chastity

while the C~OM, were quite the opposite (Liberty 1970:78). There are also special groups , $ , such as the Skiri Pawnee w h i s e religion seems t o have been more highly developed

than other Plains groups (Linton 1922:21) and who had fundamentally different

perspectives o n life and theit-place in the Universe than other Pawnee, Plains lndians or

even North American lndians (Chamberlain 1984:127).

. . 1

. - 1 4 4 . - + .

+

Clearly, any discussron involving the plains lndians as a group will necessarily be -

over-simglified and ,general Dealing wi th the g ~ o u p s singly, however, would skew the '-

r e p l t towafd those- for: whom more information is available Since the objective here IS - e3 -

the range of ideas which might include the ideas of the ~ e d i c l n e Wheel budders, . -

surveying all o f the groups together is the best approach, ' . i

3.7 The InteUedual Setting . .

One safe conc lus io~ about Medicine Wheels is that they must have represented some

kind Of formal abstraction o n the pah of t h e i ~ builders. That is, even if Medlclne Wheek

have n o discoverable purpose or association - if they were idle graffitti - there were sfit1

many precepts concerning materials (boulders), locations (high hills and nver plateaus), . .

features (cairns, spokes and rings), etc., employed in the16 creation There arev other

archaeologital .features, such as 'ribstones' and boulder, mosaics t o be drscusSed later,

which. fit many of the same precepts, but these' are also poorly understood. It would be .

r- most helpful t o this research to find items and events o f Plains Indian l i few~ys w h l c l ~ flt .

< roughly the- same modus operand; and even (ik the Medicine Wheels are graffitti) whlmsy a 7

I t should be noted that current theorles concerning the Medicine Wheels also represent

formal abstractions - unfortunately these have been generated by modern mrnck,

independent of the Medicrne Wheel build*. The theories , place automatic constraints, o n , -.

the way prehistoric Plains lndians must have 'perceived and organized their universe The G , .

ethnograph~c record can' test these constrarnts: culturally viable theories must agree wi th

known Natlve formal abstractions.

4 e

N o reseqcher t o date has attempted t o explore' -the intellectual domain and range which

any successful theory about Medrcine Wheels must occupy. Specific areas d

0 possibly-related thought such as the starlore- (Kehoe 19&8), ceret%onles (Fries 1980, Wilson

1981) and burral rltuals (Brumley 1986) tgve been dealt with. The iol towrng IS a broader

summary o f aSpects of Plains l ~ f e and lore potentially important t o the current tlworres, itT , particular those aspects which have not been treiited fully In the past.

3.7.1 RELIGION a

blains religious views conform t o those of most North America Indrans -in b@ng

. . naturalistic and having as princrpal deities the Sun and Thunder in detail, however, the r: 0

components of Plalns rrtuals and Ideas exhibit adaption to the specific land and lileways '

(Jenness 1977.311-313) The metaphysical well-being o f the tribe and indwidual was the ' r'c *,:

, &

- ..

-: 45

responsibility of the med~cine man or shaman, who himself received direction throtlgh

divine /nspiration. Ma!es gained tneir own identity with the supernatural through vision I =.

quests and mediche bundles, ku t arrangements for these were made through a shaman.

Much of the shaman:^' art was sympathetic magic (eg. Brink 197950, Lewis 1890:s).

Interpretmg a r e l ~ g ~ o n or re l~g~ous ceremony i s almost impossible to d o from the outside.

Researchers invariably leave their o w n stamp o n their analysis. Clear examples of this in

t l i ~ study of North Amencan rel~glons come wi th attempts to deiine the distinction

hetween 'natural' and 'supernatural' (Hdltkrantz 1967:10), 'sacred' and ."powerful' (Hultkrantz . .

1967 121, and 'priest' and 'shaman' (Liberty 1970;74). The most difficult philosophical

d~fference t o comprehend i s the complex way in which much of the Plains metaphysical

world seemed t o overflow into the physical. It isnt'*f clear .that a rear distinction between

the two ex~sted Among the SIOUX and Dakota, for Instance, the word 'wakan' has a

twatold meanrng of berng supernatural In origrn and o f b e ~ n g supernatural as a result of

miraculous act~vity (Hultkrantz 1967 12). which biurs the expected boundaries. S!nce a full

understanding i s beyond this study, a recognition of the problem i s the best alternatrve.

The two dornrnant rel~gious events o f the Plains are the Sun Dance and the Vision

Quest The)$ provide a broad palette of religious expression { l iber ty 1970:73). A brief

summary of these follows, along with a look at the special case of the Skiri Pawnee

M o r n ~ n g Star Sacr~f~ce

The Sun Dance: There are many different versions of the Sun Dance o n the Plarns, and .Mi

cons'~derable controvers), over the o r ~ g ~ n ceremony feg. Schtesier 1990). Some say

the or~gmal ceremon) came from the SI oward 1984:105), even though they haven't . -

pract~ced ~t in recent h~storrc .times, Men or women wou ld .apparentiy. pledge in

mid-winter t o d o a Sun Dance the following summer (Howard 1984:141). The Crow then -

held monthly meetings at each full M o o n to prepare for it (Voget 1984:324). According

ro the Sioux and Crow the Sun Dance ceremony was placed very near t o the summer

ro ls t~ce -but the foremost t i m ~ n g requirement was a full M o o n (so that the M o o n could

be rislng In the sunrise directron while the sun itself was setting) ( V o ~ t 1984:82, >

C - , ,

Alansf~eld 1480 1 8 )

The Croit referred to the ceremony as 'making a little tipi' - a microcosm of the Sun's

lodge (Voget 1984.83) Among al l_ tribes the most important aspect of the Sun Dance

\ \ a < the selectron worship, r~tual fe l l~ng decoration and fmal e rec t~on o f the central pole ,

01 the Sun Dance lodge (Lowle 1910 62) In the weeks ahead of the Sun Dance the

, . . ,.

: tribe would arrange its tipis in a circle, with ,the tipis and t k i circle, itself oriented with , -

. ' . , an opening to the .east (Voget l 9 8 4 : l l l ) . One week ahead - t h e ' m a j o r .tipi was aligned . -

and a stake s'et for the position o f the central lodge pole ( ~ . o g e t 1984:205).' The central " - . ,

pole atways had a crook at the top and could be as high as 12m ' o c m o r e (Voget . . .. , . ,

1984:217), and was raised with g i f ts and prayers to the ~re&or, : - the s u n (Voget --

1984:220L&e- ~ss in ibo ine placed glfts at the top o f the pole, and* carved a crescent "

representing the Sun just below the crook (Lowie 1910:61), The Crow a t tahed a bufialq - ,.

head before the raising, and afterwards .fbtated the pole to en-sure the head-.faced west' . .

(Voget 1984:229). Sunrise ceremonies during the Dance witnessed l i gh i ' f r pm . the ,r,~sing

Sun being admitted through the opening o f the camp c![cle .and '5un Dance lodge and '

. , onto the sacred fire, the pole and the praying par t i c ipa~ts N o on8 was al lohed to (rorr , - . . -

u' the Sun's path at this time (Voget 1984:244). The- Crow revelations,+concerning the Sun . , , ..

Dance associate it with the Sun, Moon, Morning Star, and .the seven .'s<ars o i ' . h e Big . .. !

Dipper (\loget 1984:299). The Thunderbird was al;o a partictpant living. in a nest in the

crook of the central pole (indeed, the' Sioux Sun Dance focused on the ~hunderb r rd

(Howard 1984 105)).- The origins and meanings of the assoc~at~ons between the S u n P I '

M o o n and Thunderb~rd are matters o f speculat~on

An Important aspect o f the Sun, Dance was self-iifflicted muti lat~on In search bi a vlslc,n

Human sacrifices have been reported by the Cheyenne (Sp~er 3911.469), but w r P often %

partlc~pant mutilation involved havmg hooks inserted Into the chest or back, and then 3 +

- hanging f rom them untii the skin tore tree (Hale 1885.705 Voget 1984.261 ,Wdson

1981 335) There are also many reports,>of severed f~ngers b e ~ n g placed as offerings t o ' +

+ 2

the Sun atop the pole (L'Heureux 1959 162. Wilson 1887 108, Hale -1885 706) The- vlsrons

o f the Sun Dance were brought on by days and n~gh ts of faAmg, austerrtier cepetitlvo 0

dancmg and sleepless vigils as well as "the dazed or unccn~c ibus state-: of m~nd"

(Hultkrantz 1967.78) produced by the self-mutilation Among the SIO& the dance translates -#'

as 'Sun Gazing At Dance they and the Blackfoot were .meant ' t o 'stare unflmchlngly at

the Sun all day as part of the ceremony (Howard 1984 139. Hale 1885706)

The Vision Quesf: In that ~t IS a strlctly ~nd~v idua l procedure a Vwon Quest IS almost

impossible t o document accurately The vlslon obtamed here versus that o f the Sun . Dance, can be confusing, as is evidenced by the man); ,''scarface' or '~urn t face ' m y t h pf

recent origin (Wilson 1981:352) which mix the concepts, of Sun ~ a h c e : Vision Quest dnd -.

Medicine Wheel (he) , 1984:130. Wissler et al 1908:14): 'This' interesting cbnfusiaw: is

supported b~ the fact t ha t 'V~s~on Quests were always sought In m~d-summer (W~lson

Q

1887 l8f) at some remote, h ~ g h place. The Crow, for instance, admit- t o using the Big . .

: ~ o r n Medicine Wheel' in their Vision :.Quests,, even if they' weren't the ones who built it - . ,

;(Friess 1980:21). Vision quests could also include cutting off fingers md fasting. Stone % p i l ing in high places' during the vision quest is also reported by Caldwell and Carlson

(1954), and in a Native. statement t,O, Hoffman: . -

. ,

. - "A person would go up on a hill and build a circle of rocks in which he would sit and pray and^, fast until. he got his medicine". ( ~ o f f k ' a n 1953) a,

, %

Another accounl suggests that the willing questor would find, an a ~ ~ ~ o p r i a t e high place "

and lie o n his back for four day>, protected from the cold and wind b y a rock shelter

surrounding hirq and opening t o the kast (Mansfield 1980:26). Early descriptions o f the *

cairn 'houses' at Big Horn would 'easilys fit a use in this way (Fries 198022). The practice

of piling stones around the' body would also fit with the human effigies (all having their

teet toward the east) found 'a t .several Medicine Wheel sites. ,- .

The Skiri Pawnee Morning star Sacrifice: Because of its gruesdme human .sacrifice the . . - ,

Skiri M o r n i n g Star ceremony has r&eived a lot of academic attention (Chamberlain 1984, '

Linton 1922, Linton 1926, ~ u r i e 1981.. O'Brien 1987, ~ G k s 1984,' Thurrnan 1985). Despite

this, however, and the undisputed astronomical mastery of the Skiri (Chamberlain

1984 127) there are n o unambiguous associations of t h ~ s complex ceremony with any

~ e l e s t ~ a l objects or evcnts. Most authors -have worked very hard t o identify the symbolic

Skiri stars such .as ' ~ o k i n ~ Star. and Evening Star with real celestial objects. Unfortunately

n o p o s ~ t ~ v e identlflcaiions were ever obta~ned, and it IS confusmg One analysis identifies

the M o m ~ n g Star w ~ t h Mars rather than. Venus and then st~pulates that t w o of the four

crlterla for tuning the ev&t (based o n past occurences) are that Venus is visible and

Mars is not (Thurman 1985:1593. LZrihout getting into this argument, it is clear that many

Plains groups knew that Venus as an evening star and morning .star were the same

object (Kehoe 1979 30) Thls apparently includes the Skiri (Chamberlain 1984:258) It i s

ent~rel! reasonable to side with park? (1984) who suggests that . very few, if any,

~dentifications of named Skiri stars with 'actual celestial objects were meant. Whatever the

case ~t is unlikely that we will ever know, for sure the celestial identity o f the Great

Star ivhich rose in the morning before the sacrifice (Chamberlain 1984:127). There isn't

even agreement o n whether the victims. were typically male- o r female (Thurrnan 1985:160,

O'Br~en 1987:75). Regardless of these. identifications, however., it is well documented that

the ceremonb, involved active observation of a rising celestial object

3.7.2 COSMOLOGY

In cultural terms, a cosmology is a wor ld - view which enables a group to define its

place in space and time, and with respect t o animate and inanimate objects. A

cosmology establishes group and indiv~bual identities. It is the essential formal abstraction

of human beings, and heavily influences their practical, artistic, social and cultural activitie5

(Krupp 1984:35). The striking, 'theme with variations' nature of cosmic orders found

worldwide suggests elements of innate c o g ~ i t i v e similarities and perhaps common origin,

along wi th" the enhancements of the specific environment and experience of the group

The variatiohs peculiar t o Plains cosmology are intriguing:

Thg Cosmic Hierarchy: For. all Plains groups the chief supernatural beings inhabitrd thtl

< . . sky. In most 4ases there were three chief beings, and these were almost ahvavs

specifically associated w ~ t h the Sun, M o o n and -Morning *Star (Venus) (Kehoe lC1BH 1

Wilson 188/:86, Wissler et al 1908:12). The major exception i s the Skiri Pawnee. who

- . created a hierarchy o f (mostly unidentif ied) stellar . beings to the extent that the Sun an(l . ' I

M o o n were of relatively minor concern (Lmton 19.27:21). The Skiri cosmology was, in

general, radically different from the rest of the ~ l i i n s tribes. Their belief in the~r ongin

from the sky rather than the earth Lvas unique in North America (Chamberla~n 1983: i 2 7 ) .

as was their enigmatic village-oriented star and medicine bundle totemic system (Parks

1984:164). For all but the Skiri the figure of the Creator (Old Man, Napi. etc) was

explicitly identified with the Sun more often than for other North American tribes (Kehoe

l 9 8 8 : l . Hale 1885:704). The Sun's observational 'personality' sho\vs through With the

Blackfoot. for instance, where Napi is an independent chief god, he can still be ordered

around by O ld Woman (the r l loon), who is chief of a large tribe (the stars) Their child

is the Morning Star (Wilson 1887:186).

. The World Pole: Plains domestic and ceremonidl structures were consciously viewed and

modelled as microcosms (Hultkrantz 1967:28). The Plains agriculturalists saw the universe

much like an immense earthlodge. the nomads similarly saw i t like a, gigantic tip1 ( K r l t o t ~ \

1988.1). The image of the sk), as a huge bowl rotating overhead with an axis at Polan.

and held u p by a World Pole is common everywhere in the northern hemrsphere ( l l ~ d ( h a

1978:262), but-nowhere is the s \~mbol ot the Wor ld Pole so pemasive as in N o r t h

.America, nor anywhere so clearl). manifest as with the central pole of the Plains Sun , - .

Dance lodge ( ~ u l t k r a n i z 1.967.23). There is also an interesting sexual symbolism o f the

lodge ( lodge=womb) , connected with the need for orientation of the entryway to ailo\z

the fertile rays o i the Sun to enter (Hall 1983:193). . . .

=B Two other symbols essential t o Plains thought derive from this general cosmic view. The

first i s the concept of centre, so naturally relevant t o vast expanses of the Plains. Plains

rltuals h;nged o n *this centrality. The Su? Dance pole, for instance, signified Earth Center

as well as World Pole (Hall 1985:188). Devil's Tower (a prominent igneous geological

* .. ,~ ~ feature in Wyoming) was a sacred World Pole and Earth Center symbol in the myths and

ceremonies of many wandering Plains groups (Marriott 1975:63). In relating his Vision . . . . Quest experience, the Sioux shaman Black Elk describes travelling t o the center of the

. .

earth and finding a tall tree there (Neihardt 1961:41). As well, there is a possible , ,

- connection with the 'world navel' structure$ of the Tewa of New Mexico. These elevated

boulder rings have central trees and entr,ways pointing toward nearby pueblos (Hall , :

1985:184). The second essentiar Plains symbol deriving from the cosmology i s the circle.

. :.The sacred circle pervades all aspects .of Plains life: the camp circle, tipi ring, sacred

. lodge, .arrangements of buffalo skulls, Medicine Wheels, rock drawings, and cult

rnstruments (Hultkrantz 7967:28).

, '- * .

The n1or ld Pole is not merely a mythological or cosmological concept: it is the

expression of an actrve (umbilical) connection with the divine. It i s therefore not

surprising that the World Pole always appears in ceremony as ' a shamanistic pathway t o

the sky and becomes a focus o f attention in everything from Vision Quests to burials . . (Hultkrantz 1967:25). Shamanistic pole climbing and acrobatics are well known in Northeast

Asia, and similar rituals here have been termed "the most archaic and constitutive- ,Gatwe

a of American Indian religions " (Hultkrantz 1967:l lO). Here i s the understanding o f the

practice of dancing \%,hire &ewered t o the top o f the pole of a Sun Dance or Vision

Quest structure (Mansfield 1980:28). T$ same concept explains why shamanistic and

healing powers were thought t o f low through the Sun Dance pole once it was blessed . . ..

and raised into place (Voget 1984:137). The concept repeats in the idea that the lai ins

Thunderbird nested in a crook atop the pole, as did the Thunderbird atop the totem7

poles of the Northwest coast 'and 'the shaman poles of Siberia (Wilson 1981:358). And,

back to the Plains the LVorld Pole symbol explains why the Kutenai observed Polaris

ever). night, considering that if it moved the end of the world was imminent

(Turnel-High 1940:96) The manifestations of the World Pole in Plains thought and

terernonl are too rn nitold to consider in a single light. i Spirits in Stone: 4 flnal element of Plains cosmology which is o f interest here is the

attltude tov,,ard rocks and boulders. The retreating ice sheets left a pudding of smooth

gldc~al boulders covenng the Plams. h.2any Plains Indians talked o f 'dwarf people', or

stones, who were 'fedr with f ood and offerings and drrange$ In lrnes du r~ng the Vmon f=

Quest Besides beads and tnnkets, offefrngs o f arrowheads @ere sometrmes made b)

.shooting arrows at the boulders. ~ h e s e ,dwarf people were considered supernatural

company along w ~ t h the Sun M o o n and stars (Voget 1984 302) There are also reports

of bison-skull-topped carrns across the Plalns w h ~ c h were good luck charms In huntrng (an

engravtng of one such calrn from 1841 appears In M~che l l 1982 166 ) It IS easy to

imagine how they were considered valuable confederates in hunting as the), helped to

herd stampeding buffalo toward cliffs and capture.

. - - 2

Other usage of stone for effigies Irnes, drrect~onal carrns and geometr~cal frgures w l l Oe

, considered later, but the Plains-specific artifacts called 'buffalo stones and ribstone5 arc,

important here. The cosmic symbolism o f the buffalo and its rib-structure has been

related t o the Plains netted-hoop symbol and even the spokes of M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheels (/-tall

1985:190). Buffalo stones were,.cobbles which were usually worked minimally to rewmhlc,

bison and left as offerings at various places o n the Northern Plains, including Medrrrnr.

Wheefs (Calder 1977 135) Ribstones are relatrvely large boulders upon whrch have bcen

cawed lines, crescents, stars and other figures (L'Heureux 1959.595) (FIGURE 4) tvtw

though. these are completely enigmatic artifacts they are of interest because their

Iocational characteristics are almost identical t o those of Medicine Wheels. The half-dozen

examples known were all found atop high hills in exactly the same area of the *

Northwest Plains that the Medicine Wheels inhabit. In an abstract sense, ribstones contain . . 33

the same information as Medicine Wheels: figures composed into stone rather than with

stone.

3.7.3 ETHNOASTRONOMY

Ethnoastronomy is the study of the stellar :lore and astronomical practices of contemporary

cultures as evidenced through ethnographic information. Most of the work rn this area

. . has been compiled and published in the last decade, and has been largel), der~ved f rom

the early, general works of ethnographers \\rho had n o knowledge or interest In the

stars. Thus any ethnoastronomical study in North America will be sketchy at best, rarel) B

giving anything more than hints at the true extent and structure of the astronomical

knowledge that may have existed. This i s particularly true tor the Plarns. where mu i h

more cultural upheave1 and degradation transpired before the first ethnographers arrrvecf o n

the scene. This may be wh), M'aldo Wedel (1977a:131) concluded that the Plains Indians

apparently had little interest in the stars, especially relative to their neighbours to the

southwest. M'ith the exce?tion of the Skiri Pawnee, he found n o reactions to astronom),

Figure 4: RIBSTONES

A symbolic match for Medicine Wheels, ribstones are found in high places and carry enigmatic carvings over their exterior surfaces. The two examples here are the Stevens Rock near Lethbridge (taken from Archaeological Society of Alberta - Lethbridge Centre 1980:72) and the Kekip-Sesoators near Dmmheller (taken from L'Heureux 1886:760)

which were wel l integrated i n t o everyday life and ceremonial thought. This conclusion is

kasily countered by the intriguing examples of starlore ' known for the Blackfoot. Looking

at 'the number of independent informants and ethnographic sources supplying Blackfoot

starlore, i t is evident that they were well atuned t o the sky (eg. Wissler et al 1900:11). . .

For instance, the , Blackfoot had n o less than three separate myths giving: the origin of

the ~ l e i a d e r , showing overlapping systems of use (Gibbon 1972:242). he Blackfoot d o

t not represent a special case as the Skiri Pawnee do , and so Blackfoot starlore more

adequately suggests- what might have been the general trend.' Looking beyond the Plan>,

Kehoe (1988:l) found mesoamerican traits through all o f Plains starlore, especially for the

Southern Plains, and demonstrated the usefulness of astronomy for t iming. ..navigation and <. ...

' , calendar purposes. . ,

As ment ioned earlier, starlore can b e expected t o survive cultural attr it ion bett"er than * , , .,

many kinds of knowledge, at least partiaHy because the stars themselves cannot be *

destroyed. Diffusion studies have been done o n the broad scale to show h o w cultures

across the northern hemisphere share common beliefs concerning constella.tions such as

Ursa Major. Orion, the Pleiades, the Mi lky Way, Cygnus, and others ( ~ i b b o n 1964236). h

Studies o n a more restricted scale generally run afoul ~f the paucity of information wi th

which t o compare (Stewart 1978:153). With regards t o mythology- and the transmission of - mythology through cultures, the sky was a l iving library. O n the Plains t k ' , myths of ..

Coyote, boy-hero, . star-husband and others are clearly based *on $ours. jhrough the stars

.. 3 and constellations

The Sun: In all in Nor th America the Sun is considered a male being, and, q n the T

Plains especially also considered the supreme being o r Creator. (Wl tkrantz

1967 104, Voget 1984 138) Everywhere rn Nor th Amer~ca there are :examples of elders 9.

r ch~efs o r calendar m e n risrng before the Sun t o s ~ t rn a spec~al place and view ~ t s rrslng - (Wil l iamson 1984:77). This is dpparently t r u e fcrr the Plains t o o (jenness. 1937:68), where

* I

one also finds sunrise ceremonies. and offerings (Murie 1981:224) [and daily sunrise t.

1 P

observational 'prayer' i n the l i fe o f average people (Howard 1984:1043. The Sun was also , . 5.

watched during t k day 6 tell t ime (Turqey-~' igh 1940:97) and features such *as S u n d o g s

obscrved t o foretell ' weather (Lowie 191 0: 56). solar edclipses-.were seen as signs pr omvns

of illness and death. particularly for j h i e f s (Lo91e l 9 l0 :56 . Wilson 1887: 186) a

"% ' 5

Summer and winter solstice were important but there IS n o d~ rec t ev~dence that e w ( t i. ' . ...

capture of the solst~ce day was attempted Such capture d ~ d n ' t ' seem t o be as ~mpctrtant $

as for the Pueblo peoples (Wl l l~amson 1984 89 118, Wedel 1977 143) There I S also n o IB

2 c .

- 4

record of the use of foresights for capture as with thk Pueblo (Williamson 1984:87) or

gnomon capture as with the ~ o ~ e w e l l i a n Kern effigy in o h i d (White 1$l,86:154). 1, I

Observational procedures o n the Plains are essentially urlknown, but ,some of the indirect

h rdence is interesting, For example, the Wichita Grass Lodge was reported t o have had

two doors,. one in the east t o allow the entry o f the rising solstice Sun and one in the

west t o allow the entry of the setting solstice Sun (Dorsey 1904:4). As well, the Flathead

were sa~d t o have observed the horlzon Sun f rom a f i xkd position every day, and

especrally well near the solstrces In order t o mark festival9 o n those days (Turney-Hlgh

1937.24) And the Kutena~ were sa~d t o have n o clear-cut knowledge of solstices or

equinoxes, but were ~ o ~ c e r n e d about them to establish the new year (Turney-High

1940:96). Given the general practice o f sunrise observation From a fixed spot, it is

entirely 'plausible that solstice days were in fact sought and caught as a matter of

general p re t l ce o n the Plarns, assuming that, such precision was desired.

The Moon a i d Planets: In North America the ~ 6 o n was always a lesser figure than the 5

gun and was 'considered to be female (Hultkrantz 1967:47). Very few M o o n cults or

ceremonies were ex.lident. O n the other hand, the M o o n was the chief calendric device,

and therefore was watched closely. For instance, the four day invisibility period at new

M o o n was well known on the Plains (the ~ssin iboine; for instance, said that the waning

M o o n was re ing devoured by rats, and that dfter 4 days a new M o o n would be '; prov~ded (Lowle 1210 55)) There IS n o ev~dence for ho r~zon observation aS the M o o n

(except w t h respect t o the tlmlng o f the Sun Dance as mentioned prev~ously), nor

md~cat~ons o f an f~nterest In the Moon's complex path through the sky I

i

The same generalJack of tnformatlon 1s true for the planets. If one disregards the . , -+ - - unresolved controversy over the '~dent i f i ta f i in p f Mars and Venus wi th the Skiri Pawnee

M o m m g Star and Evening Star. it would be possible t o suggest that Plains Indians had (I

no interest in the planets. 3

Plalns mythology, and the

However, the many references t o the Morning Star (Venus) in . .

aforementioned. Assnibsine knowledge of the.. identity of the , . . , -

Star indicates' that .there w q interest, and that obserybtion was -

, ' . -

. .

done. However,. it is unlikely that more reliable information in this areacwill be ,-- _ ..

Morning Star and Evening

The Stars: With respect t o North American and Asian trends it is clear that the Plahs

' had a falrly homogeneous yet unique perspective o n the stars. For instance, whereas Ursa . . hlalor MG seen as a 'bear In Europe, Aiia and. most' of North America, o n the Plains it

itas seen as .. seven brothers' by at least 14 tribes. The dim star Alcor was a girl

54 . -

amongst the Crow, WichiJa and Cheyenne. However, another Crow - version,

Kiowa, Blackfoot and Wichita versions, have a second girl who turns into a

along with

bear, thus

paralleling the more widespread version (Gibbon 1964:237). Also bucking the continental

trend, t h e Plains groups typically saw the Pleiades as dancing youths, rather than the 7

women which is most common (Gibbon 1972:242).

e As mentioned earlier, Blackfoot starlore is bountiful and multilayered - different descriptions -.

for different contexts. They saw the Milky Way as, a wolf tr ick and river at different

times (Cibbon 1972239). Polaris, the 'fixed star', was born of the union 01 ' the Morning

Star with a wo,man (Wissler et a1 1908:12). The Pleiades were 'bunched stars', Castor and - -

Pollux were ' twin brothers', a n d . the Orion Nebula. was 'the smoking star' (Kehoe

1979:25). Sirius is 'dog-face',..Orion's belt is 'hunter's belt ', the Hyades were 'the bull of

the hills', and there were at least 20 other constellations inherited from their ancestors

(L'Heureux 1885:302). The Blackfoot were said t o have observed the Pleiades, and to *

regulate their most important 'feast' around the 'occultation' of these stars. Included

within the feast was a blessing and planting of seed, which matches with the general

American association of this asterism with agricultural timing (Levi-Strauss 1968:131). The

Pleiades were called the '7 perfect ones', and w o m e n would swear by them as men

- would by the Sun and the Morning Star (L'Heureux 1885:301). . . *

.:, Pawnee constellations include Orion, Auriga, Lyra, the Milky Way, C o ~ o n a Borealis, Ursa

Major, Coma Berenices, Andromeda,. and Cassiopiea. They also sam, Sirius and Polaris as

singie stars, not members o f constellations. (Chamberlain 1984:236). Ursa Major was called

'4 men carrying a stick',. Ursa Minor was called '4 men carrying a baby' (Fletcher

1903:14). Meteor showers were , perceived as bad omens (Wedel 1977:132). The Milky

Way was regarded as a path for the dead (Gibbon 1972:239). Polaris was seen as the <I...

chief of the stars - the one that does not walk around (Chamberlain 1984:127). The'

Wichita had myths to explain the origin of the Pleiades, Ursa Major, Polaris, shooting

stars and celestial birds (Lowie 1908: 127).

- . The Kutenai saw the Milky. Way as a dog's path (Gibbon 1972:239). The), saw Ursa

Major ' as a grizzly bear tied to a stake at Polaris (Turney-High 1940:96) and they used

that constellation t o tell time at night (Tumey-High 1940:98). They had other unidentified 8.

constellations called ' 3 elk and 3 antelope'. 'teal duck', 'weasel' and 'weasel's hole'

(Turney-High 1940:95).- The Assiniboine and the Kiowa saw the Milky Way as the

'backbone' of the skr (Gibbon' 1964:239). The Assiniboine and Cree used Ursa Major t o

tell direction at night (Kehoe 1979:30). The Gros Ventre saw the belt stars o f Orion as

three buffalo bulls (Gibbon 1972:244).

This isn't an exhaustive search for native constellations, but it does serve the valuable

purpose o f demonstrating some common interests, beliefs, and perceptions o f the night +

sky. One s implb conclusion is that the sky was divided into major constellations rattier

than individual stars. The famous Plains starmap drawn on hide (Buckstaff 1927:285)

emphasizes this point - the stars are arranged by schematic constellations, with little

apparent attention being paid to individual stars. This. conclusion i s significant with respect

to the possible celestial 'targets' of Medicine Wheels, and t o the precision with w h ~ c h

those targets might have been 'hit': constellation targets make cultural sense, but &

archaeoastronomers have traditionally chosen single stars because they provide the kind of

precision which we ethnocentrically presume must have been there.

3.7.4 ORIENTATION

As discussed earlier, the most prevalent orientational consideration o f the Plains Indians

was their concept of center, always symbolized by the placement o f a central pole (Hall

1985:188). Arising naturally from that, considering the horizon panorama and celestial and

solar motions, was a strong sense df cardinal directions. This sense reached its most

sophisticated expression among the Pawnee, where each cardinal and inter-cardinal:

direction was denoted by special symbolic stars, colours and other religious attributes

(Chamberlain 1984:152). By far the most important direction was east, due t o its

coincidence with the rising Sun and stars. West was- n e d important as the place for

setting. South appeared t o be less significant, being. .mentioned with respect t o the

direction from which the wind comes and towards which the dead go. There. are n o ,. - .

strong associations with the North direction"; beyond those o f the World Pole as noted

earlier.

.. " .:

The evidence available indicates that sacred cardinality was applied .more qualitatively- than.

quantitatively. There are few instances of precise or caref,ul orientation on record.

Ethnographic accounts suggest that vision questors woujd. lie down facirig east in their

high and remote locations (Mansfield 1980:28) and series o ~ r l l i p t i c a l , oblong and

horseshoe-shaped boulder structures built at high altitudes %nil opening to the east

(VL1edel 1961:266) seem to confirm this. The eastern opening o f camp circles has been

well documented (Wissler 1934:94, Hultkrantz 1967:111), along with Sun Dance structures

and earth lodges, both historic and prehistoric (Wedel 1977:136,139). The Cree Thirst < . --

Dance structure had a south opening, toward the departed spirits (Wilson 1981:355). The '. 4

Omaha and Osage earth altars were cut from sod t o the east of a sacred pole (Hall

56 9

1985:186). Again, however, even though the cardinal orientation was intended, n o mention

or other evidence o f precise or measured orientation is found, and n o archaeologkat( : r

study has been done t o determine just how close the orientations really were. i-t would

seem. this m i g h t be a viable and valuable study t o do, as it might gauge the interest

and ability of Plains groups t o achieve true oiientatlons.

One p u a l i n g questton with 'regard to the cardinal orientation of ceremonial structures

relates t o the need for sunlight from the rising sun t o enter, cross the threshold and

shine o n the sacred fire, altar, and pole (Wedel -1977:139). An entry toward true east

doesn't allow this o n either of the solstices or during the summer whep most

ceremonies were held. True solstice orientation i s found in prehistoric structures on- all ' + 4'

sides of the ,Hains (Williamson 1984:247,253,312), and perhaps in special case structures

such as the Wichita Council Circles (Wedel 1977:4$0). Were the Sun an& 5tructures

. and earth IQdges aimed true east, solstice sunrise east, or just east generally,? The

avai labk !i@d'ture doe ' t address this question, ind it seems like. it should be

answerable. The implications for Medicine Wheels are impsrtant. For example, the

non-precise south-of-east orientatioh @ Medicine Wheel entryway features suggests a

.qualitative interest in winter solstice sunrise (or summer solstic; sunset). And the d

alignment of the bilateral symmetry axis o f the Medicine Wheels suggests a similar

interest in summer solstice sunrise (or 'winter sunset) (Wilson 1981:333). Also, the human .. and animal effigies within ~ e d i c i n e ' Wheel sites all lie facing roughly southeast. Other

animal effigies found ori th& Plains conform t o - t hk rule (Lewis 1889:159) and occur in

similar circumstances as the Medicine Mhee ls :

P* /

-.'Jthey occur usually upon elevated positions . . . The human form, *the turtle --and the serpent are the usual and, in fact, almost the only figures fbund . .'" '

.: It should b e observed that, as a' general rule, . . . the figures are placed .-rn the midst of the t ipi ring groups in an area apparently left open for. this

p u ~ p o s e " (Kehoe l 9 5 9 : l l 8 ) . , ,

This is particularly interesting because human, turtle and snake effigies are also the only

ones found in Medicine Wheels, and all three have..cosmic significance. -( the human . .

Bkcause large human effigies were said t o be images2 of the Creator le f t .over from the

energetics of creation, the turtle as the 'plains Atlas figure, and the serpent in the

' -context of the subterranean Wor ld Pole) (Kehoe 1959:120). Along this line the Pawnee,

wt-,en (naking the sacred fireplace of the- earthlodge, formed the boulders first as -a turtle

with its head facing east (Murie 1981:174). /

I - ,

Non-cosmological and non-astronomical orientation ccncepts must also be considered. For

-a

example, a Blackfoot informant claimed that Medicine Wheels commemorated the livesL of .. 0

chiefs, and that the orientation and length of the spokes :indicated the direction and

distance t o important events in their lives (Kehoe 1979:34) (this interpretation and others

will be disc ssed in chapter 4). The Peigan made effigies o f their dead chiefs starting i with the I t t ipi ring as the torso; the added arms and legs were meant t o point -,

toward successful battles, raids, etc, in the chief's life (Kehoe 1959:119). The Blackfoot

also created effigyilineicairn configurations t o spell out the important details of a m u k k r ,

much like modem police chalk markings. Similar practices are reported among the fjakota

Sioux and Crow (Kehoe 1959:109). The Cheyenne had a practice of leaving a large c&n

with an extending line pointing toward where the tribe had gone, a signpost for

late-returning hunting parties (Wilson 1981:340). In fact, i t has been suggested that cahns

atop hills across the Plains were a series of signposts; leaving an accurate trail was

possible because "it is often possible without telescopic a id t o spot one such 'marked

hill' from another" (Wilson 1981:340). In this context it has been suggested that ribstones

were really local roadmaps (Archaeological Society of Alberta, .Lethbridge Centre 1980:72),

and this perhaps explains why passing Indian groups were seen t o make offerings at

them as late as 1900 (MacCregor 1959:8). In addition t o this navigation idea, it has been

reported that stone walls and geometrical boulder mosaics are ahways oriented '

perpendicular t o the general slope of the land (Caldwqll et al 1978:441), suggesting an

orientation hypothesis w i t h respect t o topography.

3.7.5 GEOMETRY *

It isn't possible to say very much about Plains Indians ideas rega~ding geometry. It has . . * *

been noted earlier that the circle was a sacred symbol o n the Plains; the Sioux

combined. the circle with their sacred cross symbol t o make the characteristic ' ~ i o u x

symbol called the 'sacred circle' o r 'medicine wheel' (Howard 1984103). It has also been ,

said that theA apparent bilateral symmetry of the Medicine Wheels is due t o fact that

the) were animal effigies, and this was a conscious attempt t o reproduce the bilateral

svmmetry of animals (Wilson 1981:347). The Pawnee consciously kept the number df 11

poles used in ceremonid lodges even in order t o ensure that bilateral symmetry could

be kept ( ~ e d e ' l 1977:139). This is about the extent of theoretical discussion in this area.

Archaeological evidence. for geometry <

Plains, in Ohio, there are scores of

precise regular geometries based o n

1984:S87). To the south the Anasazi

is a little more interesting. At t he edge of the

huge Hopewellian earthworks exhibiting simpre yet

the standard length of 321m (Hively 1982:S8, Hively

laid out the ground plans of their large community 4

- . . . .

58 : ' 2 ,

structures based on perfect squares i nd circles (Williamson 1984:136~. OR the Plains

boulder mosarcs often include circles, squares, para1 and other <hapes (Lewis *

1889:162). Most ceremonial structures were circles, structures like the Sarcee

Grass Dance structure were rectangles, which still - .

also a suggestion that the Big Horn Medicine Wh nscio&y [aid out 0 1 3 the , ' .

basis of a 12.5rn length unit (Fries 1980:23). The best evidence of Plain4 geometry, - .

howeve$omes from the unexpected source of a11 archaeol~gical dig at a prehistoric

bison kill. Here a ceremonial brson corral was clearly laid out with a stake and rope,

consisting of two intersecting 10.2m arcs begun on a true north orientation at. 15.5111 -

apart (Wilson 1981:354, Frison 1978:220). This example is without preceddnt, however, and

it isn't obvious how to interpret it in the context of Plains Indian interest and skill in

geometry.

3.7.6 NUMERATION

As discussed earlier, the linguistic nature of number systems allows th,em to' survive d

cultural conflict more easily, .making them a good test for thk homogene~ty, orrgmal~tfl

and complexity of formal abstractions of Plains Indrans. In North America there are

approxrmately 60 mutually unintelligible language familres comprising more than 750

individual languages - and almo~t~asf lany number systems (Eells 1913:2@3) Studies of .a- '

the similarities of these systems indicate significant diffusion, but-also the 10s: and a '

4 *

subsequent regeneration of systems to a large extent (Closs 1986a:43). Plains groups were

almost exclusively decimal in counting (Closs 1986a:3). There was so much confusion,

difficulty and invention involved in constructing large number-words that it i s evrdent that -

numbers over 20 were rarely encountered and no formal system exrsted to deal wtth

them (Trumbull 1874:47). The Crow, for instance, regarded people who nwded numbers . over 1,000 as dishonest, but most groups had a word fof 1,000 ells 191 3:2981. Larger -

n u m h were often accomplished with sticks or pebbles to represent 20's or 700%, and

notched sticks: served as countrng boards and contracts. Fractions were rarely reported

(Eells 191 3:27l).

While counting, Plains Indians would bend the frngers toward the palm as they counted,

the visual symbol was much more expressrve than the oral one (TrumbuII 1874 44).

Number-words mimicked this digital counting The word for frve was often 'hand', and

conversely the word for the middle finger was often 'three' (Trumbull '1874:52) Plains t

Indians had their own dice games, and apparently had great facility in' count~ng and

scoring CJenness 1937;30). Many sources relate that the number 4 was considered sacred -

(Closs 1986a:l88, Jenness 1937:51). likely related to the concept.. of ,cardinality. The

numbers of boulders and strcks used In ceremonial structures were s f t e n carefully

counted, important numbers tieing 4, 10, 12, 18, 24 and 100 ()e&ess~@37:51,68). Hall -

(1985 182) has sard much abo$ the s ~ g n i f i c a n c ~ ~ o f there being 28 .spokei at the Big f

Horn M e d u n e Wheel, makrng associat~ons with the 28 days of the uncorrected lunar

cycle, the 28 rafters of the Cheyenne Sun Dance lodge, and' the 28 pdes o f the Sioux

ceremonral lodge Wilson has also noted the , 2 8 ribs of a b u f f a b and the 28 bones or . ,-- c I ,

joints In human frngers iwhrch were somewmes used for: counting) (1981.359). There i s - nothrng evident In Plarns notatlon, number systems or cuunting to lndicate anything but '

very srmple, utilitarian arithmetic I

I

3.7.7 CALENDAR , I '

Plains Ind~ans were clearly aware of the seasons, and atso the distinct mequality 01 1 2 or ..

13: lunatlons and a s~ngle solar year (Tumey-Hrgh 1940:96). The lunar montbs were

typically named for the *seasonal resources within them. krmes forward o r ' back i; fhe - . year ryere referred to by the number of l uha t i~ns or phases thereof w h ~ c f i ,d&ned t6e .. perrod (Wilson 1981 356f There appe&red to be:special calendar men who made daily

a observations for an accurate calendar (&hoev 1.973:91, L o w ~ e 1963.146). and w h a kgpt

two bags clf stlcks and passed a stick from one bag to another each day t o keep track

of the year and f ~ x ceremonies ( ~ i l l i a m s o n ' .I 984:107, jenness l937:12, Kehoe l979:32).

Unoff~c~al ly, m-tdlvrduals wobld also keep tracc of time and events by knotting strings with

each month and year (Turney-High 1940.96): or by shi,nging beads or berries, .or by I

msking notch- In a plece of wood whrch' could b e p o r n o n their clothing (Turney-High I.

1931 34) Years past were remembered by symbols *representing a special event whkh

happened then (Parks 1984 171) . qnd the symbols were often painted as a personal diary *

A

on trpl skrns N o p u b l ~ c year names were kept (Tumey-High 1940:96). Marshack's analysis

of an Ojrbwa calendar stick', o f : which there are other examples from the Plains, indicates

an othenvrse unevldenced complexity :and systematic approach t o calendar keeping which +

p a \ stretch b a k to Paleol+thlc times (Marshack 1985). This added evrdence 1s probably

urtnecessaqr all ~nd~catrons are that Plains tribes were fully capable of understanding and

keepng an accurate lunar-solar calendar,

3.8 Summary

? io! of ~nformatron Ideas .and not~ons' have been presented in an effort t o sketch the ,

phvstcal and rritellectual envlronment which spawned the Medicine Wheels. A conclusion

~ r t h gespect t o the rntellectual envlropment would be that Pla~ns Indians were clearly no t

: ,f >

Z

7 * '*

1 , * . . 60 . , .

interested in most of the areas we can modern science. There is .no sen:? in which the

ethnography could support the term 'observatory' being applied t o Medicine Wheels. I( * . . observation w a s being done it was most certainly in an entirely different *context than

, - present day astronomy, more in line with the concept o f an 'obserwation station' related

perhaps to the religious and ceremonial concernsL of the buildtys. There''i5 also n o

support for more complex astronomy such as eclipse prediction, qoni tor ing of precession, -, ,

or lunar path determination - such things simply weren't important, 'The calendric function

. suggested by Eddy (1974:1042) i s also u n s u p p o ~ e d ; calendaa were' kept qulte s~mply and <

a Medicine Wheel would have been enormous oterkil l in 'th+t 'capacit).. There is n o . I - -

., evidence in the starlore for either interest in the particular stars that Eddy ha? selected

as being significant (Eddy 7974:1040), or for the! practice o f observing. the heliacal rise ol

single stars. By the same token, there is apparently n o support here for' bledicine Wt1et.l

geometry either.

This information does lend support t o some. theories. For instance, at least qualitative

observation of sunrise, sunset and solstice took place. And commemorative and

navigational concepts are good matches with the basic features of Medicine ..\\heel3 So

are the essential concepts o f the Sun Dance and the Vision Quest. And t h e . concept of

center, combined with the Wor ld Pole, relates very well t o the gnomon theor),, These

will be discussed further In the next chapter.

7 k I CHAPTER '4 I

AN INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICII$E WHEELS

fl

4.1 The-History of the Research . ,

lust over a century ago, the Sundial Hill boulder configuration was reported by Dawsorl

(1885:28), marking the first known public record of what would eventually be called

-' Medicine Wheels. The numbers' grew very slowly. By the 1950's only 10 examplesThad

been reported (Kehoe 1954). and b y 1970 the number was still under 0 (Forbis 1970). 3 As recently as 1979 the n u m b e ~ of .sites known in print was only 30 :(~ehoe 8. K e h ~ e , . _

1979). This study reports a toIal of 135 possible Medicine Wheels43. Much o f the

history o f Medicine 'Wheel stu'dies can be explained by that growth sequence. The

present study, for instance whrch was begun in 1982, would no t have been feasible in

the previous decade: 4

The first theoretical d~scussion ,of boulder configurations appears in three papers by T.H

k w ~ s on curious boulder' effrgl'es and monuments he found in Iowa, Minnesota and the

Dakotas (Lehis 1889, - 1 890, 7891 ). Considering the period, Lewis's papers were remarkably

good, providing useful maps and descriptions and fo l lowing* 'a~ objective ethnohtstorical

approach. Garner~ng information from various settler and native interviews going back t o

t h 6 early 1800's. Lews found that the customs which might have given rise t o the

conf~gura t~ons were no longer ' present in the existing cultures. He dismissed suggestions

that the figures were of recent or non-Native or~g in , concluding "it is evident that they

are very ancient" (Lewis 1889:164Ii In an academic discussion published with this paper;,

Professor Cyrus Thomas examined Lewis's figures and found n o evidence ''of an advance

beyond the savage state o n the part o f the makers", concluding- th& the structtqes must .. .

be t ~ p ~ rlngs (Lew~s 1889 161)

In 1903 S C Slmms reported o n the Big Horn Medrcrne Wheel: p r~v rd rng a falrly detailed 2.

description and an obv ious l~ ,idealized map. The Native informants he consulted sometimes

ineu of the wheel but alw& credited it to some other tribe. :~imrns concluded that the

B I ~ Horn wheel should get very senous attention from anthrop~jogists in order t o solve

rts riddles. Unfortunately his paper, along with the earlier referetice in -Forest and Stream

13- Alan\, of the 135 reported sites are not sufficiently wel l known o r ' described to b e . ,

useful to the analysis here, however. This b i l k b e discussed in chapter 5.

(Sept. 1985 - see Crinnell 1922:299), ~ n i y served to attract curiosit), seekers

1 .

It :ii worth noting, wi th some interest. that .Lewis and Simms expressed what are usually

considered the 'modem' ideas about such configurations. First. Lewis clearly considered - .

- the structure and alignment of the figures significant enough t o map them carefully and , '

give accurate survey directions. Second, Lewis thought it worthwhile t o point aut

similarities with stone monuments throughout Europe. Third. Simms found a bleached

, : buffalo skull within the monument "which had been so placed that rt had -thy

appearance of looking toward the rising sun" (Simms 1903:108). the frrst r & o r d t d e

suggestion of astroriomicai connections.

The Big Horn Medicine Wheel continued t o be the focus of ,atteniron lor qurte sornr ", d . ":

time. A 1913 book by W.A. Allen, The Sheep Eaters, praposed that the 28 raciratrn~

lmes of the structure were intended to represent the 28 clans of t h ~ ~ h e e p e d t r r i ~ trrt)c-

(Grey 1963a:38). Although the source was said t o be an o ld C ~ O M , woman in 1877, t h ~

rest o f the research was so poorly done that t h ~ s idea has been d r s ~ o u n t e d 4 ~ A L

Stockwell of the Forest Servrce provrded an accurate survey of Brg Horn In IC)1T (C,rr\

1963a.28), and G.B. Crinnell provided a more detailed account, inc lud~ng photographs

distances t o outlying cairns, and environmental data, in 1922. 4150 in Crinnell s work 15

the informant m( River's testimony that the wheel w& a,.plan of a Medicine Lodge, .and

possibly associated with the myth o f Sweet Medicine; Crinnell was the first to suggest

tha-t there were other Medicine Wheels, listing a number in the surround~ng territorre5.

Despite much useful information, most popular approaches were still speculative A t . - proposal by Thomas Cultra that Big ~ o r n was orieGed toward celestial objects ar-~d w d s v :

10,782 years o ld based on -the 'Grand Axral Revolution of the Earth s axrs made ~t Into

Ripley's Believe It Or Not (Grey 1963a:38) 42 years before astronomer jack Eddy's s,imilar 7 D

speculations were published in Nature" (Eddy 1974). I . .. ,.

As Plains archaeology was late In starting, ~t shouldn't be sur-prrslng that the lrrsr

archaeological paper t o mention boulder coniigu@tions arrrved in 1050 Carlrnp hlaloul

surveyed sites in the Canyon Ferry Region in Montana and encountered many grorWtrrcal

forms among clusters of t ~ p i rings (Malouf 1950). TheSe shapes, along wrth the a t m 4 r e

o f fire hearths and artifacts. and the clustering 04 rings in high, windy areas led him t o

tavour ceremon~al rather than hab~tat!onal funct~ons for t r p~ rings In general Hoffman

(1933) echoed many _crf Malouf s comments rn hrs own stud) of tlpr r ~ n g use and ., \ ' +

44- More recently, however, Wtlson has suggested that there m ~ g h t he sorrreth~ng to that account (W~lson 7987 350)

. distribution, and. attempted t o di4ferentiate between rings, effigies, wheels and other

structures. In contrast t o Malouf he felt that the concentration of ,tipi rings o n the high

wtndswept plateaus of Alberta, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas merely assured their

function of holding down tipis against the wind. Hoffman, along with Caldwell and . . . , - ,

Cailsun (1954) held that many o! the unusual Atructures were connected with vision

quests. The latter authors also o b s e r ~ e d that the structures tended t o be oriented

according to the flow of the slope. This i s the first suggestion of a topographic

hypothesis.

The same year (1954) also marks the appearance of the first of many papers o n

Medlcine Wheels by Thomas Kehoe. Documenting testimony from Blackfoot informants o f

the infrequent use of cairns as burial markers, Kehoe advanced the hypothesis that

Medicine Wheel spokes mark& the direction and relative distance of the dead chief's

triumphant warpaths or from where his mourners came. The memorial idea was reinforced

with Hugh Dempsey's 1956 paper on four historic Blackfoot wheels in Alberta which were

well-documented as memorials.. However, each of the historic sites is very simple, having

exactly four shok, cardinally-oriented spokes radiating from tipi ring. The gross

differences with . prehistoric wheels suggested that the Blackfdot wheels represented a

recently-acquired custom. In 1959 Kehoe produced another paper linking a rlumber o f

boulder effigy monuments to memorial functions through ethnographic accounts o f the

events they were meant t o represent.

in 1959 MacGregor sought t o make an association between Medicine Wheels and other

Stone Gods' of the prairies, tncluding isolated" cairns and ribstones. . . As introduced in the

last chapter, ribstones are the large, usually single boulders which have been found o n

hilltops in southern Alberta. While many of MacGregorrs arguments were far-fetched, the

suggest~on that Medicine Wheels were associated with a broader range of stone and

boulder monuments was more credible. The assoc~ations proposed by MacGregor, along

LVIII~ a more recently suggested relationship with sites made by Brace (19871,

hdve vet to be investigated in any systematic manner. - ,

-

F c r i b ~ s (1960) examined the Grassy Lake Wheel among other sites along the Oldman River

and concluded from sparse archaeological and ethnographic data that this site was likely

ot Blackfoot origin and was established perhaps c. 1700. The first:, thorough archaeological

~nyest~gation of a Medicine Wheel was completed by Grey (1963a)' o n the Big Horn

\i.i-teel The phys~cal examtnatlon was done In conjunct~on with the most comprehensive

ethnohtstorlcal research stud), done to that date. Cultural mater~als discovered included

e,

64 3

beads and potsherds o f recent ortgln, and excavation of the central calrn tunied up - fragments o f rotten wood at the bot tom o f a hole extendmg perhaps 0 5m Into t l i r

l~mestone bedrock. A wooden. branch, was. also found wedged beneath the we& cairn

;~nd . - was dated by dendrochronology t o a most recent death date of 1760. Given this

widence Grey concluded that the site had a maximum age of 200 years and that no

further archaeolowal work was needed. Similar ?nvestigattons were conducted o n the Fort

s Smith wheel by ~ r g w n (T'B3) and on. the council circles o f Kansas by Wedel (1967). ... This las!. study presents the first academic suggestion of solstice alignment among Plains

- configurations.

9

The imminent inundation of,the Sun River Medicine Wheel b\' floodwaters prompted T.P

Newc6mb to surveyf it and investigate all existing,theag!es (1967). He disagreed ~ ~ l t h - m%morial f w t i o n s , prefering instead explanations encompassing sacred numbers,* and

b-

orientations of the spokes toward the distzint foiesights provided by surrounding

- t - mountains and pas e s This was the- first suggestion that rnatCematGs was somelioi \~ d "

involved, ac well as the first suggestion that the ' ~ e d l c ? n e M'heels might have served as

signposts. 3 - . *

Eddy's tn~ttal paper o n possibk astronomical alignments of the Blg.,Horn Medlclne Wheel

(1974) and subsequent %apers o n t h e similar altgnments of many wheels (1977a-d! C

presented the first detailed astronomical hypothe%. The specific results w i l l be dealt with m

later, but from an histork perspective it i s interesting that Eddy's work seems to have 9

- met with i m e d j a t e and general acceptance by , the anthropological community. Perhaps, as

evidenced above, it is because Eddy's basic ideas had been' around from the heglnn~ng , -

and that he simply synthesized them into a real hypothesis for the first time Perhaps

too , the heated debate re~a rd ing Stonehenge- and the European megaliths in thp year\ *

preceding had softened. any resistance. However, statistical arguments aside, the onl)

cultural justification which Eddy supplied for such detailed observations \vas -that t l~e) . wtlrts

done for ritual purposes and out of "a basic neqd to plan for colder

weather"(1974 1037). It IS s t r a g e that n m anthropologist challenged htm on that italerncnt

To the contrar),, Rtymap eiaborated o n Eddy's theme to the point where the wheel i

were

. "fixed calendrical reference points for use 'in- determining seasonal changes and for predicting ... the movements o f animal populations . . . and the availability o f important plant foods at various locales within the groq1'5 econiche" (Reyman 19;5:378). , '

. .

65 , -

The nb r& are impressive, but R e p a n ' s argument is n o more compelling t h a n ~d$y 's .

Reyman concluded that Big Horn came in,to disuse because the energy needed t o create %'

rt was not returned in term& of its energ); product~ons via agriculture, etc (Reyman

1975 278) - a bizarre assertlo?, especially considering that n o studies or other evidence

were provided in support. ','-,,

Another reason for t h e absehce of anthropolo&cal rebuttal may be that some leading

Plains archaeologists, including-. R.G. Forbis, and , Thomas and Alice &ehoe, were immediate & &

converts t o Eddy's ideas45 he Kehoes in part~cular jumped .& the bandwagon, coming

out with their own t ~ o - ~ r o n ~ e b study of the astronomical significance of eleven , .

Saskatchewan Medicine Wheels. First, all eleven Medicine Wheels were surveyed t o allow

calculations of alignments. Second, tribal elders from several nearby reservatidns were

interviewed to discover whether there was a tradition o f astronomical observation. Only

three o f the eleven sites (Moose Mountain, ~ i n ; t b n Turtle and Roy Rivers) provided any - indication of solstice alrgnment, and even this was very marginal. Nevertheless, the Kehoes

took what they considered the best alignment (at Moose Mountain) as "proof" (1979:37)

of pre-European solstice observations by Plains people. From the ethnographic

investigations they could not elicit-_,any testimony in support of such observations

However, a compass-measured orientation of qn abandoned 1975 sundance structure

seemed to match that of the summer solstice,:.so this was provided as evidence. They

l i l s o discussed the well-docume'i-itedr' Blackfoot interest in the Morning Star and accounts . I

ot stick-counting calendar men 'khq regularly observed sunrise. Considering h o w weak all < . . "- . -

of t h ~ s was i t IS surprising that this paper was accepted for republication In the

respectable Mercury series (1979): i i underscores the difficulties of maintaining judgement . ' ' , , -

in interdisciplinary areas.

One of the most detailed studies of any Med~c lne Wheel w a i Calder's study of the

hlalorville site In Alberta published in 1977 Calder 'd~d most of h ~ s work before the

dstronomical hypotheses came Into play and h~s own conclusion was that the Majorville

5lte rids dssoc~ated wlth ceremonral and practical aspects of blson procurement. He did - howrver suggest that tlming and tracking related to huntmg technolog~es would have

- , twen greall, alded by simple astronomical observatloni (Calder 1977 396)

Ferrvn (1978) and Independently, Ovenden (7981) contributed the last major new theoty

b\ importing Alexander Thorn's geometrical construction ideas concerning the megaliths of

15- Although in the early 7980's ~t seems that Forb~s was much more skept~cal (Ferguson 798-3 7601

d

Europe (Thom 1955, 1k . l . 1962, 1964, 1966 1967 and 1973) etc.). Ovenden noticed

strong stwctural similarities between megaliths jn Scotland and Medicine Wheels in North

America, atid attempted to demonstrate that some standard. unit of length equivalent t o

the megalithic yard. along with an equivalent system o f 'sloppy Eucl id i in geometry': had

been the basis of Medicine Wheel construction. Ovenden also s t ressh the need for an

unbiased taxonomy t o be established in order t o handle the various morphologically

distinct forms of wheels, rings, and cairns properly.

Frison (1981f revived the topographical theory in his analysis o f linear arrangements of I

cairns in Wyoming and Montana. Like th Medicine Wheels, these stone configura~ions

were erected ih high places with ble effort. They were not game drives. and

there was apparently an associated custom by which passing Indians would add rocks, t o

the cairns. Frison concluded that the directions of the lines seem to have been

determined by topography, and that they may have served as territortal marker5

Wilson's review of Medicine Wheel studies (1981) provided an excellent, oblc>ctive

-overview o f the ethnographic problem, .focused o n excavation results at the Big Horn

Medicine Wheel Wilson found evidence supporting the memorial, geometrical vision

i quest, geographical and topographical theories, concluding that the wheels ,must have had

/ multiple uses The only theory about which he expressed some doubt was the

observatory one: "Medicine Wheels are scarcely. observatories any moFe than w@re millions . .

of sunrise-oriented tipis" (Wilson 1981:346). He concluded by demonst~ating that the

wheels were symbolically consisten'? with the :ideas expressed in the Sun and Thirst Danc-r

rituals of the Plains

Brumley published the results of a thorough 1974 excavation of the Ellis Medicine Wheel

in 1984, providing the first real test case fo r ' any of ,the Medicine Wheel theokies. His . .

results were unequivocally in support of the burial . -. theoty: he found that the unearthed

human remains, along with the site configura-tion, conformed in a "striking and irrefutablr"

way (Brumley 1 9 8 5 31) with e t h o g r a p h ~ c accounts of Blackfoot memorials to warriot chiefs - &

and t o Plains Indian death lodges Since Brumley s classrfrcation of known ~ e d c i n e , % .

Wheels had grouped the E l k srte wit(^ srx others' he concluded that the enlrre group A'

were h~storic and prehistoric Blackfoot bunal monuments I

The first thorough compllatron of data concerning the whole tange of boulder

configurations was begun by Brace (1982), covering nrnety-eight (98) sites including

Medlcine Wheels Ceremonial Crrcles Eff~gres, \'rs~on Quest Structures, and Geometrical

e

Rock Alignments. ' ~ w e n t ~ - t h r e e (23) of these were labelled Medicine Wheels. Brurnley

created a database specific t o Medicine Wheels under contract with the Archaeological

su&ey ofP Alberta (1986). This, was extended by Dau (1986a) <o a total o f seventy-six

(7G) sltes and analysed by Wi lk~e (1986). However, none of these studies had a .clearly

ldent~frable research orientat~on, accomplish~ng instead a valuable clerical function. Brace

completed hrs study In 1987 wi th an unsuccessful attempt t o establish lichenometry as a

dating procedure for boulder confrguratrons s 6

IQ / e m s of the history . o f lhrs subject, one' of the most Interesting Incidents took place

very recently in the pages of Plains Anthropologist in the form of a confrontation.

Astyonomer Steven Haack presented a statistical rebuttal of Eddy's astronomical hypothesis

(1987a). There was a stinging reply from the Kehoes (1987), without any statistical basis,

follow& by a response from Haack (1987b). The details ale ii;lot what is interksting here

- rather it is the irony of a pair of anthropologists defending Medicine Wheel7 astronomy . .

against a skeptical astronomer. H o w things have changed!

4.2 Archaeological Results

Most Medicine Wheels have been pot ted ( e x c a ~ ~ i e d without record) to,dome extent,

either by vandals or in a cursory professional exploration that has' never been- published.

Luckily, in most cases such disturbance has been confined to the central cairnLarea, not - ,

destroying the overall .configuration of the site., , Such pott ing is very unfortunatg, however,

because beyond the outrigh't loss of lnformatlon there IS add~ t~ona l damage caused by

the confusion p o t t ~ n g can create For example, there are u n c o ~ h r m e d reports that treasure

hunters found human burials within the central .cairns of the crassy Lake and ~ u m s e y

sites.. Su'ch information i s difficult t o deal with because it invites interpretation. Forbis, for

mstance lncluded those two s~tes among seven which he called 'unquestionable1 burial

sltes (1964 30) However, even though both Grassy Lake and Rumsey have human effigres

leatures nearby (whtch might support the idea p f a burial), there i s n o way now to . . determine whether the burials ( i f ' indeed found)', and even the ~f f ig ies, were original" t o

. . thr sites or added later As a counter example, the similar Brit$h Block site, which also

has an e f f ~ g y nearby, was excavated fully without any. sign 'of man! remains. Because so /

man) Medlcrne Wheels have been. potted, and so few scientifically excavated, analysis of , .

the archaeological information avaitable has many complications. '. .

. .. The most cornprehenslve excavations have been carried out o n the ' ~ r i t i sh Block ' ( ~ l e n b o w

.a

Foundation, unpublished), Majorville (Calder 1977). Ellis (Brumley 1985); and Big Horn (dneyi; ,

68 ,'

l963a, Wilson 1981) sites

4.2.1 BIG HORN

The Big Horn excavation of 1958 consisted of two 33m trenches NW of the wliecl . .- - . _

along with excavations betweeri:.the' radial lines and the interior cairns. Some wood

remains were, found in. one c d m along with red ochre-covered bone objects, pot slierds

and .some stone artifacts. The central cairn revealed three distinct soil layers, the second

of whlch ylelded some ceramlc trade beads, a shell bead, and a potsherd 1he lo~, ts t

soil layer penetrated Into a 60cm depression created beneath the cairn- b~ remobdl of

bedrock slabs The 1973 excavations by Wilson revealed that the spokes were Ilhel)

added after the central cairn, as there was 6cm of loess between the two. The spread

of cultural material indicated a dissociated level beneath the structure itself

4.2.2 MAjORVlLLE AND BRITISH BLOCK

The Majorville and British Block sites are strikingly similar, both being large-cairncd and

complex structures wi th peripheral cams. The 1961 British Block excavation removed the

central cairn in layers -down to the natural soil, uncovering a group of pottery fragments , ,

of uniform age a"d a remarkably varied assortment of arrowhead types indicating all

chronological periods. At the center o f the central cairn a t w o foot high earthen mound

was found - clearly o f greater antiquity than the boulders. The mound was not created

by erosional forces, and provided n o evidence of a pit or grave.

&'The excavation of the Majorville site was carried out by Calder in 1971. An enormo~2ly ".

thorough investigation, it encompassed an excavation and analysis of site, soil, chronolog),

lithic technology, -'artifact systems and fauna. The site is o n the highest hill for man$:- 'P 4

kilometers around, and is in possible association with eight other sites comprising' four

tipi ring encampments, a buffalo jump, and three cairns. N o evidence of contemporaneity

was presented. The- .basic assumption behind Calder's excavation was that the central ralrn

,had been budt rn a senes o f accretionary domes, and so by rernovlng dome Idvcrs orip ..- at a ttrne he expected to fmd evldence of cultural chrpnology In ~ I S o n n word5 th15

method proved 'eminently successful'. By plotting the position o f the various types o f

-projecti le points found within the cairn he was able t o draw lines o i mean depth ofi ,the

cultural phases they represented within the cairn itself. The clear increase in age o f

cultural phase with dep th in the cairn bo th proved his initial

suggestion by ~ o r m j n g t o n and Forbis (1965) that such cairn .-. -- -

relatively recent activity linked with the late Woodlands mounds of eastern North America.

69 z-

Many other interesting points occur in Calder's

cairn activity periods through the proportion of

v.. - . . -

analysis. ~ i r s f , he was able t o establish

each phase represented, finding low .use

(eg. 1,000 BC - 200 AD) and high use (eg. 600 AD - 1725 AD) periods. Second, 9

Calder could .f ind n o specific evidence that the cairn and spokes were of different

antiquity (contrarv t o the Big Horn result). Third, with many rocks u p t o 90kg and one

weighing 450kg the structure could no t have been "the work of one person in one

day" (Eddy 1974:1041) as has been suggested by those in favour o f the vision quest

structure and astronomical observatory theory. This does not mean that the wheel could

not have been 'operated' by j x t one person, only that it to& many more t o build it.

Fourth, Calder found that the nature and distribution of the artifactual materials were d

consistent with a practice of rel~gious offerings, very possibly i k association with the

ceremonial and practical aspects of bison hunting. Although the cairn contained a great

variety of tools. amulets and debitage, the purely non-utilitarian objects such as iniskims

(fossils - the septa of ammonites or baculites, which, when separated, yield the form o f

a buffalo - they were common objects in Blackfoot medicine bundles), other fossils and

concretions, and artifacts and bones heavily stained with read ochre were indicative o f .

ceremonial functions. Calder's finding that artifacts and bird .,bones were deposited in small

areas or pockets suggests that medicine bundles may have been secreted as part of the

ceremony

The large inventoy of utilitarian artifacts present in Calder's excavation af the central cairn %

at Majorville covered the whole range necessary for subsistence, including tools for hide

and food preparation, for making other tools, for crafts, and for hun t i ng Tools varied

from excellent to poor quality and the ndance of flakes and cores indicated that i

many may have been manufactured at the site as well. The high frequency o f projectile

points (179, of the 3,000 artifacts) suggested t o Calder the ceremonial significance o f the

cairn in association with hunting or procuring bison as food. He adds that the site was

excellent for spotting game, invoking spells, making offerings, manufacturing 'blessed' " ...

projectile po'ints. and observing as t ronomic*a t~~o~ calendrical events which might have

supported such practices. The presence of tha, , . iniskims, and stones possibly selected for ~.

their resemblance to bison, supported thi; L'ai t t- the windswept n a f u v b f the terrain ?,

allowed access to the site over all 12 months of the year, implying n o practical L s

hmitations o n the timing of whatever functions the cairn had.

Calder concluded f rom his chronology that at least one "aspect of Plains ceremonial

culture re rna i~ed intact and relatively stable, since at least 5,200 BP, perhaps being

4 introduced to the area the original Oxbow peoples (5,000 - 3,560 B.P.). Such 'a

4 conclusion was against t h established opinion o f the time, which held that there &as k .

t o o much change and di, pt ion o n the Plains to foster such continuity. Since t l & , . tl. .5 , g-

opinion has changed dramatically. following results similar t o Calder's from other areaq6 9 , > ; ..

4.2.3 ELLIS - I :. . The configuration of the Ellis site is quite different than those of Majorville, British ,- lock

and Big Horn, and so it may not be surprising that the excavation results were quite

different as yel l . At Ellis, seven Zm-square units were excavated at dif,ferekt parts of the

wheel. Brumley concluded ,that the central ;ing o f the Medicine Wheel wasa simply a tipi.

ring which was used t o secure the cover o f a burial lodge. The stone spokes were

regarded as marks of respect for the deceased renowned warrior, whose fragmented ,-

skeletal remains were found in a condition consistent with having been protected from +%

-the sun and elements for some time by the lodge-. cover before it disintegrated. Tentatiw - -

.,.

evidence suggested ' the body had been laid $E to . NW with the head to the SE, and

several lines of evidence suggested that the tipi itself opened to the northeast. The many ' . , . .

flecks o f paint found may have been face, 'body or .grave offering adornments, and a

painted wooden stake uncovered nearby was interpreted as the tipi tie-down stake. A

radiocarbon dating of ttie ,stake suggested a MASCA -corrected date 'of AD 1430 k 160 3

' I~

for the wheel and burial. Finally, Brumley presented several lines of Peasoning '%upporting

the possibility that the Ellis site, along wi th thi.rf&n'&er wheels he categd&ed as

similar p Ellis, should be identified with historic a n d prehistoric Blackfoot lndian b r i a l ~.

traditions. A*>

s

4.2.4 S,~TE C H R O N O L O G Y '

The mbst obvious general conclusion t o be 'drdwn from these 7excavations is that there

are indeed different types of Medicine Wheels with different functions. It might be much

easier ' to make sense o f the situation if any k ind of reliable chronology were available

5 Brumley s date for the Ellis slte is p r d a b l y the most ~el iable single da t~ng the& i s

- excepi for the simple Blackfobt burial structures which, are known to be h i s t o r t c ~ l ~ The

astronomical and dendrochroao~ogical d&es for B lgdHsrn and Moose Mountain m the * < .

range of 1750 AD are made doubtfil In fhe face' of the paucit) of ethnographic

informatfon and the depth bf burial of the m a j ~ r cairns. All of these dates might be

supported on the basis o f last-usage, but qthere i s nothing t o suggest thal

46- For example, Brink's conclusion that at least 3,000 years of continuity beliefs and rpractices are evident in petroglyph excavations r rink, 7 979).

, . , .

the final

i n rel~gious

4

- +

function(s) matched orginal -ones.- Brace began his lichenometry study by placing doubt

on fhe*&db&i-bon,dating5 b( Mi+ctrji~e by Calder and Moose Mountain by K e h o e due . . - . ?

,-+-:. .-. t o the possibiht~' t h a ~ - ( h e 'samples:% .. . ;ere d u e t o rodent activity (1987:22), and proceeded

t o &mon&te that lichenometni-'~qm't going t o solve the problem either (1987:108). . .

:;. b; ~ o $ T \ d a t i n g estimates tend to fall new the historic period, based mainly on . .

. surfaceeollixted t ~ a d e material;. T i i s not rdiable information, . - . however, considering the . ,

$robability bf ongoing visitations and, c8fenng< and also that the windswept sitt ihgs of

most Utes strarn many of the--assum&rons of soil deposition and stratigraphic dating i

techn~ques Beyond painstakmg archaeologrcal detectrve work, it seemi that the only hope ,%

for rst-abllshlng a ,working chidf ldogy for Medicine Wheels rests with some yet 9 w

und'iscovered dat!ng mt$hod, perhaps along the lines o f the therrnoluminescence 4

4.2.5 SlTE S T I N G S -

AS far a; 'hie settings of 'the,slt& are concerned, Brace has provided the best overall

summay in conjunction wi th hi;'sbdy of Saskatchewan boulder configurations:

" f i l th the. exception o f t ~ o ' , ~ i t e s [Ciles 'Circle and Dewdneyl all sites were comparable as they afford a minimum ?60 degrees o f view, are o n local . .

hejghts or secondary heights o f land, and are within three kilometres o f - permanent water ... The heights &ether with the degrees o f view may indicate that.' the occasion of each ; m ~ ~ u m e n f ' s construction was to give the builder(s) the best view of the country$de,. possibly for defense o r hunting consicieratidns,.. The adja'cency to permanefit :?water may suggest that the monuments'were constru&ed away from .the annoj&nce o f stinging o r b l i n g insects but within sufficient proximity t~ water. ... I t is m y , personal contention that the majority, if no t all,? o f the boulder mor?uments were constructed during the warmer seasons of the year ... The removal o f boulders from the sod in late fall o r early spring requires extreme force using a substantial lever ... In winter boulders are visible o n the plains only o n the most snow-free, windswept ridges; and are virtually ippossible to dislodge from the landscape. " (Brace l987:62)

Brace was referring to Medicine Wheels and other bou1der~'fnonuments in Saska'tchewan,

but h e comments appear to apply more generally to the full distribution of ' ~ e d i c i n e

M'heel sites.

01 the i 3 5 sites in the present study, there are 95 for which good setting data are

a\,ailable. These data clearly reinforce the observation that a high place wm the foremost

local site selection criterion:

- 3: o f the sites occupy the very peak of a hill;

- 38 are on the edge o i a river plateau;

- 16 are o n a'';lope of land; and

- only 4 are o n completely flat o r

Similarly, 45 s f the sites have an elevation drop-off of 61m (eight standacd 7,bm. contbur

intervals o n a' l:50,000 scale National Topographic Survey m'ap) within 5b0m of stie .

centre, indicating a preference for unusually steep slopes. Across the entire' sample there

doesn't appear t o be a strong preference in direction of view. About equally many have

excellent views in all directions as have better views in any parti&lar2irection - the n

exception is that only half as many prefer west as compared t o any other direct~on.

There also doesn't appear t o be a strong preference for type of terrain , ),

- 34 are at a major rrver valley edge, i

- 11 are at a stream valley edge,

- 6 are at 4 coulee valley edge, and > < 3 . - - 44 of the sites are further than 0 5km from a valley edge - . , A t .

, t

In terms of water supply, 54 of the 95 s~tes have only seasonal (late sprmg and

summer) water supplies v..thin 1 km. This strongly ,supports the springisummer usage

suggested by Brace above, and referred t o earlier with respect t o seasonal ~ubs is te tke

patterns. Finally, there is an average of 17 tipi rings within I k m of the sites - an '.; 1.

average which includes sites where t ipi ring information is very sketchy. ~ l t h o u g h .

contemporanelty is not proven, this figure is certainly high enough to suggest that 'fhere

might have been an association between tbe tipis and the Medicine Wheels. An

immediate conclusion wou ld be that .communal a~tivi t ies at Medicine Wheels are far more

plausible than uses by single person5 or small groups. However, as othkr factors cduld

account for the high numbers of tipi rings; that conclusion i h ' t safe y e t 4 B . 4 '

4.3 Tb Ceremonial' Theories

As was said earlier, it is most likely that the Medicine Wheels were assoikted with (some

aspect o f Plains ceremonial life. If true, the ceremony in question could easily be distinct ,

from an), of those b e m i discussed here, and could, as well, involve 'other activitiesi and -.-&

events. In fact, the m o r e unusual Medmne Wheel theor~es of the last two decades owe

t h e ~ r ex~stence largely t o the inability of known PIams ceremonies to account sat~sfactor~ly ' - - C for the boulaer configurations. This situation is not a license for wild :peculation, +.* '

k i

47- I t must b e remembered that this distribution may b e totally unljke an original' distribufion; the p l o w wou ld have removed most traces of Medicine Wheels f iom land 1

easily farmed.

48- Testing t ipi ring contemporaneity calibrations from similar sites without project.

' i, "7--.

using data o f this kind, combined w ~ t h zero " Medicine Wheels, wou ld an, excelfenf research

. . *

3

0 i e q n ' ...j 0

however because a great deal is Plains Indians and

difficult t o understand how all vestiges of Medlcine Wheel ceremonialism . c a d hawe 4

.- : s. e

drsappeared from the ethnographic r e c o d and modern ceremonialism. Overall, the~e'.!? -2 4 P *k. j .

clear obligation o n any researcher t o justify Ideas concerdkg Medlcine ~ I i e e l S kd th ' t he , -

available cultura! informatron '

4.3.1 BURIALICOMMEMOR~T~VE MONUMENT I

krom a'n archaeological pe rsph i ve , burial and commemorative sites are quite ,.distinct. It i;

reasonable t o expect that a significant burial might" have incorporated a commemorative . ceremony of some kind. but if a site contains n o evidence whatsoever ,o f human remains

' or internment then a burial function is d i f f iy lk t o support. Keeping that in mind, the

two distinct theories will nevertheless be treated together here because their discussion is

naturally rnterlaced by the available informat~on.

~ ru rn ie ) has demonstrated qurte satisfactorily that the Ellrs site contained a burial

J consistent with Blackfoot mortuary practices (1985). This is strong general support for the

. . . - burial monument theory. I n detail, however, Ellis stands almost alone amongst i the many

mvestrgatlons of central cairn and ring'areas in providing unambigu'o,us evidence in this

direcJlon, and there are some problsms with Brurnley's g roup ing o f ' similar s~tes in the +,

burial ,category. First of all, i t isn't clear from t h e 8 ethnographic 'accounts whether the ' ;.; simple .historic Blackfoot wheels which, Brumley associates with Ellis (Steel, St. Mary's,

. . Many Spotted Horses, E3gle Child, and Wolfchild) were meant as burials o r

+ .commemoratrves. Also, these wheels are all quite simple, and generally occur in low-lying 4 . 0(

places h~h ich aw unusual for the other Medicine Wheels - they suggest a piactice o f

burial or commea,oration at the place o f death rather than removal o f the corpse and . J '.

the t i p t o a high p lace) for ritual internment. Finally, investigation of nearby Medicine

heels such as Many' Islands Lake (which is ostensibly similar t o Ellis) revealed n o

evidence o f a burial (Quigg 1984:59)

Gwen the evrdence at hand, ~t IS still entirely pws ib le that the ~ l i i s site represents an

intrusive burial - someone laid t o rest there presumably for the spiritual significance o f

the Medicine Wheel which was already present. Keeping these doubts in mind, however,

and considering the w i n d s ~ e p t conditions at the Ellis site, it might be good fortune b

andior excellent technique that allowed evidence of . a surface burial t o be d i s t p e r e d at

all. Even moreso, the Ell is results make it incumbent t o entertain the hypothesis that

most Medicine Wheels were originally burial sites like it:" boulder features adorning a tipi

with a corpse i k i d e . Over months and years natural processes would remove the human

. - . .

* . .. ,$

.. , , . .

74 ..

... and tipi remains, a i d over centuries many o f the central' tipi rings would grow Into large,

central cairns as passing 'tribes added boulders out o f respect. The less elahorate,'and

unusually situated historic Medicine ,Wheels could then be explamed b),, cultural change tm .

the historrc penod Such an hypothesrs conforms well wrth most o f the qxcaLfatton results

t o date. j t would be d <worthwhile- archaeolog~cal research project to t o l l o ~ s k h an

' hypothesis further, K i t i t is beyoird the scape o f this study.- -: * .. <

.. ,

All things considered, the m a i k force ,of ~ rumley ' ; result is to' 'c5unter th r arghment thd< - . - , , , *:,. the. simpler, historic . . B r ~ k f ~ ~ t wheels a r e a ' modern aberration:' of n rnoi.r a n r ~ r n t tradit~on,

@ > .-.I . ,. t o which f h e BJackfoot have.-.added burial and ~ o m m e m o r a t i v d ~ practices. Thr Ellis site, r -

I . , 'which -is a more 'typkal:' and . :complex1 Medicine Wheel, compels considrratio:~ of hurral

and commemorqwe theories o n a much w d e r scale As well the sheer nurnt)t.r 01 $"'

Blackfoot and Piegan accounts of. commemorat~ve structures of t h ~ s h n d ~ i ) u l t l tcrlci to

support a more ancient, or at 4e&i genuine, tradjtion than the few ronf~rrneti hrstor~t al . . ones can In short, thel Ell~s srte mrght still be a spec~al case (an lntruslve bur~dl) b u t

the o p t ~ o n of tts bemg the most general case (an o r ~ g ~ n a l burrat) looms large

Beyond the Elhs s ~ t e and the few h~storrc Blackfoot s~tes a'nd ,the doubts regard~ng thctn

I ~ ' . I S rnteresting that the only other Medicrne -Wheel for whrch an orrgmal burral tunctron

is certam is also certainly a spe~ ia l case. I refer t o Clen Ewen Although the report~ng I\ H A

scant, Clen Ewen apparently contained many burial pits and a bur~al chamber In the 1grn

diameter central mound (Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey srte form, Kehoe 19-1 1811)

Glen Ewen is a special case because it is notrceably larger than most M c d ~ c ~ n e M 1 k e l l .. .

because it is the only one const~ucted ent~re l )~ of earth, and-because so man\ ' burldl5

(25-30) are involved. b m e r e ~ ~ a r c h e r s have used these distinctions to suggest that Glen . -.

Ewen, belongs ' t o the ?astern -mound buildjpg cultures ra th rk than the, Plains per se

(Quigg 1984:5), while others have been quite happy to conside; it a Medicine Wheel.

even t o the point of checking i t for astronomical alignments (Kehoe 1972:183, Kehoe 6;

Kehoe 1979:23). Clen Ewen was accepted here for reasons of its general morphology, it3

situation in the middle of ~ e d i c i n b Wheel 'territory', and the evidence that at least

several other Medicine Wheels contain original earthen mounds.. beneath their central cairns

reg. Majorville, Manyberries, British Block, Halbrite, v i l s o n Russell, and Rumsey). Depending .I.,., . ?-.

f: o n how Glen Ewen's special nature is. interpreted, it conservative support, at i

least, for the burial theory, .

Of other excavat~ons, ~ncludrng those reported second- and th~rd-hand after amateur work , i

or vandahsm, human remains of some kmd have been obtamed or ~nferred at Antelope

r- . .. , . 75 ",

,: :,+

H i l l , Halbrite, Plenty,, Jelly Ranch, Rumsey. Grassy lake, Min ton T ~ r t l e ~ M a j o r v i l l e , ~ u ~ h i o n , - I

-4 w win Peaks, ~anyb& ies , -and Buffalo Bird. 0 1 these, on$ Halbrite reprqsentr a fair6 solid :

-&e. Thc bx ia ls at 'Twin peaks and Manybehies are; piobably intrvsiv,e. Those at Grassy

, ~ s k e were 4 bu~& in a nearby cairn rather &an in t t i e wheel itself. At, Majorville, .&

: Calder found only- "2 few bone fragments (which ! are lake '..consistent w j thk ritual 1 I

. . . . . , . . ,.. , . ' I --. ; self-mutilation, for example) rather than e&&ce' of. . . a burial At the rest,, the info&tion :. - 1s too w&ak or vague t o judge The posRive inforrnation'should be balanced with the .

i

. . ~ p a r e n t absence 6f human remains in excavations 6f such importari'f. sftes as Big Horn, " ' , . . ;.-

$undial Hill and British Block. As an aside, it might be interesting tha'fiin this limited .'::"

sampling there is a high correspondence between site; with eartken mounds under their 'i +- ,: -

+ . ' .-

central cairns and those for which burials have been reported. ~ h i s may even support i: .. A*

Forbis's c o n v ~ c t ~ o n thar large-carrned structures In high promrnent places were 7

"unquest~onable" bur~al structures (1970 137Y These sites- support :the idea of the use o f ,- . .

. . Medicine Wheels as burial monuments, even :if they cannot i o n f i r p that this was the .-.::+; .i

- < .,m

original function. , .. . . - z

_ . 1

, -e Another level o f information regarding possible burial- and commemorative use of Medicine

Wheels IS obtained through consideration- of the e f f i o and entryway features attached to .

?' many o f them. .Some discussion of the construction of human effigies out of boulders in . .

connection with commemorative traditions was presented in chapter 3. Human effigies,

appare'ntly male, are attached to British Block, Roy Rivers, Ross, and Rumsey. It is 4.

probably quite significant that in each o f these cases the overall configuration appears t o

be damag~d , particularly as though boulders had been removed from an original f

configuration to form the effigy. This ,argues strongly that any burial o r commemoration at

these sites was a later intruston o n some original function. It also raises questions with * .

:regard to the entryway features at other sites, since even a cursory examination o f them . . demonstrates morpholo$ical and orientational characteristics in common with the effigies,

t _ and possibly direct li+s in the entrywayteffigy superposition at the animal effigy sites,

,;' 'such as as Minton ~ut-t le. The shared characteristics suggest that the entryways were, in

some way, an abs;;ict or idealized expression of a human effigy, but the implications are . .#

, , not clear. It IS a fascinating problem without any easy answers

As an *additional inferential form o f evidence here; the overall distri5ution of Medicine :

%'heels argues slightly in favour of commemorative and burial t h ~ r i e s against all o f the

other ceremonial theories except perhaps the petroform theory. This is because in several . , , locations the Medicine Wheels are so densely packed it doesn't seem reasonable that

76 * . I L-

n e w annual-event-oriented structures wou ld have been bui l t Instead of alteratron of existrng

ones The no t ion o f graveyard r commemorat ive park s e w ? more plausible ?he same

th~nklnga can be extended t o favour the commemot%t~ve theory over burial since it 1s

unlikely that corpses wou ld have been convenient t o these lof ty cemetarles The Idea of *

pedest;ian nomads making practical use b f prefer-red burial locations seems unwield,,,

especially when the mo re mobi le lndians w h o built the historic ~ P d i c i n e Wheels L

apparently per formed their burial or commemorat ion at the place o f death. The graveyard . . I I . .'

idea might work, given' centuries o f local habitation dnd a decimated modern distribution

of Medic ine Wheels, bu t it is unlikely. Furthermore, the inferred seasonality of Medicine

Wheel locations, as discussed in earlier. also j ig i ts the viability of the burral theor),, ,and

even constrains commemorat ion t o an annual activity. ii h u u l d be rernembered. . & w w e r .

that all o f these observations are based o n modern logic and circumstanc-es, and ma):

no t be reliable. The best evidence is f r om excavations

4.3.2 SUNITHIRST DANCE STRUCTURE

Wllson (1381) has p r o v ~ d e d such a tho rough and objective account of the Sun arid Thlrql c

Dance r~tua ls and thew sjgniflcance t o Medlc lne Wheel s tud~es that it needn t t ~ t , dnal\7etl

further here. In brief, the support he finds is very strong o n symbolism but short 011

hard evidence. _ . , .

Taking a step back, logic argues a strong association between the Sun ,Dance and the

Medic ine Wheels, even before the symbolic and stru&.wal evidence is c h s i d e r e d . The

logical po in t is that the Sun Dance is clearly the single greatest ceremonidl locus of;.all

Plains tribes: given that the energy required t o bu i ld . . the kledicine &heels they must 1'- , .

have had a similar importance ~ e I l 4 ~ in the mo re rpsrricted area of the Plains that t h e

'occupied W ~ t h n o p roo f o f a temporal or cultural d ~ s s o c ~ a t ~ o n of the Med rc~ne L17heel

builders and the Sun Dance performers, the cu i rsnt academic sense of relative continuity

in Plains prehistory argues circumstantially for a b o n d between t he t w o Taken as the frrst

step, this circumstantial b o n d is then wel l supported b ) ~ the gYmbulic and structural <;

evidence at hand.

As ment ioned above, the concentrations in the distribution of the Medicme Wheels,,

argues softly against the SuniThirst Dance association. So does the relative setting, except

in the unlikely situation that the Medic ine Wheels served some remote function. for t h ~

49- Al though Wilson argues qui te correct ly that i t is ou r mode rn perspectives thdt make

us think that a Med ic ine Wheel shou ld have been important t o its makers, whereds i t may n o t have been (Wilson 7987:3681.

rh *

Sun Dance,. such as timing Gwen the basic material differen& between Medicine Wheels - . , and known .Sun Dance styuctures, ~t becomes difficult t o imagine that anything resembling

the modern Sun Dance ceremony could have beep perfdrrned at a Medicine Wheel. such'

practical mnslderatrons serve, t o weaken the case presented o n symbolic and structural

grounds 3 .

' I

4i3.3 VISION QUEST ~ T R U C T U R E ' .* .*

There isn't much that, can be said about the Vision Quest Structure theory, because so

ltttle i s really known about the vlsion quest The setting and materials are all 'that

Medicme W h ~ e l s have In Common with known. ,vrsion quest structures The volume of

rocks and sheer sue of many Medlcroe Wheek makes ~t very difftcult t o believe that

they were created b)l a srngle man in quest of a personal vision, even ~f some men

mrght have used Medrcrne Wheels for such purposes later As well the number o f tip1

rrngs nearby many Me&ane Wheels suggests (~nconclusrvely) that groups used the sites, 3,

n o t . indlvrd~als . 4

4.3.4 BUFFALO CULT STRUCTURE 7 .

~ h r strongest evidence in s u p p o ~ of the buffalo cu i i structure theory 1s that the general . -

d~str ibut lon of Med ic~ne Wheel srtes o n the Northwest Plains seems t o wt;h the general I"

distributmn of known major buffalo kill sites rather well Wickers 1986:6). Jn addition, the '

high situation of Med~c ine Wheds would have made them q u ~ t e su~table for observing

the i no t~ons of herds and perhaps even sigRalling'inrtructions in a majore - . hunt Calderrs

discover), of Iniskims at Majorville, and the suggested iconographic similar$ies between

Medic~ne Wheels and bison petroforms such as rlbstones (Forbis 1970.37,' MacGregor

1959), should be considered more intriguing than convincing. And once. again, the - . ... s .

cbkcentratiom in the distr;bution .,pf Medicine Wheels argues against ' the buffalo cult idea. ',

I

4nother piece of evidence that might support the buffalo cult theory' is that many o f - the

Medicine Wheels, especially those that have entryway features, resemb~h known buffalo ' . , '

.. ,

corrals in 'some iashion (eg. Symington 1971:4,5) . However, association'S on similar shape: .,

dus t be balanced wi th the fac't that such Medicine Wheel shapes can be better matched , , :,-4

by c o m r n i Plains Indian 'k$?lole' altars (Hall 1985:5), a 'solstice -symbolr f rom the

Cahokia Woodhenge site in the eastern states (Williamson 1975:77), and megaliths in

Spain (~&nagro et a1 1963188) and in Scotland (Heggie 1982:119). XI1 o f such associations

arc too g l ib

The bc~fialo cult theor)( would be served best - by a detailed analysis of the physical

i

pr'qxlmity and contemporanelty of known major k i l l sites t o know^ M e d u n e Wheels

There m ~ g h t also .be an oppo r t un~ t y t o fmd archaeolog~cal support fo r sympathet~c mag!(

ritlrais such 'as f ir ing arrows at the sypbol ic bison :heart' represented b), the central

, . 4.3.5 ' PETROFORM . <

. - I n all, the lest -can b e sald about the pet ro form t h e o v T h ~ s 1s especially t r~e- ;~nc t , the

general :form of *the theory (that they were plctographrc sites) +could reasonabl\ b r

expanded t o Include evetythlng f rom pure grafflttl t o games such as the ~ c o n o g ~ a p h ~ c ,tll\ . . slmilar fox and gobse game orj the Pawnee H o o p and Pole gamF (Lowre 196'3 1 i s ) Wi thou t thk discovery o f some pictographic 'Rosetta Stone' ,site or better knoGledgct 01

&P the relative clustering o f pictographic sites versus Medicine &'heels, no t much, c-an t ) t h

"2 . done here. . :

4.4 The Observatory he or^

The diagram i n FIGURE -'5 indicates Eddy's observatory interpretation o f the Moosc . . Mounta in Medic ine U'heel. Besides a summer solstice sunbise alignment, Eddy claimed

observat~ons of t h e hellacal rise o f Aldebaran, Rlgel and SIFIUS The p:fectq of precession ".

were u t~ l l zed t o date t h ~ s and other Medlclne Wheels accordrng t o achlevlng the best

alignments w ~ t h the celestral targets

It isn't necessary * t o p r o v ~ d e a full exam~nat lon of the astronomical observatov tl;-c)q

here The basrc statlst~cs have been pr&ented at least four t ~ m e s (Ovenden 1981 L'ogt

l 983a Zu~derw l jh 1984, Haack I987a. 1987b) since Edd), s ploneermg papers ( 1 974 1 '177a)

' i n this area. The results unanimously agree that Eddy's alignments are .wel l -expected by

chance, whether o n e deals w i t h individual ~ e d i c i n e Wheels or large groups. Since, Eddy's #

papers several o ther authors have extended -h is work (Kehoe. & Kehoe 1976, . ., 1979, Fries F .

1980, Robinson 1?80), yet none o f these have incorporated the least statistical

methodolog), . In fact, the eager ability w i th which alternate astronomical targets have twcn , proposed for Eddy's alignments (Robinson 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985) has served t o

considerably weaken the original speculation, since the alternates demonstrate h o u c+\ily

chance alignments occurso . The recent defense of the o b s e n ~ a t o v theory 'has rested o n f

50- In fact, Robinson (7989) st i l l manages to find g o o d alignments at the crit ical sit.& after admit t ing that he a n d Eddy h a d neglected t o cbrrect for atmospheric exfinction. H e is also ab le t o f i nd alignments when h e changes the viewing ~ d i r e c t j m s ;omptetei).. hypothesizing that observing was done f rom site centers cather than across them. I t

,

demonstrates h o w sympathetic an indef ini tely large g roup o f possible targets can t)e

. .. - . . . figure 5. OBSERVATORY INTERPRETATION O F M O O S E MOUNTAIN

The idea is that observe6 would sit or stand at the cairns A-f and observe celestial risinglsetting phenomena over the cenkal cairn or other exfernal cairns. The problems with this interpre fa tion are numerous. For instance, topography and cai settling have not been taken info account, the effects of precession have been us f d ' to find an optimal date of use, the diameters of all of the cairns do not suggest or, allow precision, and

''

there is no explanation for the great many additional pointing directions the hypothesis must consider. The figure is taken from Eddy 1974:1037.

80

the unjustifled assertion that the few sites where possible ahgnments occur are somelion ',

special 'astronom~cal' sites, and therefore canr\ be. compared t o the rest (Kehoe h hqhoe

1987). Unfortunately, even i f such an 'assertion. were true, the statlst~cs are still not

supportive. ~

. . .. . ,Wi thout us even looking at the sky, we c& demonstrate that the observatory theory is

' .

- n o t something that applies to t he* whole population of Medicine Wheels, at least not in

the simple way ii was prpposed. First, a Gmpu te r overlay of all the spokes from all the

sites (FIGURE 6 ) appears t o provide an essehtially even spread o f spoke d~rec t~ons It

would be difficult t o justify a cluster analysis for the observatoy theory o n such a visual

inspection of the data - clusters may be there, but there seems to be far too much

'noise' t o support the hypothesis which Eddy put forth. This argument assumes t h ~ t a - small set of tal;get objects a,nd methods was common t o all sites, but tli13 dssulnl)t~ori i\

absolutely essektial t o iny testable form of the ob;ervator\ theor),. Second and more

,indirectly, i f the; observatory theory were correct then one would expect that Med~trnc.

Wheel builders w w l d be careful not t o allow an).thing t o obstruct t l ~ e ~ r v ~ e u ot t l ~ t

target p o ~ n t s on the horizon Yet an overlay of all nearby . t ~ p ~ nngs from all \ r t t \

(FIGURE 7 ) d~splays heavy concentrations of t ~ p ~ rlngs In the c r~ t~ca l vlewtng r o ~ r i d o r ~

proposed by Eddy. This i s only circumstantial evidence because the contemporaneit\, of

the tipi rings has not been established, but it places the obligation o n the proponents

o f the observatory theory to demonstrate that "a lack of contemporaneity exists.

. , .

O n another 'level, although it has been demonstrated that basic astronom~cal con'c'epts . . ,

were p e s e n t ' i n the earliest papers about Medicine .-., Wheels, the actual obsen~aton, thew>,

was an import t o the Plains f rom Europear! megalithic acchaeoastronomy. A key detail is

that the precision of the European observatiom .w&'-supposedfy obtained through the use

o f distant foresights. These were objects , o r landmarks o n the horizon which, like a i'

gunsight, pinpointed the observation In question. Without such firresights there isn't

enough precision to 'catch' something like a solstice or make bthdr 'useful' astronomical .,;

observations. Thus the lack of foresights in the ob'servatory theor)# for the Medicine

Wheels severely limits their proposed calendric function. As we l l , the sheer size o f the

central and outer cairr15 at key Medicine Wheels reduces the precision even further. Eddy 55

was confusing the whole scientific process here when he staied that his results would be

better "if the cairns weren't so disturbed" (1974:1038). In the end, it is illogical to

consider foresights as an option for Medicine

50(cont'd) when coupled with l o w resolution

Wheels - natural horuon fores~ghts are

and the effects of precess~on

Figure 6. OVERLAYED , ,. SPOKE FEATURES r'

This diagram disp1;ys 227 spokes from 46 sites. If the observatory theory were true, one would expect to see pronounced clustering of spokes in the particular directions of observation. There would be some dispecsion in the clusters due to differences of latitude and observing dates, but not enough to account for the spread here. On a purely" visual inspection of such data, which is all that the proponents of the observatory theory have offered, Ihe theory is impossible to support. 7

1 - .

. - ., figure 7. OVERLAYED TIPI RING FEATURES

a'.

A plot of 131 tipi rings from 55 sites. If the obs&arory .theorf were true, and if the tipi .rings surrounding the sites were built by- those doing the observations, there should be majors gaps in the diqtribution of the tipi rings, which would allow observations to the horizon ih the directions of interesLsAs it is, tbgm do not appear to be any gaps in the directions suggested by obsewatory theory. Hponents; standing tipis would have hidden the risinglsetting phenomena of choice.

8 P

I

<

excluded because the primary site selection criterion was apparently a hil ltop location,

whlch doesn't su~ t prckrng up -drstant features along specific slghtlmes Artifrcral horrzon

loresrghts (such as dlstanc calms) also don't make sense because spokes and c a m s

lvokrng up the hill toward s~ te ' center tend t o po~n t ' skyward (OF downwards, seen in the

opposlte dlrectlon), not toward the ho r~zon

The ovetdft Medrcrne Wheel d ld r ibu t~on also argues agarnst the observatory theory, srnce,

~f the main functron of ~ e d r c i n e Wheels was calendrlcal there would be n o need ' for so

many caiehdrlc '~nstruments' In some of the areas where the sites are clustered closely

together Also, the numbers o i tlpr nngs nearby and the sheer mass o f many sites

suggest group occupations. This is not consistent with the "built by a single person in a

ddy" (Fctdy 1974.1041) idea dr the use by "a kn&tedgeable few who climbed to the

site in June to mark the d>y '"of the summer - :solsticeM ,. a (ibid:1042) as the observatory e

theory contends

A srgniftcmt determmant In the astronorn~cal altgnment question, and one whrch has

b ; apparen€t7 escaped the attention o f all researchers t o date, is that the spokes o f

individual Medicine Wheels sites ar; not ran.+mly oriented. After dancing at the angular

separations o f spokes of % few Medicine, Wheels it $hould be readily apparent that one

would have to favour the hypothesis that t ~ e y were consciously s p e d apart over the 5 . , - . .

hypothesis that they were $hinted randomly. There are far t o o few .. . pairs of neighboring .--. . " . , r i

spokes which are eith.er very close together or unusually far apart5.1. Any 'theory based

o n the relatived orientations o f the spokes must account for this. With the observatory

theor),. for instance, it becomes difficult t o suggest a set of celestial targets that would r

result in well-spread spokes. The Sun and M o o n show a generally res t r i c t4 range of

motion, .particularly so in the case of their critical points, and any selection procedure of

stars or planets based o n their celestial characteristics (eg - (brightn'ess') would no t result I ?I

o in well-spread spoke orientations52. The sets of astronomical targets' suggested for 4 - . .

Medicine Wheels so far d o not account for this phenomenon. 70' resolve the matter, '.'

a F i

proponents of the observatory theory would li&e t o come up with an ~ppropr ia te set o f ,

targets, and supply cultural reasons for the spread. As such reasons would necessarily be i i artificidl, they would tend to decrease the credibility of the theory.

5 1 This information wi l l be presented quantitatively in chapter 7. >

52- There are additional complications h e y , such as that ;my set o f randomly selected stars wou ld tend to concentrate their rising and setting points toward the East and West, respectively. This only exacerbates the prob lem o f well-spread spokes.

On the other hand, there is pdma facie

toward celestial events, although none of

evidence that ~ e d i c i m e Wheels were oriented

this evidence has been presented or analysed

by observatory theory proponents t o date. I wil l supply three'examples of the . information. First, a survey of the entryway and effigy features amongst Medicine Wheels

shows a very strong concentration o f orientations toward the southeast quadrant (FIGURE

8). Second, the two sites Rinker a# Red Deer, only a few kilometers apart, are (at first

similar beyond' coincidence i osii ion and orientation (FIGURE 9). Third, ).

ethnographic accounts of the historic lackf foot Medicine Wheels state (accurately) that ,

they were ckdinally oriented, and a comment related to that: i.

"There was one po in t about 'medicine wheels' upon which all informants were in unanimous agreement: the radiating lines had n o religious or

. symbolical significance" (Dempsey l956:18 l ) .

must be read in light of this fact. Cardinal orientation may not be exclting ( to us - or

them?), but it i s significant. It establishes that orientatiqn was a conscinus aspect oi

Medicine Wheel thought processes and construction in the histor~c period. All three levels

of this orientational evidence have been overlooked because it can't on it's own prove

precision,..in' orientation, which has apparently been the desired result. On the other Iiarld

however,' it doesn't disprove that precise orientation took phce, and does'show that ,' .

Medicine Wheels were oriented - even i f only approximately. Clearly, this is' v e v ' strong . .

support for the most general sense of the .2bsen/atory theory, as much as it is for the

, gnomon , thedry.

In previous researc6 o n Medicine Wheels there has not been a rational breakdown of

which celestial objects and events may be plausibly included o n a list of possible. targets.

Yet the Plains ethnoastronomy discussed in chapter 3 lays out some clear guidelines as

t o what the targets might have been. Solar observations, and particularly the horizon

aspects, were deeply ingrained. Certainly solstice and equinox rising and setting point, e

must ,be included in a set of targets. The widespread use of lunar calendar3 suggests thv

M o o n would have 6een the next choice. This is particularly important in -respect t o the

ethnographic evidence that the Sundance ceremony was coordinated between the solstice , and full don, so that*c&e 'could be seen rising while the other set. However, with the

.Moon's complex orbit there are at least 41 distinct points on the horizon that might

have een of interest, so accepting the M o o n as a target begins t o ve the preckion 4. very important. The planets, and particularly Venus and Mars, would likely be the next

m&t important targets. The very deep root; of Venus cults on the Plains (Linton 1926) . > .

, Bu-ggest that it ,was intensely observed. Unfortunately it i s impossible t o define k h e r r

85 . *

Figure 8. S O M E ENTRYWAY AND EFFIGY SITES

There are about 15 Medicine Wheels which display. an entryyay or an effigy feature, and by far the maFority of these are arrayed in* the southeast quadrant. This might suggest viewing of the setting summer solstice sun, for instance, but the spread of the southeast orientations cannot support anything but general and - impreese observations. Shown here are (clockwise, starting from upper left) Anderson 1, ~nderson 2, Sundial Hill, ROSS, and. (in the centre) Miner # l .

Figure 9. T H E RINKER A N D RED DEER SITES

~ i n i e r is about 6km due west of Red Deer, both sites having essentially identical setting characteristics on high plateaus overlooking the Red Deer River. The apparent similarity in the design and orietiiation of the sites is striking. These two sites are close enough and potential!y similar enough to provide good discriminatory tests between the orientation and template theories. Unfortunately, the data available for Red Deer are not sufficiently

J reliable fo allow such tests at this time.

i

these target pornts might have been wrthout ;r precise knowledge of when the . 8

observatrons took place The Same goes for the stars Consir$enng the eftect5 of

precessron, the lack o f a Medrcine Wheel chronology, dnd the apparent lack of lilterest ,

r In srngular stars In Plains Blhnoastronom), rt ts wresponsible even t o suggest the use of , * - :

stellar targets Making a lrst o f stars o n the bass of a modern crlterron such .as , ..:? e 'bnghtness 1s srmply not reasonable The resultmg allowable- target IISI 15 therefore -short

- the crttlcal points of the Sun and, f f the preclston surve\ data

polnts or the Goon

- 4.5 The Signpost Theory - , -

The ethnograph~c background t o the srgnpost theory has been presented In chapter 3 11

should be noted that the roadmap aspect5 of thls theon (porntrng to trarls camps kills * 1 w

etc ) i s somewhat drstrnct from the 'Irternap aspects (pornting t i ) great events 111 d

person s lrfe or perhaps f rom-where mourne; came) and both are d ~ s t ~ n c t from thc

terrrtorial marker possib i l i t~ Several different levels have to be ,argued at once For

Instance the general d1;tributlon of * ~ e d i c l n e N1heels argues sttongl) agarnst thc roadmal)

Idea because there are too mani hl.edrcine blheels In some locat~ons and too few in #

others

In addl t~on the roadmap Idea 1s made tlntenabie In situatrons where the Medicine \/L1ht~c>l

\\as put in a hcgh locatron but not the hrghest since there are many examples 01. ,

spokes w h ~ c h are going uphlll and therefore would lose the~r usefulness for 1)orntrng to

> drstant locations. Frnall) bo th the roadmap and lrfemap rdeas h a w d~fficultres 141th t l ~ v

orrentatronal srmrlaritres of sites iihe Rinher and Red Deer and the gener'ai n r~cnta t~ons o f

the effrgtes and entryways as ment~oned above because wrdely separated srtes should not \

pornt in similar drrections b

4.6 The Geometry Theory

The Ceometr) theor) states that Medicrne LZheer features and shapes \vercx drtcrm~ric.cl 1 ) )

geometrrcal principles and that some standard unrt of length ma) h a w beer1 (1ic.d lo

see h o n this might have \\orL.ed Ovenden s (1981 306) ar+&.ns & the b ? o o s f s klountdlrl ,

confrguratron 1s sho\\,n In FIGURE 10 If such an analysrs were true the frgurtxs \\auld

presumably have been lard out 1 ~ 1 t h some simple post and rope .arrangement

The dnh d~rect ethnographrc e\,~dence for the geometr) theon 15 the br-arcdl bufidlo

pound mentioned in chapter 3 (Frison 1978:120) . After t h ~ s the theory restr almost 6 . , . <

k - ,

Figure 10. CEO ETRICAI INTERPRETATION OF MOOSE MOUNTAIN

The idea here is that the ostensibly non-circular shapes of many Medicine Wheel rings can be explained if the sites had been carefully laid out according to geometrical principles. There are three major problems with such interpretations: I . the shapes have always been interpreted in two dimensi~nal plan form, ignoring the third dimension to the site; 2. the enormous flexibility of the-geometrical principles toward accommodating most shapes precludes most simple tests of the theory; and 3. there is no ethnographic foundation nor cultural explanation for such activities. The figure is taken from Ovenden

'

lWl:322.

-<,

89

completely o n the cornposrtronal evrdence which doesn't grve rt much cultpral rredrbrlrt\ b

Fu&ermore rt IS very drffrcult t o understand why anyone desrrmg t o do g e o r n e t ~ for 11,

o w n sake w o u M have chosen the Mcdrcrne Wheel srter A Prgh k c a l l o n IS h e for

spmtual reasons, but s~ tes draped over the peak o f a htll . and somctrmes dest endrng

raprdly d o not easily admrt geometrtcal practices The geo rne tb that hash been p r o p o w t i

requrres flat surfaces As wel l the geometrically-rnterpreted srtes drs-pJn~ .veQs fek~ spccrd b

features at the presumabl) s ~ g n i f ~ a n t focal pornts of the geometr) rnterrrnp that s i r ( h r

pornts may be imagrnar), Finally, al though the simple geornetr~cal forins p ro l )o red (flai'

crrcte oval ellrpse cwcle) seem qurte d ~ s t ~ n c t there IS enough flexrb~lrt\ In - the adlustn~c~rlt - o f their major parameters t o accommodate a 'match' t o most regular shapes IUSI III

the situation w ~ t h the obsen~atory stellar targets, there are srmpl) t o o man\ c) l )portulr~i i~c~\

for success by acc~den t - O n the other hand the ev~den f srrnrlarrt) In ,the d~mensrons ot site ttJaturc>\ suc IP ds I I I I ~ \

is cons~stent wr th ,some fo rm of measurement A rough overla\ o i all rings t rom all \ ~ t c , \

(FIGURE 11) s,hows a h e a q concentratron at the small drameters tvptcal of trpr rrngs dnd

then what 'mrght possrbl) be rnterpreted as quanta_ rn rncreasrng drmens10n5 gorng f u r t l ~c~ i

ou t It wou ld rndrcate that a formal test of drmens~onal perrodrc~t l m r @ ~ t)e w o r t h ~ h ~ l ~

As well the non-random spoke d~strrbutron ment toned above mou ld be consrstcnt ~ r t h

stylrst~c o r other formal constrarnts that m ~ g h t b e related t o geometr) I

4.7 The Gnomon Theory . The general form of the Gnomon theor) \\,as the frrst thrng that occurred t o rn t , 1zl1f.11 I

saw rn) frrst plan maps ot hiledrcrne Wheels In 1979 M y studres at the t ~ m r had b w n

centered o n Northwest Coast lndran ethnoastronomy and as part o f thrs a partrcular

rnterest had ,g rown In the cosmo log~ca l s~gnrfrcance -of t o t em poles ( l ' og t 1983b Barhcdu

1964) ana the svmbolicall\-related shaman poles of Srber~a (Harva 1938 8 3 1 ) It u a \

rmmediatel) apparent t o m e that e v e w b o d ~ , eke wig --considerrng Medrcrnt? - bI1heel\ I ~ I onl! -> ,

t11.o dimensions. whereas rt seemed that rtjan) of the sites werp arrayed a r o u ~ ~ d ,I c t > r~ t r , ~ l

t ~ p ~ (indrcated b) the trpr-ring-sued central 'rrng) and all the rest had d central ra in)

11 hrch might have senled t o ' support a po le T h ~ s crrcunistantral evrdenc P \\a5 rt.rnttrrt t . c l

b\ more oi the same \vhen o n readlng the frrst papers o n hledicrne M'lirieCs lhdt c o ~ l l t i

be tound I learned that there \bas archaeologrcal evrdence for a posthqle beneath t 1 1 ( ~

central calm a: Big Horn (Eddi 1974 1035 ~ v h o took t h ~ s t o rnd~cate a ole u w d t o

prnpolnt h o r ~ z o n observatrons) Also all Med rone \it'heel central calms w e r r rentrdll\

depressed (Kehoe 19'9 39 - ~ v h ~ c h Kehoe rnterpreted as collapsed bu r~a l cavrtres or

. .

Figure 11. OVERLAYED CENTRAL R I N G FEATURES \

C

rings from 54 Medicine Wheel sites. Looking closely, it may be (or imagine) orientational trends in the non-circularity of these rings, the average radii.\ Without further a n a l y ~ i ~ , however, these are only

suggestions: suppori for the geometry theory must come from careful analysis.

w' . I .

% p o t t ~ n g , bu t w h ~ c h also could rndich; thp removal of a pd le) A\ d e l l ao Pthnopr& l~c

comment concerning the a l l -~rnpwtant po l e o f the sundance lodge was that "the trec at

the centre o f the sundame lodge .makes people lo& up" (Kehoe. 1977-9:) Here wd\

the same conceptual orrgln d the tbtern poli and shaman pqles, ' and ~t srerned tot ,

coincidental that so many elements o f Wor ld PolC53 symbo l~sm seemed t o f i t tht. '

Medicine Wheels. The sum of this p r i m a y evidence was no t convincing, but .it \va\ - - .

,(I compellrng enough t o lnrt~ate t b lnqulries that eventually led t o this stud)

Other rndrrect evrdence for the c6ntral po le theory i s manrfold Frrst the pet,ple ~ v l ~ c _ ~ '

bui l t the stone' rings were pedestrran nomad-yho carrred around wr th them the pelt.\ O I

their tipis. Poles were their greatest and bulkiest possessions. i t has been shown - thd; IIIP

cairns ma), h a v e g rown over t ime, and th( i cou ld be interpreted as the addit ion of n ~ \ \ . "

boulders each year t o re-secure the ,poles Also the e f f ~ g ~ e s f ound at M e d ~ c t n e Wher.1

sltes o r ~ncorpora ted rnto them ar+e apparently always human males turtles and ~ n a k e \

(see Appendrx I for deta~ls) Human effrgres are wel l -known to b e assoc~aied w t h t l i ta

Creator supposedly rmpresslons remarning i rorn h ~ s creatlon of the ?orlcb Turtles and

snakes are b o t h rntimatel) related t o the symbolrsm o f the W o r l d Pole~spnn the Plarns

9 turtles In part~cular for carnrrng the po le o n therr backs I ~ h e Atlas The re foe creatrng a

turt le ef f igy ou t o f boulders in some h igh place in combinat ion w i th a central po le I S a

logical codp le t ron of that syrnbohc expression In assoriatton w t h whatever ceremonles

were enacted there The most ovenvhelmrng mferer)tial evidence fo r the g n o m o n comes

f r om the events of the Sun Dance The d e t a i k d rituals wrth respect t o the se lect~on

p repara t~on and o rec t~on o t th& po le and the enorm6us ~nteract lon ~t had w ~ t h the -

L ceremonres themselves convey a significance completel\, drstrnct trorn a mere ar th~tectura l

cen te rpece ~ r g u a b l y the Sun Dance lodge ~tse l f Lvas created f o r the po le

The idea af the gnomon theory is clear, but ho\\, tvould such a syrnbol~c e n t q have 1

h a n i i e s t e d itself i n the overall structure of the sites, and for what reason? The problem

/ \\,ith manifestation is that even if there was a po le , there-. is nct necessity that rt should

Interact w t h or determrne other site character~stics The rdea that ~nteractrons ma) have

taken place IS supported f r o m hto sources Frrst ethnograph~c accounts o f Plarns Sun- , I

Dance events are v e n strong o n aspects of sun gazrng and danrrng In physrcal '\-\

assocratron wrth the central po l e The lodge tzas the Suns lodge and rts rrsr t o thr.

-

5 3 - The deep a n d various man~festat ions o f the Wor ld Pole i n Plarns thought ~ ~ r r c ~n t r oducec i ~n chapter 3 For a nearby parallel, the anclent a n d w~desp read roo t< o f the l l o r l d Pole ~n connect ion ~ t l t h solar cults a n d sw, symbol ism tn S1ht .n~ a n d the f ~ r ! ~ s i

are t raced by M a r t y n o ~ 179881

, - - nest atop the central pole was accompanied bv conkuous gazing at it ( w o o d 1980:167).

.' , In applrcat~on to the Medrcrne Wheels, this act d sighting, i f along the' pole, X k d d : .

have requ~red motron around rt as tlw sun rose, something that c w l d have determined

specrfrc pornts of reference along fk circumference. The gnomon shadaw its& may have

been used for thrs Certarnly the pr~jectran of lrght and shadows . s was pa& of known Sun

Uante operatrons as the frrst sunllghf t o plerce the lodge healdh a! the foot of the

central pol? was a crucral event Thrs relates well to Elk River's ,atcount of Big Horn as .1_-

such a lodge and how the culture hero Sweet Medicine 'came from the, East' and

wquentrally lard down features of the srte (Crinnelt 1922:309) It IS no tybr thy that In

the Pueblo southwest there bas a consrderable ernphasts on the use of light and shadow iA <-

. . ~)henomeh,a+ fidr calendrrc ~ndrcators and rn part~cular documented accounts of gnomon

~hado~z use for solar mark~ng (Zeilrk 1989 156)

A second advantage of the gnomon theory is that ~t provldes a sensible home f ~ r the

observatoy and geometv theor~es It occurred to me that the orienta'tions and regular

forms that others thought they were seeing in Medicine Wheels may have been an

unintentional srde-effect of ceremonies which were tracking well-ordered celestial events.

That IS whether the form \\as determrned by lavrng boulders at srgn~frcant points along - the path of a sun-followrng person bed to the top of a pole or else along the

projected shadows or lrght of moving celestial objects, the result could encompass a

hole range of natural order One problem with the obsen1ator-y theory IS that horizon . -

astronomy IS always d~ffrcult especrall) when the summer solstice perlod falls In the r,

m~ddle of the rarny season Looklng up IS nuch easier Eddy's observatory theoqi fails

on the practical stargazing side as well as the ethnographic assoc~at~on. A g'n~mon: allows x

more reasonable astronomy to have occurred as ceremonial artifacts rather than scientific

obsenatrons Pure geometv has a srmrlarly d~ff~cult synthesis with the ethnography, but

the ritual~strc applrcatlon of gnomon projection could' naturally and unconsciously have 3 ,.

created structural correlatrons It also suggests a mechanism for creatrng the bilateral

ikrnrnrrn so often attr~buted to h.?edrcrne Wheels especiall) as it has been Suggested

that the svmmetry axes are solstrce-aligned (Wilson 1981:333)

F~nall\ 11 'should be stated that although the gnomon theor\ i s most easily tied to the

5\rnbol1i regrme ot the Sun Dance it IS not dependent on it. For ins'fance, considering

the burlal and commemorative theor~es the pnmary evrdence of the physlcal gnomon (the . 11p11 and the or~entat~onal thmkrng assocrated with rt (the cardrnal spokes) IS already in

p / d c ~ \ t ~ t h the historlc Blackioot wheels. ~ e ~ l a c i n ~ . a tipi with 4 central pole is not

93 + .

<. conceptually difficult considermg the mortuary symbol&m+d the World ~ o l r s ' 4 wand "tile

well-known Plarns bur~al practices involving interment ill'.t;ees and in ,+c;&r'pattern . - around a central mebrcrpe pole (Jenness 1977:313) Also, "medicme poks" have been , .

' P reported in conjunction with b&falo hunting in h~storic times (MacDougall 1896.271) a l ~ ~ l

: rn associatiop with posshle prehistorrc b ~ s o n ceremonial areas (Gunnerson 1987 7 7 ) Ftndtng t

other efhn~graphic justifications for the gnomon theory In conjunct~on w ~ t h the visrrm

. quest, buffalo "cul t or p e t r o f o m theor~es IS more dif f~cult , mostly because so I ~ t t k n

known about thosq acti 'tles And there ;s n o logrcal problem tn comb~nrng t h t gnornoll 5 . r theory 1~1th the .-observatory or slgnpost theones, &en' though n o ethnograph~c fou rd i t r c ,~~

exlsts' The gnomon theory. as aspect of desrgn, c o m p l d e n t s a number of functrons -.

The complete ev~dence for the gnomon theov at rkrs stage IS rnterestlng, but fdr trorn

c o n ~ l u u v e That puts it In good company w t h rts fe l lou theor~es

4.8 Summary

M y own conclusion from thrs revleu of the extant research and the varrous theorre, '-=,

under drscuss~on is that n o theory IS very strong Most o f the evldence IS c~rcumstant~al

~ndirect o r ~nconclus~ve, and there are unresolved conceptual a d practrcal problems w h ~ h

need address~ng . c

. .

The weakest of the 'design' theories i s the geometry theory, for which t t i e r @ " i s ~ : ~ . :

ethnographic foundation and almost n o hard evidence. i h e observatory theory is - t h i &>XI

weakest: it has ,s.uffered much f rom a poor upbringing - there is absolutely no substanct, . ..

t o support- the- in i t ia l claims but there are some interesting patterns which an observatory . .

theory (that, i's;,an horizon-based astronomical orientation hypothesis significantly different

than those- proposed to date) or gnomon theory misht be able t o account for. Onl,, for

the gnomon theory i s there a solid ethnographic and cosmological setting, and the ,. . . * . .

kledicine Wheels themselves provide excellent evidence of central tipls or alternatel,,

suggestions of a central pole. ,However, even this evidence is only circumstantial: there I.

n o unambiguous evidence that such a central structure was used to determine the

composition of the site. Ar this stage the mere plausibility of the gnomon theor) ' g ~ v c ~ i

it the advantage.

54- The Northwest Coast totem pole, for ' mstan~e, featured carved sptrlts ~n tender i to help the departed soul ascend that symbol~c stairwar, t o heaven (Barbeau 7964)

The desrgn theorles are least credible when considered entirely devoid of a ceremonial

context - none of them have slgniiicant credibility on fhCir own. They &in some

credibdity through an essent~ally blind association wifA some cerem&ny which presumably

would have been the dom~nant activity or function. In pu'tting faith ip a' ~~~~~~~d focus, bowever, it must be recognized that none o f the ceremonial theofies shines

partrcularly brtghtly as an explanation for all of the Medicine Wheebs, In fact, the sirnpiest ",

posrtlon in the present confusion would be to suppose that there/we&many different , '. klnds of structures in the group called Medicine Wheels, and rkZy different functions for

those structures. Thls IS a posrt~on w h ~ c h many researchers have taken, but inobody has * ,

attempted to analyse i f such Medtc~ne Wh d el types really exist in the current data. That . IS the goal of the next chapter

Classificatron IS essent~al t o archaeology Since m ~ d - c e n t u v a V&J, a c t l w debatc has_ _ ,

emerged amongst archaeologrsts regardrng the most approprrate' tkeorctrcal ' and

methodological, approaches t o classifrcation and typology. One extreme 1 5 t i le

ultra-systematic approach o f Dunnel l (1971) and t k 'new a r c b a e o l u ~ \vhrrh sounds . -

wonder fu l o n paper bu t cou ld b e impossible t o rmplement ii p r a c t m At another

extreme is Spauldrng (1982), w h o suggests that statrstrcs wrll always find c l u s t ~ r s of truth "4.

In the data obtained f rom objects t o b e classifred. It s easv t o see why the class~lrcdt~on

-1..

I , I ,

95 * * , I JI

questron has been unresolved fo r so long all srdes are tryrng t o f ~ n $ a wayt through thc

darkness - a path t o some sense o f realrty rn the types and classes they crcdte

- C W E R 5 " * ? . .

"

. . A NEW 'CLASSIFICATIQN h .

PIN JblFOR@ATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLATNS M~DICINE WHEEL5

' P

, . , - There is no t any srngle best me thod - 'No r , given a numb& of objects wrll therc t ) c s ,I

- .

J . ..

srngle best c lqs i f~ca t lon surting all interests Expectrng t o . extract unrversally real' gtoups

f rom any set of data w i th respect t o a c o l k c t i o n o f objects IS unreasonable. The realrty

o f any classification is intrinsic t o the data themselves, and s3 the data must be chosen

very carefully w ~ t h respect t o the ques t~ons - t he classifrcation has been des~gned t o - ,"

answer It 1s exactly -a mat te r o f re:earch desrgn ,

k

-+. - In the case o f s t h e present research srngle goal of the classrfrcatron.~'ts, t o help

decrde among the As d~scussed In chapter 1 thrs IS' more drff~cult < . *

f o r the ceremonial f ew systemattc ways jn ~ h c h most o f tt!e

ceremonres mrght ha ~nflc?kft&~the kinds o f data whtch are. avarlable For the I , -

d

orrentatronal and template- theones however, the atailable data are v ~ r ) well w ~ t e d to ttw I - purpose At 01 these theorres rmpty a L m o r e o r less ratronal frame\torl; t o tlrr,

morphological expression. o f the s ~ t e , as wel l as details o f settrng and d m e n s ~ o n

Therefore selectrng such ir-rformatron rn the process o f classrfyrng the Medr t rne Vl'lrtv~ls 15

t h e only way of seekrng groupmgs whrch are useful. fo r testrng t h o w t h e o r ~ r s -

.a

In rnforrnatron terms a classrfrcatron 1s.a reductron o f data or varrables In the f o l l owng

sectrons the varrables consrdered In thts analysis wil l be descrrbed along \vrth tI i(1 s t r l l ) \

taken t o reduce them.

- .

n 96 r'

5.2 The Current Data Set

At the trme of th~s m-ting, the data- set contaihs information concerning 264 structures '

onr M near the &eat Plains that havp been reported as unusual cairns, rock aljgnments,

geometr~cal patterns, vision strudkes, ceremonial structures and Medicine Wheels.

~ ~ ~ k n d i x 1 contains a catalogue of these struc'tures, along \nth *as much information as

has been available or entered, and indexes which Cross-reference the structures by type, . _/ by name, by loeat~on and by srte desrgnatron I /

: 7 . ,

Of the 264 structures, 1 3 5 were 'donsrdired as likely candidates to be Medicine Wheels

In the broadest sense of that so-far-undefined term. Th~s means that either they have

always been consrdered Medrclne Wheels look or sound like they possibdy could be

Medrcrne Wheels, or Include two or more of the bas~c features of a Medic~ne Wheel In i

most cases failure to make thrs 'cut mvolves the structure bemg a solo calm (for whkh

the rnformatlon runs out qurckly) berng primarily an effigy, berng a 51ngle lrne ~f . c

boulders, berng a solo rrng of unknown b rm dimensron, or bang reported s6 poorly

'7 ' that no reasonable decrsron could be made. -I-. -- 3

For the second cut a more precrse ddrnition of Medipne W,heel was made:

i - 8

n A Medicine Wheel is a structure which incorporates at least one of the i fo wing two essential features: 'c,

a radial spoke of at Least 5trl length; or 9 ,

-- I

a ring ,having an average radius of at least Sm,, and h&hg concentric to

. t some other feature(s). k

- . Three notes F~rst, there i s no mentron here of boulders.-ln fao, the> only structure this

constraint would exclude IS Clen Ewen, which i s entirely constructed from earth. As was

discussed In sectron 4 3 1 thrs may not be as unusual as rt s o m d ~ . ~ a n d +there are good . reasons bepnd general layout to keep Clen Ewen in the analysis. Second, there is no

explrcrt mentron of a central carrn, one of the three major featuies, rncluding spokes and

rings ~ 'hrch have typrcally defrned a Med~crne Wheel Instead, the words 'radial' and

concentrrc both suggest the need for a concept of centre. Here .a central cairn could

5uppI) that concept but so too could spokes rad~atrng on theb- own and a ring with

some other center-rmplyrng feature However, a cam op ~ts own does not const~tute a

bled~crne M'heel Th~rd the drmensron of 5m was. dec~ded upon relatively arbrtrarily It IS

the outer bound o f the ~adius of what i~ normally considered a- large tipi rrng, and i s %-.

- also 4 dimension below which i t ,would be unusual t o expect the kin& of rneasur&cnts ,

and details needed for this analysis. There is,_ however, no a p r i o i i teasan to e x - ~ c t thdt * i .

a Medicme Wheel should be greater than 5m m radius Thrs"constraint exclude5 3 i - t'. structures where so little ~n format ron is available that n o scale is known and Aott-ie; - - -

4. - structures (Jennings, Nitapinaw's, Jim Allen, and Neutral Hills) that mlght o t l i e n ~ ~ ~ s e ' h a w .' ,

been included - , . L

*of fhe remaining 97 sites, 33 have been recorded to the extent that an ~ l ~ g n e d survrl\ - -

map exists (which means boulder positions can be interpohted t o polnts In three '

' % L - d~mensions using .a true-north-aligned 'plan map with contours) A fi1rtb.r 1 5 .;lte% ~ i t h - - -

2 . . aligned plan mapsb (which means only two drmens~ons are avaikabk) exist and 'another La

have plan maps (only a magnetic north orientation IS available) 11 more s~tes have-bwn.

sketched In the field with a sense o!-scale, and the final 14 'exrst as written drscrlptrr~~lr; '

f rom w h ~ c h a conceptualizat~on can b e ' made *L

f

A feu, notes should now be made about the numbers and distribution ot the sites First.

and - considering Iww qutckly the numbers have been growing 111 the last two decades,

these are most likely n o t .'fmal' riumbms In any seme The largest part of the rise in

numbers 'has resulted f rom a relatively thorough search' *of site files and other records .i -

partrcular& in Canada. here fore In Canada, at least, ,the numbers are Ilkely golng t o b e , . rlsrng relatively sfowlgi. ( on 'order 1 or ,2 per *year] as new, prkviously unreported sites,

m ~ g h t be found In the Unlted States there may be many more- sites tob be found,

certainl) there seems t o be a pause 1n the d i s t r i bhon at the lnternAtlonal border which

cannot be explamed easily In o t h w terms The anornalousty d~stant Zodiac R~dge slte wab a 6

~nc luded because it has the general 1om-i of a ~ e d i c i n e Wheel and matches the hlgh

m e rugged terra~n of southern sites s ~ h as Big Yqm, Trail Ridge, Young Mountam

and Tensleep There are also reports o f many other possible sites further south -.

'There' seem to be, however, numerous such si ructure exfend,ng sauth~i ,+r t i , from Wyommg along the CordiMera o f Mex,co, _reported t~ me, once b)

a e

private alrplane pilot who claims to have observed these strange forms during -

his flights from Los Angefes to Mexlco Cityt. All such ' w h e l s ' are locdted 111

extremely rugged country and a l~ ,a ) , s , it s'eem~, ,at high elevations " ( K a n w n ~ - 1972 3 )

However, there arc also reports of 'mysterious carns' o n modntalntops t tbougb Br~tl<i '~

Columbia and Alaska (Barbeau 1964:61), so &ere is n o point., in speculating olr $xtc.r-~tl(,ti . .

distributions without better evidence. .-

Second, ~t i s unfortunate that so many of the sites are so poorly documented. The best

overall documentation IS for the Big Horn site i n Wyoming (although I stitt do nht have

rehable elevation data). Here there are earl.); descriptions and maps ( S h m s '1903, Grimell A

a

> .

13133, good ethnohistor~cal work and excavations (Grey 1963a, Wilson 1981), aerial

stereophotography (Borchers 19791, and comprehensive regional settlement and subsi'stence -

patterning (Grant 1981b).' B e y m d this the next best set of data' &e the- surveys done !or

the Archaeological Survey of Alberta in 1976 of 2s sites. There are problems wi th this -

h a set too. but at least t h i problems are mi in ly systematic. Aer$ photographs exist' for-' .. - -. - - . a number of sites In Canada, but. their quality is no t suitable for quantitative work. A

:

\ A

f ~ e M excursion in 1987 ,to 20 sites in Saskatchewan and Alberta allowed calibration d the

True North settings and accurate recording o f horizon detaits. There is clearly' the need

for d c ~ m p r e h e n s ~ v e rnapplng and recording program t o ta'ke place.

The database created for the present researdl has resulted from the digitization of

exrstlng survey dafa, aer~al s te reophoto~aphs, ,plan maps, sketches, and conceptuatifations

usmg the Talos d ~ g ~ t i z e r ma~n tahed ,by the UBC (University of British Cdumbia) . Comput~ng Cente~. Boulder p o s ~ t ~ o n s are listed in t w o o r three d~mensions relatwe to 'a

&ue north h e and a stte center de f~ned by the center of a central calrn or, i f no t

present, the center of the Innermost ring. A label o n each boulder identifies the type o f .

feature (central cairn, Inner ring, outer nng, 'spoke, attached cam, outer cairn, t ipi ring,

ef f~gy. . loose boulder and 'other') ~t ~sL,associqted wlth, and each multiple feature is - \

numbered The database pesent ly includ mbre than '150,000 boulder positions, ranging Y \ - * . -

f rom as feu as 100 boulders per site t o &we than 5,000 In 'the complex sites, These " ,

data prowde for the f~rst tlrne the abi l~ty t o make uniform maps o f individual s~tes, an"d

software has i e e n developed t o d o that The current software Iibraty includes a variety

of ~nteract~ve graph~cs programs for. select~vely overlaymg specific features f rom groups of '

s~tes, measurmg rad~al and angular distribution;, and performmg pointing, fitting and

or~entat~onal stud~es , . - L,

5.3 Previous .Classifications 4 - -

Preilous Med~cme Wheel classif~cat~ons have been performed In the soft Sense af

c lass~f~cat~on (any system that groups objects) rather than the sense of 'typology' or

taxonomy ( a grouprng a ~ m e d at answering anthropolog~cal problems)S5 For truly anatyt~cal

\\ark ~t 15 d~fflcult t o Imagine how such a d~stmction could ex~st, or t o Inlagme a

55- See a dlscussion b), Hayden (1984) . .

.-

/B f

- - 1

have been done without consideration o f the hypothesis involved, .or an eTQlicit stateme lnl & o f ~ t , but tMs s~mply implies that the *chance o f produting a useful ctassif;cation -is much

A :.+

less. The unvoiced h~ b n ~ and.+. dassif~cattons . , rpotheses o fp rev ious Medicine Wheel &fin; r... -..- < L.-

can be ;ecomtructed, and these will be supplied in the following paragrq \

" , b R I

\

Before many Medicine wheels were known, claisYication efforts- tended toyard 1-

, disfingukhing them from ather . boulder 'conf~gusations. Hoffman (1953) ver), cart'fuII\

defined what tip1 ~ i n g s were, without doing the same far Medicine Whe& and ~ t h y r ., - 7

named structures such as .eagle catches, tove D;tnce circles and Koyokee pits SLc wa\ A - really saying that M e d ~ c i n e wheel< and t&e rest were not 6pi rings . a

K e h w flrst deflned a Medicine Wheel as: , *

*

"a .cairn or circle o f stones foccasi&ally concentric circlesl froms thr crnt;r o f w h ~ h radiate a series o f - F&S of d h e r stones"(1954:133).

i

- This w a i matched by Dempsey, ,t.

. - , . . +

"a Blackfoot 'qedrcine wheel' consists of a circle of stones, or % p a~ng', with concentric lines o f sfpnes, o f varying lengths exten-ding aw2y from ~t ~n - ,

1 L " .-

the four cardinal direct~ons "(7956: 177), + , , ' # . ' 62- eF * *"

L "1

* 9 1 e - - <* 8 -

by rllalouf, *

1% w $= 4 *

- .,

P -. - 4 e - . ,

A "stone cirtles which 'have rbck lines mt&ally f i k ~ * the spokes .of. ii

whee1"(7961:388j, :,- % a + .+ b '

6 . * + E C % >

* * i and by Wedel, '\. - % _

, A " " - - -%.

5 .

"a central crrcle o r cairn f r o m which lines of stone ~ad ia te outward, ssmetimes to, an enclosing , cjrc/eq(l 961 :266). ' '

"* - ? " P

C 1.

&\ r <"

All ol these eddy deflnitlons were simply de$&iptive, trying t o be speclflc on h o ~ * I

Medlerne Wheels a r e + ~ o t like slrnpie 3 p i r ings and'*dhe;bceremon~al structures > .

<+ . Grey prowded a muZh mare detailed definition:

"any compound polargram constructed o n the surface of the ground, i n loose stone, w o o d or' earth. The word 'compound' is intended to signify that the structure contains 2 or more such simple elements as h t e s , circles, or cairns, or that i t contains elaborated simple elements such as hol low cairns,. circles ' . ~

with per~pheral bands, or other modifying forms. The word ::polargram' is' .~ . a - intended to signify any pattern which has. polar o, point sym'niqtryl: . . (1 963a:27). Y 1

.- . .

100 *, <-

Grey was rrnplyrng very specrfrc choices ~PI the part o f the builders in the kind of - 2

mater~als and selectron of features as well as the intent t o create a symrne tw '

confrguratron No te once more that, even 25 y e m ago, the basrc c p n c e p t i o f onentat iwf t'

and georne ty were already part o f the speculation - L

i '3

b

Forb~s provrded the flrst ~lass~frcat ion, o r drvrslon o f the Medicine Wheel populatron; --- r i 3

, "2 <," "Typ~call): medlcrne wheels are circles o f stones from,.wh~ch o f stones radrate The stone crrcles are generally larger t h m t lp i rings but seldom exceed 30 feet ln diameter. Near the center, there may b e a smal l crrcle, p o s s ~ b l y representrng a fireplace. The length of the spokes is usually approx~mate ly the same as the dlameter o f thehs tone circle. Medic ine wheels ~j historlc trmes rharacteristrcally have four spokes: o lder prehistor ic examples often have five, sometrmes more . There appears t o b e no con-sistent - pattern to thelr locatron.. Where wheels are assoc~ated- w i t h large calms, - however, the)/ ~nvarrablv are p l aced o n hrgh hllk &hich provrde excel l&~t , y ,

vrstas o f the surroundrngs"(l970.2~).' a?

Forb~s ctassrflcatron rmplrutly hypothesrzes that dlrnensional management was occurrmg, that

the numbers of certarn features were signifrcant, that Medrcrne Wheels evolved over trrne

t h a t locatron rntght be a srgnificant factor, and. that certain features do correlate with the

s ~ t e locatron Forbrs us& ' the presence and absence o f certarn features t o classify boulder

con f~gura t~ons endlng u p ~ 1 1 t h 'Medrcmq Wheels', 'Calms', 'Mosarcs' o r 'Efflgres' Thrs was --

srmpl) an appllcatmn o f Grey's hypothesis that feature selectlon was sig'n&ant. L @A *

hchoe ( 1 9 7 1 ) p ro the last pre-archaeoastronorny classification, creatrng categ@+s

c dlled m o d emoratrve wheels:, early Interment sites': 'generous chief burials' and *

large burrals This \\as based o n feature selectlon, feature drrnension and nbmber o f -4

", **' features Irnmedlately post-archaeoastronomy, the Kehoes provrded a new classificatron *

made u p of three types. trpi r ing rnernorrals t o which radiating lines had been added; .

w l s t ~ c e markers (whrch were Brg Horn, M ~ n t o n , Moose Mounta in arrd Roy,Rivers); and

"other boulder confrguratrons [ w h ~ c h ] . may have had other meanings which are n o w L

, - l ~ s ? " i l ( ~ - ~ b 4 7 ) The? prlrnan cla~srfrcatron crrterlon had shifted" tc, Ghether o r no t a solstrce

orrenlalt6n could be tound and the burtal rdea had been lost, very signifrcant changes In *

. the c i a ~ ~ k a t r o n wrthout an\ real change In the rnforrnatlon available -.. - r .+

c dltler de t~ned Medrc~ne \\'heels mo re carefully

"The term 'med~crne ~vhee l ' has been broadly used In the l~ terature t o refer to ~ ~ r t u a l l \ an\ crrcle o f rock lexclusrve o f tlpr r lngsl wrth o r without ,

,~ssooatecl carrns and ~polges, and occas~onal ly begn used t o designate spokes I ~ c h r n g circles o r carrns For the purpose o f th'is" thesrs, the vast array of +

rqnlated efflgles, st \ l rzed roch alrgnments, small rsolated c a l m a n d smal l

~ l a c k ? o o t m o r t u a y t i p i rings nws t b e e.ucl,vded from thc concept, e\,rn ' f though some may in some vva). b e related t o the larger, mo re elahordtt. %

fe'atures. l n c l uded in the term 'medicine wheel ' are rparious comb1nation.5 (71: -

large circles ar, concentr ic circles of stone, large cairns a n d lines o f r oc ' / , of

various a n d irregular lengths a n d number . Medic ine ~ rhee ls , then, ma\: cons/<( ' o f circles and/or spokes, . either o r b o t h o f a h i c h are i n comblndt lon i z ~ ~ t h 2 r c a i r n Such features are usually loca ted i n prominent topographl i - pu i l t ,onr /)or ,

they ma), b e f o u n d i n a variety o f locales"(1927:200).

B

This was a wer). conservative definit ion. no t /call\, adding anything r i p \ \ t o t l ~ t , ( ~ I ~ I ~ U \ L I O I I

Brace (1982) added a number o f new, ideas whi le creat ing a classi f~cat~orl sc-t~c.rrlt> t r o r i i ,I <. .

number of d~ f te ren t presumed f unc t~ons N o n e of these functions \zert. ~xpldint.ci

however, so it wasn't clear what was meant b?, structures which.. were gf.onlc.trrc '11 * _

~ - 'a l ignments, ce remon ia l , e f f i g i es , v is ion q ~ i e s t ' i 'monumen ts , and h l e d t r ~ n ( ~ \ \ ' l l ( . t> f i It

. is unfortunate 'that better d e s c r ~ p t ~ o n s were no t prov ided (al thougl i i t 15 d l ) j )~ r t>n t t l ~ j t

composit ional criteria described the different types), because Brace's 5th~rmc. crt~,itr.(l t t rc . ,-

largest number o i divisions in the overall populat ion that had been at tern l~ted % o r ~ ( , o f

the ' funct ions' cou ld have found eas)! support ing evidence, ho~vever . 50 ~,c.r t~dpi 11 l s i i 1 w

surprising that the definit ions didn't appear In his f ina l document ( l q 8 - I R r c i ( ( 3 51111 ( j ~ ( i

no t provide clarification o n this is5ue, al though signi f icant l~, the n u m l ~ e r ot lunctlondl

labels had been reduced. .L k w

Brumle), proposed a 3-part def ini t ion for Medic ine9Wheels : A) u n m o d i f ~ e d rot h dnd ear t l~

construction D) composed of at least t w o o f three general components ( t entrdl c drrn

c~rcles and spdkes) and C ) radlalh s \mme t r~c ( 1 9 8 6 3 ) I n terms of c ld\ \ l t \ lng 1 t i c 8 i ~ t ~ ~ \ '

that m'et that def lnl t lon Brumle) and lZ1~lLle (1986) fo l lowed the sarnc slnil)lr> ,rl)l)ro,rc 1 1

they assumed that different types of wheels wou ld b e distinguished b) general

m o ~ h o l o g i c a l characteristics. Unfortunatel),, the)# d idn ' t at tempt t o be either s\,stc.mdt~c or

analyticali, in their treatment. Of Brumley's 8 types, 7 have rings. 7 have sl)okr5 ancl ( 1

have central cairns. Such relativel\, h igh numbers don ' t al low for much d r s t r ~ r Y i ~ n ~ t ~ o r i t , ~ l

relatwe dimensions \rere used t o create e x d a t e g o r i e i M-h~ch COLIIC; 1111 l i l t i f ,111: L I ! I I I . ~ I . ~ ~

cases. This resulted in a classification where half of the categories sen,<. o n h 1 ' 1 " ~ ( 1 1 tilt,

sltes The categorles \ \ere then t o o small t o allo\z a convlnclng def tn l t~on or d 1 1 d l i 5 1 -

Also there \\as n o ~ I S C U S S I O ~ o f the null categorles created (but not f l k d ~ h\ d p l ) / i l l ~ '

the relative dimenslonalit) factor evenl) t o all groups. Flnallb, there \vas n o tl15cus\iori ( 1 1 - - - - - -

the hierarch\, o f the features employed In the classification, ~vh i c t i leads t o w m r 3 . . contusion ' For example one 01 the categories ~ 2 s created s p ~ c ~ f ~ c a l l i tor s i t r \ i111il

i-'

entnw,a),' features, yet b) the t ime it \\,as created hali o i the sites hawrig f:ntn~cd\.\ tidd 3f

dlredd). met the cr'lterra for other categorres and had been j o k e d t o t h e m Did this

mean that entryways weren' t special after all, and if so why was there a special category

named for'.-them? Even w t h such a small group o f attributes, a strarghtforward correlation

analysis' might have made things clearer.

O 9 e mrght argue that the Brumley and Wilkie c~assificafidns were only for clerical or

management purposes - classifications wi thout hypothesis. However, even r f this were '

~mss ib l e rt clearl\, wasn't the intent - Brumley , . cultural i n t e rp re ta t i ? ,~~ o f the

groups he created, as i i they were real. Further, Brumley discussed the variability o f other - attributes within the categories created, wi thout *gver demonstrat ing h o y that variability

might be meaningful. The , essential p o b l e & is that Brumley didn' t discuss the kinds o f

questions b e ~ n g asked about the Medicine Wheels o r h o w his selection of attributes

might rnfluence the

of things the categories created ,;might say. Brumley's categories

rnrght . b e useful, even mehningful, bu t if they are it i s - o n l y b y chance, and ,Brumley has %

n o wa), of explaining h o ~ or why they might be,. . . ,

? - . . - 5.4 Description qf potential Variables

~ r c h a e o l o g i i t s long ignored Medic ine M1heels because they were p . L g h t to . b e devoid o f

artifacts. They are no t . ho$iever. devoid o f information. The number o f ways o f 9

quantifyrng knowrn aspects of the Medic ine Wheels in to potent ial classification variables is

essentially limitless. For discussion's sake, nearly 100 of the variables wh ich were

considered will be presented here, along wi th a gshort description.,g decision for " acceptance or rejection. , and * 11 accepted, a definit ion. Four classes of variables wi l l be

dealt ~ i t h , those .concerned w i th the setting, physical composi t ion, majpr features, and

minor features d i - the sites. Decisions t o reject potent ial variables wereA b a s e a ' p n the

io l lowrng criteria< ; ( I ) " lack o i -pntent jal significance t o the extant theories; ( 2 ) lack o f

suifrcrent range' or ,arrabrlrt) ( 3 ) a multrvalued nature ( the vanable wou ld have several o r

A man) values at a gr\:en ,srte) :(3) lack of w r i o r m applrcatron ( the varrable has n o value at

s o y e sltes) ( 5 ) lack of ie lab le data ( 6 ) overl) subjectrve rn terpretat~on (7) lack o f a

surtable deflnrtron and' '(8) a cycl~cal nature (as rn the hours In a day and degrees i n a

( Irc le tht. \anable c\cles over a set ot values and has a drscontrnurt) at the beglnnrng , .

, and end ot the cvcle) The deiinit ions of the accepted variables are designed t o supply ,., , .

3 quant~ t~ca t lon ot the rntormatron hrch IS useful t o mathematrcal analysrs

5.4.1 SETTt'NG VARIABLES

The Plarns have . a reputation f oz monotonous terrain, but there are several parameter\

specific t o locat ion and setting which ought t o b e useful. First of all, there is enougl l 01

a geographical distribution ttlat longitude and latitude variations might b e signifrcant. It

might also b e interesting t o measure what aspects o f the environment may have

influenced the selection o f site, such as relative elevation, proximit). t o resources. vreu

type o f terram, etc. Recent ~ , o r k w i th the megaliths in Brrtain suggests clear l ~ c a l i o n ~ ~ l

precepts involving p rox~m i t y t o water (Burl 1976). vreu. (Fraser 1988). proximit) t o

habitation sites, and relative elevation (Burl 1988:182). As \z,ell, there are the cultural and L

ch rono lo~ rca l settrrigs al though ~n fo rmat ron IS n o t ~ c e a b h scarce here %, - - Site Latitude-. Whar IS the geograph~cal la t~tude o f the s 1 t t . t

Accepted: As astronomical orientations var), w i th latrtudr r t can be considered that " -

this variable: might be important t o the obsenjatow arid gnomon :heones. The . +

l a t ~ t ude vanable: will eventually be excluded h o m the torrnal reductron a n d reservcd

for testing the geographical coherence 61. the classifrcat~on., but rt s b u l d not be 2..

automatically rejected at thts explorative 'stage because the reduc t ro r~ procedure itself

ma! provide man), useful insights in to h o w the other variables indivrdually correlate

n i t h latitude

Definition: (Real Number- 32.50 - 3 2 . 3 8 " ~ )

a

Site Longitude- IVhat is the ge;graphical longitude o f the s ~ t r t

Accepted: Not as potenttally ~mpo r t an t as latrtude *-an\ tl1eorrt.i but as rrnportant

at this stage t o understanding geographical variatron

Definition: (Real Number: 98.58 - 7 7 5.29 W )

Site Elevation- W h a t i s the elevation above sea I t - e l of the site!

Rejected: Clven the gradual d o ~ m t a r d slope of the Plarns touard the east therr I \

n o reason t o suspect an\ r e l a t~onsh~p ~11th absolute eleiatron that 15 drstrnrt t r o n ~

possrble -relattons w t h longrtude T h ~ s varrable 1s therefore consrdered o f mrnor

potentral s i g ~ l r f ~ c nce t o the extant theor~es B 1 -I

Local Topogtaphy- Hob IS the s l t0 >,,uated ~n terms of local r l ~ ~ a f i o n ~ ~

Accepted: It has been generally stated that Med rc~ne Wheels occupy the tops o f

hrgh h~ l l s and the edges of rrver banks but t h ~ s has ne ie r been svsternat~calh

~nvestrgated As well relatrve e levat~on ought f o have been a tonsrderatron ri the

Local

. A

observatory theor) is correct

Definition: (Whole Number 7 - 41 This IS tricky because .there i S n o unambiguously

coherent wa), of quantifying the local topography. The scal' used by Quigg

(1984:,119) is not suitable for numerical analysis. The values for this variable have

been set as follows: 1.. - at the crest of a hill; 2 - at the edge o f a cliff o r

valley rjm; 3 - o n the slope of a hill o r valley: and 4 - o n the flat prairie o r

central v611e,t bo t t om In a general sense, this variable could b e considered in terms

of the 'vrew intent ' o i the Medicine Wheel bdilders. Z

Physiography- HOLV steep is the terra;? upon which the site rests?

Accepted: Beyond the local topograph~. , the immediate site relief must be

considered as a factor in site selection. It wou ld certainly have been a factor in

the observatoq !heory considering ,d$ presumed intent o f hor izon observation o f

rlsing and setting ,/I . Definition: (Whole Number. 7 - 81 The scale follows that utilized by Quigg

(1983.351). which is based o n h o w many standard 7.6m contour intervals can be ' .

counted ~ i r i t h ~ n a standard O.5km radius of site center o n 1:50,000 scale National - . . ,

Topographic Suweb, maps. -

Local Geography- What k ~ n d o f terraln surrounds the site?

. Accepted: Along wrth th; topography and phys~ography, a measure of the local

geographv w11 h e l p - t o determrne ~f s p e c ~ f ~ c k ~ n d s of terrarn were factors In site *

se lect~on Ostens+bl\ thls ~ ( o u l d be Important t o all theones

Definition: (Whole Number 7 - 31 Once agarn ' there IS n o unambrguous way o f

d e f ~ n ~ n g t h ~ s variable Concentrat~ng o n landform, the values chosen are 1 - o n the

pralne m o r e than O5km f rom a stream or rrver valley edge 2 - at a coulee valley,

7 - at a stream valle\ and 4 - at a major rrver valley

. .

D~rections of Unobstructed View- In chat dlrectlons IS the- r.lecz, clear t o the true

hor~zon'

Rejected: Al though 1h1s tn io rmat~on IS available in many cases, and wou ld clearly b e

Iml)ortarlt to astronomlcal obsen~at~ons of the horrzpn ~t IS d l f f ~ ~ u l t t o fmd a useful

~ a r ~ a b l ~ express~on of rt because of a mult~valued nature The rnforrnatron can

th r r r to re be resewed as part or the e~a lua t ron of the astronom~cal theory after

t l as>~t i ra t~on 1s complete

Direction of Steepest Downward Slope- In what direct ion does the l and fall awa),

most steeply awav f rom the center of the M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheel?

Accepted: T h ~ s mlght be considered as a poo r man s version o t clear t i o r~zon

vanable - the d~ rec t l on o f steepest slope wdl lndlcate ~f there was an) consclou\ 6'.

preference In se lec t~on o f locatton wths respect t o orrentatlon o f local topograpl i )

Definition: (Whole Number : 0 - 5) Rathb- - than take specific compass directic)ns, t11(1

values have been set m o r e generally: 0,+-,- %I d~rect ions of vlea, are essent~dll\

excellent; I - - . t h e v i e w is best t o t heb -N : 2 - t o the E; 3 - t o the S : -1 - 1 0 th,. . - ' >

M': and 5 - all views are equal]\, bad. a - a . + b

Orientations of Surrounding Peaks/Landmarks~Archaeological Sites- I n ~2 hdt ~ i ~ r r ' t !IL)II\

are nearby s lgn~f icant landmarks?

Rejected: Clearly this variable is o f utmost significance t o the traveller's r o d d s ~ g ~ l

theory. However , as has- been demonstrated w i th the 'distant foresight ' prohlcrn 111

megalithic studies (see. for example, Heggie 19831, the interpretation of \vhat I \

signiticant is far t o o subjective. As well, the information is multivalued and, 111

general, n o t wel l kn0Lz.n

Position of Nearby Medicine Wheels- \Yhere a n d h o n far are the nt7ares/ ,2ied1c i r ~ r j

Wheels?

Rejected: This again wou ld b e useful to the signpost theory. However, wi th n o 9

reasonable knowledge o f an original Medicine Whee l populat ion, no r a remotel\,

reliable chronology. the available data are simply no t tellable

Water Supply- What k i n d o f Lvater supply senzes the ~ ~ i c i n i t ) , o f the site!

Accepted: The type of \krater supply, its availability and its l o ca t~on arti dll

important indicators of the habitability of the site area. These factor.,

bear heavily o n the number o f peop le that might have been using the .;itP. and . .,

therefore the kinds of ceremonies or practices that -m igh t have taken. place

Definition: (\%'hole h 'umber 7 - 81 T h ~ s fol lows the water resource de t~n r t~o r i ~ ~ t ~ l r / c ' ( l

b\ Qurgg (1983 251) The values are set b) 1 - Absent n u h n o w ~ ' surfai t. \ \ < i f o r

14,ithin I Okm; 2 - small seasonal p o n d o r ponds conta in ing b8ater during th(. \l)rlrig

season: 3 - lakes or ponds containing i\.ater for much of the \,ear. thougtr r~c)rrri,ili\

d n b). .fhe end o i summer. 4 - lakes containing water o n a year-round bail5

seasonal streams contalnlng ~ ~ a t e r i o r short periods dur ing the year, 6 - streams

containing water for most of the year. 7 - major rivers con ta~n ing large quantlt1c.s

o i Ltater 1,ear round : and 8 - sun'ace i l o i v ~ n g sprlngs or sprlng seep ar twe w d r

round

Chronology- When was the site bu i l t a n d h o w l ong was i t used? '

Soil

Rejected: Unfortunately agaln rellable data are .unavailable, for most sites t he whole

range of prehlstoty IS still open t o them T h ~ s IS perhaps the m o s t q n i f r c a n t o f

the m ~ d i n g var~ables

1

Deposition- H o w deeply are the s ~ t e boulders bur ied?

Rejected: Such lnformatlon IS available for many sites, and might serve as a

p r~ rn l t ~ve chronology However the lnterpretatlon o f soil depos~ t l on rates In hlgh, , /

w n d ) areas IS ver) tenuous

Boulder Types- Is there anything special about the type, size o r shape' of the

boulders used? - Rejected: Besides the fact that useful data wou ld be diff icult t o obtain and

I

norrnal~ze, there is n o strong Indication that such a measure is important t o any of . ,

the theories.

Artifact Inventory- What kinds o f materials have been f o u n d nearby?

Rejected: Essentiall,., t o o few de t i j l ed excavations have been d o n e '(about 5 ) t o

consider this route further. A l though this many excavations m igh t seem t o b e a

reasonable sample for a comparative analysis o f the artifact inventories, the work

\vas done at different times for djfferent reasons by different peop le using a variety

of methods. As well, the excava t i ~ns d o n i t represent an, even sample o f different

kinds of Medicine Wheels. The interpretation problems w o u l d b e diff icult t o

overcome.

Human Burial Existence- Does the site incorporate a human bur ia l?

Rejected: As discusse'd in section 4.3.1, the data here are sparse and quite

unreliable

Ethnogritphic Association- Who built the site?

.- Rejected: Blacktoot onglns or usages have ,been repor ted ethnohistorically or inferred

art l iaeologicalh~ for approxirnatelv half-a-dozen sites. This is t o o f ew t o b e useful

hcr? but m ~ g h t possibl\, provide support evidence after the classification.

5.1.2 PHYSICAL VARIABLES

-1r ~ d i t ' \slue Medic-lne M'heels are boulder configurations which have generally radial

d ~ < t r ~ h ~ t t ~ o n s and centers deflned bq a central cairn, concentric rings or radiating spokes.

here ;are relatively few .levels o f information beyond these that are obvious, and like\zisc. . .

kl~ti;& few variables that might b e corisidered important. Besides t h e number and

drstribution of the boulders, the o n l y - " h e r variables mentroned here concern the possit,It,

bilateral symmetry of the patterns, something that has been alluded t o bb, man!

researchers.

,Nurib;.; of Boulders-* HOW many boulders make up the Medic ine Whrrl featurert - .

-Accepted: The number of boulders is a simple measure of bo th the srzr and

complexrty of the srte and may b e related t o the scale and Importance of tht.

act~vrtles there Presumably this wou ld be a relatrvely strong jndrcator of srnglp-user . .

theor~es (such as an observa toy o r vision quest structure) as opposed t o ceremnt>r,i '

theories

Definition: (Whole Number 34 - 5678) Thrs IS based o n a count of the d r ~ r t ~ z c d

boulders in the database, w i th a standard prof i le mode l and boulder volume u w t i

t o estimate the number o f boulders in a cairn f rom its radius. This number \wII

no t b e precise, bu t should b q 'a good estimate . .

Distribution of Boulders- . In h a t sector o f the site are most of tht. h o u l d e r s ~ A.

Accepted: Around a center def ined b y concentric features, an overload by number

o r distance in any cbn5istent direct ion w o u l d tend t o support orientational theories

Definition: (Whole Number: 0 - 360) Considering each boulder as a vector

emanating f rom site center, the resultant site vector obtained from summing the

individual vectors (excluding those f rom the central cairn) provide a measure 01 the,

distribution orientati6h.. Typically there is a practical p rob lem in using q l r l i i a

variables in thiq kind of analysis. However, the g roup of site vectors

uneven drstribution wrth gaps t o the east and west Therefore &'

selected as the orrgln In order t o alleviate the cyclrcal varrable problerr)

Site Radius- HOM large I S the s ~ t e ? \

Accepted: This measure of the scale o f the site may be in diftrrerit

than the number o f boulders. O n e wou ld expect the radiu be ~mpor lan t t o

template and obsewatory theories

, Definilion: (Real Number: 5.0 - 261.8m) There are actually many options hc. r~

including mean radrus, maximum radius, site surface area, etc. An investigatron

showed that these \%,ere all so strongly correlated that they were essentrally

equivalent. The maximum radius was therefore ctlosen arbitraril), t o s e n e

Site Bilateral Symmetricity- HOW bilaterally symmetric is the bou lder pattern? . Accepted: Several observers have commented o n the apparek bilateral symmetry o f

the boulder configurations (see Ovenden 1981, Wilson 1981). This wou ld presumably' 5'

relate t o a number of the ceremonial the0rie.s and the template theories in different 4

ways.

Definition: (Whole Number: 0 - 21 The determination o f symmetry depend5 o n so

many factors that a truly objective, quantitative measure w o u l d b e very difficult t o

obtain A simple subjective scale was chosen instead, incorporating the values: 0 -

weak, 1 - moderate, *and 2 - strong apparent symmetry. For example, Canuck was

given a value o f 2, and Midd le Sand Hills was given a value o f 0.

Site symrnet& Axis ohentation- Where does the symmetry *is p o i n t ?

Rejected. Although as potentially significant t o a number of thkories as is the - ' symmetry itself. most of the symmetric sites appear t o have a number o f symmetry

axes This wou ld make the vanable multlvalued and more diff icult t o interpret> The

information can b e reserved for later d iscuss~m. - i

-7

Clear Spaces- What areas o f the srte contain n o boulders? . - -

Rerecfed;. .-Everydne has always

features are no t may also be

define in a manner useful t o

5.4.3 M A J O R FEATURE VARlABLES

There are three major features that

central cairn, concentric ring(s), and

been concerned wi th where the features are; where

~mpor tan t . Unfortunately, this variable is d~f f icu l t t o

the present task. It wil l also b e considered later

are usually associated .with M'edicine Wheel sites:

spokes. he fol lowing variables deal w i th the kinds ' o f 5

information that are avaiiable and possibly significant about these features. - -.

Central Cairn Existence- Is there a central p i l e of rocks wi th in the structure?

Accepted: This wil l likel), be a useful discriminant since i t applies t o about one-half

o f the Medicine Wheels. Those sites without a central cairn tend t o have a smaller

inner circle about the size of the larger cairns. In theoretical terms a central cairn

IS potentiall), significant to some of the ceremonial theories as wel l as the . d

astronomical and template theor~es

Definition: (Whole Number 0 - 7 1 Rather than the boolean sense of O=no and f 1 =\,es t h ~ s vanable can equally well be considered In terms of a count of - the

number of central cairns at a site

Central Cairn Radius- What IS the radlus o f the central pr le o f rock<,

Accepted: There appears t o b e a group o f sites wrth l a f i e and promrnent central \

cairns (many o f , w h ~ c h may have g rown substantially over time) and another groi i l )

o f central . cams whrch merely mark a center A$ w t h the exlstgnre ot the cairn

its radius may b e rmportant t o b o t h cermonral and orrentat~onal thenr~es

pefinition: (Real Numbe r 0.0 - 8 2m)

Central Cairn HeighWolume/Shape/Bt~~lder Composition- What are thr~ ~ )h \ ' 41~ . I /

parameters of the cenhal ca;~n?

Rejected: Gwen the. almost-universal po t t rng (vandalrsm) o f the central ccir&n> \ , I .

Medicrne Wheels, the original h e ~ g h t and "olurne are rn quest ion Otl lc~r t c'ntrdl

- carrn measures might b e considered, bu t In general the data are not d \ rtlrat)lc a n d

many are probably no t rndependent o f the radrus

Central Large Bouiders- Is the 'carrn' .really on ly one o r several relat~i ,c~l \ /,t.r,qt, - .

boulders?

Rejected: In several cases (about 9) , the central calrn 1s one o r a fe\v VCT) largcb

boulders. Unfortunately this number is still small, and there 1s n o strong redson to

consider this situation as more o r less significant t o any of the theories t l l ~ r i a . .

central cairn. , . , . , , +.

i

Ring Number- H o w many concen t r~c rings are present?

Accepted: O n c e more, about half Q[ the s ~ t e s include a rrng o f bou l t k rs A \rnallrr

subset has t w o concentric rings. None have three or more. Such a ring 15

important t o a number o f the ceremonial theories as wel l as the ternplattl throrrtt\

~ef in i t ion: (Whole Number: 0 - 21

-<

Ring ~ a d i u s - What 1s the mean radus of the (largest) central rlng of t ; o u l d e r ~ ~ I

L., I

Accepted: Mos t o f the rmgs are about 5 m i n diameter Howeve: there arc a fe\z 'a

that are signifrcantlv i a r g e ~ , and a g o o d subset that are very r losc t o lh f , i ~ / e 0 1 d

t ip i ring. The t ip i r ing group, at least, have strong possible associations wi th buridl

and ceremonial theories.

Definition: (Real Gurnber: 0.0-27. U r n )

. , Ring Density- - H O M , densely popu la ted is thP bou lder l ine def ining the. ring.?

Rejected: A few of the rings are very thick and many others ar r sparse rtwre" i i - ,

n o apparent- ' relat ionship of this variable t o any o f . the e.xtant theuries, howPver, a n d , ~ . .

' . . - . .,. . .

I.. - ..* .. . - . , ' . - .' 9.. . . . . a . ' b

Shape- ~ o e ~ - i h r seem to b e a cirole. oval, .. .. e l l ipse, f lat iened ckcle, etc? "'. . , , ,.. ' . -

Rejected: Thl$ vanable refers mbre spediflcally- t o the geometrical theory, the shapese - ,. - . . ' a , . '

being those typically proposkd. Unfortuna@ly at this stage such , a ' v s 6 b i e , . . . is qui te . . - , '-'. 1

* ' . . . . - ,

1.' z

subjective, and n o value could be -.assigned t o non-ring sites- . ,-.

' - Ring Ridiur Variance- What IS jhe varrabilrty m the ring

.- ..'''- Rejected: ~ h i s - is, a more objective measure of how non-circukr , the rings are. It . " ., - T

. . . , may bes ign i f i can t t o bo th o f the template theories. Howe&er, it must b e rejected:

-. ?

- . ' . I:

-, at this stbge of the analysis because it is a measde:-ivhich is n o t applicable t o all . . , . . .. . . . ' 7

sltes (le not to nbn-r ing sltes) , -.

3

Ring Node Number-- H o w . many cbrvature nodes are there over the crrcumfe~ence of

the i t o n e r~ngt . ,

Rejected: A number o f the rings exhibit rapid changes in their curvature, o r nodes. ,, , . , , '<.

This bay be important t o the template theories: o ow ever, as t h e variable t> G 1 no t . . , .- : - applicable t o all sites, and as the full description. o f nodes is quite. involved, t h e ' fi

variable is not simple t o incorporate at this-<:itage o f the analysis.

Ring Node Poritions/Distribution- Where, mfh respect to slte tinter, are the ring

nodes . ~e jec ied : As. with the mode numbers, this .has potential significance for the template

theones as well as the observatory theones Thls vanable has the same difficulties,

I howeve i , ' and is rnultivalued, and so wil l be - reserved for later analy5is. I

* I ~ . - . .

Ring Long Axis Orientation- In which direct ion is <the. rjng radius greatest?.:': . . +

. .

Rejected: Thls 1s a p o l n t~al ly useful 'objectivet counterpart o f symmetry axis and

node measures Lt also mlght be ~nterestrng t o the orientatlonal theor~es However,-

'11 has been rejected because the s~gnlflcance 1s. d~f f lcu l t t o argue stiongly for, and .. % 3 -

because i t IS essehtlail) cyclical by nature - .

*

Ring Centqr Position- W k e , ~ ' i f h respect t o the site center de f ined b y the central

cd~rn, 1s the center o f the r ~ n g ? .?

Rejected: Many o f the rings appear off-center wi th respect t o the centrak cairns. I t

is not clear hn\;,ever, t o \vhich theories this measure might b e germane.

Spoke umber-.. H ~ M , man), radiating spokes are there? B I I)--

8 .- ~ccepted: M o s t .sites have spokes. but then again, this has traditionally been the

most distinguishing fbature o f Medicine Wheels so that shoulbn' t be a surprisr. At -

first gl,ance there seem t o b e natural groups o f sites w i th 1-3 , 4-7, 8-11, and I 3 - l o , + $

, ' spokes. The number o f spokes may relate t o the orientational and template

theories. 7

Definition: (Whole Number, 0 - 301. F

7 I

Mean Space Length- What is the k e a n the spoke lengths, %

. . , ,

Accepted: Some sites have very l o n g spokes and otl igrs don't: tll'5-rrt. doot.sn;t seen1 .., : ,. . ' \

~ - t o b? any relation t o o ther site dimensionalities. The -&n& o f ~ s p i i l r s i r rni,st

<-

hasily ass'ociated w i th the' signpost and template theories. %

~ n ; l i o n : (Real umber: 0.0 - 1630m) s .

* - r hi'

- . + *. Spoke Lenktb. Variance ~ h a ' t is the variability in the lengths of i h , i , i t s 5 ,

. . ~ #. :.-~ -

Rejected: This variaMe utilizes the observation that in many -a.es the .spokes art. ,111 ,

a : -. >i s

basically the same lengt ;:while ip others there is a great ~ ,ar ie t \ , , ;~ i Iength5. ~ l ~ b

'., bears ,on the quest ion o f horizon-based astronomy versus gnot+ton-a;tronorn\ *. .?

However 11 has t o be .-reierved untd after thb classrf~cat~on phasp begauw I I 1 5 . I v .

. - % ,

measure w h ~ h doesn't apply t o a+t..s~+tes ,- . I - -

%-

... * 'Z

Spoke Density- H o w densely populated .arg 'the boulder Ilnes* i

.Z Rejected: Reliable data are n o t available, and the variable IS noK'eas~Ty tagged t o

C, any grven theory m Y

Punc tua ted Spokes- Are the spoke lines composed o f isolatei' cairns r ~ t h r r th'rn

continuous lines? .. , . h .

: Rejected: ' Abou t eight of the Medic ine Wheels have spokes composed o f lines 01 - -. isolated cairns f i ther-' than cont inuous boulder,. It has' -been suggested that this

3 .

might lend suppbf l To the metrologicaluaspects o f the geometrical t<eori. ( 0 v i . r ~ r I ~ ~ 1 1 ,.. L B!

1981 Unfo6-tunateh there are no t enough srtes drsplayrng this charac&errst~r to, r r i 1 1 T.

, . it- useful here r": 4

P

Spoke Altitude~AzimuthlDeclination!~our Angle- W h d directionc ( in thr s,~c,Xri ,,, , r ~ l - in? I - 0

- - Rejected: Thrs has drrect bearmg o n the observatory theory M w ~ v p r , , th15 ~ d r ~ d t ) l t

1\ - - 1

,, i d l be multrvalued for most sites It M,III be cons~dered later 9

- \

, Spoke Angular va i i dnce - . LVhAt i s the iariabibty in the angular separ&ion of t t ~ \ '

- ? J .>

spokes? - - . . Rejected: Whereas the overall distribution of spokes might seerh t o be random, the -

questlon of spoke angular varlance doesn't make sense o n a slte level - as '

discussed in section 4.4, there appears t o have been .a conscious-effort, t o keep

them spread apart. This variable measures that spread, and thus may bear o n the .- astronomical and geometrical theories. As it is a measure which does not apply t o A - . . all sites, however, it will be reserved until after the classification. .

B ,

I .

Spbke Segment Number- Number o f b i f u ~ c a t i n ~ or non-radial bouldex lines. I - -5

* 2, ? , A c c e p t e d : A number of sltes exhibit spokes which bifurcate 'from other spokes, oc2 -

'%

- Y - are otherwse non-radral Thls mlght be significant t o the template theones.

e

Definition: (Whole Number 0 - 6 ) LA

- X~

Spoke Segment Posit ionIOrientat ion- Details o f b i furcat~ng and non-radial boulder

I~nes

Rejected: Thls agarn mlght be useful, but among the relatively few examples there - -re 1s too' llttle var~abi l~t)

d ,- & -

Spoke Linearity- HOW stra~ght are the spokes? -

Rejected: Many of .the spokes appear t o be very straight, while others meander-

\+- , Th~s rnlght be important t o the orientational and template' theories. Unfortunately - &

. , ' thp vanable would be multrvalued - +

'. . Spoke Curvature- In what sense 1s the curvature of spokes relative to orientation.

' . Rejected: It appears that many o f the spokes, especially In the southern quadrants,

curve s~gn~f~cant ly 'ihls would be quite important t o the gnomon theory. It is - - - - rejected because it would be multivalued, and has n o useful definition.

Spoke Focus. Posit ion- Where, relative to the site center def ined b y the ring or

central cairn, do the spokes meet?

Rejected: It appears as i f many spokes d o not intersect or aim for'intersection

. , near the ;enter defined by a ring or cairn. This could be signifjcant t o the- ' * , .

template theorles Unfortunatelv the values are t o o difficult t o measure reliabb for T

most sites and are sometrmes multrvalued. >

Spoke Types- HOM do the spokes interact'with the other features?

Accepted: ?V~ t l i many sltes the spokes begin at the central hub, in others they

emanate f rom a rlng At the other end, spokes sornetmes end at a ring, at a

< . - ' *

* - $ .

* J I ?

w .- . . - < x I . %

. - - I 113 .

. - '74 . - . - A

' , 1 .

cairn, o r simply stop on their o w n These have. traditlonall;. b s n i ~ % e of thr a cl . \-?

u - more important factors for clessifying the cairns. b e c a k e - the(> a i k v e q .obyio& s-'

., I- . , 2 * ,

I . morphologically. Theoreticafly, such factors might be important- she d = .. 7

* - ,I - w. . commemorative, :+brial, observatory and template theo r i~s . - -

, x

Definition: (Whole Number: O - 3) Q--tifying the riot& o n t h ~ ' : b a s ~ r o f thelr -

appearance can be done wi th the fol lowing values. 0 - n o sp6kesLat tl& .sttr;., I :-. <

.-. spokeatw i thout_a ring; 2 A spokes tvh~ch traverse the nng;. 3 - spokes termlnatr ar

9 , . . ~ - . A the nng, a n ~ 4 - spokes emankte' f rom the+ t j n g Tbr :additioda! t ~ c t ~ r ~ ~ ~ d .spuhe\ - a

, c-

-- , .. possibly ending in Calrnr ,could no t be indud&-without: conslderabb comlhcatlc?l; /

- I * %

* . - so this becomes a separate variable (see below).- * - I * _ ," A . '.

5.4.4 MINOR FEATURE VARIABLES ^

%, * - - .

Mlnor features are those which appear t o be less signiftcant most pitefi because t111~\ , occur less frequently a

Do the- s p ~ k e s end. at a calm! &

many sites the spokes simply st&, at others they sometmes termlnaic. "

at chirns. Thrs variable IS potentially important t o the obset+atov and template +

'lheories.

Definition: (Whole Number: 0 '-- 7 2 ) An additional factor here i s that when there -,

are spoke-end' q i r n s , hot all of the spokes utilize t h e p Therefore, rather than u s r

a boolean (yesino) variable, thq values here will be the numbei of spoke-end calm\ . at the site

C

Spoke-end Cairn Radii- *What are the radii o f the spoke-eod carrns?'

Rejected: an^ o f the non-central cams v & y greatly ~n diame.ter, but it isn't c l ~ i r b L t o which of the theories this might be important

Rejected: Possibly related t o the astronomical a n d template 'theones, this vanabl(, ~j

nonethelezs multivalued, and IS not applicable to non-spok; sites w

Enfryway Number- Does the site have t w o closely-parallel spokes defin~ng an avc.11ii1

mto the center? - Accepted: About 1 5 sites have some kmd of eritryway, and thls i s polentrdlly

s~gnlficant t o the observatory and template theories

Definition: (Whole Number, O - 3) Many of the sites have more than one *

&

entryway so t h ~ s variable has been d e f ~ n e d i n terms of the number of entryways at, % , *

d sile A-

I . - - 2

Entryway Altitude/AzimuthlDec~ination/Hour Angle- What is t h e entryway's or~entatlon?. .. . - Rejected: Although clearly s ign~ f~can t t o the o b s e r v a t t o d and template theories, this '" - .. .'

variable IS not applicable t o non-ekryway sltes, and also has t o o l i tt le internal ,

Entryway WidthIDisplacement- What are the p h y s ~ c y parameters of the entryway?

Rejected: These measures wou ld no t be applicable t o n o n 4 n t r ) y a y sites, and it

wou ld be d~f f icu l t t o justif) their rnclus~on

Ring Cairn ~xjsten&e/~osition&tc- What are the detaljs o f c a m s attached t o nnes?

Rejected: Some of the nor+central cairns are attached t o the rmgs *However , there -

- are few examples (about l o ) , and ~t is ,d~f f icu l t t o assess any spec~al significance

.* " Number of Outer Cairns- H o w many outer calms are there?

Accepted: Most sltes have one o r more outer (una t taAed and possibly

unassociated) cairns It has been suggested that these m ~ g h t have been ~nyo lved in

observations &d thew numbers s e e k t o vary s$oif~cantly

Definition: (Whole Number. 0 - 501

k .

Outer Cairn Diameter- What 1s fhe average diameter o f outer c a m s ?

Rejected: Altlmug-h there IS evidence of a pattern it {s no t arguably s~gn~f i can t t o - .

any of the theor~es d - #.

P

Outer Cairn Positions- , Where are the outer calms. reiatrve to slte center?, , A

"

Rejected: If the outer cairns were used in observat~on, then t h ~ s variable. shoutd be - important AT well, there seems t o b e a pattern in Glacement. ~ n f o r t u n a t e l ~ f the --= I

variable 15 rnul t~valued and has n o useful defmition * - Outer Cairn Circularity- % H o w r o u n d are the outer calms? . .

Rejecfed: A - fen of2 the ..oute# cairns are apparent+ nnor.1-c~rc"lai in similgr ways and ;

orientations H o ~ v w e r -this var-lable wou ld no t be applicable t o all sites, there are \

relativelv fe\\ examples and kt wou ld be difficult t o qu'antify

Number of Tipi Rings- HOM man) t ~ p l r ~ n g s are in the ~ m m e d ~ a t e v~c ln i t y?

Accepted: There are ver). fev, instances of a solid assoc~ation between Medicine

115 a

Wheels and the . t ip i rings which typicall), surround them. However. a< this n u m t ) ~ r

might somehow relate t o the size . o f the party using the site it 15 worthwhile

considering.

Definition: (Whole Number: 0 + - 782) .

Ring Positions- Where are the t ip i rings p l aced a r o u ~ d the srtt.2

Rejected: As discussed in section .4.4, the posit ions of tipis \rr,oul(j i c r t a ~ n l \

influence the visl'bilit), of the hor izon in the observaton theor) h t ~ r t ) t ~ c , i u \ t ~ t l l ~ i ,-

variable 8 wou ld b e multivalued - it wi l l be consider-ed later

,G Ring biameters- What i; the mean diameter o i the t ip i rrng.2

Rejected: It isn't c leat h o w this number might relate to an) ot tht, t l ~ c ~ o r ~ t ~ \ ,111tl

i n an)! - case it has ' little variabilitl,. r ,

Ring Involvement- Do the t ip i rings intersect other srtt- f c a t u r ~ ~ . 01' li~itilrlj -.

them? . b

Rejected: Such intersection o r disturbance occurs in about ten sites Tht\ I, C, 5111,ill ,

number, and it isn't clear \vhat the significance m ~ g h t be t o the the.orjt.5

re a n eff/g\ at the srte?

Effrgies nearb) Medrcine M'heels are usuall) human a n d structurall) i rm~ldr ?

t o the e n t q w a l leatures Sometimes the who le pattern IS an eff lg i ~n , these c d s r <

usuall) turtles These have potent ial ~mpo r t ance t o the burial and t ommemordt~\c , .

theorres

Definition: (Who'e umber, 0 - 7 1 As ncrth other var~ables th15 one c dn

considered rn terms o f t hT number ( ahays 0 or 7 ) of eff~gres at a s ~ t e

Effigy Position/Orientation- Where 1s the e f f ~ g y rel=~trve to srte center a n d n h ~ ~ r r

does i t p o i n t ?

Rejected: Although most effigies seem t o have similar orientatroni t f 71s . vgrrdt)li I . . . . . n ~ t appl~cable t o all sites, and it has t o o l j t t le variabilit)

Other Feature Existence- Are there other features w i t h ~ n the i r t t . ' 5

Rejected: There are man!, kinds of addit ional features acros5 t h c x rangy o i k l ~ ~ t i ~ l ~ ~ l ~ ,

12'heel sites. Their identif ication is t o o uneven and subjectrve, however. drrd 1l1i.11

their number is small and their significance is unkno\vn.

5.5 Informal Reduction. 1

,,. In the prevrous sectron. twenty-four ( 1 4 ) variables were selected. f o r the classification --.

I ' *.

I l rmess, and then d e f ~ n e d more precisel\) in terms o f their potent ial importance t o the---

theories under' consideratron

~ h c ~ npxt step in the reduct ion is a visual inspection of the selected data. This involves 2%

th t . 'basr t statrstrcs 'of the individual variable distributions and their interactions w i th the

c,tht,r vdrrdbles A I~st ing o f the Individual variable means, standard deviations, sample sizes,

rnirnrrnurn and k a x ~ m u r n \,aCues. etc.;' 1s -p rov ided in TABLE* 2. The correlation matrix o f

ttlr 24 varrables amongst themselves is given in TABLE 3. The formal expression o f the

\,drrablc charactcrrstics rr'l these tables' can . 'on ly provide a context fo r the informal

r r ls l rwt~or i procedure e d revrew of the plot ted' d ~ s t r ~ b u t ~ o n s o f s~ng le and

, ~ > d ~ r w \arrdbles and a n d ou t l y~ng values Cons~der lng the d~ f f e ren t

i ~ n d r of vai~ables ~ n c i u l ~ d i n t h i s a~alvsrs, a clear undersiandtng of the nature and

t)ctiavrour o t the var~ables at thrs level 15 essent~al t o m a k ~ n g reasonable judgements about

t11rr-n as \zfell as understanding the data In the tables

I h r . tollm\,rng pornts are offered as a summan o f the ~nspec t ron

There IS a h lgh correlatron ( 0 918) between the variables assoc~ated w i th the

mean spoke radius and the maximum site radius. This is no t unexpected, since i t is

t\tpicall,, the spokes that provide the greatest extension o f the configurations. Since

that hrgh value indicates that b o t h variables are no t needed, the mean spoke radius

\\.ill be d ropped (bringrng the n u m b e r o f ~a i j ab l es t o 3 3 ) because the maximum

slte rad~us appl~es more generally t o all o f the sltes.

The next hrghest coll-elatlon ( 0 787) IS between the number o f boulders and the

carrn radlus Thls t o o IS no t surprlslng Based o n the relatwely smaller 'Gze of t h ~ s

correlatron hl"'e"er and the Independent potentral usefulness o f the . two vanables.

r t seems reasonable t o keep b o t h In the analvs~s The same ,udger"ent 1s made f o r

other predtctabl\ hrgh correlatrons such as those be tween the -number o f c a m s and

iarrn radrus ( 0 609) and t h e local geograph) and the water resource ( 0 581)

It is.some\i,hat surprising no t t o f ind mo re h igh correlations between the latitude,

thc longrtude, and other variables in the analysis so iar. These variables concerned

\ ~ l t h t h ~ . geographrcal p o s l t ~ o n M,IIJ not b e considered rn the formal r e d u c t ~ o n t o

to l lo \ \ (br inging the' total number of variables t o 2 1 ) , but it seems likely that they I

", . .' ': r Table 2. VARIABLE DISTRIBUTIONS

* . - . I I.

8.,

V A R I A B L E " M E A N S T A N D A R D S A M P L E M I N I M U M M A X I M U M NAME

< - DEVIATION S I Z E

LqT I TUDE 4 ' 9 . 4 i". 6 3

, L O N G ~ T U D E 1 0 9 . 0 . 3 . 3 5

TOPOGRAPHY 1 . 8 5 0 . 8 4 6 -

GEOGRAPHY 2 . 4 1 1 . 3 7

PHYSIOGRAPHY 6 . 4 4 , 2 . 0 0

SLOPE 1 . 9 4 , 1 . 4 7 9 2 0 . 5 , .

WATER 4 . 8 1 1 . 9 6 9 2 1 8

SYMMETRY .- 0 . 8 6 4 0 . 5 7 3 916* 0 2

# RINGS:. ' ' ~ 0 . 9 5 8 0 . 5 1 8 '-- 9 7 0 -..

# SPOKES 4 . 0 9 4 . 6 9 9 4 0 2 8 . .

SPOKE TYPE 2 . 2 1 1 . 7 0 9 5 0 4 -

# SEGMENTS 0 . 2 4 7 0 . 8 2 9 9 7 0 6 ,

# A. CAIRNS 1 . 2 4 2 . 2 7 9 7 0 1 2

# ENTRYWAYS 0 . 1 8 5 ' 0 . 4 4 0 9 7 0 2

# 0 . CAIRNS 2 . 8 2 4 . 3 9 9 7 0 2 5

# E F F I G I E S 0 . 1 1 3 0 . 3 1 8 9 7 0 1

S I T E VECTOR 1 8 1 1 0 5 6 8 3 3 5 7

SPOKE RADIUS 1 7 . 0 2 4 . 1 9 2 0 1 6 3

# T I P 1 RINGS 1 7 3 6 . 8 . 9 7 0 1 8 2

CAIRN RADIUS 1 . 3 4 1 . 4 6 9 5 0 2 8 . 2

RING RADIUS 6 . 8 5 . 8 1 9 3 0 2 7 . 0

# BOULDERS 9 0 3 1 2 1 0 : . 9 5 0 5678

S I T E R9DIUS 2 8 . 1 3 4 . 6 9 7 3 . 8 261

. . .. The 24 accepted variables are listed, along with details of their distributions. It must be noted that while all the variables represent justifiable quantities, the utility of expressibns of the mean and standard deviation of some of nominal scale variables is largely :-

qualitative. Those values ate supplied here for their value, with appropriate caution, " toward the informal, visual assessment of the data in this section.

118

~ztbie 3. VARIABLE CORRELATIONS

. - . .

I. C T LONG TOP0 GEOG PHYS SLOPE WATER SYMM CAIRNS RINGS . I I ~ T I T U D E 1 0 0 0

, . . . LOtJGITUD 0 . 1 8 1 1 0 0 0 TgPQGRAP - 0 0 0 1 - 0 0 6 5 1 0 0 0 . . GEOGRAPH 0 242 0 115 0 . 5 6 0 1 . 0 0 0 PiiYSIOGR 0 0 0 3 0 . 0 9 7 - 0 151 0 . 1 8 0 1 . 0 0 0

SLOPE -0 0 0 3 . 0 . 150 0 . 4 0 7 0 . 3 2 5 -0 .~1 .25 1 . 0 0 0 W4TER - 0 g 5 8 0 . 0 2 6 0 479 0 . 5 8 1 0 . 0 9 1 0 . 2 6 9 1 . 0 0 0

SYtAMETPY 0 . 0 7 1 0 124 0 0 0 4 - 0 . 2 0 0 - Q . l 9 0 0 . 0 4 2 - 0 . 1 6 6 1 . 0 0 0 il CAIRNS O 227 - 0 . 2 3 4 - 0 , 1 3 2 - 0 . 1 5 5 - 0 . 1 ' 3 7 - 0 . 2 3 9 - 0 . 2 7 0 - 0 . 0 7 2 1:OO.O

# R I N G S 7 - 0 0 4 9 0 3 5 5 0 . 1 3 2 0 . 0 3 2 - . 0 . 0 1 3 0 . 2 5 3 0 . 1 0 8 0 . 2 2 7 . - 0 . 4 8 9 1 . 0 0 0 # SPOKES O 0 2 6 0 123 0 . 1 6 6 0 . 1 . 9 5 0 . 0 4 9 0 . 2 1 7 0 . 1 8 0 0 . 0 3 1 - - , 0 . 1 6 6 0 . 0 7 6 S P TYPE 0 0 5 1 0 2 6 2 0 . 2 8 0 0 . 2 3 0 0 . 0 1 3 0 . 2 9 6 0 . 2 0 5 0 . 0 6 2 . - ' 0 . 4 2 9 0 . 4 1 4 SEGIv!ENTS - 0 0 9 7 0 . 129 0 . 0 3 7 . , 6 . 0 7 6 0 . 0 1 5 0 . 169 0 . 1 4 1 - 0 . 0 1 7 - ' 0 . 1 8 6 0 . 1 2 1 A CAIRNS 0 . 0 0 9 - 0 . 0 3 5 0 . 1 1 6 . O s . 1 8 5 0 . 0 6 8 0 . 1 6 7 0 . 1 5 5 - 0 . 0 ' 4 5 - 0 . 1 1 8 0 . 0 1 8 ENTRYWAY 0 110 0 . 1 1 9 0 . 0 4 4 0 . 0 6 3 0 . 0 8 5 - 0 . 0 0 0 - 0 . 0 2 1 0 . . 184 0 . 1 7 4 0 . 1 7 0 0 . C A I R N S 0 . 0 9 7 0 . 1 1 1 -0 .1339 0 . 0 0 9 - 0 . 0 2 4 - 0 . 0 7 1 - 0 . 0 2 0 . 8 . 0 7 5 0 . 1 5 9 0 . 0 3 3 E F F I G I E S 0 . 1 1 2 8 . 0 2 7 ? . ' 022 0 . 0 1 1 0 . 1 1 9 0 . 0 3 6 - 0 . 0 1 7 , 0 . 1 4 3 0 . 0 2 1 0 . 0 2 9

VECTOR 0 162 0 . 1 5 8 . 0 . 0 9 2 - 0 . 0 0 7 - 0 . 2 3 0 0 . 1 9 2 0 . 0 7 5 0 . 0 6 3 0 . 0 0 1 0 . 2 4 7 SPOKE R . ' 0 . 0 2 8 - 0 . 2 1 4 0 . 1 8 8 0 . 2 0 0 0 . 0 3 5 0 . 0 9 6 0 . 1 3 6 - 0 . 0 3 5 - 0 . 0 1 0 - 0 . 1 9 9

# T I P I S 0 . 0 7 4 - 0 . 2 4 G 0 . 2 9 1 0 . 3 0 1 0 . 1 6 9 0 . 0 1 4 0 . 2 8 0 - 0 . 1 2 2 0 . 0 8 0 - 0 . 0 2 3 CAIRN R . 0 . 1 7 2 - 0 . 1 8 4 - 0 . 1 0 5 - 0 . 0 2 2 0 . 0 2 0 - 0 . 1 1 8 - 0 . 2 4 0 0 . 0 6 8 - 0 . 6 0 9 - 0 . 3 5 3

R I N G . - R ? , - 0 . 1 7 3 0 . 0 1 3 - 0 . 2 4 6 - 0 . 2 9 8 0 . 1 0 2 - 0 . 1 6 1 - 0 . 2 0 2 0 . 0 4 2 0 . 1 4 5 0 . 2 9 8 R STONES 0 . 0 9 4 - 0 . 1 4 5 - 0 . 1 8 3 - 0 . 0 6 8 0 . 0 7 6 - 0 . 0 - 1 4 - 0 . 1 9 7 0 . 1 2 9 0 . 2 9 7 - 0 . 0 5 5

S I T E ' . f . - 0 . 0 3 5 - 0 . 2 3 0 O:135 0 . 1 6 7 0 . 0 4 8 0 , . 029 ' 0 . 1 0 8 - 0 . 0 8 4 0 . 0 3 8 - 0 . 2 3 5 * -

2 - - SPOKE T Y P E SEGM A . C R N E N T R Y . O . C R N -'EFFIGY V E C T SPOKER TIPIS

SPOKES 1 0 0 0 a . . . SP . TYPE 0 . 5 0 5 1 . 0 0 0 . -

. . SEGMENTS ,O 2 0 0 0 . 2 1 5 1 . 0 0 0 A.CAIRNS 0 . 4 8 2 0 . 2 9 2 0 . 1 3 8 1 . 0 0 0 ENTRYWAY 0 . 0 1 2 0 . 3 1 1 - 0 . 0 1 3 - 0 . 0 4 6 1 . 0 0 D . -

0 . C A I R N S 0 . 0 4 2 0 . 0 8 7 - 0 . 0 0 3 - 0 . 1 1 6 0 . 0 7 1 . 1 . 0 0 0 , E F F I G I E S 0 . 0 7 0 0 . 0 7 1 0 . 0 5 0 - 0 . 0 6 8 ' 0 . 2 9 3 , ' .0 .066 1 . 0 0 0

VECTOR 0 0 5 7 0 : 2 5 5 ' 0 . 0 1 5 0 . 1 7 8 , 0 : 1 3 1 0 . 1 8 0 0 . 148 1 . 0 0 0 . SPOKE

- r" 0 . 1 5 7 0 . 2 6 3 . 0 . 1 4 3 0 . 2 5 6 - 0 . 0 5 1 - 0 . ' 0 6 2 - 0 . 0 3 5 - 0 . 0 6 3 1 . 0 0 0

T I P I S 0 . 0 7 4 0 . 0 9 4 0 . 2 4 4 0 . 1 7 1 , , 0 . 0 1 8 0 . 1 6 1 - 0 . 0 3 1 - 0 . 0 3 6 0 . 1 2 5 1 . 0 0 0 CAIRN . - 0 . 0 7 8 - 0 2 9 8 - 0 . 1 4 8 - 0 . 0 1 4 ' 0 . 2 0 6 0 . 0 0 8 0 . 1 5 0 ~ 0 . 0 6 0 0 . 2 6 8 0 . 0 4 5

- R I N R . - 0 . 1 4 0 - 0 . 2 2 9 0 . 0 0 8 -0.2.1-6 0 . 1 1 8 - 0 . 0 0 3 0 . 1 6 4 - 0 . 0 6 1 - 0 . 2 9 4 - 0 . 0 6 0

8 TONES 0 . 2 3 1 - 0 . 0 2 7 0 . 0 2 8 0 . 1 2 4 0 . 2 1 1 - 0 . 0 5 6 0 . 2 9 0 - 0 . 0 5 6 0 . 0 3 0 0 . 1 0 8 S I T E R . 0 . 0 5 5 0 0 4 6 0 . 2 5 4 4 . 2 1 5 - 0 . 1 2 6 - 0 . 0 4 8 - 0 . 0 2 5 - 0 . 0 7 4 0 . 9 1 8 0 . 1 6 2

CRN A RINGR STONES S I T E R CAIRN R 1 0 0 0

RING R 0 .047 1 COO N STONES 0 787 0 2 7 7 1 . 0 0 0

S I T E R 0 324 - 0 187 0 0 6 5 1 . 0 0 0 '

The simikdty coefficients were produced by the UBC NTSYS package SIMlNT routine; based on variable covariance and standad deviation values. As with TABLE 2, some common sense with respect to the types of variables is required for interpretation.

119

wou ld n o t be large determining factors i n group formation in an! case

.* .-

It is also s u r p r i s ~ n g ~ n o t t o f i nd more high correlations between the setting

variables and the r&: There are some strong correlatiotis of the se t t ~ng varidt)lr\

amongst themselves, but in general i t doesh' t seem %s though these wil l bc that

important t o g roup formation either.

As a final comment o n the visual inspection. it is recognrzed that the ~orrn,~ l

reduct ion p r o c e d ~ ~ r e wh ica f o ~ l o w s i s t o a large extent blind prr)cedure I t will

l ook for clusters in abstract mathematical . Besides look ing at how, ~nd~v i t i un l

variables are appropriate t o that p r o c e ~ ~ r m s o f the research goals, it i<

i m p o r t k t t o establish that the set d' variables i s a homogeneou5 mix in tlic,\r,

same terms. An unreasonable concentrat ion o f an! particular tvpe of va r i ab l~ will

bias the results. In general terms, the present mix looks f~nt. . Ou t o f the 21

remaining variables. 6 are associated wi th the setting. 4 i ~ , i t h the gross d e s c r ~ l ) t ~ o ~ r

of the site, 3 w i t h the central cairn, 2 wi th the rin$(s), 3 n 4 h the spokes, atld 3

w i th minor and associated features. As well, 9 of h e var~ables concern the genvral

' l ook ' ( of the site (presence o r absence and number of features) 5 concern physical

dimensions of the site and features, and 7 cdhcern o rd~na l dragnost~cs. It 1s difficult

t o see h o w any one type o f variable cou ld 'dominate the procedure-. .

In summary then, the discussion, description, def ini t ion and informal reduct ion of the &.a

have resulted in 2 1 variables for use in the formal reduct ion of the 97 sites for wbich

adeqiate data are available. These data are presented In TABLE 4

5.6 Formal Reduction

Formal reduct ion here means multivariate statistical r re thods. Since the goal is t o f ind out

i f there are 'natural' groups o f sites apparent in the variabilit?. of the data, cluster analp i<

methods are the most O ~ \ ~ I O U S choices. The general me thod i t i l l b r t o adopt severdl

di f ferent b u t equivalent clustering routines In orde'r t o 'explore' hnn, solid the group\

and w'hich sites are unambiguouslv core members of distinct groups. Routines b a w d r1r1

co~re la t ion coefficients, Euclrdean distances, and other measures of belong~rlgness will I)!.

mcluded. The man) ditterent methods ivi l l then b e conformed t o produce the final

groupings of the M e d ~ i n e Wheel sites. All 21 of the variables will be employed, but

considering their number it IS worthwhi le t o at tempt a preliminary r e d u c t ~ o n via pr Inc11)~ l

component anal)fsis' and factor analysis t o determine i f a smaller number of variabks

$

120

Table 4. CLASSIFICATION DATA

( " ' " INDICATES MISSING DATA..-VALUES)

TP1 TP2 PHZ V HZ0 17 VECT MAX SYM C # C R R# RR S#ST SS# SC E l OC# TR EF - - . - - . - - - . . . . . - - . - . - - - . . - - - - - . - - - - . - - - - - - . . . - . . . - - - . - . . - - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - - , - - - / - -

Doug Wade 1 . 1 . 8 . 1 ~ n t e l o e e " H i 1 1 1 . 1 ;5 2 . Ha l b ~ l t s 2 . 3 ' . ~ 3 . 4 . W o l f c h i l d 4 . 1 . 5 . 1 . G r a s s y L a k e 2 4 8 . 1 . S u f f i e l d 2 4 . 8 . 3 . S u n d i a l H i l l 1 1 . 7 . 2 . Many I s l a n d s L a k e 2 2 . 7 . 3 . E l l i s 2 . 4 . 8 . 2 , B r i t i s h B l o c k 1 . 1 . 8 . 2 B r y n e ' s 1 . 1 8 . 2 . J a m i e s o n ' s P l a c e 2 . 4 . 8 . , 3 . Roy R i v e r s 2 . 4 . 8 . 3 . M i n e r # l 2 . 4 . 8 . 2 . M i n e r # 2 2 . 4 . 8 . 2 . M i n e r # 3 2 . 4 . 8 . 3 . R i n k e r 3 . 4 . 8 . 3 . W e t z e l 2 . 4 . 8 . 1 . A n d e r s o n R1 2 . 4 . 8 0 . A n d e r s o n l 2 2 . 4 . 7 . 3 . Ross 1 . 1 . 6 . 0 . S u i t o r b l 2 . 4 . 8 . 4 . S u i t o r 112 2 . 4 . 8 . 4 . S u i t o r P 3 2 . 4 8 . 4 . B a r r y 2 . 4 . 8 . 2 . B u f f a l o B i r d 1 . 1 . 4 . 0 . S u t h e r l a n d C a i r n 1 . 1 . 7 . 0 . Z e i g e n b e i n 1 . 1 . 2 . A . Rumsey 1 . 1 . 6 . 0 . P l e n t y 3 . 3 . 8 . 3 . T i p p e r a r y ~ r e g k 2 . 4 . 4 . 2 . Z o d i a c R i d g e 1 . 1 . 8 . 0 . B i g H o r n 1 . 1 . 8 . . 4 . Sun R i v e r 4 . 4 . 1 . 5 . G l e n EwPn 3 . 4 . 6 . 2 . Oxbow 1 1 ' 3 . 4 . 8 . 1,. Oxbow 1 2 3 . 4 . 8 . 1 . Oxbow 1 3 3 . 4 8; 1 . M i n t o n T u r t l e 1 . 1 . 7 . - 3 . B i r d F o o t S h r i n e 2 . 3 . 5 . 1 . Canuck 1 . 1 . 3 0 . Moose Mount a i n 1 . 1 . 7 . 0 . A l o n s a . . . . W i l s o n R u s s e l l 2 . 4 . 5 . 1 . J e l l y Ranch 2 . 4 . 5 . 1 . H u t t o n . 2 . 4 . 8 . 2 . T r a i l ~ i d ~ e 1 . 1 . 8 . 1 . Tens l e e p 3 . 1 . 8 . 1 . F o r t S m i t h 3 . 4 . 2 . 4 . Or a h o o d 3 . 2 . 5 . 4 . F r e s n o 3 . 3 . 3 . 5 . Whi t e w a t e r 3 . 2 . 3 . 4 . G i ' l e s Tur t l e 3 . 3 . 8 . 0 .

- Table 4 (cont). CLASSIFICATION DATA

I, - I

* .. - . a - .

( " " ' INDICATES MISSING DATA V%LUESI;

T P l TP2 PHZ V H 2 0 t . . . . . . . - - . . . . . . . . - - . . - - - . . .

G i l e s C i r c l e 3 . 3 . 8 2 6 . A l a m e d a C i r c l e 1 . 1 . 3 , O 2 H a r d y T u r t le 4 1 . 5 . 5 . 2 . Ogema C i r c l e 1 1 . 7 3 1 . S t e e l 2 . 3 8 . 3 . 5 F o r g e t C i r c l e 1 1 2 0 . 8 . Many S p o t t e d H o r s e s 4 . 4 . 1 . 5 7 . C l a y b a n k 1 . 1 . 8 . 2 . 8 .

..- M i d d l e S a n d H i l l s 1 . 1 . 4 . 4 . 1 . D a r k H o r s e 1 . 1 . 7 . 1 . 4 . L o n e A n t e l o p e ' 1 . 1 . 8 . 1 . 4 . M a j o r v i l l e 2 . 4 5 . 2 . 5 . B u f f a l o H i l l 1 . t . 7 . 0 . 1 . A l k a l i C r e e k 2 . 3 . 8 . 2 . 6 . R e d D e e r 2 . 4 . 8 . 1 . 7 . ugh t o n 2 . I . a+ I. 5 . Y o u n g M o u n t a i n - 1 1 . 7 . 4 . 5 . G r a s s y K n o l l 3 . 2.. 6 . 2 . 5 . L o w r y . . . . . Mud C r e e k 1 . 1.. 7 . 0 . 1 . E a g l e B u t t e 1 . 1 . 8 . 0 . 5 . Ne 1 s o n 1, 1 . 6 . 3 5 . C h e r r y R i d g e 1 . ; 1 . 4 . 0 . 2 . P o l i c e 2 . ' 2 . 8 . 3 . 5 . F a i t h 2 . 2 . 8 . 2 . 4 . E a g l e C h i l d . . . . . B i n d T o s s 1 . 1 . 5 . 0 . 5 . H a 1 f Moon 1 . 1 . 7 . 2 . 2 . C o u l t e r s 2 . 3 . 8 . 3 . 8 . B e l l e C r e e k 1 . 1 . 7 . 3 . 5 . Lame J o h n n y . . . . . C h a i n o f L a k e s 2 . 4 . 6 . 1 . 5 . Wi ld H o r s e 3 . 1 . 2 . 1 . 7 . M a n y b e r r i e s 2 . 3 . 6 . , 3 . 6 . M i l k R i v e r 2 . 3 . 7 . . O . 6 . S t . M a r y ' s . . . . . M u r p h y 2.. 4 . 8 . 3 . 7 .

' L o o s e W h e e l 1 . 1 . 6 . ' 1 . 1 . T w i n P e a k s 1 . 1 . 6 . 0 . 2 . McNe.i 1 1 2 . 4 . 8 . 3 . 7 . A n d e r s o n # 3 2 . 4 . 8 . 3 . 5 .

. S t r a n r a e r 1 . 1 . 8 . 0 . 2 . H u x l e y 2 . 4 . 8 . 3 . 5 . T r o c h u 1 . 1 . 3 . 0 . 2 .

VECT *MAX SYM, CW C R RU R R SWST S S U SC E l O C I T R FF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . - _ 1 4 6 . 1 8 2 0 1 0 4 1 1 1 . 1 -..i 2 ' : 0 . 0 . 0 2 0 . 9 0 .

5 . 9 7 1 . 1,. 0 3 1 7 ;9 O : ~ O . ' - O . 0 . 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 . 1 3 3 2 1 0 2 1 9'..0 . 6 , 3 17 0 1 3 10 1 1 0 3 . 1 8 4 1 . 1 4 . 4 1 16:l 0. 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 9 4 . 13 1 2 . 0 0 0 2 4 - 0 ' , 2 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 9 1 . 1 3 1 1 1 . 0 . 3 1 1 1 6 , O ' O 0 0 0 . 0 0 0

3 1 6 . 1 4 . 5 2 . 0 0 . 0 2 4 ' 7 4 3 0 . ,4 0 . 0 . 0 0 2 7 0 . 2 4 . 7 0 , 1 0 3 1 1 7 . 8 0 0 0 ' 0 0 0 0 . 0 2 8 0 . 2 9 . 1 0 . 1 . 2 2 1 2 6 2 3 1 . 2 0 . 1 0 . 0 3 5 7 . 19 1 0 1 . 0 . 3 1 2 2 9 3 0 3 0 . 3 0 0 2 2 6 . 5 . 4 1 . 1 . 1 0 1 5 0 0 . 0 0 0 . 0 18 1 0 1 4 5 . 1 8 . 3 1 . 1 3 6 1 . 1 4 2 2 1 2 . O . ' O 0 . 1 2 . 0

2 2 1 . 6 2 . 1 . 3 . 9 1 . 1 7 . 1 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 . 10 0 . 1 6 8 . 1 3 . 7 0 . 1 0 . 6 1 - 4 8 3 2 0 0 0 . 2 2 . 0 .

1 2 . 3 6 . 9 0 . 1 . 1 . 2 0 0 . 0 4 1' 0 0 . 0 1 4 0 7 . 1 2 . 7 1 . 1 . 2 . 6 1 . 6 . 9 5 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 1 . 0 20 0 .

3 2 . 6 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 . 0 0 . 0 . 0 0 . 0 3 . 0 6 . 8 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 2 2 5 4 . 3 . 0 . 4 . 0 1 . 0 . 0 . 9 . 5 0 . 0 . 0 2 5 . 6 8 1 0 0 . 0 0 0 0

1 4 . 2 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 1 . 1 2 . 6 0 . 0 . 0 0 . 0 3 1 0 6 1 . 6 0 . 1 . 1 . 0 1 . 4 . 0 2 . 3 0 . 0 1 2 0 0 4 2 . 4 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 9 . 0 1 3 0 . 0 . 0 . 6 4 . 0 . 1 9 . 2 1 1 . 1 7 0 0 0 5 . 1 . 0 0 . 0 6 5 0 1 3 9 0 . 1 . 0 4 1 . 1 0 8 0 0 0 . 0 . 0 1 23 0

5 . 6 1 . 1 . 0 . 8 1 . 1 0 . 1 9 0 0 0 . 0 2 3 . 0 . 6 . 0 1 . ~ 0 . 0 0 1 . 1 . 9 4 3 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 .

3 3 . 1 1 , . 1 . 3 . 3 0 . 0 . 0 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 1 2 . 5 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 1 . 1 1 . 1 4 . 2. 0 . 0 . 0 . 1 7 . 0 . 0 6 . 7 0 . 1 . 0 . 6 1 . 5 . 7 1 . 3 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 5 . 4 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 2 . 5 . 1 6 . 2 . 0 . 0 . . 0 . 0 . 2 . 0 .

26 . ,4 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 . 3 . 4 5 3 . Q . c 5 . 0 . 5 . 0 . 0 . 2 5 . 8 1 . 1 . 0 . 7 ' 1 . 5 . 4 ' 0. 0 0 , 2 1 . 3 8 . 0 . 2 8 . 3 1 . 1 . 0 . 8 1 . 5 . 0 9 . 3 . 0 . 0 0 . 2 5 . 9 7 . 0 1 3 . 6 1 . 1 . 3 . 7 1 . 1 2 . 6 0 . 0 . 0 0 . 0 . 4 . 22 1 9 . 5 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 1 . 8 . 5 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 5 . 0 . 0

1 9 . 1 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 . 4 2 4 . 3 0 . 0 0 0 0 . 0 . 1 2 9 . 6 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 2 . 2 . 9 4 3 . 0 . 4 . 0 4 . 31 0 .

5 . 3 1 . 1 . 0 . 6 1 . 5 . 0 2 2 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 0 . 0 8 . 3 1 . 1 . ' 1 . 0 0 0 0 0 . 2 0 . 0 . 3 . 8 1 . 1 . ' 1 0 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 6 1 2 . 0

1 5 . 9 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 1 . 8 . 4 0 . 0 . 0 0 . ' 3 . 0 . 1 5 . 2 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 0 . 0 . 0 8 . 1 . 0 . 8 . 0 0 . 0 . 0 . 2 3 . 8 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 ' 3 . 0 0 0 0 . 0 . 0 3 3 . 3 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 1 2 7 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 0 0 . 0

*!? 122

wou ld represent the data as well. The fol lowing wil l supply a brief summary of the

var~ous procedures:

Z

5.6.1 PRINCIPAL C O M P O N E N T ANALYSIS

Two separate software -packages were, used t o investigate principal components analysis:

UBC BMDOlM and thre NTSYS package. The results were essentially identical i n each case.

The eigenvalues and tReir cumulative propor t ion of total variance indicated that the

pnnc~pa l componeh'ts route was no t go ing t o be useful. Manley (1984:106) has - .. \recommended that principal component ana,ysk fo l lowed b i cluster analysis is t o be

avoided except as' a qualitative me thod fo r , lboking for clusters in cases where the first

two principal components account for a hjgh propor t ion of the total variance. In this - .

case the ilrst t w o components akod : l ted for only 27% q f the iota1 variance, and sixteen

principal components were needed ' t o get better than 90S:;,. I t therefore seemed prudent

t o abandon the p r ~ n c ~ p a l components avenue.

t

5.6 .2 FACTOR ANALYSIS . -. UBC FACT0 and UBC FAN ( the latter is, an extensively modi f ied version: o f . BMD08M)

" . 1 ..

were used. The NTSYS package mtas n o t used . because . ' i t : had handling the size

of the Initial problem. The factor analysis wask.performed wi th a cb~re la t lon matrix and

then ~ v i t h a covariance matrix, bo th based o n the raw data. The covariance route

generally produced more factors than the correlation. The factor analysis results were

given t o the UBC CCROUP package t o produce clusters. c3

, 'i

5.6 .3 CLUSTER ANALYSIS dl.

Both of the NTSYS and CCROUP packages were used for clustering me tho s. Within R NTSYS, the TAXON program including the UPGMA, WP.GMA, SINGLE, COMPL E, WPGMS,

UPCMC and FLEXIBLE opt lons (these are described i n more derail by Sneath and Sokal

(1913 214-155) and the MSTSNCL program. i

h\STSNC;L \~ ,h ic l i produces min imum spanning trees, d id no t prove particularly usefu! in

th15 capacity. It revealed the s a k e core relationships as other methods, bu t tends ' tp - .

p ruducr large numbers of groups wi th only one member The WPCMC. UPCMC:-~~~:. P . .

SINCL t r e s ~ ~ l t s were not Included for slmilar reasons

5 .6 .4 CLUSTER STABILITY

T ~ t o proced~rres were employed for monitor ing the stability of the clusters. The first is an

aspect o i the general approach described above - measuring the sensitivity of the cluster

123 .. -9 +

A

results t o partrcular methods - --by a d o p t ~ n g a n i m b e r o f equrvalent methods and comparrng . the results Thrs w~ll b e discussed mo re in the next sectron The second procedure

evaluated the sensitivity of the cluster results t o particular variables and variable pairs. t

Here a single procedure (CCROUP) was repeatedly applied t o all combinat ions of variable< , \

where one and t w o variables were removed, look ing t o see if any one o r t w o were t .

unduly ' important t o 'the final result. CCROUP '=lusters hierarchically, initially assuming that

"7 -.~ach site is a solo g roup and then stepwise .addrng groups together so as t o minimalize

the increase in the total wi thin-grouf variation - mult iple applications of this proredurc~

are entirely appropriate for measuring the impact o f individual variables or sites.

O n e area w h k h proved v e y sensitive were the several cases 'where more than on?

Medic ine Wheel occupies the same setting. A g o o d example of this are the three

O x b o w sites. They are very apparently different in many \?a).s: yet, by virtuc. of sharing ,I

- ., . locat ion they share a number o f identical sett ing variables. Such cases skewed the nornidl

-, , . clustering process badly because the mathematics naturally grouped them quickly on the

basis of the perfectly matched sets o f sett ing variables, and these seeds then confused 9

the g ron i ng clusters. To, subveri this tendency, clustering rl.lns were done separatel! w i t l i . ' .

only one member o f , these 'identical-setting groups included at any time, and the I-esulting

distinct clusters we$ averaged in to the overall comparison process.

The second area where executive-level intrusion seemed necessary was w i th respect to the

15 sites k n o w n only by description. The conceptualizations still leave many gaps in thc \

data, and it turns ou t .?hat the different classificalion programs handle missing data in

qui te a variety of ways. For instance: many simpl\, replaced the missing data ~ v i t h medn I-

. ~

values, wh ich .allowed some group; of these sites t o have whole sets of identical mean s -

q values. The result was that sets' of - t h e least wel l -known sites were actually achieving

seminal influence in the classification. As this didn' t s e e n desirable, the procedures were

modi f ied t o ignore missing data rather than ~ep lace them wi th mean values. 8

.. .,

Aside f r om these t w o areas \ there special data condit ions influenced the vutcomc. 01 t 11 (> ' '

classifications, the results f rom the various clustering methods were remarkably stablc T l l ~ , . typrcal srze of the core (rnvarrant t o me thod and selectron of v a r l a b l e ~ ) . p o p u l a t r o n ~ i t 'd$

over 80% of the final populatrons , ~

5.6.5 GROUP SYNTHESlS

The me thod for synthesiz~ng the final groups f rom the various c luster ing tests t lescr ihrd

above 1s essentiallv another clusterrng exercrse As a standard procedure each clusterrng ' >

-

. - . . . ., . . . - . . L - , , - . . .

tree was cut off at ten branches,,: b r grobps-:(see . - F I G U R E , 12 ,for a n exampie). A m a t r i x . , 1. . . . - - . ^

' . .

was then c o r ~ t r u c t e d o f all sites a t d . 'hll . trials, 'w i th a n_uinb& fro;. 1: t o 10 ind ica t ing ' . . . . .

the iominal g r o u p t a b h i & . e a c h : d t e was assigned in e a c h ' tiial: : ~ a c h pair o f trials, x P . - % / 'I . . . - and Y, were then c t m p k d by count ing h o w many . .. o f t G 1'00 poss ib l6 Xi-Yj gro.6ip: . , - ..

x , ' .

, .

pairs were repres&'ted -by some site. + min imum 'number a n 8 p&r fecr match of',.clustets, '-

- - . , . . * .

. wou ld be a count of 10. :PI-' very poor. .match ' o f ck~sters -wxdd-- give a c o u n t , c loser t o , . ,. . >. - - ' .- . ,

50 b r m o r e This ;s anTexcellebt .tpaotUative procedure, fo!.,d&c'ribing the integrity df the .

,'- . . . . , _ - . . , ,.;*

resultirig groups w i th respect; t o va$ing inputs. As an -example, i n the comparison o f the '~1 .

21 trials wi th one variable missing there were 6 perfect matches. This mightn ' t sound '

high, but there were .also n o counts ooer 21, and the mean coun t was under 15. The 3%

- 10x10 matrix representing each trial comparison was p lo t ted t o confirm the ovgrall . correspondency. -

. s

A second method of trial comparison using the site-trial was' count ing h o w . many Ir - t ~ m e s each site-pair was assigned t d the same group in the viirlous trials. In this

&

comparison a perfect score wou ld b e 21 for any ;ite-pair i n the missing variable tezt

example ment ioned above. As w i th the first method, a good measure o f the core g roup

integrity IS obtained - any wea% linkages are automatically exposed as l o w scores.

Amongst the 'site-pairs in this test there were actua4ltlly 129 perfect 21-counts. Likewise,

there were I 5 8 20-counts and 123 19-counts in .going d o w n the I~s t . O n e cou ld work

out the expected distribution, based o n b , ;hmb& o f trials > - :'of ,21 tosses of a pair of .. , . il' 9 - I . .

w e ~ g l i t e d ten-sided dice, bu t the weight ing wou ld shift at each test and the . ,

* "

~ndependence of the trials wou ld be difficult t o support . ln any,:c$e, such comparisons % . . . . -.

- cannot easily be quantitat;ve. 2nd the significance iesults is best perceived in

the absolute integrity o f the core g roup m e m b h ich make u p the- final groups.

>

5

'-

The approach t o comparinb and combin ing trials he j e essentially guarantees

t k repeatabilitv that a . p o d classification the results o f many

I equ~valrn! . me'thods and by d i n g the skewing efiects o f individual and - - pa1rt.3 var~ables there IS complete assurance -that- the classificati6n results are no t

dorn~nnted b) methodological o r da ta &iomai/es( ~5i; procedure is really an extension o f

the ~ntorn ia l r e d u c t ~ o n of sectlon 5.5. 'where .a- s~milar experience and complete famil~arity

~ t ~ t h the var~abjes assured t h i t they were approp j~a te c h o ~ c e s The beaut), o f the

*procedure here IS that ~t -helps t o make the clustering ;mess less ' b l ~ n d , and ( in t h ~ s - cdse) p rowded an excellent conhdence In the ~ n t e ' y ~ t y of the core groups. Similarly, the

group s ~ n t h e s ~ s procedure takes the greatest advantage of the experrence gamed $1

4

I*

> . ' f, - > '

.. ,

. .. . . , . , . . . ,? . . - .

. - r . ~ . .. , . , .. %. 125 ...

7 . . . . .. ' - ' Figure 1 2 . CLUSTERING TREE '., -

. . , 5 - , - I 16 6 1 % 1 3 - 6 4 50 J 1 36 . J I 3 9

4 7 1 1 4 8 5 5 " 8 1 , - 5 2 1 I 4 5 , 5 4 , ,. * R .. . .-

' 3 15 . 6 8 . , 3 0 67 "

". 2.

a

' I .

* . - \ - ? This is a sdmple clustering tree from using the CGROUP rou-fine on the 82 sites for which the most complete da!a were available. The site names are not printed for lack df space - the numbers at thq-ends of the braikhes- correspond to the order of sites listed

* in TABLE 4.

F

&.

A.

1b26 r3 v

Figure 12 (cont). CLUSTERING TREE

T- 7 1 60 2 4 4 6 49 70 1 56 6 6

., - 7 5 19

7 2 7 33 12 5 6 2 8 6 3 75 , A - 20 13 -

69 10 1 4 42 6 5 58 79 ,

29 39 57 7 2

2 j'i

4

s

127 ?. 2 . ST.

cmbrning the results of . the original- trrats, drstillrng the f~nal g;oups from those srtes

, wh~ch were lrnked together \most often.",~hP numbers in this matrix approach irnpressiv~l) i E

demonstrate that the great majority of sites are extrerneli well bonded to spec& groups

-k%y experience suggesti that any researcher following a comparably careful iormal - ,

reductron procedure with the current data would arrrve at exactly the same frnd , - groupings, with no more than one or two sites .different.

The results of the cl~lstering procedure on the 97 srtes are expressed here -6 te;rns of

four final groups: Group 1 (20 sites), Group 2 (36 sites), Group 3 (15 srtes) and Croup

4 (26 sites). All of the multivariate statrstlcal procedures applied to the @a resulted in . - essenti ly Identical formulations of Groups 3 and 4, ~nter-mrxing occurred marnly between . d ~roup& 1 and 2 in the different trials. The endpoint kt 4 grouks was only pqtly

0

arbitrary. " A number between 3.-and 10 was the goal, and the 4 groups here prov~ded

rehtively even-srzed sets with better-than-average stat~stical d~stances from opt!ons of 3 or

5 groups. If larger groups had been sought, _the next step would have been to lorn ,

Groups 1 and 2, and the next after that to join C r ~ u p 3 to tho?. For smdler-kroups - the next addittonal group would have been- a retatrvely small s~hnter off Group 1, after' . .

. that Group 2 would have been split almost In half Carnposite Images of ~ r o b p 1-4 ytes ' are prov~ded In FIGURES 13-16 respectivejy

5.7 ~ n a l ~ s i s of th'e Groups Formed b

% 5.7.1 DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION ANALYSIS

4.

Whereas- the groups themselves are the most ~mportarlt outcome of the cl2ssificatron -

process, a discriminant functroq analysis can prov~de a useful formahzatron of the groups.

Gtven the onginab data and the additional 'inf~rmation concemrng group membershrp, this " -

procedure reviews and reformats the groups to supply t6.e following. ". .. $

The probabil~ty associated w~th the memb$rship of any slte to the &oup rt % b a s

* ass~gned, as well as to the other groups I .

A ranking of the importance' of the clusterrng varrables In drsc4mmatrng between

the gr&ups and - - , * b

A .funct~on of 'the ortgrnal varrables by whlch hew sites can be evaluated for "

group membershrp 5

The dlscrlmrnant funct~on analysrs routrne usede was ro the. UBC BMDO7M package whrch

- P

Figure 13. CROUP 1 COMPOSITE

Doug Wade Many Islands Lake

Sutherland Cairn 1

Glen Ewen Oxbow 1

7

Moose Mountain

f

'L

Canack 3rd Foot Shrine

Y v .

Jelly Ranch .

7

Middle Sand Hills 'rail Ridge ,

7

resno Red Deer tranraer

Figure 14. CROUP 2 COMPOSITE " ,

British Block -

- C '

Big ... :Horn

Whitewater

@ ,,

Bryne's 4

Miner 2

----b

Buffalo Bird

. Tipperary Creek

Miner 3

.r -. . . _7

- Zodiac Ridge

L

Orahood .

Claybank

i --t \

1 - t

~ i g u k 14 (cont). GROUP 2 C O M P ~ S ~ T E

Hali Moon . ......... - . I . . . . II Couherr ,- . . .

Wild Horse

--

rwin Peaks Cairn

Many berries - - 0

Faith

- Belle Creek

Bindloss

-b

Ihain of Lakes i

7 '

Loose Wheel

131

.Figure 15. GROUP 3 COMPOSITE

Sundial Hill

Anderson 2

Oxbow 2

Roy Rivers

7

Minton Turtle

Eagle Butte ::

Miner 1 0 0 0 f

7

Barry

Ciles Turtle

- -- jarnieson's Place

Zeigenbein

- Dark Horse

Figure, 16. GROUP 4 COMPOSITE - -

Grassy Lake

Sun River

- -

Steel

-

Young Mountain

I- -. Suitor 2

Wilson Russell

IL Forget Cirde

Ellis 0

fz ' 0

7

Suitor 3

7.

Aany ' Spotted Horses

= . Figure 16 ( q n t ) . CROUP 4 COMPOSITE

Eagle Child Lame Johnny Nelson

v

St. Mary's

7

Huxley

p ~ r f o r m s a stepwise discriminant analysis. The functions created were then given t o the

UBC CLASS program, which employed them t o classify the sites once more. A listing o f

the 97 sites and the UBC CLASS program evaluations o f their g roup classification and

probabilities of belonging t o the other groups is provided in TABLE 5.

In order o f inclusion, the ~~ar iab les selected b y the discriminant funct ion analysis were:

the presence o f a central cairn,

the presence o f an entryway,

the d'ameter o f the largest ring, /' the presence o f an effigy,

the type o f spoke, and

the number o f rings.

- 1 1 ' i s . of some interest that the discriminant analysis ignored all o f the sett ing variables,

. arld -most o f the physical measures o f the site. This, o f course, must mirror the k ind o f

.order that the clustering programs perceived as well, since the discriminant analysis was

' essentially defining groups that were already formed. It .might seem o d d that n o setting

variables were selected. This suggests in the first order that the setting was no t a great

concern in site se lect~on (beyond, o f course, the outr ight preference fo r a h igh site w i th

a great view) However, this situation might have be%n expected consider ing the single

geographical concentrat ion '$ different sites i n eastern Alberta: all o f these different kinds :. .9

of sites in essentially 2imi lar locations wou ld serve t o dilute the effect o f the setting

~,ar~+bles \ v I i~ch were used \hf~tI iout more information it is diff icult t o speculate further, 1 - "

but these results might equally well imply that some other sett ing variable(s), one(s) ,.

whlch were either unavailable or n o t considered, were significant.

.. The apparent lack of concern wi th respec$; to the physical dimensions o f the site

suggests, at .the first' glance, that comp!~s i t i on was more important than scale. This is

redsonahle but leaves open the q u s s t ~ o n of whether the d lmens~ons were erther - - unlrnportant o r alread) accounted for w ~ t h ~ n the varlabjes dealmg w i t h the compos i t ~on

Come j u s t ~ f ~ c a t ~ o n for t h e latter poss~b i l ~ t y IS supplfed In the next section

i

n I, notable that the d~icr lmrnant func t~ons u s e d by UBC CLASS make some very strong - - d e i i r i i n r about group membership: this is n o t surprising considering th&, . the variables

- . . h r l r i g u t ~ l ~ z e d general11 have fev, values The d ~ s c r i ~ i n a n t analysis clearly overstates the

~)rc)bab~lr t \ It should also be no ted that the drscriminant analysis disagreed w i th the

SITE NAME - - . - . . - - . - . . . .

Doug Wade A n t e l o p e H i l l H a l b r i t e W o l f c h i l d Grassy Lake Suf f i e l d S u n d i a l H i l l Many I s l a n d s L E l l i s B r i t i s h B l o c k B r yne ' ~ s

PROBABILITY 1 2

- - - . - - - . - . -

, 9 9 5 , 0 0 5 , 0 0 0 .ooo , 9 9 2 008 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 .ooo .974 ,026 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 . O O l , 6 6 8 .011 ,989

I N GROUP 3 4 i

- - - - . - - . - , 0 0 0 ,000 ,999 ,000 ,

.ooo .ooo '>

.ooo . 999' ', , , 001 ,999 -,

.ooo ,999 ,999 :ooo . oo 1 .ooo ,000 ,999 ,331 .ooo .ooo ,000

~ a m i e G o n ' s P l a c e , 0 0 0 .000 , 0 0 0 .999 Roy R i v e r s . O O O . O O O .999 , 0 0 0 M i n e r # l , 0 0 0 . O O O ,999 . O O O , M i n e r # 2 ,017 .983 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 ' . M i n e r # 3 .014 ,986 . O O O . O O O R i n k e r . 9 9 5 .005 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 ,

Wetze l , 1 4 0 .860 . O O O . O O O " 6nde rson # 1 , 0 0 0 .OOO .999 , 0 0 0 Anderson 8 2 . , 000 ,000 .999 . O O O Ross .OOO .OOO .999 . O O O S u i t o r #1 .OOO .OOO . O O O ,999 S u i t o r # 2 , 0 0 0 . O O O . O O O ,999 S u i t o r # 3 , 0 0 0 .OOO ,000 ,999 B a r r y , 0 0 2 -000 ,998 ..OOO B u f f a l o B i r d . 0 2 5 .975 ,000 , 0 0 0 S u t h e r l a n d C i a r n , 9 8 8 .011 - 0 0 0 .000 Ze i genbe i.n . O O O ,000 ,000 .999 Rumsey C a i r n .OOO ,000 .999 ,000 ', 1

P l e n t y . 992 .008 . O O O .OOO- T i p p e r a r y Creek , 0 1 8 .982 ' .Q00 .000 - Zod iac R idge . , 0 0 0 .998 .000 - .002- B i g H o r n , 9 9 9 ,000 ,000 . O Q O ' . ,

Sun R i v e r .OOO . O O O .go0 '+. 999 G l e n Ewen . 992 .008 ,000 .OOO- Oxbow # l .992 , 0 0 8 .Oob . O O O Oxbow # 2 .OOO ,000 .999 ,000 Oxbow 6 3 , 8 6 3 . 136' .001 .OOO M i n t o n T u r t l e . O O O , 000 .999 ,000 B i r d F o o t S h r i n e . 992 ,008 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 Canuck .996 .004 . O O O ,000 Moose M o u n t a i n , 300 ,700 .OOQ ,000 A l o n s a , 0 0 5 , 9 9 5 , 9 0 0 .OOO W i l s o n R u s s e l l . 000 .OW ..DO0 ,999 J e l l y Ranch , 9 8 8 , 0 1 2 ,000 .000 H u t t o n , 9 9 8 ,002 , 0 0 0 ,000 T r a i l R idge , 9 0 2 .018 , 0 0 0 . O O O Tens l e e p , 181 ,819 .OOO . O O O J8nn i ngs , 894 ,106 , 0 0 0 ,000 F o r t S m i t h , 0 0 0 .OOO ,000 .999 Orahood .788 , 2 0 5 .006 .OOO F r e s n o . 9 8 2 . 018 , 0 0 0 ,000 W h i t e w a t e r ,622 , 976 . O W .000 G i l e s T u r t . l e ,.OOO .OOO ,001 ,999 G i l e s C i r c l e '.. . 192 .807 , 0 0 2 .000

PROBABILITY I N GROUP - SITE NAME 1 2 3 4 - - - - . . - - . . . . . . . .

Alameda C i r c l e Hardy Tur t l e Ogema C i r c l e S t e e l F o r g e t C i r c l e N i t a p i n a w ' s Many S p o t t e d ti Claybank M i d d l e Sand H Dark Horse

,Lone Ante l o p e M a j o r v i l l e B u f f a l o H i l l C - A l k a l i Creek Red Deer Hugh t o n Young M o u n t a i n Grassy K n o l l Lowr y Mud Creek E a g l e B u t t e Ne 1 son C h e r r y R i d g e P o l i c e F a i t h E a g l e C h i l d J im A l l e n B i n d l o s s H a l f Moon Cou 1 t e r s B e l l e Creek Lame Johnny Cha in o f Lakes Wild Horse M a n y b e r r i e s M i l k R i v e r S t . M a r y ' s Murphy Loose Wheel Twin Peaks C a i r n McNe i 1 1 Anderson it3 S t r a n r a e r Hux l e y Trochu N e u t r a l H i l l s

The results of the UBC CLASS discriminant function analysis which evaluates group membership and provides a probability with respect to membership. Due lo the nature %- of the variables these probabilities are clearly overstated.

136

clustermg results In 14 of the 97 cases, suggesting a re-allocation o f the sites t o . . different groups Thts m ~ g h t seem like a h ~ g h number, but rt is completely wderstandable .

+

whkn ~t IS seen that 11 of those 14 are transfers between Croups 1 and 2- - the two

groups which the clustering analysis strongly indicated should b e 'joine$':if only 3 groups

were desired. In other words, these 11 potential transfers (Big Horn, O x b o w 3, - M o o s e . .

Mountain, Orahood, Giles Circle, Bindloss, Half Moon , Coulters, Chain o f Lakes., Wi ld 'p . ,. . -

Horse and Loose) are stating that a relationship exists between the C ps 1 and . 2. . ihi<: . I. . .

relationship needs t o be kept in m ind as the analysis continues, bu t i t doesn't . necessitate a restructuring of the groups. The re-allocations suggested fo r the other 3

sites (Hut ton f rom Croup 4 t o 1, Giles Turtle f rom Croup 3 t o . r 4, - &d Belle Creek f rom .

Group 2 t o 4) are also understandable and nonimperative.'As ,the. ;lustering procedure *. .L

was multifaceted and very systematic, none o f the re-al1ocatiq~-s suggested by the

single-step discriminant analysis wilk , be fol lowed. The conclusion is that the discriminant * + analysis is reliable ( in the sense of being useful t o the allocation of newly discovered - -

srtes to appro rlate groups) once known relationships are taken in to account, but that P -. the probabilities for Croup, membership provided are significantly overstated due t o the

nature of the variables. Nem6 sites may b e classified wi th * the UBC CLASS program using

the 7classification functions supplied in FIGURE 17. k-

A C r m p 1 was klearly selected for having spokes and a central caiin, bu t n o ring. Group

2 can be Q~aracterized a5 having a central cairn, relatively large...-ring, and n o spokes.

Group 3 sites also have central cairns and ring, but also el'ther an ,entryway o r effigy

feature Group 4 sites have n o central cairn, a relatively small ring, and a number of 8 *

-5 5pokes emanating x f r om the - ring. Simple drawings are provided in FIGURE 17 t o illustrate

these, most basic g r m p characteristics. In terms o f these general descriptions, it is readily

apparent h q w the ."ariables selected by the discriminant 4nalysis wou ld come in to play.

5.7.2 PROBLEM SITES

An sdvantage o f an approach ~ ( l t h mu l t~p le clusterlng trrals is that ~t soon becomesz,

appappt a , h ~ c l i ' M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheels always group in the same way, and which ones tend .to +

bv more ~tapvard: either joining t o different groups at different times o r even ending >up

on their own' There aren't many sites in this w a y a r d flock: those referred t o in the

last section most of ~ v h i c h were transient between Croups 1 and 2, represent- the largest

number of them. I wil l d~scuss the others here.

az . Qnc. 'or the maw\ard s~tes I S Glen Ewen the large earthen M e d u n e Wheel 5

be c lass~t~ed entlrel) o n ~ t s o n n when no t assigned t o Group 1 Thrs isn't *

* -

?

It tended t o

surprising,

d

. ' %

Figure ' 17. GROUP CHARACTERIZATIONS ' -.

+ .

The diagrams above illustrate a qualitative definition of the @our groups in simple visual - terms; the classification functions below, used in conjunction with the .UBC CLASS .

package, provide a quan&ative definition of group membership. Both methods ,will be us+/ to grouping new sites as they 'are found.

.- - considering its ,:dnusual diniensionr; ' th is res"lt- combine's. w i t h t h e knowledge of inusua l

., ,

' r

materials .and' 'multiple burials f o suggdst that Glen e wen, ..might well b e =ohsidered an . .

: entirely :"nique caie. It ended u p fairly i n Croup .i; however, as:a 'f@sult pf t he

. complete anaiy;is, so it seems . , fair - t o leave'.it t h i r e through the rest o f this study. - . - - .. .

- . . ,

~ n a t h e r waward _ .. -. site waz-' Many Islands Lake, which was also placed' o n its o w n - a *-

, - occasionally, a n d was joined t o bo th Croups 2. ang,. 4 'in different trials. .The reasons' for

this Medicin? w h e e l moving around aren-t go, ;traightfonvard: :it4 is r 6 6 r i very complex . . - -

site than a unrqqe orle So long as thrs extended character IS recognrzed rt seems safe - - ' . L , . '

t o leave it in ' ~ r o u p ' 1. ' ~ o u ~ h l y the same, dis~.ussibn cah 'be ' follo\;ied fbr . i ne ~,&h&nd ' , - .. .

. . Y '

. ,

Cairn - i t is most* often placed in C r o u p 1, bu t in the trial~~clas'j i f ications w i th one .o r . ... . .. , - ' . . - , more variables"missing 'It ended u p in .Groups 2 and 4. - .

. . - . . .. * 3 - .

Wi l ron Russell - i i another Eire \vh!c!i m o i e s around, this tlme a!ways t o Croup 1 f rom its

Group 4 , 'home'. This situatiori j s ' a ' goodc example of ho~ir . ' inadequacies of the .

information, lead t o problems. An exahinat ion- o f the Croup 1 a n d C roup '4 composites .. ,

. S ~ O M ~ S that 'Wi lson Russell has ve&. strong ties t o Group,. 7 . . he . . '.reason -Croup 4 wins' P . . *

-out is that. ,~ i l so r ; ~ " sse l l h a s ' n o central 'calm, only .a ..Lnique thick-walled .ri"g. - I f the '

interpretation of. this. . 'r ing' feature (it is ca l led a 'ring .bn $he- site f o h ) were changed :to . , * 3 .

pot ted central cam" w h ~ h it -certainly could "be [cornpaye i t t p the c i i r n of &bow #I,

fw instance), then t\v0 classification variable values ,would b e changed and Wilson Russell

wouJd suddenly, and unambiguously, belong t o Croup 1. For this,' and other reasons, it . . . *

. . - 1s v,eqt tempting t o re-interprete h e feature ,and m o v e . Wj,lsbn .Russell t o Croup 1'. This

coul'd - b e construed as' tampering wi th the:. data, however, so i t 'should remain , in. Croup . , . .

4 unti l a n investigatiqn at, the site can determineb if the r i ng might really, b e a ca i rn The . .

. . Fort' Smith and Murphy ~ e d i c i f l e , . Wheels are other examples .where a ring-to-cairn .

- .re-interpretation wou ld p rov . j e similarly reasonable moves f r om- Croup 4 t d Group 1. . .

rr b'

Ihc last wayward sites are Forget Young ~ o h t a i n , and, t o a lessw extent, els son . l 1 , c . w are Croup 3 s~tes whicl i occasronally showed u p rn Croup 2 durlng the tr~als. The

reason5 are once again pretty clear - they look like - they bel'ong t o Croup 2 but they (I

, d o n t have a central cairn i t is possrble that these were once more like Alameda and

( In\t,anL u l t h slngle large central boulders ( n o w gone) I t IS also possjble that they

qhould be considered as a separate group sir.ce they don ' t otherwrse look like they

belong to Croup 3 These are clearly cases -where the most significant clustering variable

(presence or absence o f a central carrra) overpowered the varlable measuring ring

d~ameter Once again however, any changes at this stage might constitute tampering w i th

e

the results - even if. these sites ~n t roduce , random errors Into the tests in the next

chapter, rt sqems more appropriate' t o k a v e them where they are & . .$ , ... -. x i

* . .- The wapyard Mediclnk Wheels serve t o emphasize that * n o classification scheme 'is lrerti;ct

.. . * . * . . . , These sites are relatively.;few, however , and their ~ ~ a t u r e js largely ,understandable. Liven -

.. - . ,.

this understanding,' which comes froth- knowing t h e data and t he . methods 'used to work .- .. - . *

w i th* them, the flaws in the ddrsif ication ~ r e n e i t h e r damaging n o r rouble some:. - : - ' . ., . .

, ,- . , .. . . , . , - .

5.7.3 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE . . - Analysis o f variance (ANOVA) provides : .method f o r testink whether different p o ~ ) u l ~ i t ~ o r ~ \

-. >

. , , . - . .

have significantly-diffe;ent mean values o f a given* va;iabic. ~ p p l i e d t o the classifrc-atlor, , , &

. - , . . ... process, the ANOVA technique p r o v i d e s a statistical m e a s u r e b f h ~ \ v d i i t i n ~ t t r r \ o l t l l ' ~ ~ .

~. . .< . . groups are in . t e r m s o f the var iab les 'hh ich . defined thein: 7h.e meaning- o i t h ~ s r . .

* . .. 1 . . 9 -

.-.distinctions--.depends- o n the reality o f . thk fou,r- gidups, whjch wil l :be assessed ir? tllc . . . , . , . - .".

-, 2 . . : sections whic'h fbll&. . ,. . .. . - . .

, 2

* . > -

., ,

&. The MINITAB package. AOVONEWAY- rout ine .was used o n 23 o f ' the clasiificatioi? valldt,les , ' i *

( the original 24 minus the mean spoke length,, due . t o its association wi th the' rat i im . . - a

variable) Usrng the standard F-ratio test, 1 2 o f the selected varlables displayed group . I

d~fferences which were s~gnifkant t o the 5% level O f these, 11 were also srgnlflcant d-1

the 2.5% level and 8 w e r e s i p i f i can i at better than t h e ' 1%'- level (see TABlE 6 ) . Simply ' . - , ,

, ~ t it IS clear that the groups are significantly different on_ 'a whale range of varrabl~s .

, . A much more c o ~ s e n ~ a t i v e evaluatton whrch can b e applied t o c luster~ng results 15 ~hc.

Bonferronl- te'st56 Here the slgnrf~cance level is enlarged by a f a c t ~ r re la t~ng to t l i r

number o f varlables ( 2 3 ) used rn the ANOVA testlng For Instance, at the 5% slgniflcdncc.

level orie heasures the F-distributidn at ,I - 0.05123 r 0.998 The Idea is ttiat ~f even '

. . one o,f the variables is significant at this co'n,servative level then one can reject the null ' I

hypothesis that t he groups are the same o n all 23 variables. Applying the test t o thtl

group data, 7 of the variables (Number of Central Cairns, ~ u h b e r ' o f - ~ i n ~ s . ~ u r n 1 ' y l " ' o l - Spoke Cairns, Number o f Entryways, Site ~ a d l u s , , ~umber ' . ' o f ~ f f i '~ ie ; , and Spoke I l q w )

were significant - a; the 5 ' h level, and 6 of these (all bu t Site Radius) were still^ srgniiir ,lrH

at the 1%- levet. The Bonferroni test is usually reported at the significance level \;,llc~rr.'-

just one of the ratios barely surpasses it - in this case four variables Lzlere well .beyond

B

56- A detai led discussion o f the Bonferroni approach is -prov ided in Hawkins . .

.. 1982.282-284. This standard version o f the test was suggesyed by ' Dav id ~ a v e s 'of the -

. . 7

Department o f Mathematics a n d Statistics, Simon Fraser .University. I

Table 6. ANOVA RESULTS .. ', . - .

' A N A L Y S I S OF.VARIANCE - SITE LONGITUDE -I -

SOURCE DF ' S S MS F .FACTOR . 3 1 5 5 . 0 7 5 1 . 6 9 5 . 2 1 -7

x..,

9 3 - 9 2 2 . 6 0 9 . 9 2 ERROR . - _, . . .. . . . TOTAL , 9 6 ' 1 0 7 7 . 6 7

INDIV IDUAL 9 5 PCT C I ' S FOR MEAN i BASED ON POOLED STDEV . . . . I, . . . . -, . -.

LEVEL N MEAN STDEV - - + - - - . - . - - - + - - - . - - - - - + - - - - . - - .. 7 . . **. , , >-

GROUP 1 2 0 1 0 7 . 0 4 3 . 2 9 ( - . - - - - * . . - - - - I ( - - - - - ' - - - - 1 a

" .. . . GROUP 2 36 1 0 9 . 0 4 3 . 0 9 . .

G-ROUP 3 1 5 , 1 0 9 . 3 0 3 . 5 6 ( - - x - r..'. . - . - - - - - - I , . = G ~ ~ O U P 4 26 110 :74 2 . 8 6 ( - - - - - ' - - - ' - )

. ~ .-+.-.--I.--+..-'---.--+----.-.--+----

POOLED sTDEv = ' '?. 15 106 .O 100 .o 1 1 0 . 0 1 1 2 . 0

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - n CENTRAL CAIRNS SOURCE 0 F s $ MS F FACTOR 3 15 -6850 5 2 2 8 3 104 6 8 ERROR 9 3 4 6 3 4 9 0 0 4 9 9

9 6 - 2 0 3299 TOTAL INDIV IDUAL 9 5 PCT C f ' S FQR MEAN BASED ON POOLED STDEV

LEVEL N . MEAN STOEV - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - , - - - -

; GROUP 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x ( - , -*- I GROUP 2 36 0 9 1 6 7 0 2 8 0 3 ( - * - )

GROUP 3 15 0 9 3 3 3 0 . 2 5 8 2 ( - - - * - - )

GROUP4 2 6 0 0 3 8 5 0 1 9 6 1 ( - ' - - f

POOLED STDEV = 0 2 2 3 5 0 00 1 0 5 ' 0 35 ,. SO 7 0 &.

,ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - R RINGS SOURCE D F S S MS F - FACTOR- 3 12 8 1 7 4 2 7 2 3 0 5 2 - . - . ERROR 9 3 13 0 1 8 ' 0 . 1 4 0 TOTAL 9 6 2 5 8 3 5

I N D I V I D U A L 9 5 BCT C I ' S FOR MEAN BASED ON POOLED STOEV

LEVEL N ME AN STOEV - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - -

GROUP 1 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 ,O 4 7 0 2 ( - - - ' - - - - I GROUP 2 36 1 .OOOO 0 2 3 9 0 ( - - * - - I GROUP 3 15 1 . 0 6 6 7 0 . 2 5 8 2 ( - - - - * - - - I

GROUP 4 26 1 . 3 4 6 2 * 0 4 8 5 2 a ( . - . - ' - - I

- - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - -

POOLED STDEV = 0 3 7 4 1 0 4 0 0 80 1 2 0

$ \

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - SPBKE TYPE SOURCE D F SS MS F FACTOR 3 1 2 3 . 5 6 4 1 . 1 9 2 4 9 5 ERROR 9 1 150 2 3 1 . 6 5 TOTAL 9 4 27' 7 9

INDIVIOU&L 9 5 PCT C I ' S FOR MEAN . BASED ON POOLED STDEV

LEVEL N MEAN STDEV - - - - - + . - - - . - . - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - ' - + - GROUP 1 2 0 1 . 6 5 0 1 . 1 3 7 ( - - - - * - - . - - I

-GROUP 2 3 4 1 . 000 1 . 4 9 7 ( - - - ' - - - I GROUP 3 1 5 3 . 3 3 3 1 . 1 7 5 ( - - - - - * - - - - - - 1 GROUP 4 26 3 . 5 7 7 1 . 1 3 7 ( - - - - * - - - - I

- - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - . - - - - - + - - - - - - - - - + -

POOLED STDEV = 1 . 2 8 5 1 . 0 2 .O 3 . 0 4 . 0 I

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - I SPOKE CAIRNS SOURCE O F SS MS F FACTOR 3 8 9 . 4 0 2 9 . 8 0 6 . 7 8 ERROR 9 3 4 0 8 . 6 6 4 . 3 9 TOTAL 9 6 ' 4 9 8 . 0 6

These are the I2 significant F-ratio re~ults among the 23 variables analysed by the . MINITAB AOVONEWAY routine.

. - ... . - . -

1.

LEVEL N GROUP 1 2 0 GROUP 2 36 GROUP 3 15

... . j,. - i

Table 6. ANOVA RESULTS . , ,$ -.. * - .

. ., . - .L . 4

> , , '

" A I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ L 9 5 PCT C I ~ S FOR MEAN EASED O N POOLED STDEV , ,

MEAN S T D M .....+ . . . . . . . . . + . . . . . . . . . r - - . . . . . . . . + . * , . , -

. ................ 2 . 150 ( . J 2.084,. . '.,, , ; ... 0 . 194 1 .009 ( - - I - - . ' : * . -. - . - . . . )

0 . 7 3 3 1 , 4 3 8 ' -. ( - - - - - - - - - .,$t. - - L' - : ' - ) . . . 2 . 3 0 8 3 . 2 3 4 . & . . . . . ' . . . . . . . )

. ' < ......... - .-... + - - - - . - . - - +, + . . . . . . . . + . . 2 . 0 9 6 0,: 0 -- 1 . b 2 . 0 3 . 0

\

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - A ENTRYWAYS - - SOURCE D F SS MS *

" F FACTOR 3 1 3 8 8 0 3 4 6 2 6 8 9 0 0 3 ERROR

4 9 3 4 7795 0 0 5 1 4 9 . .

TOTAL 96 .18 6 5 9 8 INDIV IDUAL 9 5 PCT Cl'S FOR MSAN

9 & . BASED ON POOLED STDEV

L f VEL N M A N srGv - - . + - - - - . . - . . + - . - - - - - - - + - - - . + GROUP 1 2 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 * €J 0 0 0 0 ( - -" - - 1 GROUP 2 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 ( - ' - 1 GROUP 3 " 15 1 0 6 6 7 0 4577 - ( a I GROUP4 26 0 0 7 6 9 0 2 1 1 7 ' ( - * - - I

- - - + - - - - - - - - - 4 . - - - - - - - - + - - + .: - . +

h O L E D STOEV = 0 . 2 2 6 7 0.00 . 0 3 5 0 70 1 0 5

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - i7 E F F I G I E S /

- "

SOURCE . DF S S MS 'F FACTOR .. 3 2 . 2 8 4 2 0 . 7 6 1 4 9 48 4 1

ERROR 9 3 7 4684 TOTAL 9 6 9 7526-

LEVEL 0-c-

N MEAN GROUP 1 2 0 0 b O O 0 . GROUP 2 3 6 ' 0 . 0 5 5 6 GROUP 3 15 . 0 . 4 6 6 7 GROUP 4 2 6 0 . 0 7 6 9

POOLED STDEV = 0 . 2 8 3 4

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - SPOKE LENGTH SOURCE DF SS - MS F i

FACTOR 3 10715 3572 7 4 1 - L

ERROR 8 8 4 2 4 1 4 ' - 4 8 2 TOTAL " * 9 1 5 3 1 2 9 J

A ,- . INDIVIDUAL 9 5 PCT CI'S FOR MEAN

BASED ON POOLED STDEV - - d LEVEL N MEAN S ~ Q ~ V - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - - - . + - - - - - . - - . + - . - - + - = - -

W O U P 1 2 0 3 4 . 5 5 3 4 . 0 2 ( - - - - - - - - ->- - ) GROUP 2 3 3 5 . 6 4 1 5 . 1 8 ( - - - - * - - - - ) GROUP 3 15 1 4 . 3 3 7 3 . 9 8 ( - - = k - GROUP 4 2 4 1 9 . 7 9 2 1 . 1 0 ( - - - - - - - - - - - 1 ?-

- - + - - - - - - - - a + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - + - - - - - - + - - - -

POOLED STDEV = 2 1 . 9 5 0 15 30 45 %

I t ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE - S I T E RADIUS SOURCE OF SS R1S ' - F FACTOR 3 1 8 6 3 1 6 2 1 0 5 . 9 7 ERROR 9 3 9 6 7 0 2 1040 TOTAL 9 6 1 1 5 3 3 3

INDIV IDUAL -95 PCT*CX ' S FOR MEAN BASED ON POOLED STDEV

LEVEL N MEAN STDEV - - - - - - - - . - + - - - - . . - - - + - - - - - - - - - + - - - - - - GROUP 1 2 0 5 4 . 4 1 59.26 ( - - - - - - * - - - - -':) GROUP 2 36 1 8 . 4 6 1 5 . 3 2 ( - - - - * - - - - - ) GROUP 3 15 18 .38 1 4 . 0 3 GROUP 4 2 6 2 7 . 19 2 7 . 5 8 ( - - - - - - * - - - - - 1 ..... ................................. POOLED STDEV = 32 25 2 0 4 0 6 0 '

+ -

1 1 42

the mlnlmurn s~gnrfrcance level (0 0002%) my-.stat package (MINITAB) could calculate

wlthout crashrng C

. - W~th both the standard and' conservat~ve ANOVA tests provrding remarkabl.e results, it IS '

%&

apparent that there 1s a .considerable structure of the data manifest In these groups.

Srnce t h ~ structure ~nuolves a large proportion of the original variables, it provides a

deeper objectrve confidence that the groups are meaningful to the experiment at hand. c Y

5.7.4 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION . , " . + The map In FIGURE 18 d~splays the geographrc drstr~butlon of the classification groups. It

tJ

1s useful to emplo), the ANOVA results to understand .the spread There i s almost no

varlat~on rn the mean latitudes of the groups the C r w p 3 mean IS further north than

the other groups but thls 1s riot at a signrfrcant lev l acco;dlng to thk ANOVA tests 5 The stor) IS drffkrent with longitude where the srgn~ficance level is better than 0.15?0

that the mean longrtudes serve to d~stlngu~sh the groups The Croup: are arrayed In

order from East to West, wltli the Croup 1-2 separatron and Group 3-4 separat~on berng

the largest Looking at FIGURE 18. ~t IS possible. to speculate that Croups 1 and' 4 have

exclusrve drstributrons possibly due to ethnlc boundaries. . , B

At th~s stage ~t Isn f clear that such an ethnograph~c rnterpretatron for the geographical

results IS available Wh~le drscrete geograph~cal homes for the* groups might be exciting

trom an anthropologrcal perspective rt IS not a necess~t);. The Plarns Indians were not

sedentar) cultdres but wde-ranging nomads - it might be difficult to explam h~ghly

rsolated groups because thrs could be ~nconsigent with current knowledge of Plains

prehisiol). l n any case, sucli an interpretation is not the goal now; longitude variation is

~mportaht here because it is another level o f confirmation. of the classificatjon. The

longitude and latitude variabks. were reserved from the classification process precisely for

their potential to evaluate, the resulting groups. No other classification scheme of an); ?

hnd ,has demonstrated a ' signifignt geographical dispersion of Medicine Wheel types.

1lit.rejore this ney information is relevant to interpretations that will come

I r m this and .continuing studies.

5.7.5 LOGICAL STRUCTURE

i Another \\,a\ of unkrstandrng hob well the class~ficatron worked, and thus how rel~able

the result~ng groups are 1s b) looking at the 'ghost' Medrcme Wheels - structures

drsc-rlbed bii\~io\zn \,slues of the six sdecied variables (which makes them 'possible'

,\\edicine LZ'heels) which are nevertheless not represented by any known structures. For . 4 7

Figure 18. GROUP GEOGRAPHICAL $READ :5\ :1

' w 111•‹ W 107' W 103' W 99O W

Longitude

.. , .

~nstance. if the ~ e d k i n t . whke ls were being classified by 3 var iables-each wi th 3 values, " ,

." , *

27 independent 'b&:i;~'~ wou ld b e def ined which .r&resent the possible I- . ~ k d i c i n e .Wheeb..

A reasonable questron io- 'ask IS h o u many of - the -boxes are full? A S a demonrtratron,. a, . ,

consider the 60 boxes indicated b y the first three and f i f th o f the djsciiminant funttioc-,

iarrables ( the other t w o varrables were exc l uded t o rpduce the rnitral n u m b e r o! bpxes, 3

60 was obtarned ,by temporarrly makrng the r ing -drameter varrable three%alued at 'large', -.

\mall and zero ,so that 2 ~ 2 ~ 3 x 5 = 60 ) ern^ cautrous 39 o f these 60 a e erther

Iogtcall\, or plausrbly uplikely . t o have occurred, t o Have been d~scovered, or t o hate . been consrdered Jn f h ~ s anal),s~s For the remarnrng 21 plausible compositronal

- arrangements there are n o a p r ~ o r ~ reasons t o suppose that any one IS much mo re o r

less Irkel) t o Ilave been created b) the Medrctne Wheel makers However after placrng

- _ the 97 Medrcrne w h e e l candrdates In the appropriate boxes accordrng t o t h ~ s scheme,

onl) 14 of the 31 boxes have an) representatrve member Furthermore even rf the

. , . pldusibilit\, criteria are incorrect.' for any reason, o f the 14 occupied boxes. 4 of these

account for 71 o f the 97 (73%) candrdates These 4 boxes mrght b e consrdered the

core arrangements of the 4 groups just created The box labelled central carrn and

spokes but n o rings entr) or e f f ~ g y has 1 5 members and supplres the essence o f

Group 1 Group 2 IS represented b) a box labelled large r ing and central carrn bu t n o

.- spokes' ~ , h r c l i has 21 members. C roup 3 i s def ined b y 11 Medic ine Wheels in a box

wi th the label 'centrat cairn and large ring w i th spokes emanating f r om tbie ring, including

. an en tqway or effig),'. And c;oup 4. is a b o x labelled 'small r ing w i th n o central cairn,

sp;lke3 emanating f rom the ring' which has 34 members. This entirely rational approach is

n o t a substrtute l o r the classif icat~on- just completed, but it does prov ide a g o o d measure

of .ho\z, strongl}, distinct and u? l l -&T ined the 4 groups o f Medic ine Wheels are. I t is I . _ '

rnstructive (but beyond the space available here) t o demonstrate t o oneself the integrity

of the classification b ) ~ dra\.fing ou t some o f these 'ghost ' wheels, and wonder ing why sy .- . ,

the\ were never built. O n e can also measure this integrity by considering the 'wayward

I ot sec t~on 5 7.7 In terms of ghostl) nature

The comc!usron here rs the same as in the previous sections: it

c o r l s~dcr the 4 groups as some accident o f processing. Looking

I \ r i l 0 5 t reasonable t o conclude that the Medic ine Wheel groups

i on i lms~ t rona l preferences o n the part of their makers.

-- 5 .7 .6 COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS CLASS~F~CA?IONS

is v e v difficult t o

at the logical structure i t

represent sets o f clear

T t i c rldssrircatrons ot Brumlei (1986) and Brace (1987) have been discussed earlier

Although these were without explicit theoretical foundation, they are the most

comprehensive attempts t o describe Medicine Wheels before this. A further means o f

evaluating the new classification is through a close comparison with the pre\,ious onc>t,

First of all, Brace's and brumley's classifications do not agree veq, well. In fact. Brd(.t'

doesn't agree very well with himself, since his 1987 groupings are quite diaerent thdll

those he proposed in 1983. In the later ,case, he sorted the population into 4 t \ q ) ~ \ 01

-. Medicine Wheels, 4 types o f ceremonial circle?. 2 types o f effig),, -and geometr~c-dl

structures. Of the 49 sites he has in 'comn+on with Brumlq,, 33 ..(roughl\, 701~,,1 V , Y ~ I ~ ~ _I-

<

grouped--in similar ways, although n o g r o u p were identical. 11: terms of near ~ ~ c ~ L I I \ , ~ I ( ~ I I ~ f '

Brace s Type A M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheels are like &~umle )~ s Subgroup 3 M e d ~ c ~ n e LZ'h~cl\ 6 -

Type B plus Type C M e d ~ c ~ n e ihlheels coriespond t o i3rurnle)-s Sutjgroup 4 anti h ~ \ I I I )~

D Med lc~ne Wheels are nearl\( a comb16a"tbn o f Brumlq 's Subgroups 5 dncj r, Brd(('

C'erernonlal C~rc le Type A 1s hke Brumle) s Medlclne W h e e l ' ^ ~ u b ~ r o u p 2 ant i I l l \

Ceremon~al C~rc le Type C IS l ~ k e Brumle) s Med~crne LEL1h?el Subgroup 1 B q c ~ n d t l l ~ i 111, , - comparisons are meagre at best w ~ t h o u t knowledge of thy researchi or lentat~on< ot 1 \ 1 ( % 5 t .

c lass~f~cat~ons there IS n o basrs for further d~scuss~on *

a / M'hen compared to my groups, Brace's groups are quite dissimilar dgarn. Of t h t ~ 0'1 s l rcJ \

I. known rn common to bo th studres Brace excluded 8 for unexpla~ned reasons Th15 I \

lnterestmg slnce the Intent ot Brace s study was to cons~der the broadest range of l'ld~ns

boulder conf~gurat~ons rather than Medmne Wheels per se Of the 54 s~tes ~ 1 1 1 ~ 1 1 hot11

studies placed Into groups, only 3 1 (6OU0) were groqped s ~ r n ~ l a r l ~ Croup 1 herr mrgtrt

be compared t o Braces Type A Medlcrne \%'heels Cronp 2 1 5 l ~ h e Bract:'? C (~ r r .mor~~~ i l

C~rc le Types 6 plus C .%-Group 3 1s hke Brace s Ty@ A Ceremon~al C~rcles .C,roul) 4 1s

nearly a c o m b ~ n a t ~ o n . of Medlclne Wheel Types 5 plus C There are m a n ) d ~ s a g r w m v r ~ l i rp

concernrng smgle s&es -- .. .

1

A comparison of rn). groups k i t h Brurn le ) '~ groups provides much bctter agrc.r>rnrLrit I*

*'I Between the t ~ o stud~es there ar_e 83 s~tes known ~n common Brurnlc~ tfrcl r ~ o t c ~ r i 1 ~ 1 1

16 o f these as poss~b le M e d ~ c ~ r w - n'heels Of the 64 s~te; ~ ' h ~ c h both stud~es pldcf.(4n

Into groups 36 ( 8 8 " o ) \%ere grouped In the same wa) In fact exclud~ng Brumlfa\ [ I

splrnter groups 5-8 the grouprngs are ~den t~ca l except tor four sites In m \ O r o u l ~

~ \ h ~ c h Brumle, put In h~s Subgroup 1 Overall my Group 1 IS essent~all) the sdmt <I

Brumlt.\ s Subgroups 3 plus 8 Croup 7 1. ven8 close to Subgroups 1 plus G 0ro1111

i s s~m~ la r t o Subgroup 7 and Croup 4 IS almost ~den t~ca l to Subgroup 4 Onl i Hrurnlr3\ 5

Subgroups 5 and 7 ( 3 rnembes each) are d ~ v ~ d e d and consrder~ng therr numbers d ~ f l ~ ( u l t

to place It may b e that Brumley's Subgroups 5-8 were created t o house what he

r r~ns ldered ' odd ' sites (Indeed, more than hal i o f these are some..of the:;wap$;i' sites

descr~bed earher)

.. (ompanng the three c lass~ f~ca t~ons all at once, o f the 45 s r ks shared in c o m m o n and - grouped 29 (65%) were always grouped rn the same way according t o the group

I 1

equnalenc~es described above Group 3 was especially strong In t h ~ s regard, wrth 15 of . 1 - ( ' J C ) " , , ) dlnavs b e ~ n g grouped the same wa) in the three separate studies

i l ' ~ t h o u t more k n o ~ d e d g e o f thelr clasuf~catron crlterla and goals ~t IS n o t posable- t o -<

waluate the Brumley and Brace results with the same ratlonal approach presented for the

groups here It IS therefore also no t poss~b le t o conclude that the slmilarrt~es be tween

th t . c lass~i~cat ldns partlcularl) ewdent rn the comparison ot m y groups w ~ t h Brumley's,

t ~ d \ v m r n ~ global s ~ k n ~ f ~ c a n c e ' t o M e d ~ c ~ n e Wheels Hoivever ~t IS posslble t o conclude

that these s ~ m ~ l a r ~ t l e s are slgnrf~cant t o Medicrne LVheeT s tud~es because t h e e dlverse

research- endeavours crosslng bo th functron and d e s ~ g n perspectives ' have ar r~ved at

equ~valent groups

5.7.7 THEORETICAL /USTIFICATION

.As a i ~ n a l means o f understanding the new groups, it is wor thwhi le t o consider h o w the

h i o rma t i on the) represent conceivably relates t o the different extant theories.

- CROUP 1: Croup 1 sites are characterized by central cairns and spokes. mvithout rings. In

. terms o t setting. the onl) obsemation aside f rom the ANOVA analysis is that Group 1

sites have v ic~vs concentrated t o the N and E ( tw ice as of ten as S and W). This is

conf i rmed by a heavy concentration of boulders generally E of center. C roup 1 spokes

are s~gnii icantly longer (35.m' average) than those o f Group 4 (20m average), and they

have the largest maxlrnum radii o f any o f the groups (5417-1 average versus 18m. 18m and

2-rn respectlvel\,) The19 also have the .largest average number o f t ipi rings nearby (31

\ e r \ u s 1 Q 10 and 1 3 respectt \ ,e l~ although those numbers have large standard deviations

and \\,ere not cons~de red signif~cant b), ANO\ 'A ) . Only one Group 1 site has a

qrgrnetiteri spoke (htan), Islands Lake \\,hich, wi th its ring, suggests it might be a Group

1 s ~ t t l Fxcept io r ~ t s small ca lm) , and t h ~ s IS the lowest number for all the groups, even

t l lough L r o u p 1 I S spokp-dominated Croup 1 also has the lowest average symmetry

ratlng ( ( 1 b versus 0 8 1 1 and 0 .9 respectivel?,), a l though this might be expected because

II hd(d the Icnes: teatures to connote that subjective measure. In summar),, Croup 1 sites

- cdii by i o r l i ~dc> red large but ver) s~mp le configurations

-, 3 " . Z

% . :. - 147. - 1

Brumky 's excavation at Ellis is consister~t wi th burials in tipis rather than cairns, so at

first glance it wou ld seem that Group 4 sites fit that no t ion best. That ma), be true but

.. . , it is hard t o ignore the fact that the Glen Ewen site - another conf i rmed burial - fits

, - . very wel l in Group 1. It cou ld also be the case that s o h e of the cairns were once tipi

' -. rings, f i l led in over t ime by pas'sing groups ou t of respect and t o protect the remains

. .

. .. af ter ' the t ipi had disappeared. Cbmmemora t iw ideas are supported easily by Croup 1, . -

but, there is l i t t le support fo r o ther ceremonial theories. The simplicity works against the c

Sun Dance idea, bu t the number of t ipi rings works for 11

.._ I . The simplicit?and sire of t h e l r o u p 1 sites is consistent w i th bo th o f the orientational

Y

theories, b u l the number of t ip i rings nearby contradicts them. The view, corridors and

boulder distributions favour the okservatory theory over the signpost theor),. The generall},

. + wide spread o f the spokes, however, does' not support the idea of astronomical a +.

observations. !he I& o i detail makes it diff icult t o believe that peomet r ) war twing -.

done and a number o f .the c a m s seem t o o small to have supported a gnomon 3

GROUP 2: Croup 2 sites have largest Farms (6 9m) and the largest ring5 (15rn) and the . . " fewest spokes ( 1 . 3 ) . The), have the most external cairns o n average ( 3 8, versui a IOU, c ~ i

- -- A.

%' .---'I 1.8 to1 Group I ) , and the least t ipi ring's o n average at 10. They ar? also t ied w ~ t h 5P

C r o u p 3 in being the smallest i n overall size, since the presence o f spokes generally

determines" the larger radii i o r ~ e d i c i n e ~ ~ w h e e l s . They are rno;tly sit'uated' atop high hills

n i t h steep sbpes. The,_hilltop seems t o be the primary site qselecstjon characterist~c. 0,

- because Group 2 , has the greatest diversit), i n the types o i water supply used and t h ~ ,

local geography. When the .vi@vs aren't excellent i n a ~ l ~ d i r e c t ~ d n s , they ;re I i e a v i l ~ ~ t - . a c

concentrated t o the E a n d S (tHree times as of ten as rj and MI), altho;gh h e boulder .&. e

concentrat ion vectors are generally toward the NE rather than the SE.

* 0

- I t 's diff icult t o f ind a home i o r C r m p 1 i n any. of the ce remonk l theories; i t doesn' t

mesh we l l ' i v i t h the details o i an& of G e m . The closest 6 o u i b be the buffalo cult

theory based dn the results at the Majorville Gte. L i k e ~ k e , there are t o o lei,, ieaturc~s

. that ' po in t ' t o anything t o support the or ientat ional- theories, even if these sites do h d v ~ , e

9 , .

good hzr izon vieivs. The large rings and generally npn-circular shape \vould support t i i t , -p: geometry theory if the sites ~ v e r e n ' t so steep. The best sspport goes t o the gnomirr i . '.-, -

. . B

theor) due t o the setting, large cairns and relatively symmetrical, large rings .A . .

CROUP 3: Croup 3 s~tes t ip ical l \ have large rlngs l a ~ g e calrns and e f f ~g ) or rntn?zd\

i e a t u r s T h e ~ r setvngs are the most sharply def ined of any o f the grobps. wi th

essentially u r ~ i i o r m occ,upation: dC high prairie hilltops and cliffs over major :river valleys. . ,

L .

Also like C ioup 2; the su&unding slopes are the steepest of any groups, and the best

views areF.'to the E and 5. This matches very well with, a strong concentration of boulder

distribution vectors to,.. the S, which in turn is likely due t o the concentration of the

entryways and eff.ig@s to the SE. These sites -ha* the highest of the subjective symmetry

rdt~ngs They haye many external cairns, amd are the most massive sites (1353 bouyers

. * n ,

on average versus 1079. 893 and 416 fw Croups 1, 2 and 4 respectively).

.4ltIiougl> ver), much like Group 2 in many ways, Group 3 provides better support for

the theories. The effigies and entryways are consistent with ;burial, commemorative, sun

cldnrc. dnd buffalo cult theories The observatory theory k ,.supported, in general, by the -

-4 . orientations of the entqways/effigies, although once morg there are relatively few tliings . .

1-

h c ~ n g ' pointed at. The geometql theory is hinted at b), the symmetry of the sites a& . .

tl~err complexit),, although the steepness o f the terrain i s still ,a problem. The gnomon '

. ' t l i t~or) IS well supported b \ ' ,a l l featu~es of t11.e site, most specifically the size of the ; %

. . .

calms and rings, the ettig); features, and the orientations. ,,. , * . , . . +

. . . .

GROUP 4: Group 4 sit& have n o central cairns, and generally have small, tipi-sized ;/n'gs b

(4m average radius versus l l m and 9m for Croups 2 and 3, respectively) from which

spokes emanate. Unlike the other groups, these sites are head& concentrakd near major - &

r~ver valleys, on the edge of a plateau rather than the top of a hill. &o, the views are

drrected to the 3 and bl', rather than to the E as in the other groups. There i s n o

specific onentation of the boulder distribution vectors. They have more spokes than any - other group oh average, and more spoke segments and $poke, cairns, but tfie spokds

arrn' t as long as Group 1 and don't exhibit as much variation in length. These are the

smallest sites o f all in terms of the average number of boulders, 3mostly because they - have no central cairn. Finall), Group 4 sites have close to the average number o f tipi

rlngs but .n man), cases the rings here are within the site rather than surrounding it

All 01 the Group 4 detail5 are cons~stent mith the conjecture that the; were normal

t.ntam@nents where one o f the bpi rings was spqcial .for some reason. Furthermore, the

[ , I ( 1 that in several cases the spokes run right across' other tipi, rings, and even seem to

h3i.t' bmrcnt,ed OuIders trom them, suggests that1 tli; special tipi ring was 'decorated'

atter the rest-+i the trprs had been taken down

i lrdrl i t h l ~ ~ ~nfor rna t~on f ~ t s \,en well \ v ~ t h the bur~al theoi-8 and perhaps next -dfter that

\ ~ ~ t h t h ~ -commemorative theoi-. The presence of a tipi practically negates both o f the

B

orientational hypo'lheses, ;ince viewf'ng over 'the center wou ld no t h a v ~ been -possil-dc..

and vlewlng f rom the center c,would have been rest r~cted t o the t ~ p ~ opening ? h ~ t1pi P

also makes .the geometr) idea somewhat mo re d~ f f i cu l t t o support There IS p l ~ n t \ r,f ',

support for the gnomon theory however, smce the physical presencc ot- &P t p ~,rovit ir>\

. the necessary t h ~ r d d rmens~on naturally 3 i 3

$2 " %

, * I n the! ehd the only true measure o f the wo r t h o f a c lass~f~cat lon 15 11s u t ~ l i t j t t , tlrp

r

&research prob lem at hand For the present c lass~f~cat len such u t~ l l t ) \ \ as b ~ t d Into ~r t ) \ -

the careful se lec t~on o f var~ables and the formal reductton $0 the flnal groups l h v . 4 *

coherence of these groups has been evaluated in this chapter in terms of ge~gral,h,c,tl

distribution, discriminant funct ion analysis, logical structure ( the 'ghost ' , k l ~ d i c i n r 1%'I i t~t~l \ ) L '&

analysis 0.f variance, theoretical foundat ion, and .consistency wi th past i$s~ i f~cd t io r i i T l > r ,

conc lus~ons are unamimous and unambiguous: the data contain significant grou1,s . - . .

A major prob lem 111 M e d m n e Wheel s tud~es has b e e n that di f ferent res~ar r l i e r5 h,w(>

sought support fo r d~ f te ren t Ideas uslng t h e ~ r o b n Isolated sets of h led~crne \r\'heel\

sets selected w ~ t h o u t jus t~ f i ca t~on Wl th the event o f t h ~ s c l a s s ~ f ~ c a t ~ o r ~ there is ~ ) l ~ c t ' t o r

such sets except where the) con fo rm t o the structure o f the groups de5crrbed here

Since the number of my groups is relatively arbitrary, consideration of combined group5

and subgroups is reasonable. It is no t reasonable, however , t b consider a set which;

crosses these groups. For example, the feyv sites which supposedly support thc

observatory theory are spread even$ throughout my Groups 1 to 4 It is no\\, c-lcar that , *

t t e only criterion for membership in the observa tov set l ras an alignrnc.nt close, 1 0 \\,11dt

the researchers were look ing for. This is unacceptable. he argument alscu \vnrks t h l . othel ' :.

way: n o argument based o n a single site o r acceptable subgroup of sltes can be * ,,...>

considered i n complete isolation f rom the rest of the group of origin 4 classif~cat'itrri ' - . .

l ike a tree, provides a structure fo r associations in b o t h directions . -

The class~f~catron of sltes In this chapter IS the f~rs t compreher-ts~ve dn(i \ \ 5 t ~ n i a t i ( , I I M ~ \ ~ I ~

o f M e d u n e Wheel var lat lon, Whereas ~t 15 possible that the groups here d o not cdl)turcb

a r e a l ~ h of great signrficanre to the ~ e d l c ~ n e M'heel bu~ lders the overall Integrlt) ( 1 1 t h ( ~

groups suggests o themlse T h ~ s quest ion c a n t be answered absolutel) What 1s dhsolut t~

IS that these groups encompass the real~t) of our current knowledge regarding M?drclnc

M'heels The) are theretore excellent samples for expenmental tests

. 3. . . , .

. , h4. - W I'

The purpose here is to see if there, are any-:structural correlations apparent in, the '

-F 1

t .% -

p. ' '150

I : ,

. fv~edicink Wheels ~ F O U P S . 'Structural correlations' is a somewhat vague term on its ~ $ v n , . - '7

$ a I

but in reference :o geometry and gnomon' theories there are some specific'structbral . Z

CHAPTER 6

t' + + STRUCTURAL TESTS , .p

AN INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

manifestations which ought to 'be apparent if those theories are true. For instance, with 7

the geometry theory there is a specific set of principles by which any of the figures

were meant tir be lai2 out. For the closed geometrical forms this implies that centers of

curvature and tad11 of curvature ought -to fall withrn set boundaries For the other site ., features the geometry 2heor), implies that there were standard absolute and proportional

C

dimensional relatlonshlps, and also standard *angular separations. In short, the rules of the

geometn should be readily accessible. Geometry without rules or geometry with changing

rules are no1 variations of the theory as proposed, and would be difficult to understand

under an),. circumstances. I. -

In the case of the gnomon theory: it is presumed that 'the figures and/cr significant

points and features wthrn the fl&r,es were laid out w th light and shadows projected

-. onto the ground b~ the gnomon" or else by some r ~ t e ~ z e d system of watchmg obleck

In Ilne ivltj? the pole or wtyle attaded to ~t by rape Such systems amount to r u l ~ s

similar to the geometry theor). The difference is that the gnomon height is not known,

and needn 1 have been standard As well, there might: have been observations 'through'

the gnomon as often as on ;>p of it. Therefore the absolute dimensional structure is .

not as important as the proportional dimensional structure. Also, under the gnomon '-'

theon one i ~ o u l d presvmabl\ Pxpect proportions that were not slm&$ whole number

ratlos and angular separations that were not ~arknlcal An add~t~onal aspect of the

gnomon theon IS that the ultlmate source o f * the structure 15 the sky so that any

~tructurdll\ srtnildr components should also exhlb~t or~entatloml- srmllarrt~es Finally ~t should

b~ stated that it i s easier to imagine a variant oi the gnomon theory with indefinite or

unstructured rules. but in such cases there would be no infoimation to suppfg those

iarlants and s o the\ can t be considered here.

6.2 Cubic Spline Analysis ,

Cubic splines are useful i n curve f i t t ing when the cont inuous fo rm o f the expected

funct ion is unknown. A cubic spline funct ion over a set of points is composed o f cubic

polynomials wh ich join at their edndpoints such that the first and s w o n d derivatives are

-. also cont inuous. An interactive program for- . f i t t ing cubic splines t o , - - ~ e d i c i n e Wheel rings

was developed i n o r d f f t o determine if there was any suppot i -9b ' i t he geometrical . -

theory. The tension oi t he spline fit is adjustable, al lowing a looser o r t ighter fit

' . depending o n h o w "'natural' a curve is desired. The original points can then' b e recast b)

.the spline funct ion, and parameters such as radius and center of curvature can be- I

de te rm~ned cont~nuously . f rom the curve der~va t~ves for the 'mode l curve These ' . parameters can then b e used t o make an abstract mapping of the . m o d e l curve which

naturally detects the regu la r~ t~es ~ m p l ~ e d b y geometrically-determmed forms In short the

sp l~ne t echn~que produces a s~gnature o f the r lng geometr) 4

6.2.1 SIMULATED DATA

The geometries proposed originally by Thom and adapted -b), Ovenden are exactly like ' .

the splines thentselves, be ing segments of circles and ellipses j o i n e d fnto larger forms.

The spline. analysis in this investigation was designed t o look for- rapid changes in

curvature and center o f curvature, and then t o fit conic sections to the resulting cuwe

pieces def ined by these 'nodes'. A n example o f the program's interpretation of an .

artificial .data set representing one o f Thom's eggs .is supplied in FIGURE 19. ~ot icq ' ; that , ..

the segmented conrc ~n te rp re ta t~on has detected - the- f o rm of the o r ~ g ~ n a l geometry well

The advantage o f the adj&iable tension parameier was that i t a l lowed uni form modelling

across a great variety o f -shapes,. and a large diversity in the number of data an.d, their . -, . ,. -. -.

regularity. In each case the best f i t was determined according t o the centers o f cur i 'a tqe

mode l rather than t o the original shape; the best fit maximized the focii of the centers

o i curvature through varying tensions, seeking the mos t rapid changes in curvature In ' t

this w&\, the program still managed t o identif), correctly the original fbrm of artifrc~al ddtd , . T . . # . - .

sets of 180 points after as much as 5 ' h random error was in t roduced in to their L . .

posit ions. For th,e Medic ine \\'heels. then, the procedure provrdes' an object ive evaluatiorr

ot the ~ntr~nsrc_ geometr) of the rlngs ac$or&g t o the p r ~ n c ~ p l e s of the geometr) theor)

as wel l as a.,measure o f the ability of the available information t o support any

geo~netrrcal ~ n t e r p r e t a t ~ o n Such an approach 1s far more cogent than s~mp l ) f ~ t t ~ n g d - .

slngle h \po the t~ca l g e o m e t o to a glven data set and generating a number w t i ~ ~ t r 5 t d l ~ s

OM, \+,ell the t w o match

This demonstrates the spline analysis of a set of 780 data points sirnuking one of the egg shapes proposed by Thorn (Egg 'Type 11) to explain megalithic geometry. A 2% random error has been introduced to the points. The centers of curvature (line of crosses) of the spline model (solid line) are us'ed to segment the form and fit circles and conics to the segments, reliably interpreting the original geometry

~ . - . . Figure 19. SPLINE ANA~YSIS OF AN ARTIFICIAL EGG

,. * -. +- .

, I I

* - . .

*. . . . .

.

I

........ .... c> A ~,

............... 5m

Stone Ring & Spline Fit Circle i n t e r p re to t i on n = I 8 0 , s = 6 0 , d = 4 + . x = stone & spline cent res ,.

. . . . , . . .

7

1 Azimuth . . . - . . - ' . 1 .

. . . . -

. . . .

- R

0

-R

' - r---- I - ! Polor Flr,t R j ..............._.. . , ..,.. -.... ................... ............................ ,..,.. . ,...... ......l..............e..-..... - ...,...... - ...........

+-

I .

- 180 0 180

0

- R J

I- - - - - - -- -

6.2.2 GEOMETRY

Ah example of a

.-- 153 -.

THEO~$ TESTS v

cubic spline interpretatjon of the Moose Mountain Med~c ine Wheel IS

. given in FIGURE 20. The interpretation does not match that of Ovenden gwen earlier

nor does it indicate any o f the generab co.mpositional principles of the geometr). theory.

The same is. t r & for interpretations &f .all Group 2 and Croup 3 rings. The spline'

pn+ysis i h k e f o r e c o u s that there is n o suppo.rt for the geometry theory within the

&riability .of the available ring data. This does not disprove the geometry theory.. it only

statesV"that it is not possible t o support it with' the current information. In most cases

more precise data would' not help; the rings o n their own ,simply d o n_ot conform to

the theory. Another way of stating the conclusion here is that if the Thomiovenden

geometry is in operation, then errors o f Tonstruction, errors of boulder movement over

time, and errors of measurement to get he^ amount t o more than the 5% threshold' this

technique allows. Considering that countless o ther geometries are als% possible beyond

this threshold, this specific geometry cannot be favoured. " I t is conceivable that support

cpuld be found from additional information concerning other site features, but the % ,

con~ lus ion would .then have. to be that the rings have b e q altered beyond recognition -.,

in that context, or that theyring builders crlred little for accuracy. Neither conclusion i s . .

easy t o accept. As the geometry t h e a i l has n o ethnographic foundation, this lack of

structural evidence is a very severe blow-.

It should be rernGmbered that this analysis was done entire& in hvo dimensions, whereas

~ r o u p s 2 :id 3 Medicine Wheels are demonstrably the: dimensional. This is a problem.

. I t is also a general problem with the geometry theory as it has been proposed to date,

:s was discussed earlier. The test was done' in two dimensions to match the theory and

to be useful t o the widest range of accurate data. The approximation is reasgnable - because the rings, arrayed as they are around the top of a hill, are themielves of ten

nearly planar. In any case. th~.."conclusion here still hslds: there are not enough accurate. - iir +

three dimensional data to"'test the geometry theory in three dimensions. therefore the

current data cannot support it As the geometry theory \vas proposed btrf:h. here and in

Europe in t w o dimensions, it would be wise t o consider the ~mplicaiions of a three '.

drmensional geometr), theoq. before setting out t o test it. \-

6.2.3 GNOMON THEORY TESTS I

The spline technique cannot be so decisive with the gnomon theory. A problem here is

that the gnomon theor) cannot be suffic~ently well defined in its geometr~cal context to

be tested clearly. Individual nng pieces may have been described by the end o f a

154 i -

Figure 20. SPLINE ANALYSIS OF M O O S E M O U N T A I N

Azimuth

-&

The spline a&lyris of?hc 391 boulders of the Moose Mountain ring. The arrows indicate points of mariimum apd minimum radius of cudature of the spline model of the ring (solid line). -There was no sensible ,in$erpretation of the ring in terms of r ecognizable geonfbtry..

> ? . '

>t have been used to indicate spegial

points whkh were joined- b.y other means. In any case, there is no specific set of ; . Y"

correct signatures to be looking for. Rather, the gnomon theory suggests that tlx. sigeatures of diffe.rent Medicine Wheels would be recognizably similar Unfortunatelv theic

3, L

are no unambiguous means of demonstrating sudh similarit~es,~quantitatively In a vrsual:

examination of the signatures for the Croup 2 and Group 3 rings i t rsn't appareiit tha!

any strgng group similarities exist, and therefore the puma fame ~ndicatioo- would br to- %

- ruih out any quantitative search for theh There are smaller .sets and pam 0.1 Medic In;

Wheels within the groups which display remarkably slyilar .signatures, but even here ththrtb f i

i s no simple way of quantifying sych comparrsons. The ape aspect of group behavioui

under spline analysis that deserves attention ts the large number of 'nodes' detectrd , . -

Alrhough they don't appear to be correlated to structural elements, they .mr~ht sujy)brt . ,

, the gnomon theory if they share common orrentat~ons ( ~ h i c l i WIII be detertn~n~d in

chapter 7) The best conclusron here is that the spline analysrs i s neutral with respcvt I C , .

the gnomon theory; there is no strong evrdence for or against ~ t . The cubic spl~rre .

, techniques may eventually provide a strong test, but a useful statrstic remains elusive 2 \

6.3 Dimensional Analysis

D~rnekonal anatysis cons~sts of deterrpining whether the sites o.u any of thew 'fiatures

might have b'een measured'^ into place. As with the spline analysis, it" atso conslsts o l

describing what the data has to say about how carefully any measurements m~ght' have

been made The database on, hand is well suited .to this krnd of analysfs b6cause-

rndrvidual features or groups of. features, along' wrth rndrvrdual sues or groups of sites

can be selected 'with ease, and nurmal~zat~on can be applied at the level of the feature

the site, or the group. b .

6.3.7 RADIAL DlSJRlBUTlON w ,

, Gwen that Medicrne Wheels are radrally constructed, the distr~bution of boulders al%a\ 8 I

from site center is tlie logical first piace to look for dimens~onal structure 11 1s belt 10

\ J look at rndrv~dual features whrch d~splay radial variation. For instance not much could be.

. . learned from the radrkl drstrrbution of central cairn boulders or spoke boulders but thth >

distribution of external cairns ends of spokes, rmgs and trpi rrngs mrght be rnterest~iig

I

In the case of ring boulders, Group 1 doesn't have enough of them and Group 4 rings . generally match the average radrus of tip1 rrngs, as expected For Groups 2 and 3 tlw

ring boulder distributions are strongly correlated with one

- .

another; displaying . a large3

- - . Y , I

- . . I . i "

L / ; . - < - -. : \

< .

+

d *.',f'S" + = .. + -

at roughly 9rn and 'a smaller secondary '1). ,Croup 2 a& exhibrb. ' 5 &

beaks at 2 i m and -53m Both at 18m and after 221-h,r-

arguing w;ell that at 'leasl two dtstinct. radial ranges were involved This clearly s u p p o ~ i ' *

4 0 ,-

the hypothesis that the ring dpns ibns were not *vandom, a d suggests further that sum&. ,: A

J" ,. -

standard unit of length 'may have been mvolkd, but the peaks are ' no t shaip enough, to*! , s- - . *

. * s

connote conscrous or careful measurement, ~ i . this stage, the dimensions could gas easily .'., be, an ,artifact ofq some ceremonial apparatus, The man interest here is the indication of

a dimensional relationshrp between G r ~ q p 2 and 3 rings L

iook~ng at the non-central cairn distributions, the Group 1 daims once aga1.n display a

distribution wliich sugge'sts repetit~on on a base associated wrth 9m (FIGURE 23) Croup 4

cairns suggests the same base but less strongly'and peihaps different zero point' due t6 > '

the P/esen~e of the,central tipi rings there l i we look at t h e spoke-end cairns radial D

distributions 'there is ' the iame 9m base demonstrated strongly in Croup 1 and again 'Q , ,

less-so in Croup 3 .; "gas

Thc radial drstributions of tipi rrng boulder< offer nothing noteworthy In terms of . , dimensional quanta except that the Croup 4 d~stiibution i s noticeably different from the

rest The tiprs surrounding Crmp 4 sites are &tongly clumped in the region of 20m to 1 -

50m from site center This doesn't rmply any, 'measurement, but does argue strongly that

Croup 4 tipi rings belong to, and are contemporary with the site. Tl?at is, the, tipi rings . .. appear to be consciously removed from, byt- surrounding: the central fipi ring, as though

i t i spec~al nature determined' the place of the other tipis There could be an effect heie

ot neai-central tipi rings having bean removed after-the-fact to form the Medune Wheel 4 =

features but there 1s still a clear asso~ration between the Medicine Wheels and the

surrounding dpr rrngs

6.3.2 FEATURE RADII , ,

Another \ \a \ to analyse tRe dimensional structure is to louh ;at the variances of the radral

drstrrbutions For example Group 4 site; dtsplav a veq low variance in spoke length

relative to Group 1 sites This could indicate that Group 4 srtes were tonsc~ously

rnrasured tct be the, same or that Croup 1 sites were consciously d~fferent If the

Iormcr 15 true then the precrssan ~ s ' l o ~ , consrstent n,lth pacing to an accuracy of no I

more than a few meters If the latter is true then we should expect to see some / Y'

\trL~ciarp 111 the distnbtltion of spokes lengths This, is in fact the case the d~stribution of

Group 1 5poke lengths i s not random and has peak?, at multiples of 9m as mentioned

above As,the Croup 4 sites sho\~ the 9m peaks concentrated at fewer values, the \

Group 2 Rings

Radial Distribution

Group 3 Rings

Radial Distribu~ion

. -. a 8

Figure 22. GROUP 1 CACRNS - RADIAL DISTRIBUTION ';

Group 1 Cairns

Radial Distribution

4) 0 M 0 60 0 70 0 80 0 90 0 R Q D I R L D I S T R I B U T I O N

different variances suggest group-specif ic applications of a c o m m o n measure'

6.3.3 FEATURE SEPARATIONS -. Besldes dlstance f r o m center tt mrght also b e exp that an extensrveh measured v t t .

a wou ld exh ib~ t structure rn the separatrons of o u t l y -The most obvrou\

separatrons t o test thls o n are the drstances o f f rom each o t h e ~ Srnc c

the drstance f rom each cairn t o each other d i m at a site m u s t " be consrderbd t l r p

distribution is likely, t o be less distinct (more di luted mi th 'anomalous ~ a l ~ t > i r tt1,lrr , I -

straight a test., However , the cairn-to-cairn separation distributi6Tr o i all g,(i~~l)\ *

continye' t o display peaks at 9 m 'v,alues. particularly stron'gl), i n all caws dt ?;ni (I l ( ; ~ I K t

6,3-.'4 DIMENSIONAL PERIODICI'TY

\'ikual inspect ion of the dimensional data rndicates that a more formdl t I ~ n ~ t ~ r r ~ r r ~ r ~ , r l

periodicity test is appropriatk. Looking for dimensional qu'dnra 1s d i f f ~ c d t , lxwe\c.r

Fol lowing a me thod b) Kendall (1974) the s&ongest ' l n d ~ ~ v d u a l quantum r d ~ n t l i r ~ c l III t l ~ r ~

ran& be tween 2m and 20m was one just over 13m Given the 9m r nd~cs t~o r l \ ,,'t111\ \ \ A < , . ,. /'

n o t the value e ~ p e c t e d However, as an i k k t r a t i o n o f where the l i n i valur\[. irr\r~\ 11 1 5

I *- ~ ~ f u r - t o look at a combrned hrstogram o f all spoke lengths ring drametrrs

-

calm-to-center drstances and calm-to-calm separatlons for all groups (FICURL 2-1) ~ h ~ t l r *

shows the largest peak at 13m a secondary peak at 1 7 m and further 'mdr ta t ron~ st, A

54m 68m. 81m anb 94m On ly 40m seems absent and t rom a series b d ~ c l on 1 i ;nl

perhaps even negatrve The value o f 9 m ~ n d ~ c a t e d b i the rnrtral v~sual 'rnsl)t~cttorl I \ rrof

ou t o t h e , since a base quantum near 3.5m (there rs a 4 - 5 r n peak. In t h r hl\tOgrd!lli

\vould tie all o f these riieasurements together. Certainl) a value of -1 5 m ( 0 1 \clnlc . \m, i l l ~ r

factor still) makes bet ter sense f rom (our ) practical concept of a yardstrcC

Despite the peaks and the numerical integrit): of this evidence for a d r r ~ l c ~ n ~ ~ o r i ~ l ( I U ~ ~ I ~ U I T I

i t is no t proof . Having seen far more evidence than i i presentecj t ~ e r c I {trll ( c i r ~ l ~ o l

convrnce myself that the eftect IS real The FIGURE 24 data d ry broacll\ c f r~ t r r l~~r tc ci ,~rt t l . .->

onl) the 27m dupl icat ion o f the 13m m o d e stands boldl, above tt ic r io~ ic , Ic,\,r,l I I .C~, I

d also that the data n e r e not orrginall\ obtarned rn a s~sternatrc ior dl1 \ ~ ~ . ( I I ~ I I I ~ A

5 \\'heels, rt w~ou ld be speculat~ve t o take thrs rnterpretatron further Altorrr.iir ~ ( i ( . l l t r f / OI

@d .- .

non-measurement-rntensxe rnterpretations of the 13-27m coincrdence are st111 ~ ) c l s \ i t ) l c , j l lc*

conservatrve conclusion 1s that the current datd strong!\ suggest the usc 01' n d i r - r ~ ~ ~ r r u o i ~ ~ i l I .

quantum, but cannot contrrrn one. A better conc lus~on ~ v i l l requrre be t t t ~ r (Jdt , i

cl

Figure 23. ALL GROUPS - CAIRN-TO-CAIRN SEPARATION<

Cairn-to-Cairn Separations

Figur- 24. ALL GROUPS - COMBINED DIMENSIONS

Al l Groups

Combined Dimensions

Dimension

6.4 Angular Distribution Y

a . .?.

- .

A\ with the radial distribution, ttie angula~ distribution is a' natural: component of the . .

structure of central sites, Consequently it ii reasonable to look ~ Q F consistencie; in the

dngular separatrons of Medlclrte Wheel features For the geometry theory one m~ght

exlwct angular separations at certa~n cq-~on~cal values, for the gnomon 'theory at

non-canon~cal but unrform values The ~n~t la l case was argued In sectlon 4.4, with -the

observat~on that spokes are not randomly placed- around the center. ~ e a s u c i n ~ the angular

5eparatlon of each spoite from each other spoke at rndlv~dual s~tes, the overall d~stribut~on

for spoke, from Croups 1 3 and :4 show pronounced- peaks at 90' and 45". Thls rn~ght , -

~rnpl) support for the geometry theor) bui other. features do not show t h ~ ' trend and

~t ma) not be s~gn~frcant cons~derlng the skew~ng effect that a few s~t,& w ~ t h 4

cardlndl1)-orrented spokes or ca~rns mTght have Overall there 1s no supp6rt In the angular

d15trlbutlon for the gnomon theor) and only marg~nal support for the geometry theory

, 6.5 Structural Interpretation . < -

Tl~e dnalvs15 oi Medicine Wheel structures was done in three parts according to . .

exl~ectattons ~mposed by the geornetry and gnomon theories. Each part constituted a 5-

potent~al test of each theory Numerical results of these tests In the normal sense of

class~cal stat~st~cs could have been created but probably woukln't have been useful fo

better understandrng Thls IS a good example of where class~cal sta9irJlcs fail - so many

assurnpt~ons would have been mvolved In the framlng of each quant&tive result that "

t l l r ~ r lalues \i,ould ~~wwtabh have been mlslead~ng On the other hand the ma~nl)

qudlltatlw results $ere are mean~ngful in another way - It i s not d ~ f f ~ c u ~ t to evaluate,

albe~t subjectively. how well the expectations survived the tests. * , ,

In the case of the geometv theory there i s virtually no support in any of the areas

\\here broad support 15 requlred As posed the geornetry theory IS essent~ally an

clll-Or-nc)tlllng propos~tlon I t s presence should have been boldy manrfest In the cubrc $

s l~ l~ne analvs~s as well as In the canonical values arlsrng from the the dlmenslonal and

dngi~ldr titstr~but~ons There 1s marg~nal ewdence In the poss~ble d~mens~onal quantlzat~on '

t)ut OII ~ t s cnzn th~s e~~dence lads an) real substance In the geometrical context At

twst geornetr) could be considered a secondary and very lmpreclse concern relatlve to

\ omt ceremon~al function I t IS d~ff~cult to make sense of the role at that level

T i ~ r l gnomon theon does not fare much better More encouraging results m~ght have

included substantial angular, dimensional and shape correlations outside of the canoniid L

values expected for the geometry theory. A gnomon can be made consistent \vit l~ a

dimensional" quantum through the use of a standard pole height. 01- even a standard

pole, -but this isn't the sense in which it was proposed. As well, a gnomon can morv

easily explain the nodes of the spline analysis, but only with respect to their orientations. !

On the whole the gnomon theory canncit, be judged as harshlb, as the geomctq, theon,. ,

but this is mostly because it cannot be, pinned dowm so \\jell. 7h1s isn't great su1,l)ort

The greatest -problem with these structural conclusions is the I~m~tation- ~ml)ow( j b! r t ~ c ~

imprecision of the available data. The conclusions are mostly ~ncircations rather \I;,~II

answers Nerther of the geometry or >the gnomon theones are \\,ell ewdenc ed ' . t ~ t t l ) t b r c i Z

is a strong indication from the dimensional data that obtainlrlg lnorc pret:tsca ( l , i t ~ \ \ , 1 t11 (1 /'

be worth\\,hile. That result is interesting on its own.

,

I CHAPTER 7 ,

ORIENTATIONAL~ESTS

AN INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

7.1 Introduction 1.

a. = .

' .A % Tho concept b e h ~ n d the or~entat lonal tests fol lows i h e second research q u e s t ~ o n ( Q 2 ) ''

I~rclshrrted in Chapter 1 exactl),: given the groups, d o any, g roup features, or sets o f %

, . "

g ryup features, consistently po in t t o a specific set of hor izon directions? Either of the-,;!

c,j.hwrvatory o r gnomon theories might be suppor ted if thls were the case. Wi thout a ' *' e - ._

fec l~dbl? set of celestial targets it. is actually diff icult t o distinguish be tween the t w o ' . - . -.

theories o n hor izon bearings alone. A potent ial discriminating factor is suppl ied b), the ,.

gnomon theory; varying shadow lengths suggest that individual orientations might be '

< . drcornpanied by orientation-specif ic variations in the dimensions o f the po in t ing features. i

There wou ld be n o accommodat ion fo r s u c h S a variation in the observat&+ theory. O n

the other hand, it IS possible that consistent orientation2 w o u l d favour 'n 'ei ther theory (eg & - , , ,

~ d ~ n a l orientations). Finall?,. the lack of any consistent orlentations w o u l d be .very strong

ev~dc l i ce against bo th theories . , :

. . ' > ? After some consideration o f the asgumptions involved in suggesting . . . .. . .

.. , , ~ 'points', it is straightforn,ard t o use 'the database t o determine the

(and between) site features The most o b v ~ o u s features t o test are

~iaturdl l \ pornt o n tdie~r o w n and are the bas~s o f the observatory

dlrectlons between

be t~veen , individual

uphi l l ' . d irect ion is , .

o b s e w a t k , theory .. . .

c r i fnya \Js effigies , .

~ ) o ~ n t c r s

no'n-central cairns and ,site . . centre are also g o o d

non-central cairns i s a .diffit-rent k ind of concept

that something

po in t ing directions of

spokes, as these

theory. Pointing ,

test choices. Point ing

(wi th in which the . ':, , . .

p;esumabl, the one . ,& - ' measure), but i t must t ie considered since ,.+he II

has proposed it. Finally, the orientations .o f special feature? ,. . . such as-""

and even the clrcle nodes measured In the last sect ion are v~ab le as . ,

7.2 Horizon Orientations

P r i I

I r1 l o o h n g at t,he p ra i t ~ca l aspects of testlng t eau re orlentatlons slte topography must b e .. , dlqregarded m most cases because re l~able e leva t~cn data are no t avaitable It cou l d .be

,~r:irrcj t l ~ a t the 'e t tectq of elevation \vould be largely systemat~c

k , 11 t w r l tol:o,g~aphles but 1 1 can 1 be denied t h a t neglectlng this

due t o standard h e d i c i n e

third dimension wil l infuse

a large amount o f 'norse In to the orrentatron data Other po ten t~a i sources of norse

d u d e the effects o f precessron o n srtes o f unknown dates, and the s ~ t e Iatrtudc

Further noise wil l come f rom the fact that features such as spokes are not al\,,q,\

straight lines, and a standardized artificial me thod (in this case ltnear regression) ivill t~avc . 1 2 , (

t o b e used t o dec ide where they b o i n t . l l t all builds up t o considerable nOise, perhall\ , amounting t o as much as 5 " error in some measurements So much n o w , IS untortctnate.

but rt" is no t fatal: In most cases the features are few and' srmple enough that a n \ [rut\ .' -

cons~stent orlentations should remarn srgnifrcant beyqnd thrs n o r w Icvel I f th15 ~ \ ~ L I I ~ ~ ) [ I O I I ' L "

IS rncorrect then there.,rs nothrng more that can be, sard until more atcurat? t ld td ti

obtarned - thrs stud) IS usrng . t h e best available data whr& means that prcvrous Irk,

comprehensive studies have had n o better. O n the other hand;, i f t h ~ s dS5lll?lp~lOll I, 8 , ,

correc,t and there are orientational effects: it might b e possible, ' tb look tor that ( l r 1 t . t t

m'ore precisely among the smaller samples for which excellent data arc rrc ordc,d

The general testrng procedure f o r orrentatrons begrns \vrth the el<gantl\ s~mp l c ntx,llc,it

neighbour test (Neave and Selkirk, 1983) employed b ) ~ Ruggles .(I9841 The purpo5tb 0 1 > .

this test i s t o discover ii a set of orientations o n a - circle are drstributed In a

srgnrfrcantl~ nonrandom' fashron The test uses a statrstrc T whtch IS the sum on t i i ( 1

unrt crrcle of the crrcumferentral drstances of each orlentatron datum t o the next nt>,irc.51

datum all drvrded b y the c o m p k t e b crrcumference Under the null hypothesrs (random

orrentatrom) rt rs expected that T . w d d be very close t o 0 5 !n the case that t l i ~ r r .

were clusters In the orrentatron data -the value o f T should be srgnrfrcantl) less t l ld r l 0 ;

Copversel) 11 the data are arttfrcrall) +read apart (a hrghl) unrform drstrrbutron) thtl valucl

o f T should be srgnrfrcantly gieater than 0 5 The srgnrf~cance either \%a\ 1 5 mr.dsurc+ 4s

a percentage pornt o n the siandard normal drstrrbutron wrth a mean of 0 5 and Ldryr l ( t3 - ? *

o f 116N where 'N IS the number of orrentatron data In the test The normal

approximation begins t o break. d o w n fo r vatues o t N under 30, so in these cases t h ~ -

9 percentage pornt values provrded b\l Neave and Selkrrk (1983 19) are used

L . i_ . " -. * , t

fr t

Other styles of or ientat ion tk,st ' -here x t i v d y . c-onsidered before . the nearest nerght)oor

me thod \vas ;elected All b f - t hem haye complications or dt iadvantagec5~ I 5 1 ' ( 1

+ _

1 . .9

. -- 2,- Two alternate tests are d e s c r ~ b e d b), Ruggles (7983:244-3541. Thy \,ector sum ! I I c I I I O ~ ! ~ - "'

is l ike a r andom walk where the or ientat ion data are un i t (vector) steps; i f th r rrtci i)oir l1 .. '

15 s ign i f icant l \~ far awar f rom the or igin then the data are focussed in the d i rec t~or i the endpoint Unfortunate/\ thls m e t h o d can fail badly i f there are several foc I lrl different drrections, ~ ~ h l c h rbould b e the l ikely case w i fh most Med l c i n r Wheel 11 ~ t w e ~

O n e feature that might b e suitable t o this test w o u l d b e the e n t ~ u a ) ( > , hut 11 ( ioe.ir~ l seem approprrate to b e selectrng srngle tests for slngle features The second trqt

the nearest n ~ i g h b o u r test. The statistics of circular

for archaeoastronomers, and: n o single mktRdodology

data have always presented problems v has proven complelely successful. The

nearest ne~ghbour test appears t o have the advantages o f simplicity, general application,

and the ability t o discriminate between clustered and uni form data. ?

7.2.1 SPOKE ORIENTATIONS AT THE SITE LEVEL

< -- . . , Grven the availability of the nearegt neighbour method, i t is important t o first use i t t q

test the observation that the spokes o f individual sites tend t o b e evenly spread apart.

rather than randomly distributed (this idea was first presented in section 4.4). A positive

result wou ld have serious implications fo r the more globa'l orientation tests.

k - _ '. <

Starting wi th .Croup I , o f the 18 sites for which adequate data were available. 14

sho~zsed T-values above 0.5. 7 were significant beyond the 10% level using the Neave

and Selk~rk values, and o f these 3 were significant beyond the 1% level. None of *s' -. , . .. . " ' below-0.5 data ~ e r e ~ s i g n i f i c a n t . The data are supplied in TABLE 7. As most o f the'sk ' . '

sites have very few, spokes, giving relatively p o o r test reliability, the individual T-values

were averaged ( t o a value of 0.670) for a combined trial involving all 83 spokes. In this ' .d

test the significance level was 0.01% that the null hypothesis ( random orientations) is

rejected wi th respect t o the hypothesis that the Croup 1 spokes were consciously, spread

apart In the individual sites. Thus the original observation is borne ou t by the tes t r ' the re . .

is a consistently unnatural degree of regularity t o the orientations o f the spokes of . ,. ~

, . , . ~ > c . '

.. ~ Croup 1 sites. / , ... . .

There aren t man) spoked s~tes rn Croup 3 b u t the results o f the spread test are stdf '

ver) Interesting Of the 5 Croup 3 s ~ t & w ~ t h adequate data and 2 o r more spokes, 3-

s h o ~ above-0 5 T-values which are s~gnr f~cant t o the 0.5% level, and 1 shows a

below-0 5 T-value whtch I< s~gndicant t o 0 5% -These cho~ceS are very strong, but

c-ons~dering the variation and the' l imited number of tests it doesn't seem worthwhi le t o

look at the average T-value. , .

2 - 7 h r expectat~on m ~ g h t be that the C roup 3 T-values wou ld be low, cons~derrng that the

oatred-parallel spokes o f the entryways connote spoke c luster~ng Thts IS rndeed the case

01 the 11 vtable Croup 3 sltes, -only 3 d~splay above-0.5 T-values, whi le 6 of the rest

, d r y s ~ g n ~ i ~ c a n t be lo^ the 10% level - 4 at the 1% level The average T-value IS 0.249 fo r \

;Tct ont d) described b\, Ruggles is Thorn's cumulative probabil i t)! method, where each c)rlentdtlon 1s tredted as an error disbibut ion about* a single point, a n d the peaks o f the ~ i i d ~ t ~ t ~ ~ h ~ comblned distribution are interpreted.. The drawback here is that the in terpretdt~on must b e ~*isuaP: n o statistic has i e e n deve loped t o objectify the results.

-.

Table 7. GROUP 1 SPOKE ORIENTATIONS

DOUG WADE: 15 .24

105 .03 196 .50 281 .20 312 .10

OXBOW # 3 : : , 7 3 . 3 7 91 .27

133 .02 227 .83 280 .48 344 .83 RINKER:

30.27 68 .02

274.. 92 318 .85 352 .80

CANUCK : 36 .43 84.08 a

130 .37 209 .52 246.99 2 7 9 . 6 1 SUTHERLAND:

$7 .34 .,.,,,

- 104 .28 170 .44 195 .20 209.64 2 7 2 . 9 1 306 .79

TRAIL RIDGE: 75 .45 ,. -

254 - 2 9 MOOSE MOUNTAIN

37 .89 1 0 4 . 4 1 191 .18 244 .13 353 .49

MIDDLE SAND HILLS: . 2 4 . 4 2 106 .30 148 .18 .

HALBRITE : 3 2 . 2 1

120 .19 1 9 7 . 8 1 302 .52

JELLY RANCH: 155 .79 251 .08

. 341.55

ALKALI CREEK: .

163 .99 207.19 272.95 , +

GLEN EWEN: 82.78

154 .70 267.78 335.84 A

RED DEER: 83.89,

1 9 1 . 7 6 283 .03 3 3 1 . o o .

PLENTY: 33 .52

111 .46 222 .00 316 .99

FRESNO : MANY ISLANDS LAKE. - 15 .74 -..., 3 9 . 62

The orientation values were obbined from linear regressions on the positional data for the spoke boulders. The value given is an azimuth, or horizon direction measured clockwise from true north. The sense of rhe direction is always 'uphill', or across site centre.

' 1 ' .. a'. - , . . \

168 1 !. '

, - . t 4 5 spokes, is sufficient . to reject the null hypothesis (random orientations) at, an

, . ,. - ~- --

immeasurably small tbelbw 0.0010. b i the s d Minitab 6rog$m) signi!icance level with r e s p e ~ t *+ .

. to the hypothesis that the Croup 3 spokes are, clustered. As this entryway clustering is -"-

, rather obvious; these results are only .nobble. in juxtaposition,to those €or the other . < .. .- -x ..

% . . - Croyps. . >, , .- , . I . \

' (;rou$ 4 sites are ost%nsiblv m o r e l i k e Croup .,I, aod so similar 'spread-test results might % - !.

. - be anticipated. Indeed, 14 o f .the 1 6 . viable LGroup 4 site: displa): -T-values above 0.5: 8 - -. . i * . , , , 2 . . 4) : 1

are significant at. the.:l'O':l. level 'and 5 hf2 t&;e are rknif icant at the 1% level. Neither .%:: " ~: . ; .?- ". . r : . ..' L '

of ' thed * . h.&lorr~0,5 data 'were significant. ~ h e ; ~ r o o b ? . 4 data - are displayed in TABLf 8 he* P 2 ' ~

, C r o u p 4 aLerage T-valAe A- 0.686 'on a c o m b i n e d trial o f 1J7~.spokes, +eich gives , . -, ,.- " 4 . - <+ .

ano the~ immeisurablt small (below 0.00140-) significance level, in reje&hg ';the n u l l ' - . hyl~othesis of randbm orientatrons agaipst the hypgtheslg of unnaturally uniform j

' . $ . . * 9

- ' or~entatmns V 0

& b ,

1 . . . ..,, . . , . A n ~ n t r r ~ k t a t i o n o f :these,-.oer) Itring- results is .difficult a j this stage. At "one le&l it is '

(I > ,',

fu'rther confirmatioti of the ~ l~ss i f i ca t i on scheme' (on'ly ~ r a k i o o d , the significantly bdow-0.5 , * - .

site ~n Croup 2 , .m ight , &e m&ed to Grdup 3, with 'its triple' spoke system re-interpreted -

as an entryway). O n aKother level it clearly' states .-that the Medic ine, Wheels were laid 5 ' 2 .-

down with some thought l S u c h . t h o u ~ h t cou ld have i n v o l e d precise measurement o r , - , .. - . , .

' P iirnplv aesthetic predispontions - ioward t h e cont ra6 concebts of ' f a r apart' and 'close '

5 . . ,il, 0 . _. . i

together' - this test cannot dismminaje . . ~ between .- a &hole' range of possible explanations.

~e rhBps more than an$hi& else, these orientetional spread 'result; suggest deeper,'

assoc~at~ons between the 'different Medicine Wheel groups 1

The results of thjs secf~on have two .important implic;tiPs fa! the sections whrch follow,

where spoke horizon orlentatlons will ,be evaluated. First, therwell-spread spokes serve t o . 4 . .

Increase the stakes in the cel.e'stial orientation significant horizon orientations ,-: - \aoulci now impl, a much more dqai led structural ternplate for the Medicine wheels:

\ ~ c o n d ~t must be 'stated that the results here cast a broad pall over the procedures by

n t i ~ c h answers to the horizon orrentation question may be obtarned The nearest

nc~ghbour test ot the horrzon orlentatrons o f a group of spokes assumes that the, ra\t 1.

ddta are independent but that has jupst been disproved Clearly there IS a much

~rnproved opportunit) for hvo s~tes wrth well-spread spokes 'to show, by complete chance,

t ons~derable clustering ot spoke 'orientations (as an example, reconstder the immediate

- sublectlve IiheJrhood qf the Red DeerIRrnker correspondence of FIGURE 9 grven the d+ +

~n lormatmn that their spokes \sere consc~ouslv spread apart) The end result is that the . @k' W r .a%

ELD : 1 0 0 . ~ 4 r

4;49 . ELLIS: 14.40

J J L . a 3 29-37 .

S t E E L : > . L

1 8 . 8 6 - . 107 .78 199.20 288 .31

MANY SPOTTED HORSES; : 10.54 . 9-9 . 0 6

281 .16 . , 348.20 *

i

WILSON RUSSELL: ,

19.89 106.83 * 310.88 , ,

333.57

k

". i

* h- 4

178. f

statrstyaJ- s~gn~ficance ,of an) clustermg test rs greatly reduced, and * b y a fador 'which

cannit +be &as~l, defmed while the form 'of the or~entat~onal relationsh~p between' t)e . spokes IS unknown Werefore, the fo j low~ng sect~ons are best considered as an ,

explorat~on of that relationship keeping thrs problem well in mind as numbers and figures

are presented

7.2.2 SPOKE HORIZON ORlENTATlONS

Evgluatrng the horizon orientat~on o f spokes should be most effective with Groups 1 and

4 , simply because the). have the most spokes.

In performing a neakst ne~ghbour test o n these groups, it slsbuld be noted that any

rndrcat~on of ho r~zon o r~en ta t~ons wrll requrre a dramat~c drop of the, h igh T-values $ '

d * 6

(regular spacing) o f the indrvidual sltes lu l ow values (clustering t o u a ~ d speclf~c azimuths) '"

when all o f the spokes are cons~dered together. i h e discuss~on o f the p e w o u s section

suggests that some drop 'm~ght be expected In anv case exactly because regularly spaced

sltes are b e ~ n g compared, The goal here will be :Jo Jnd srndependent means of . . 6 .

understandtng the nearest ne~ghbour results

. - 4 Car the Group 1 spoke data the T-value for the 83 spokes is 9.522 Th~s valug cannot

reject the null hypothes~s in any case in contrast, however, t h ~ T-value i o r the 137

Group 4 spokes i s 0 107 - under o p t ~ m u m clrcumstal;ces this value would be signifi&htv 2 <

at the 0 4% level In suggesting that the Group 4 spokes are clustere'd. ,. . 3 ,

1

\ * ' ,T%" B * . 0 -

4 Overlays o f 'the Croup 1 and Group 4 spokes are provided ~n FIG,. , E d their is

&~rec t~ona l dbta are plotted in FIGURE 26 he: t\vo groups are bwng co are8 to .. . ~llustrate that thew clustermg test results aren't as easy to mterpret as the d~stinct T-values

?

A

r 1

would md~cate - there seems to be more to the data than can be described by the

nearest ne~ghbcur test In a visual ~ n s ~ e c t ~ o : of the F I ~ V R E 25 &tribut~ons/the Croup 1

spokes look more clustered than Group 1 and in a s~milar close mspection of ' FIGURE

116 i t seems apparent' that there i s a strong correlation between the two groups In terms

01 the concentrations as \tell as the gaps In their orientation data. I 'm not aware o f a

\irnple izal t o quantil) this correlation cotnpletely, but s f one. looks at what appear t o

1 x 1 t l i ~ hroah clusters in Group 4 (azimuths 8-20 188-202, 221-140, and 279-2911 there

ar t 73 Group 1 orientations within those bands whereas with the simplest look at the

\ tat~st~cc only 13 would be expected by chance An even s~mpler and more stark #+

Interpretation ~ o u l d be that these are clusters due to a col lect~on, of s~milarly off-axis

cardinal structures. Certainly the roughly 90" separations o f the clusters agree with this

171'

Figure 25. GROUPS 1 & 4 - OVERLAYED SPOKES

The ovedayed spokes of Croup 1 dtop) and Group 4 (bottom) are displayed alongside their plotted directional data.

9

172

Figure 26. GROUPS 1 & 4 - SPOKE ORIENTATIONS

/.-

it?

A simple way of comparing the orientational data between Groups 1 and 4 is with an angular distribution chart, in this case counting the number of boulders in each of 360 bins around the centre. The circles display mean values. These data are not random , so the best way to gauge significant clustering is from the breadth and extension of the rays. Note how many clusters and voids the two groups have in common.

idea, bu t it still begs the question of h o w they came t o be consistentl) off-axis t)) t l ~ l

same amount In an) case the relatronshrp between Croul ) 1 and Group 4 spok t~

orrentatrons seems t o be more than lmagrnatlon or chancc

An lnterestrng aslde IS the questron o f why the T-values for Groups 1 and 3 arc 50

drfferent The fault (assumrng there a one) ma\/ have somethrng t o d o wrth thc

dependence p rob lem bu t rt may also he wrth the \va\ the nearest nelghbour te5t \ ~ o r h \

The Group 1 T-value cou ld be high because there are relatlvel) l e \ ~ extrerncl\ t losct

parrs, wh lch the nearest nelghbour test naturally trrggers o n because edch [)all ~ ) r o \~ t l ( s \

an essentlallv nul l dlstance value (eg the T-values fo r the Croup 3 srtes wrth

parallel-spoke entryways) The test IS t ~ i n e d t o frne clusters more than the grrltlrdl

clustenng whlch can occur In datasets nvth larger error rnargrni A better t c i t 111 t111\

case mrght be t o sum the d~stances o f each orlentatron datum t o its nearest 4 o r I

nerghbours, which presumabl) wou ld drlute the effect of rsolated pdlrs ar)d ernl)ll,cs~rc 'i

larger mo re drffuse clusters Unfortunatel) !he desrgn and eialudtron ot sut 1 1 a tr\t

wou ld strll not solve the essential dependence problem

To provrde a more graphic example o f the several problems here FIGUKt .!; ~ l l u s t r ~ ~ ~ ( ~ ~

. the orientation data for all C roup 1 and 4 sites which have either 3 or. 5 s l~okes 11115 . -

IS a reasonably srm?le subset of the parent groups u h l c h rncludes the hrstorrcal hledrcrrlc~

Wheels f o r whrch there are ethnographrc accounts o f the cardrnal rntekitrons The

clustering is much more apparent in this reduced dataset. Surprisingly, however , ttrv 23

Z

nearest neighbour T-value for these data i s 0.559 o n 56 spokes, a number \ v I i ~ i h '

provides absolutel),. n o indlcatioh ' o f the apparent clustering. The breadth and extent of . Y

the Pones in the angular distribution p lo t become the best objectrve measures that the

clusters are really there, and that Group 1 ,and 4 orientations are clustered, in the same "

way. This example isn't a rejection o f the current noarest neighbour test, i t is a

qualif ication of what the test can be expected t o do in the best of c i r cums tanc~ i .

Wrth respect to the cardrnalrt) Issue, the angular drstrrbutron graphs In F I ( ; U K ~ ~ .!- , lnd

26 suggest that there were more than four baslc clusters and moreso that area\ o f

1 concentratron tend v e q strongl), t o , co rnc~de 1111th vord areas drrrctly opposite therrr . 711g i c ;

is a ver) good indicat ion that there was more structure tu the data than srrnplc

cardinality could a k o u r i t for. . - d

,a Mov ing o n t o G r o ~ j p 3 (there are t o o f e ~ Group 2 spokes t o co6ment on) 11 I r d i

been n o t e d several t imes that the entryway spokes tend to be o r ~ e n t e d tG the wu th rds t

Figure 27. A SUBSET OF GROUP 1 & 4 SITES

?

These are all of the spokes from Group 1 a n d croup 4 sites which have either 4 or 5 spokes. The clusterihg i s dramatically apparent. G i y n the largely unknown error ranges in these data, this clustering could imply several different levels of intent as far as precision is concerned. k. .

b *

T

'-a A

17?

It wrll be remembered that the spread, rn these o r ~ e n t a t r ~ n s B

a vanable, o r imprecise interest in - t h e sky, and wou ld work

rnvolvrng ~ ~ n d or o ther aspects of na tuh l order . Now however r t -1s poss~ble t o l)rc,l)o\t' & d Y J '* d new explanatron that the entryways were o r ~ e n t e d t o ~ t a r d several drficrent targcxt\

*

Consrderrng the Croup 1 and 4 spoke drstrrbutrons one can look at the < j r o u l i ; ~ ) r o f ~ l t ~ - ,

in FIGURE 1 5 and ~n te rp re te almost all o f the entryuays In cotncrdence wrth the

demonstrated concentratrons - Antelope H ~ l l Mrner @ Anderson 8 1 Anderson #.? Koj,

Bar9 Mrn ton Turtle and possrbl) Eagle Butte are all p o ~ n t e d wrthrn reasonable t>rror

toward the concentratron near 125" In azrmuth Sundral Hrll IS srmrlarl) pornted t ~ \ \ ~ ~ r t i

the 165" concentratron R q Rwers IS drrected t o the' 199.0 cluster and O x b o n # 2 to\zdrcl

the 210" cluster The Hard) Turtle corncrdes wrth the 185" concentratron and the \ t . c o l r ( l

Anderson #2 e n t r p a ) corncrdes w t h the 10" concentratlon Onl) Crles Tur-tle Hug l i t o r~

and the easterl) Anderson #1 features d o n t have 8a g o o d rnterpretatron These

co~ncrdences are farrl) convrncrng o n paper but rt has to be remembeted that the\ arc 1

rnterpretatrons there IS a farr amount of f reedom In Ve te r rn~@rng where a numbcr (01 1 1 i ( b

entryways actuall) pornt (assu&rng that the, pornt at all) dnd there aren t enough

entrpza) srtes t o provrde a cogent test I ~ z o u l d prefer t o leave thrs a\ an rntrlgurrig

hypothesrs untrl suffrc~ent l) precrse data are avarlabk t o elaluate rt properl) As r t I\ no\\

It can be s a ~ d that the Croup 3 spoke data are not rnconsrstent w t h the slmhc.

orrentatrons of Croups 1 and 4

A general observation involving spoke orientations refers specificall\, to spoke srgrnent5, or

the spokes which bifurcate nonradially. FIGURE 28 emphasizes these featur-ei I ro r r~ t l ~ t . srh

sites f rom Croups 1 and 4 which drsplay them. There are not enough exarn1jlt.s t o

analyse their variations fully. but i t is nevertheless apparent that there is some structt~rcz

t o segment orientation and displacement w i th respect t o site centre, as w,cll as the

directions they po in t . Once again n o explanation is a, hand, but this perceived structure

is furthe; evidence that Medicine n 'heels .were the result o f wel l -ordered conFtructron

principles involving orientatron.

A las: general observatron IS that spokes tend t o be longer when the) are d r r ~ c t d

s o u t h ~ t a r d (FIGURE 29) The effect I; most prornrnent w t h the L r o u p 1 data and led51

wrth Group 4 AS mentroned earlrer thrs effect wou ld be an expected d t ~ c r r m r n a ~ t , .

behveen the g n o m o n and observatory theorres al though n o gnomon rnterpretatron rs

berng offered at thrs trme and other explanatrons ma) be possrble

- ' Statistical methods are lacking to effectively evaluate all of the observations presentrd

Figure 28. SPOKE SEGMENTS

. . x' The spokes from six Croup . I and 4 sites are overlayed he rsThe sites were selected

because they are the only ones with spoke segments, which are the emphasized features. Although there has never -been any interpretation of these features, there i s an. apparent selection effect in their orientation and distance from center, as well as the directions they point.

i Figure 29. GRQUPS 1 - S P O K ~ LENGTHS

f

'All CROUP I spokes are displayed to emphasize. the relationship between their length and their orientation. Spokes extending sduthward are consistently longer. This phenqnenon is readily apparent in normalized data as well, showing that it i s not ,restricted to the sites with the longest spokes. Once again there is no obvious explanation: interpretations could include astronomical as well as other natural origins.

herc. and so some of them ma) no t be ' rehable even though they may seem 'obvious'

Thp one resu.lt that seems ind~sputable IS that Med'cine Wheel spokes weFe clustered

. t o ~ v a r d certain hor izon azim;ths. The correlations ars qui te visually remarkable despite \he

. difficulty in quantifying them. In fact, given the estimated error ranges for these data, i t

. . i i r e a s o n a b l ~ t o 'speculate that t h ~ in tended p rec i s i an in or ientat iqn {or the spokes was . ,

probably wel l beyond the revealed degree of precision in the . clusi'erirfg. ,

7.2.3 SPOKE ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATIONS '

A des~rable next step wou ld be t o measure whether there IS an) celestial bass t o the , '.

sp 'he clucter~ng This wou ld be best done by consrder~ng the third dlrnension t o each > -

site and ~nc lud lng the alt l tude In the discussion o f polntrng dlrection'q. Unfortunately,

thert. dre not enough sites wl th g o o d e levat~on data t o allow thrs step at thls t h e +..

A n o t h ~ r means of measuring celestial i i t e n t wou ld b e t o correct po in t ing directions for

i>rrct1irlondl ef fects bu t . t h ~ s also is impossible d ~ t l i o u t a re l~able s ~ t e dhronology AU 1

~ndt )~ l l t \ tc) test l o r astronomrcal orlentation by means o f these t w o p@nav factors is - , a

rather I i rn~t lng t

i< lurther measure of celest~al Intent 1s t o see if there is an improvement 10 clustermg , .

' . when a correct ion for site latitude is performed. This becomes a test ,o f astronomical

. declinatlon clustering rather than hor izon azimuth clustering A problem 'here 1s that the

. I nearest ne ighbout test cannot b e used dlrectly o n declination data because they cover a '

more Itmlted unevenlv-welghted range Ruggles (1984) emploved a M o n t e Carlo s~mula t lon

t o mode l k p n tru& random d e c l ~ n a t ~ o n data wou ld behave, bu t thls m e t h o d wou ld b e

I ~ a r i ~ u l a r l ) .&umbersome wrlth the present database considering the number of assumptions

that need to b e made, the number of models t o be employed, and the uneven origins

o f the data

I have developed bn alternate decl inat ion testing procedure here which I call the

absolute azmu th test's8 The essense of the%est depends o n the fact that i f the . .

spokes \\,ere or iented toivard celestial s ign ikant . hor izon points, then the variation in the L -

dates o f observation (precession) and the . h i t i i d e s o f t he sites wou ld b a t h serve t o

defocus the resulting clusters. The effects ' cs! &cession can't be corrected f o r w i thou t .I

58- The ndme is taken from astronomical t&minology, where the 'absolute magni tude ' measures the . intrinsic brightness o f a star, wh ich is a mo re meaningfu l measure than its apparent m q n i t u d e ( how br ight i t is t o the eye), b y computat ional ly mov ing all stars to a standard distance from t h e observer.

179 ."

t h e , dates ot observat1on5 but smce w e kngw the la t~ tudes we can t orrect for t Iw ,~ r ' -

An absolute a z ~ m u t h for each spoke IS obtained by maint-amng the a l~gnment to t h r

s~ng le astronomical dec l inat~on mdrcated by ~t as the site IS computat iondlh r n o ~ t d to J

, latitude In c o m m o n w t h all o f the other sites (In t h r ~ case the ledst Idt~tuclt- in ca t l l •‹

test). The set of redirected spokes, all calibrated t o a single la t~ tude , (-all t lwn bt. t r \ t e d 1

t o drscover if the clustqrs~,are mo re closely~ def ined ~ l t h o u g h the nearest ~ rc~~y l r l i o i r r

me thod cannot b e rel~abke as an absolute test o f such clustering ~t shoulci tlr ' r t~l l , i l ) l (~ 111

the relative sense o f comparing it t o the original test result. Theretor,: 1 1 t l ~ f , o f s c i ~ t t \ t

. - neighbour T-value for the absolute azimuths is better (significantl), .lo<ver) , , tlialr 1 0 1 1 1 ~ 3

original azimuths, this i s an indication that declination (and therefqre..astrolr(, lr~~c,tI

orientation) was a key point ing iactor , ,

There is one m a j m compl icat ion \vith this test. The computat ional movcx 0 1 '1 \ I ~ ( ~ - I O '1

n e b la t~ tude IS a transformatron \ v h ~ c h IS no t one- to-one, the range of t l w l ~ n ~ t ~ o r ~ \ , ~ l t r t % \

available to a given site changes w i th laiikude. Therefore, some of the spoke, art) n o t

uniformly transformed. and the size o f t'he resulting hor izon wi l l be e f l e r t ~veh cnldrgcbci

automat~calh r e d u c ~ n g the T-value b) an" unknown amoun l To overtc,mt t t l r \ orot,lem I

at tempted t o measure the average T-value r e d h c t ~ o n by uslng r andom~zed ddtd - tlit ' ~ r n ~ ~ r

j . -. i site locations and sams number of spokes,(,but randomized azimuth values Tht)

k .

assumption must b e that this average reduct ion is a constant correct ion fa(-tor, and that

any improvement in clustering accomplrshed using the absolute a z i m k t k i s d l Irast

comparable t o i t

For the Croup 3 sites, the T-value for the 137 absolute azrmuth spoke i I \ 0.3-0, n h i t h

brings the significance level d o w n t o 0.03% f rom the original 0.4':,,. In t h r randomized 3

59- Actually, g iven the orientational structure o f the ' ~ e d i c i n e Wheels p resen t r t l s o far, the), p rov i de one o f the best opportuni t ies that I a m aware o f across the- rLnt/re 'f~c.ld ( i f archaeoastronom), for d a t ~ n g sites via their orientations. Such a procedur t . 15 IJ~II,III~, fraught w i th the dangers o f interpretation at many levels. In t he castL ol i / r c & 8Alc~cffc~r~tJ Wheels, however, there is the possibi l i ty o f l ook ing fo r a precessional 'hrst 111' o f dl1 o f a single site's s r~okes t o the established cluster centers at once. 7he proctdorfh c o u l d ht. largely independent o f assumptions regarding targets a n d precision: it w o u l d 01. a quest ion o f whether a precessional alteration o f the po in t ing directions prod~jcc.5 ,I

significantl), a n d un i formly better set o f clusters. Dor ie i n a dynamic way n:ii-h al l o f t h t .

sites at once, an opt imist ic result might b e a relative site timescal,e which. c p d d h e tested a n d cal ibrated againj t the few k n o w n dates. If this worked well, t h ~ r e might br a final oppor tun i ty o f saying something concrete about b o t h the targets a n d the precision. This is an excit ing possibil i ty, bu t I wouldti't want t o at tempt ii wi th the d ~ t , ~

r at hand. The po ten t ia l here amplif ies the importance of obtaining a reliably precise, ~ thorough a n d systematic database.

testlng the ,T-value reductron was under on;-half of a standard dev~ation e~ght times out

of ten as the reduction of the real T-value represents almost a full standard deviat~on

change. the test indicates that declination was a factor in the orientation

The absolute azimuth test lowered the Croup 1 T-value by three-quarters of a ,standard

deviation (to O488L-This also represents a possibly significa@eduction of the T-value,

wen i f not to a 8/gn,ifkant level., AS the reduction is what we were look ih for, the

test implies that fhe..Croup 1 orientations may also be keyed to declination"

I haven't explored enough of the problems of the absolute azikuth test to, have a solid

confidence In these conclusrons: so once more the conservative approach wol~ld be to.

consider them at the level of ,'unrigorous suppo-rt'. It i s also reasonable to ask the Le

question another u.ay - i f declination (astronomy) was not the key to the orientational --,JT structure of the Medlclne Wheels, what was? ~l though something related to cardinafity is

still a possibility. i t is difficult account for much of the information in this way. There

aren't many other plausible, non-astronomical options. ~t isn't reasonable to suspect that

wind directions, herd movements or any other natural phenomena could deliver the kind

of conslstenq found here. Therefore the astronomical interpretation is also supported by '=

default.

; .i 7.2.4 CAIRN ORIENTATIONS

The same orientation dependence problems ~"&J exist with the spoke &ta occur with the

cairn data In the case of attached cairns (cairns r*esenting the termini of spokes),, the

poblrm i s guilt by association. For rhe q t e r (unattached) cairns, the problem i s

exacerbated occastonall~~ when some 'of these cairns extend out radially (which begs:the '

question whether they should b$ interpreted as spokes), introducing a clustering . . dependencd in addition to the regular spacing dependence in some cases.

' *

One of the original claims of the observatory theory was that observation might have

been done between pairs of the non-central cairns of a site i s well: from a non-central

cairi7' ,across , the . center cairn. For sites withVmany cairns this means that there are an , -

. . enormous numbel- of' pointing directioi~s to consider. T; halve that number, ' only the , .

, .

I , directions -were dealt with here. Without presenting the dara there was no support i . .

I : -

iound for non-central cairn pair orientations in any of ' the group's, either by ?he nearest

ne~ghbor test or via d~rect comparison of the angular distributions with the

slmke orientations. Given the- inevitably high noise level in such data, this conclusion i s .

not surprising

Considering now the reduced set o f the orientations of outer cairns (as o i~posed 10

attached cairns, which are joined t o spokes usually at their terminus) across the c-cntral

cairn, the distributions o f the data for all o f the groups suggests that the outer carrl],

were orlented In much the same way that the spokes were (FIGURE 30) Tllv s~mple\t

~nterpretat~on IS that outer calrns may be cons~dered as attached cairns w ~ t h ~nvrs~ble

spokes; they may have had different funct~ons but the~r orlentat~on cturactrr IS largel\

indistinguishable from ,the spokes:

noth her rnterest~ng aspect o f c a m onentat~on IS appaient 'In Croup 3 \IIWI~> t,xnctl\ t l l l t . t ~

srtes (refer to the composite Image8 of Antelope Hdl Anderson #I and h41ne1 51 In

FIGURE 1 5 ) have anomalously large external calrns The relat~ve contlgurat~on shdpt~ S I / ~ -

orlentatlon and dsstance f iom center of these carrns 1s rernarkab E co~ ls~s te r~ t It1 fa( t J

there may be some support here for the prop i ' b\ Ovenden ( l ' ) ( i l 2 3 ) ttlat 11 w d \ tIl1

edges of the cairns (not their centers) which were used' to make alignmrnts and

me&urements. One could easily extend this ' idea to mclude the or~entational al) l , l i tat~on\.

the large central cairns and, with physical justificat~on, t o , the basal edge \ O I

upstanding central tipis, making the .matter of searching zherc ior or~entat~onal p r e c i \ ~ c , ~ ~

much more problematic.

S

7.2.5 RING

Stnctly speakrng, the 'orrentat~on' o f a concentric rlng doesn't make much sense C,roul)s

.2 and 3, however, bo th show, a preference for: longer radii in the SE and NN1 quadrants

(FIGURE 31). That this apklies in general tD these sites is borne out by the mean v t ~ t o ~

. distributions . f i r the rings (FIGURE 31) and the angulal distribution ;of the ring houldt.r\

(FIGURE 33), which shows an increase in the number of boulders to the NN' and a

. . decrease to the SE (the SE decrease in ,Group 3 i s n o doubt due to the entrpva),

"gaps"; in Group 2 there is a corresponding increase t o the SE). In dirxxt ' morpholog~cdl

. terms, there data describe "the. relativeness flatness' of the lings 6 $ 6 ~ ~ . ' a r & d t l i r ~ ~ .. . ' _ I ~.

bulges to the SE and NW: characteristics which led ovenden tot. sbeculat< 3 relat~ons!i~j),.

with many similarly oriented 'flattened cir$es' amongst European' megaliths:' These 'cfdta

only confirm ~. thai an orientational effect is there, they d o not explain it.

A thorough evaluation of the orientat'ional characteristics of tipi rings i s difficult t o

accomplish because tipi rings are not always reported, and also because relativel), ieu, oi

the repoded tipi rings have been mapped. The numbers aren't great enough in each

group to justify a group-specific analysis, s o , comments ill be made about the general

i,

I

I 'r + ,

182 * ' ,

Figure 30. OUTER CAIRN ~ R K N T A ~ I Q N S

The angular distrihrPQFons of outer cairn boulders for Groups I through 4 are displayed. The important observation here is not so mpch how heavy some of the concentrations are, which i s mostly due to a few massive cairns, but that the orientations of most of the concentrations match those of the spoke distributions.

Figure 31. GROUP 2 RINGS - ORIENTATION WITH RESPECT TO EXTENT

Orientation

This histogram ,displays the curnulalive normalized radius of Group 2 rings as a function of azimuth, showing the trend to longer radii in the SE and NW, and the shoriest radii lo the SW.

L

Figure 32. GROUP 3 RINGS - M E A N V E V O R S

This plot summing resultant that goes

~ e a n Vector Orientations

is created by taking each ring boulder as a vector (direction and extent) and over each ring to get the resultant vector for the site. All of the Croup 3 ring vectors are plotted together here, demonstrating a clear northwesterly preference beyond the expected values for those rings that have southead entryway gaps.

Figure 33. GROUP 3 RINGS - ANGULAR DISTRIBUTIONS

0

0 1 I I I 0.0

I 4 . 0

I 8 0

I 1 I I2,.0 - 16,O 20 .O 24.0 28.0 32.0

Angular Dds~ribution I :.

This is a proportional count of boulders with respect to their orientation in Group 3 rings., There is a ve.ery strong concentration to the northwest, which i s partly the exptanation for the mean vecfor results of FIGURE 32, and a dramatic decrease lo the muthead, which in this case is due to the southeast entryway gaps in Group 3.

- -

i

d~stribut~on of t ~ p ~ rlngs (FIGURE 34).

One interesting observation - i s that the general thrust of the tipi distribution i s to the NE /

a d SM', clearly away from the SE-NW concentrations of the noted feature orientations. In

fact, the NW quadrant is essentially barren of tipi rings. This aspect of the distribution i s

particularly important because it i s the SE that contains the heaviest concentratio')$s of

features such as entryways and effigies: it suggests that the NW quadrant was consciously

left open to allov.8 clear views from the SE h

I

A second observat~on IS that there IS a small gap in the bpb rlng d~stributton from due

E to somewhat north of due E Although this gap may not be s~gnificant on rts own. !I

is interesting because it corresponds to similar gaps in the distributions of most Medune 4 . -

Wheel features, particulariy the spokes, cairns and rings. These gaps can easily be

Interpreted In terms of the charactenst~c eastern openlngs of Plalns lnd~an campsites

vlslon quest structures and Sun Dance lodges emphaslzlng the likel~hood that Medtclnc

Wheels belong to known aspects d Plam ceremon~al~sm

@

7.3 Conclusion

There are three complementa~ aspects to the 'conclusion of these orientational tests.

7.3.1 SITE ORIENTATIONAL STRUCTURE

F~rst, it must be concluded that the Medicine Wheel builders had a conscious plan In

mind when they built these configurations in stone. It doesn't matter at th~s po~nt

whether we call that plan a template; a figure, a design or simply a notion - the' plan f

was there,. The evidence that the spokes of individual sites are un'naturally uniform in w

orientation is completely unambiguous. It's almost strange that such a humble observation

needs to be voiced, and emphasized with statistics. The fact is, however, that this simple

truth has been ignored in all previous studies of Medicine Wheel ^orientations. In the

search to discover or disprove the existence of large scale order in the spoke ,data i t .-

has always been an unspoken assumption, in the tradition of' natural science rat he^ than . -. ' . . < -

social science, perhaps, that the basic-kperimental data were random. The fact that they % -

r . - .,- - .

are not random certainly has method~log icd~ implications for the kinds of tests and *

interpretations which ca," be imposed in the search for that large scale order, but the

more crucial implications impact much earlier - at the level of hypothesis formation. I

suggest that i f this small scale order had been more obvious (although i t would be hard

to argue that i t was hidden in any way), then Eddy's primary obsewatoty theory could

Figure 34. GROUPS 1-4 TIPI RINGS - ANGULAR DISTR1BUTtON

The angular distribution of the entire population of tipi ring boulders displayed here shows something that was not so obvious 'in FIGURE 7; &ere appears to be a pmmmed gap in tke distribution to the no&weg implying that there may have bqen a conscious decision to leave that quadrant with a clear view to the horizon. With t hd current W t e d i n h h reg~ding .tipi iings around M i s i n e Wheel sites, it is reasonable to use this as indirect evidence that the tipi rings were contempoaneous with the Medicine Wheels.

' -

n w e r have *be& r o x e w e d ici the way ft was A purely utilitarian obsewatcwy or

observing station is an awkward home for unnaturally regular orientations This small scale

order immediately imparts something more than essential utility t o Medicine Wheels. That

extra something is surely cuttural, whether part of a cosmic statement o r a group ritual.

This conclu~ion, therefore, is a lesson in simplicity: Medicine Wheels were built by

humans. I

7.3.2 GROUP ORlENTATlONAh STRUCTURE

The second conclusion f rom - the orientational tests IS that there i s considerable structure

t o the small scale order .des&bed, above. This conclusion has not been demonstrated

wi th the same comprehensive numerical rigour as the first conclusion,' but within the

limitations of the data and available methods it is abundantly clear that there was at least

general clustering and coordination o f spokes and all other features across all of the ;%

.P_ .

established Medicine Wheel groups. -- , : 4

7.3.3 ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION

The last conclusion is that the only vrable connection between the flrst two conclus~ons

is an astronomical one The orientational correiatlon of the features ts well outside of an)

plausible cardrnal o r natural explanation, and the supporting ctrcumstant~al eviderice (such

as the tip1 ring' distribution) is_convhung. ' ,

It -nould be noted that orientations have been studied In this analys~s without reference

t o any cylestial objects or epochs The job o f fmding objects and epochs IS almost \

completely a -matter of speculation at the level of precision avaitable in the data

themselves and in the dispersion of the orrentatlon clustek One general-statement that

c m be made is that the angular distribution of the onentat~on cbsters rnphes that the

Sun, M o o n and planets cannot explarn all of the clusters For those which can be

explained by solar system objects, there is enough flexibility t o support a nur -~ber o f

expianatlons

-

To provrde an eidmple of the Interpretation problems, recall that the Plains Sun Dance

ceremony was said to be timed to the nearest Full M o o n 8 o u n d the summer salstice,

rather than. t o the solstice itself (Voget 1984:82). An equivalent Medicine Wheel scenario

might involve simultaneous horizon orientations t o the Full M o o n and Sut;l,-:However, the %

M o o n at this time is moving arourid a l o i near the -23" declination ,po in t while the S m

will be near the + 1 3 " declination point. The two are typically nearly in line with one

another. Therefore. h o w can one conclude that a given alignment i s pointing one way to

- . . 1 " _ I -

189

one the other way to the other, or approximately to both? As well, tHs interpretatian

doesn't mention what the planets or stars might have been doing, or that observations

might have continued while these objects rose above the horizon. It might be simple,

and even safe, to conclude that the dominant SE features are due to observing the

se'ttjng summer solstice sun in the NW (the agreement is actually very good), but ~ t h e r

rnterpretattcn: are possible A

The ltnHl, ~rnportant constderation with respect the identification of targets is that the

disperstm In the pointing drrectrons may be the result of many unrelated and

unsystematrc factors Fui- example, precision may not have been all that important, i f \ xC

close enough' yas the case it may never be possible to identify targets. Also, ~f a R

gnomon was used rts centenng and verttcal positioning have the ability to skew the data.

It has been speculated that the mere fact that clustering is apparent with these data

suggests tha t better data would prov~de better precision, but that is certainly no1 a

guarantee

Another quest~on about astronomrcal orientations concerns the methods which might have Z b

been used. Both of the astronomical theories are supported by the results sf this

chapter, but the gnomon theory clearly wins out with respect to the horizon observatory

theory For example, rt is clear from the tipi distributions and site topography that at -6

least much, i f not most, of any celestial viewing took place across site center: Given that

all of the groups are orren'ted rn roughly the sank way, the central trpis which

presumably were present in Croup 4 sites effectively negate the possibility of ground

obsemat~ons through center as proposed by the observatory theory The commofiality rn

group' onentattons also suggests that the other groups would have had a central pole or

other gnomon equrvalent to the central tipi The excavatron results at the Ellis site, along

wrth the homogeneity of Group 4 ring dkmeters, make it difficult to argue that

or~entatrons were done &fore or after the tipi was in place. It might have been that

obsewattons took place across the stde of the tipr and only along the ground, but this -

runs contrary to the centrally-directed spokes It is more likely that shadows and light Y

trorn a trpi or pole directed the orientations, both f roh the horizon and from above.

AY- INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS

s

8;1 What are Medicme Wheels?

#

The analysis has run ~ t s course: and n o w the dtscussion can be brought back to the

onginal purpose of this researih, $hi;h was t o understand what Medictne Wheels arp. in

terms of the information they represent. This summary and interpretatton of the results

encapsulates that question with respect t o Plains anthropology.

8.1.1 MEDICINE W E E L WOUPS

The systematic classification o f Medicine Wheels accomplished In Chapter 5 represents the

first thorough analysis of Medicine Wheel variation. The result IS the provlslon of four

groups of Medtcine Wheds which are measurably dtsttnct b n a convlncmg vartety o l

numencal, g e o g a hicai, logtcal and practrcal g rounds It would be wrong to mrceive / these four is any kind of absolute number of groups intrtnstc t o the Medfcme wheel

population, but i t is completely correct t o view them as a promment statement in a ,

thorough, analytical description o f Medicine Wheel variation which is globally relevant "to

all continumg studies In this area.

O n the cultural side, the most that can b e said about these groups IS that they

represent sets o f clear compositional preferences o n the part of the people that built

them The groups o n therr o w n imply relatively little about the basic func t~on .or

function(s) o f the Medicine Wheels, about the tribe or tribe(s) that built them, or about

when they were bui i i o r over what period. The significant variation in longitude observed

In the distribution of the groups could be interpreted in a number of ways, most likely

through punctuations in temporal andlor cultural opgtns

f ie analyses o f Med~cme Wheel structure and orientations in Chapters 6 and 7 reveal . many additional characteristics which distinguish the graups from one another, but these

results serve more to demonstrate that there are deep "relationsh~ps which bond all of

the Medicme Wheels t o what presumably was a single cultural contrnutty Indeed, these

- relatioftships are broad ,enough to suggest that the term "Medicine Wheel" wiH always

,,apply as the most geneml descriptor of the groups, no matter what variation in function

.might eventually be found. Even more likely, however, is that a single function or set of a .

funct~ons IS common to all -the groups, and that the concept of 'type' wil l become the -i.

_ most meaningful labe&

8.1.2 MEDICINE WHEEL STRUCTURE

The analysis of structure involved 'studies of the geometrical, dimensional, angular, and* ,

orlentational nature of Medicine Wheels, all directed toward making decisions about the

various 'deslgn' theories regarding their composition.

- -

The geometry theory is consistent with the observation of regularity in the orientational , .

spacings o f features, as well as the generally 'flattened' ring shapes, and the hints of a

dimensional quantum. However, alternate, non-geometrical interpretations for all. o f this

evidence' i s readily available, and the geometry theory has failed t o find any support in

any o f the critical areas wher'e such support would be expected. Specifically, there is n o

evidence within the existing v&ability of the data for a conic section interpretation of

nng forms, n o evidence o f camunical angle or dimension relationships between features,

and n o obvious references to the focal points of the 'presumed figures. Given also that

there IS n o ethnograph~c foundation for such an interest on the Plains, the geometry

theory IS clearly not viable Given the weight of evtdence against the theory, -it is very

unlikely that an improved precision of the basic data would provide any additional

support. *

The signpost theory is also not viable t o the least extent. The roadmap version o f theory

fails completely on , the distribution of , the sites, the regular spacing of the features, and D

the basic orientat&. The lifemap version likewise fails on the regular spacing, the .

- dimensional variability; and the orientations. ~ i n @ y , the territorial marker idea also fails =on.

the d i s t r i b u t i ~ and regular spacing. I f the ~ e d i c & e Wheels were meant to record or

communicate something about the , surrounding ->., physical geography, this function cannot

have been a primary one.

The observatory theory requires onl) one kind of structure: that certain features point

consistently t o a common set of celestial locations. While there is

that clusters o f features were oriented to the sky, there' is far t oo

variation and additional structure t o support the idea that Medicine

a calendric utility. As well, the distribution of tipi rings around the

centres argues very strongly that they be re contemporary with the

the wheels, and the special gaps in that concentric distribution d o

oi horizon obsewations in the directions that have been-suggested <?,

very good evidence

much complexity,

Wheels were primarily

~ e d i c i n e * whee l *

original functions of

no t support the idea )

by the the6ry

proponents. On the other hand, the combined evidence of astronomical orientation and

select gaps in the tipi ring distribution i s very su&estivti that horizon zstronomical

observations OT interactions were an aspect of Medicine Vtheei events. The combined

ethnographic, physical and structural evidence, how eve^:' clearly favour that such

observation: took @ace in a group ceremonial context: 'ln this case the obsorvatary

function becomes a relatively minor component, and the emphasis on precision in

orientation loses 'much of its meaning.

The gnomon theory takes off where the observatory and the geometry theories fall flat

The physical evidence of a central vertical pointing device begins with:, the presumed

central tipis of Group 4. The metaphysical evidence i s broad and c~mpelling in the form

of the World Pole. And ethnographic support IS sohd in the active involvement of the

central pole in Plains ceremonial structures. Furthermore, a -gnomon his the potential to

account for &uch, if not all, of the unexplained structure in the lengths, non-canonical

spacings and hdrizon chstering of the spokes, the shape and orientation of the rings,

and other observations. The key word i s 'potential'. Without good knowledge of the

height(s1 of the gnomons or specifics of how they might have been used, the only way

to verify their existence is to demonstrate their application in accounting for the kinds of

otherwise inexplicable order just listed. Unfortunately, the quality of that order cannot be

deftned enough with the current data to firmly demonstrate the need for something Q

like a gnomon, let alone verify its existence. 0; the other nd, some theory has to

encompass fhe astronomical orientation and the details of stru re i t is possible that > some van r t i k of the observatory theory could do this, 'but not slmply, and the , -

2 observafov the~ry can't be proven any more than the gnomon theory can with these

data. A simple form of the gnomon t h e y remains the most credible alternatwe.

8.7.3 MEDICINE WHEELS IN PLAINS ANTHROPOLOGY

Now that all of 'the anaiysis is done, I will provide two simple scenarios for how the

Medicine Wheels might have fit within the context of Plains anthropology:

7 -

The first scenario complements ~ ru rn ld~ 's conclusion that the Ellis site (1984) was a burial

monument. That is the best c&clusion for Croup 4 sites in any case, gi;en Brumley's

excavation and the size of the central rings at those sites. Given the site locations and

the tipi ring distributions it is reasonable to. speculate that those spots were chosen

especially for a ceremonial burial or commemorative encampment. The ceremonial tipi was

set up and adorned, and lspects of the ceremony included fixing the structure in space

and time by means of ooulder appendages which marked a set of significant celestial

J

events or features In this burial', where the

trpr ring is filled in with can't afford t o

pan w i th the tipi, rather than rings.

One can also than for

males, thereby

overall scenario

distribution. It also ptaces n o emphasis o n utilitarian observation or unnecessary precision

in the astronomy: the intent was entirely ceremonial.

The second scenario relates t o an earlier version of the Sun Dance ceremony, where a . v .

tribe gathers in a specral h ~ g h place at the appropriate tlming of the Sun and M ~ o ' n . A

ceremonial campsite is laid down around a large cairn, and c o n s i ~ b l e effort is

undertaken to obtain the right tree t o prop u p in its center. Sacred zones and prithways

are laid out in boulders according to a shaman's day- and night-long vigil around the

tree. Once the ceremony is complete, the dructure is left intact as a record o f the

event that transpired there C '

'&? These scenarios are totally fictitious, of course. Their point is t o demonstrate that the

. ~-

structures and orientations of, Mediche Wheels can fit comfortably into known aspects o f

Plains lifeways. Despite the lack o f human remains in many excavations, the d burial/commemoratwe theories seem t o remain the best overall ceremonial association t o

- -. Medicine Wheels - this IS where I w o d d conc&trate the investigative f ~ e l d work.

8.2 The Implications of This Research .

8.2.1 IMPLICATIONS F O R MEDICINE WHEEL STUDIES

These results emphatically indicate the value o f obtaining more precise and more

sys!ematic survey data for the entire population of Medicine 'Wheels. It needs t o be

done soon. Berng relatively small, fragile and unprotected .structures, there is a great need

for a comprehensive database to be created before a significantly larger port ion of them -

are either disturbed or destroyed beyond the point where they are useful for fuFther a

research The next step In Medicine Wheel studies must be t o launch such a

comprehensrve survey pgt -am. Remote sensing techniques which can locate every boulder

at a site, including many that are completely buried, should be a component o f that -

program, along with established image analysis and digitization techniques.

It the speculation is correct that azimuthal clustering will improve with improved data, an

( _,I I a> , :- -, - ', ~

immediate option would be to try the pre&ssion-&ig&g mentioned earlier as a idea mentioned earlier as a

potential means of establishing a testable relative timelini and better definition of possib!e

targets. At the very least, this procedure could establish useful limits on the precision

and intent of the orientations.

On . t h e larger scale, "the availability of a well-conceived datahase would remove a number

of the meth~dological constraints imposed o n the present study. This would allow, for

Instance, an' ability t o fully model the orientation data via Monte Carlo simulatio&, +* >

hopefully arriving at rigorous azlmuth and declination tests * .J

The results here provide a number of clear directions for archaeological field work, w

including answering some of the bastc questions about the presence of a central

gnomon, defining useful time ranges for , the occupation and use of Medicine Wheels,

and looking more carefully k? the burial/commemoration question As noted wrlier, the

classiflcat~on provided here ought t o become a standard reference for all future Medicine *C

Wheel research, regardless of the focus.

8.2.2 IMPLICATISNS FOR PLAINS ANTHROPOLOGY

Strangely enough, there are relatively f ew implications for Plains anthropology, mostly

because these results operate within extremes that have aiready been established in :. - Medictine Wheel studies The ~ o s f Important 'tmplication is w t h regard t o the relatiotfshps.

within a n d between Medtcrne Wheels, and the ' consequent intellectual depth and

continuity they suggest. ~ l t h & ~ h Platns hunters designed and cohstructed all kinds o f ,

utilitarian' configurattons, I suspect that the implication of similar planning and careful i

construction In cekmonial structures will be regarded as new O n the .methodological

side, I would hope that this study will stimulate 'further interdisciplinary approaches to

Plains anthropology, and that such endeavours would also introduce new analytical , + .

technrques

8.2.3 IMPLICATIONS F O R ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

Looking beyond the Plains for a moment, the results obtained here for the Medicine

Wheels -provide some o f the best evidence for astronomical orientations of any of the

stone ring families of *the prehistoric Mlorld. It seems wonderfully appropriate to think of

expbrting the gnomon t h e 0 9 to other s tone ring families around the world. thereby

reversing the trend and allowing some new ideas to infiltrate megalithic studies. In

particular, the 'missing link' s tone rings of Siberia, which 'were clearly mortuary structures,

could lead naturally t o studies of the morphologically similar megaliths of Europe. Given

* 195 < .

' , i

the potential f o t the Medicine Wheels t o p rw ibe clear answqrs t o some of- the difficult

questions of stohe ring archaeoastronomy,. h e r e is every reason Eo pursue ~ e a i c i n e

studies vigo~ously. , . _ 1.

8.2.4 METHQDOLOCICAL IMPLKArlONS ' ,,

, This has been .a very broad-ranged j tudy, incorporating ideas, information, methods and '

8"

even datisets from a great variety o f sources. It had t o be sa, and I certainly feel that

it has gained from both this breadth and the part-time status with which it was

accbnrpllshed There were many punctuations, and many oppbrtwnlties t o re-evaluate the *

context wi th fresh ideas and new methods. This was fortunate: there are -not many fields

where a slow-maturing work will no t be left behind. I heactily recommend the

interdisciplinary route, and only wish that there were more campuses which support it as

well as Simon Fraser University has.

I With respect t o the work itself, the basic questions of iitterd~sciplinary and

archaeoastronomical methods have already been discussed at some length in Chapter 2. 1

can only re~nforce tho te sentiments here. Keeping a keen eye o n the anthropology has

been very useful, and I tryst it 'has been beneficial t o the work. One of my greatest - .

regrets through this course of & ~ d ~ was that 'I did not have the opportunity o f

observing o r participating in an archaeological excavation on the Plains, particularly of a

Medicine W eel. l" The only management plan t o recommend in the case o f go many questiohs and

second-hand data i s t o severely limit the number of hypotheses considered, the number

of tests run, and number b f kinds of evidence presented. There were many avenues

pursued during ,the course 0.f this research which are not presented here, even though I 5

consider them t o have been fruitful and worthy of further. attention. For instance, t he rF

are some very interesting resutts ~ t h respect t 6 some smaller groups of sites yh i ch

rnlght complement the wwk here, except that these groups had been selected- b y more

or less arbitrary means. ~ a i h e r ' t h a n clo"d the issues, I have kept .this analysis focussed

cleanly o n the big picture o f Medicine Wheels and their major grotips. -

I,

8.3 Conclusion

When I first began this study o f Medicine Wheels f was convinced of three things. First, -+

I was sure that nobody had bothered t o systematically examine the basic information

about Medicine Wheels as a means - o f providing a meaningful context for all of the

, . -*LA* , - , - , , 3 . a*- . ' ". * ,' z , , < d - a , , w"- <$.* > +

.-'r < - 4$Gq , .* f . a .t .. .! L *

* 3 . I l.., ,; -L *:;; 5- &:x z * 1.. - i -.. - , ' 'f "'

' " . I - . - , ' ' ><* , + , I

B C

L

1 r l . .

> %96 "% ., < r- 2 ' - " .

speculation. Second. I was certain that :everyone was ignoring the &dous (to me) third - - , * * +i

dimension to these sit&- k,+k farm .c~nfral tipj:.& .pole, and that such ii central .* : 3'.".' : J , - 3

, \ - , - < - ,

, feature, if -it was "'hctive, made ~h bgtter se*& .'than ' the obsenraltory or -%&%try v z - * a -

. * < ) + ' 1 *' 1' -__,_. - - _ ;,. ' theories in explaining the 'basic configurations. ~ h d .-kt,, I war entie& c b n f ~ s t : ' ~ a t the

- - , % * . . existing data were reliable ; i -q~~h ' to q.sw&r these ?s&mgle(~ c&estioris,st, I was

A * * " ,

+ I ) '

' 7 - % '

. -i

right in the first instwce, still beliqve I .am right in $he second,' and h&e" 6mt) , I was -. % . partially right i n the last., . a.

> ' e < *

I

&' + ,

If the questions had rean? been as simple as I had imagined -the6 ;he-original &a'#+ , . would havee done.: As it bas, the real complexity of the was slowly d&wnihg3 : - on me as more and more sites and ~nformation from various, sources &gan fkdodmg in,

& ' ' The quaiity d the datamwas diminishing just as I' was encounterjig "the need ,ior better.

4,

, - - i I?:

In the &d, the data have been entiieiy satisfactory in de,monstrating the raMi elements of a 2

structure and orientation which characterize - the ~ e d i c i n e Wheels.' At the, bt$nnihg- l . e <. a > ea

wasn't expecting t o have to go so far with a classificati6n. Ghd the structure- here is

much stronger and more interesting 'that 1 would fkve guessed it could I$;..'T~s. I a

4 classification is a result I arp proud ' i f , mostly because it is entirdy new. dnd something"

: 1, . , - -1 to be confident of. The same goes, for the feature ;!uste?i"@ and e$dence at. %v"s

A * - A - ., 1 , astronomical ddentation: the journey frclrn FIGURE 6 t& - F I C U R E " . ~ $ ,+hay not*-;eern i$ty x.

< _ > -, . , far, but it i s sets' down . real milestohe in the' &iy 01 p&histolis $tong: &gs. - All :: 1 . - I . . p 'L <

along fhe way, the ~ e d i c i * Wheels h i ve ;o be far bore complex. th&, the$ . , ,t '* . , s 8 < : .

look atF .f$y =.value, T i as have 'the2 relationships between ti-&&.' This, was the haifrfr~ptdbllern -:. ;ct * ? i . " , ' > &-.[ . -, $

with the -data - there was ahvays an urge to push i!rbgyo~(f~@s'capacitya6~&i t& . + * . L ii

rs, , simpler quest;~ns. 4 ' * ,r b . w..

$ 1 1 1 ; c + - , , i

' B . - , .3 . - . . ?.,- ,,.**' 4 P

+ , . , - ' x:: . I'm not so naive Ynymore ts thinkJ thdt there 'iye rirq"&'ariswersLto the dhdicin@,' -7

+ . - 7 - Wheels, but I remain ccinvinc& that. there- are: much .haF fnf&estitig, dpeir difk~l i f i ,

G P "

answers to be had with careful work , &g- +s&-tafion hd;%e&-'k fj& sktigx b i f - + *$,- - ,

can insplre the necessary measurements and iunher things will really b$-.lor&ing ,:.? :, ' - ? <k

up for Medicine Wheels4 _ * , L % * s - - L..- , . r i -

' L -

197 P

APPENDIX I

b GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS - -, A N INFORMATION ANALYSIS OF GREAT PLAINS MEDICINE WHEELS - -

> - . . - . \ _ ,

- J 1

CONTENTS

Catalog Listing . . . . . . . . 198 ^ * j

. . . . . . . . . . Fully Surveyed Medicine Wheels.

~ e d i c i & Wheels With True North Alignment' . . - . . a 9 * I

~edtcine Wheels with ~l;n Maps. . . . . . .302 . ,

Sketched Medicine Wheels . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . .346

- Medicine Wheels ~ n o w n by Description . . . 364 d Reported or Possible Medicine Wheels . . ,384 a

. . Unusual stone Rings and Cairns. . . ,390

, . Effigies,. . . . - : . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . 5 . . . . . . : . . ,396 .

. . . . . . . . . . Unusual Rock Walls and Alignments .403

. . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . ..a Site Index by ord den Number 412

e Artificiak Bsrden numbers have been created for sites in the

United Staes i n order to facilitate indexing. These numbers

have n o validity, external to this document. 6m +fr

Qata regardiGg the precise legal descriptigh and tocation of - sites have been masked in this version of the catalog. This is

-. meant dor the protection of the sites. Thb information is .P

available ' a i d may be obtained from the author through

application to the suitable authorities.

198

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS

A . FULLY SURVEYED MEDICINE WHEELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . m

. . DgNf-3 . DOUG WADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . 205 DhPb-2 ANTELOPE HILL ;

MILK RIVER RIDGE . ". . . . . . . . . 207 DiMv-2 HALBRITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 * DiPi-2 WOLFCHILD . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . 2 1 1 D10v-2 GRASSY LAKE 213 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaOs-2 SUFFIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 EaPe- 1 .- SUNDIAL HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 EbOm-1 MANY ISLANDS L-AKE . . . . . . . . 21:) EcOp-4 ELLIS 1 SUFFIELD

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 EXPERIMENTAL - - EdOpl BRITISH BLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 EdOq-30 . BRYNE'S i' BRYNE'S

9 9 F( M40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EePi-2 JAMIESON'S PLACE . . . . . . . . . . 230

Ef01-2 ROY RIVERS i' EMPRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

EfOo- 10 MINER 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 EfOo- lob MINER 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . 235 Ef-24 MINER 3 237 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp58 RrNKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . 2 3 9 EfOp-118 WETZEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 ~ f 0 ~ 1 3 6 ANDERSON 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 EfOq-65 ANDERSOK 2 . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . 244 EfOq-87 ROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx- 1 SUITOR 1 , 248 EgOx- 1 b SUITOR 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx- 1 c SUITOR 3 252 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgPn-53 BARRY 254

EhOp- 1 BUFFALO BIRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 . . . . . . . . . EhOq- 1 SUTHERLAND CAIRN 258

EkPe-3 ZEIGENBEIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 . . EkPf- 1 RUMSEY CAIRN .

. . . . . . . . . . . STONE PILE HILL 262 - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E10d-2 PLENTY . 2 6.5

FbNp-2 TIPPERARY CREEK . . . . . . . . CRONK'S BIG CIRCLE 2 6 7

B . MEDICINE WHEELS WITH TRUE NORTH ALIGNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

AaAa-1 (BB:5:27) ZODIAC RIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 BeNx-0 (48BH302) BIG HORN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

199

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS

SUN RfVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 GLEN EWEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 O&BOW 1 . . . . . . . . .,. . . . . . . . . 280 OXBOW 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 OXBOW 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 MINTON TURTLE . : . . . . . . . . . . . 286 BIRD FOOT SHRINE . . . . . . . . . . 288 CANUCK . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 MOOSE MOUNTAIN . . . . . . . . . . 292 ALONSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 WILSON 'RUSSELL . . . . . . . . . . . 297 JELLY 'MNCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 HIJTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

C . MEDICINE WHEELS WITH PLAN MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

AaAa-2 TRAIL RIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 BaNt-0 (48WA5C) TENSLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 BcLr-0 (39HD22) JENNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 BhNx-0 (24BH220) FORT SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 C1Nv-O (24PH 1 1 18) ORAHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 DdOl-0 (24-2) FRESNO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DfNv-0 (24PHl102) WHITEWATER 312 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgNg-1 GILES TURTLE 313 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgNg-2 GILES CIRCLE 315

DhMn-9 ALAMEDA CLRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . 317 DiNe- 1 HARDY TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

. . . . . . . . . . . DiNf- 1 OGEMA CIRCLE : , 319 DiPg-Ob : STEEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 DjMr- 1 "FORGET CIRCLE . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . 323

. DjPf-23 NITAPINAW'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 DkPf- 1 MANY SPOTTED

HORSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :326 EaNh-7 . CLAYBANK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Ed00-a MJDDLE SAND HILLS . . . . . . . . 330 Ed00-38 DARK HORSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 Ed00-39 LONE ANTELOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 EWC- 1 . MAJORVTLLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 EdPg- 1 BUFFALD HILL CAIRN . . . . . . . 339 EfOp-11 . ALKALI . CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 EfDp-4 14 RED DEE2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 EgNx- 1 + HUGHTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

D . SKETCHED MEDICINE WHEELS . . . . . \ . . . . . 346

AdOe-0 (48FR1461) YOUNG MOUNTAIN . . 346 . . . . . BiOb-0 (24BH797) GRASSY KNOLL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CjPa-0 (2419'201) L O m Y 349 CINq-0 (GRC-81-2) MUD CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 ClOm-0 EAGLE BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 DcOd-U (24PH 1692) NELSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . DfDf-O (24BL331) CHERRY RIDGE r 353 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgOp-38 POLICE 354

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DhOs-1 FAITH '35& . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiPg-Oa EAGLE CHILD 358

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DjPi- 1 JIM ALLEN 360 EfDn- 1 15 BINDLOSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

. EfOp-3 12 HALF MOOK .,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 EjPd-2 . COULTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

E . MEDICINE WHEELS KNOWN BY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DESCRIPTION

BELLE CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 LAME JOHNNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 CHAIN O F LAKES . . . . . . . . . . . 366 WILD HORSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \367 MANYBERRIES 1 ONE ..

. . . . FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 MILK RIVER I RED CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 S T . MARY'S . . . . . . . . . . : : _ . . . - 3 7 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MURPHY 373 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LOOSE WHEEL 375

TWIN PEAKS CAIRN . . . . ' . . . . . 376 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MCNEILL 3 7 K

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ANDERSON 3 3 79 STRANRAER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 HUXLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 TROCHU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 NEUTRAL HILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

. . .

F . REPORTED- OR *POSSIBLE MEDICINE ... . . . . . . . WHmLS. -'.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 ..

?%-?? UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 ~ d N g - ? - (?) . UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BeOc-? (?) UNNAMED 3H- l B a d (?) UNNAMED . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-??". .. UNNAMED 384 ????-?? (24BL331) UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 ????-?? (24MC1002) UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3k4 24PH 1922 UNNAMED . . . . ..'I . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ???? . ?? UNNAMED 384

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????- ?? UNNAMED 385 . .

201 J

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER co IGURATIONS 1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 385

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 385 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 SADDLE BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 SUN BEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 . s , .. UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 387

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 387

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 387 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 388

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 388 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNNAMED 388 UNNAME'D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 .... UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . 3 8 9. . UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 UNNAMED' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :389 . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RUNNING WOLF 389 p'

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G . UNUSUAL RINGS AND CAIRNS 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?". ?? UNNAMED 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????.??. (32MN40) U N N M E D 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-?? (32MN41) UNNAMED 390

. . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24CH202) SHANAHAN 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ???-?? (24MA75) UNNMKED ; 390

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24HL160) UNNAMED 390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24HL167) UNNAMEDL: 390

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??F-?? (24CB410) UNNAMED 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? UNN-MED 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?"-?? (24CB654) UNNAMED 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????- ?? UNNAMED 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24BH417) -UNNAMED 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24BH665) UNNAMED- 391

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24BH665FV). UNNAMED 391 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ???-?? (24CB420) UNNAMED 391 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24PA55 1) UNNAMED 392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24CB411) UNNAMED. 392

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?m-?? (24CB419) UNNAMED 392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24HL28) UNNAMED 392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-?? (24CB750) UNNAMED 392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -.?? UNNAMED 392

202

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS

0 . .

????mW UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C j P i i b ~ w r r ~ 7 ) SUN RIVER 2 392

????. ?? MORSTAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 DhMc-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DAND 393

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DkLw-18 UNNAMED 393 DkOj-2 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

. . . . . . . . . . . . . EeNu- 1 PERRIM, RANCH 394 DkOj-2 KEYHOLE STONE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PILE 394 EdOo-2 GENTLE CAIRN ,394 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EeOv- 1 HAWKEYE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp-370 UNNAMED 395

EFFIGIES BdMa-0 DgNc- 1 DgNf-5 DgNh-3 DiNs- 1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 HUGHES TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 WILD ' MAN BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . 396

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . GILES EFFIGY 396 1 BIG BEAVER 396 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MANKOTA SALAMANDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 KAYVILLE HUMAN

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EFFIGY 397 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DEWDNEY - 3 9 7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CABRI LAKE 398 CONSORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 CLUNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

EaKv- l4( 1) E ~ v - 14(4) ????-?? (24GA106) .- ?? ????-?? .- ?? ... ????- ?? -*?? -*?? ????-?? .

????-?? --- ?? EaKv-3 EaKv- 12

. . . .

STEVEVILLE . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 . . . . . . . . . TIE CREEK FEMALE 399

. . . . . . . . . . . TIE CREEK -MALE 399 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BOZEMAN I 399

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRYOR EAST , 399 . . . . . . . . . . LANDSLIDE BUTTE 399

. . . . . WESSINGTON SPRINGS 6. 399 PUNISHED WOMAN'S HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . 399 MURRAY COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . 400 HUGHES CQUNTY- . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

. HUGHES COUNTY . . . . . . . . . 400 CUSTER COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 JERALTD COUNTY- . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 MINNEHAHA COUNTI- . . . . . . . . 400 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 MURRAY C9UNTY . . . . . . . . . . . 401

. - OLIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

. CONSORT 'SNAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . '401 BANNOCK POINT . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 RAINBOW F - ~ L I ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 1

203 8

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CO~Y'FIGURATIONS

. . .-

.. i'.

. .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaIlv-13 ' BASKET FALLS 401 EaKv-14 TIE CREEK SNAKE . . . . . . . . . . 402

. . . . . . . . . EaKv- 17 PnvE POINT SNAKE 402 E&v-20 PINE POINT LINEAR . . . . . . . . . ?02

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? LAC DU BOIS 402 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? PETROFORM 402

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaLa-6 UNNAMED 402

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24PH1707) UNNAMED : 4 0 2

. .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

I UNUSUAL WALLS A&D ALIGNMENTS 403 DhNe-1 . . . . GREENLAY CROSS . . . . . . . . . . . 403 DLNg-2 . .

DAN THOMPSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CROSS r 403

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EhPn-17 MfLLAR'S 403 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgPn-28 UNNAMED 404

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DkOe-2 BONE CREEK 404 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKu-7 UNNAMED .' 404

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKu-9 UNNAMED 404

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKu-9 UNNAMED 404

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EbKu-9 UNNAMED 404

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv- 14(2) UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv- 14(3) UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E&v-14(6) UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv-2 1 UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgKxS UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E g b - 15 UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgKx-23 UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CbGu-1 UNNAMED 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CbGu-2 UNNAMED 406 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CcGs- 1 UNNAMED 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (24PH10) UNNAMED 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??-?? (48FR302) UNNAMED 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????- ?? UNNAMED 406 ????-?? UNNAPV4ED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????- ?? UNNAMED 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (29CU46) UNNAMED 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?F-?? (39FA150) UNNAMED 407

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA168) UNNAMED 407

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA186) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA341) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA369) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA383) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39HU227) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39HU352) UNNAMED 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39HU353) UNNAMED 408

????- ?? (39534) UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39JE6) UNNAMED 408

GREAT PLAINS BOULDER CONFIGURATIONS

UNNAMED .. . . . . . . . . ., . . ,. . . . : . 4 8 8 UNNAMED .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 8 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 4 0 8 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 8 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 8 UNNAMED . . . . .. . . . . . . . :. . . . . 4 0 9 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 9 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 4 0 9 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 9 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 9 NNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 9 NNAMED . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 9 NNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 4 0 9 NNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 LUNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . , . 4 10 UNNAMED . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 CFB SUFFIELD . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 4 10 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1 1 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . 4 1 1

-

Setting:

DOUG WADE

Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude: 49.0nnnN

Longitude: 1 0 4 . 9 n n n ~

Elevation: 815m

Map: 72W2

Legal: nnnnnn J

hnditiok: Destroyed

Record: Aligned Survey

- I On a knoll atop the south. bank of the Big Muddy, overlooking the steep-walled

coulees of this deeply indented escarpment. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23) A Medicine Wheel and stone circles on a high knoll over the Big Muddy Lake

Valley. The central cairn occupies the peak and the spokes extend downhill. (Quigg l984:l66) 8 On a valley rim 3km from a stream. (Brace 1987:78)

Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: On the crest of a prominent hill 3km S of Big Muddy Lake; hummocky uplands. Seasonal streams are 200m N.,

Description: A"centyal cairn and four spokes (one other is margmal) radiate to the NE, SE, SW

and NW from 35 to 58m. The questionable spoke is E. The stones of the spokes are deeply imbedded. (Quigg l984:l66)

"has 4 radiating lines 106-175 feet long in the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and -

Southwest directions. The rocks are nearly embedded in the ground out of sight. - Maximum length is 285 by 345 feet." (Kehoe 1972:186). The spoke angles relative ta true north are g iven .as 15"52', 12g047' , 194"52', *and

284"22'. The numbers of boulders in these are 129, 184, 133 and 'f"15 respectively' for a total of 6 2 1 boulders. (Brace 1987:68) 8 The central area of spoke intersection is a t the apex of the hill the- site is on. (Brace I987:8O)

I

Status: Listed a s a destroyed Medicine Wheel by Brace. Mapped in the field in 1964,

destroyed around 1970. (Brace l98l:l) Central cairn and the cairn . a t the end of the NW spoke have been excavated, but

the notes are not available. {Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23)

. DOUG W A D E DgNf-3

Nearby Features: 8 Two 15 foot diameter nngs a re withln the s i t , but their contemporanertt could not be determined. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:231 " 8 Saskatchewan ~rchaeo logxa l Survey form*: Diagram shows a nearby double row of

. rocks leading to the NE and a second c a m on a lower hill.

-- Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: 7

8 Provides a 'hlgh confidence' date of 1889190 for the site based oa I~chenometr~ (Brace 1987:36)

Theory: The NE spoke appears to be pointing toward the ~ i ~ t b n ~uyt ' le some lGkm am,>\

across the valley. Exammed unsuccessfuly for astronomical ahgnmmts. (Kchoe & Krhot 1 9 79:23) 8 Some close exammation does not bear out the Kehoes' claim that one of the llnes points to the Minton Turtle. iQuzgg 1984:166)

=: I

6 .

Images: Saskatchewan Museum of Natural H~s tory s ~ t e form sketch of 1961 by Kehoe. Saskatchewan Museom of K a t u r d H~lstory detailed map of 1964.

Other References: Calder 1977:201

8 Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:86 Kehoe & &hoe 1979:19 Saskatchewan RIuseum of n'atul-a1 History site form

ANTELOPE HILL 1 *

MILK RWER RIDGE 5

Latitude: 49. lnnnN

Longitude: '

Elevation: , . 1190m

Map: - 82Hl1 . .

Legal: % -. ntrnnnn -,

Condition: Unknown

Record: Aligned survey e

Setting: About 2km north of the Milk h v e r on a promontory whlch 1s part of the Milk

River Ridge. (Quigg l984:26) &. , - .

, Description: , .

( 8 The Medicine Wheel consists of a 6' diameter 1.75m high 'central cairn,- is

- < . . . surrotinded by a 12.6m diameter stdne ring .which, has a 2.5m opening -in' the $.E :,. ,

side: Two 5.5m spokes extend out from . the - opening and terminate in l m diamet@r< cairns. (Quigg IS84:26) . ' -. .

A 13,.4rn didmeter ring with a large central cairn a n d external . passageway, .fBrace 198 7:85)

. ,

S b f us: B The stones are al l well btqied and lichen covered. No excavations have taken place, but flakes, bone fragments, scrapers, points and firebroken rock were observed over the .hilltop. Bone fragmenti were also found in the loose dirt from the central cairn, which 'appears to have been potted prior to 1960. (Quzgg 1984:26) 8 Archaeologxal Survey of Mberta site form suggests the site was badly destroyed (disturbed) by the construction crew of an oil rig in 1964. The central cairn w'as completely excavated by Walde in 1976.

Nearby Features: @ The site combines a number of -surface features including stone circles, cairns and a ~ e d i c i n k Wheel. Ten stone circles Lie atop a hill just iyest of the Medicine Wheel, and two elongated cairns lie west of the central cairn. (Quigg- 1984:261

Nedrby 2re 2 tipi rings. 2 alignments and, a 'single ca& @&ice 1987:85) *

Cultural Materials: . I * ' -

/

2 ANTELOPE HZJ+ / MILK RIVER RIDGE DhPb-2 w,

~ o s s i b l ~ fragments of human bone-. in the wall of -a vandal's pit withm the central cairn. (Brumley l986:29) . - Dating Evidence: - ,A

Theory:' -m Listed as a vision quest stru e by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) 9 Type A ceremonial cmle accor mg to Brace. (Bmce 1987:85)

.Y

Images: Mapped in 1970 by Lethbr~dge Center of the ~rchaeolo~:;l Survey of Alberta. *

+

Accurate map by ya lde . (Walde 1977:93) e . .D Notes and photographs by Reeves in 1965.

Aerial photo bv Brumley. ( B n m l e ~ 1986:23) %

. 1

Other References: & -

- v

Archaeological Society of Alb$ica : 'Lethbridge Centre f570:2. -.. . .

Reeves notes of 1965. +a ; . . . k d + ,

Archaeological Survey of Alberta Newletter #2.7, 8- 12, l j 7 1 iArchaeologcal -Survey j- . of Alberta File #045). . . ...

. - 1

- - Setting:

'"Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude: 49.4nnnN

Longitude: 1 0 3 . 5 n n n ~ . -,

Elevation: 570m

Map: G2E15

Legal: nnt~nnn k

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Aligned Survey

Caps a small knoll on a rolling ridge south of the town Halbrite. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:19) 8 Site includes a Medicine Wheel, stone circles and cairns on a prairie knoll 500m E of the Souris River. (Quigg 1984:176) 8 On a valley rim lkm from a stream. ( B m e 1987:78)

"on a gravel kgob approximately l k m east of a minor river valley ... the entire site is now slightly less than one hectare in size." ( B m e 1987:76)

-

Description: 8 The c a i n is 8m dlarneter, 2m high, and has four radiating spokes extending 3 3 to 104m to the NE, NW, S W and SE. The eastern spokes have been truncated. The spokes a r e quite prominent and composed of numerous stones. (Quigg 1984:176)

Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. Gives directions of spokes from center as north: 314'59'; east: 33'20'; west: 223O57'; and south 137O36' magnetic. (Brace a1 981 :1) 8 Spoke angles relative to true north given by 18"58', 123'04', 20g035', and 300'37'. The n u i b e r s of boulders in these spokes is given by 88, 104, -131- and 116 for a total of 429. ( B m 1987:68) -

The two western lines end without Cairns; the two e a s F m bnes have been truncated. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:19) 8 The central cairn is 25 feet in diameter and 4 feet high; the 4 spokes r a d i a t e from 100 to 310 feet. (Kehoe 1972:186) 8 Sub-surface structural information concerning the mound and names of local artifact collectors was supplied to Brace by Ryan Chachula, Senior Production Engineer with' Pan Canadian Petroleum Ltd. (Bmce 1987:uiii)

"When origmally described, DiMv-2 was noted to possess three spokes (Montgomery 1908:39). Though Kehoe mapped four spokes on DiMv-2 in 1965, only three were

1 - . % . - i l j . 5 -,

< > + - 6.i ' % - 7 r - ,- u- =

- 8 . * , -"- ., .'. *_. C . . h'

- t -4. .K 21u - - 4 .

L. - = ,

* - . . , I . * < -*+- '. , - < , '---,-A

, -.., .-.-. , i3ALBRITE ' Dmv-2 * - - +- -k-..-pF

i . .

3 . ? ,.--

.% . - 1. ii * - :, * . ' . .

' . .. ; < < I - . , -

-, :: .%

- > >

- >. - - * , ii

.. .. - ' % 7

- * - - . 'i . ,

I -- > - . - , - i s i

= \- -. P, - - %

. - . . i= ? ' 1 ,+ , -

relocated u r i n g both the. 1980 md: -T98l - ihes j s reseaylches. The questionable is . . , - that which. extends 'to-the' northw6st" (3&e ?$87&76)* - . -. I " . . -

.* , - * .. 4 .- -,. .

s - & * - Status: - j ., -I- , - 6 . * _* . . . .C;

The site was excavabd ih 1907 and s . m a d has &unc&+ the >wo*.easterh calms. , - - (Qu~gg 1984:176] . . . - d . , . . . + + * P ;

There weie cairns near the in 1907: -hot" there pew. Wehoe I9 72:186) i-. .. .'Visit of 811988 - Found . 3 pmr'ninent cairns =bqt obvious spokes Q t the- location: : - The field was recently phveij-. &~~,asound, so tWe. -sit% may be destroyed.' .,

, e

*b

b

i ', 9 - - * - Nearby Features: j r I ,

Five tipi rings 'a siqes 10, 15, 12, 15 and 18 feet %in ', diameter. An d-oyed L

There a re five stane NE of the hfedi&e Wheel whose dlimeters .range .

from 4 to 5m. (Quigg +. j . Notes tha t the 5 tipi rings were destroyed during gas we11 drifling' in t h e 1960's.

(Brace 198 7: 76) ,= -.r" *

Cultural Materials: + A i ,.The 1907 excavation by- . ~ o n t g o ery df 'the c k t l a l cahn drscovered a human burlat and other artifacts including pipes, shell and stone beads, flakes, anlmal bones, a metal fragment and charred ,woo$. .(Qu;gg 19.89:176) i

. . Ihhg Evidence: . . . - No date for the site 'has been given, bu t . the 1907 excavator suspected- it to be- ' ,

'-

several hundred years old. (Qurgg 1984:176) . Examined unsuccessfully for astrmornicd orieniatipns. (Kehoe' k ,Kchoe lb79:19! - . - . .

. ~

m , P r o v r d ~ a 'high confidence' date' of ?dl9 oiq, lichentrmetry. iBmre 1987:36r * -

Theory: Was examined for astronomicd- alignments in 1975. fKehoe & Kehoe 1979:271 , , &. [This site very similar in overall mor~hology to Oxbow 1 and Moose MountBnd .

Images: . .. Mapped in '1965 for Saskatchewan Museum of. Natural Hlstory by Kehoe -and ,

- 7 Watson.

Other References: - . # - - , . b.

Saskatchewan Museum of @aura l History site farm. - .% .. .

Montgoqery 1908: 38 - I - n

Sask. D e p t ~ Natural Resources ,4nnual %port 1966:G. Kehoe 6t Kehoe 1977:866 Walker 1978

4 Wilson 1981:337 .

" .

DiPi-2

Place:

WOLFCIEILD

% .. Alberta

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

1 0 4 0 ~ '

82W6

nnnnnll

Partly disturbed

Alighed Survey

8 Lies within the Blood I n d a n Reserve, lkm E ,of the Belly .River near the junction of Layton Creek and an unnamed watercourse:-(Qugg 1984:32)

Description: , n

8 There are two concentric circles of 2.5 and. 6m diameter with 7 stone spokes radiating from the outer circle. The spokes a re formed s f small piles of s a n e ; and extend 3 to 7m. The 1961 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form lists a deptession within the inner -circle; the 1976 form shows a large depression with no inner circle.

' Twenty depres5ions a r e depicted on the &chaedogical Survey of Alberta drawing from 7 to 34m S of the Medicine Wheel. The depressions range from rectangular to circular in &ape and in size from 2.0 by 5.5m h 01.0 by 3.0rn. (Quigg 1984:32) 8 SIX Qokes listed by Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form lists tw8 orignal cirdles of 8 and 18' dlameter and seven spokes- of (N & clockdse) '18, 9, 15, 12, 22, 20 and 22 feet.

Status: Q

8 Vandalism js inchcated by the depressions and changes from 1961 to 1976. (Quigg l584:32) 8 1961 Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form shows cultivation affecting the E side, includmg destruction of. the 9'" east spoke.

Nq'rby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: ~ e l ~ e v e d to be a recent historical memorial. (Qurgg 1984:32)

WOLFCHILD DiPi-2

., w Suggests historical due to glass beads found. (Brace 1987:1081

Theory: D Llsted as a Med~cine Wheel by Brace. (Brace I 9 8 l : l ) w Believed to be a recent h ~ s t o r ~ a l monument to Wolf Chlld, a Blood Ind~an ch1t.f t Qugg I984:32) w Type C Medlclne ~ h e e l " a c c o r d l n ~ to Brace. iBmce 1987:791 -

- Images:

Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form sketch of 1961 Accurate survey of 1976. (Wulde 1977:93)

Other References:

GRASSY LAKE d1ov-2 a

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Setting: F . -

\ - Located on the south s i d e of ihe S o a h aska at chew an River valley, immed;ately

west of the Grassy Lake Cairn ~ a d ,&&y (DlOv- 1). (Quigg 1984:41) - 8 About two miles below the co&lue,me of the Bow and Oldman Rivers.,:'(Kzhoe 1972:185) 8 Archaeological of Alberta site f o m - site is on prairie level overlooking the South aska at chew an l v e r about. loom below. The land in the area is a pasture and has never been .farmed.

~ e s c r i ~ t i o n : There is an 8m d a r n e k r stone circle from which radiate 5, or 6 spokes composed

of closely spaced stones and extending 30 to 97m. Only t h e . NW spoke appears to end in a small cairn. There is no stone hearth, but a number of scattered stones occupy the interior of the circle. The Grassy Lake cairn 200m to' the eas t was salvaged by Forbis in 1957. (Quigg 1984:41)

>

Status: 8 Grassy Lake cairn had clearly been potted but the confusion between i t and the Medicine Wheel may have saved the from much disruption. (Quigg I984:41)

Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta site form indicates the wheel had been vandalized in the 1930's and again in 1957 imm&ately before Forbis' visit:

Alberta

49.8nunN

'1 11.6nnnW

808m

72El13

nnnnnn

Partly disturbed

Aligned Survey

Nearby Features: The ring is immediately west of Grassy L&ke cairn and effigy CDlOv-1). (Quigg

1984:41) 8 Brace lists as a Medicme Wheel with sig spokes and a nearby boulder alignment. ~ B r n 1987:79)

214

GRASSY LAKE D10v-2

points, pipe

Cultural Materials: Material salvaged by Forbis in 1957 from the ca lm included projectile

blfaces, unifaces, -some cerarnlc fragments , numerous steatlte and catllnite fragments, plus a trace of ochre. Human bones representing perhaps three or mole indiv~duals have been reported to have been recovered from t h s calrn. (Qu~gg 1 9 8 4 : J l )

8

Dating Evidence: Forbrs suggests a protohlstoric age (1700 to 1750) for the cairn w h ~ c h contains

glass beads along wlth stone tools. (Qu~gg 1984:41) 8 Judgmg by soil deposition the s tructure has been In situ 'for r j cons~derable length of time'. (Archaeologzcal Soczet? of Alberta -, Lethbrdge Centre 19 760.71 1 1

8 Suggests 200 AD due to chert polnt found. (Bruce I987:108)

Theory: m The e f f i p could easily be imagined as a turtle. [Archaeotogical Soclct~ of Alhcrt(~ - Lethbridge Centre l976u:8) 8 listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. (Bruce 1 9 8 1 : l )

o n e ' of 7 sites in S . Alberta which were unquestionably burial sites. Human remains reported here and a t Rumsey. (Forbis 1970:30) 8 'There is a human efig?- nearby. cf Rumsey and Brit. Block iForbis 1970:32'~

[The effig?; form and orientation a r e the same a s for Miner 11 8 Type B Medicine UTheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

I

Images: 8 Sketch of 1960 (Forbis 1960:119) 8 Accurate m a p of 19'76 ilt'ulde 1977:93r 8 Map of 1976 (Archaeological Societ? of' Alberta - Lethbridge Centre 197(iu:91

Other References: 8

8 Wormington & Forbis 196.5: 121

Setting:

SUFFIELD EaOs-2

Place:

Latiiude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

-

B J u s t north of the South Saskatchewan River valley on grass covered good view. (Quigg 1984:49)

Alberta

50.0nnnN

11 1. l n n n W

780m

72L13

nnnnnn

Partly disturbed

Aligned Survey

prairie with a

Description: rn A 4m dnmeter stone circle with a 0.60m depression encompassing' roost of the inside. Five spokes r a d a t e from the circle and terminate in cairns .of' less than a meter across. The spokes range from 2 to 5.5m and a re quite straight. Roughly 55m to the NW: is a 2m diaineter stone circle with a 0.50m depression within it as well. (Quigg ' 1984:49) . .

Status: A 0.60m deep depression on the .inside of the stone circle indicates a possible ; ,

disturbance; cattle ha& disturbed some of the surface stones. (Quigg 1984:49) . ./ . I

Nearby Features: B A number of stone circles nearby, particularly a 2m one 55m to the NW with a 0.50m depression within. ( Q u a 1984:49)

Cultural Materials: . .

Surface materials consisting of pressure flakes .and a tubular shell bead were . - . ,

collected from the site. (Qugg 1984:49) ,. .. . . , : . .

Dating Evidence:

Theory: I&kd as a Medicine Wbeel by Brace. (B- 1981':l) Tvpe A Medicine Wheel according to Brace. ( B m e 1987:79)

t SUFFIELD EaOs-2

Images: Accurate mappmg of Walde 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Other References: Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta site form

I . .

Setting:

SUP\?)LAL HILL

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:'

Record:

m On a high hill with an excellent view in all directions', about 1.5km Little Bow River. (Quigg 1984:53) ' *. ,

Alberta

50. lnnnN

112.7nnnW

3 7 1 m

82Y2

nnnnnu

Partly disturbed

Aligned

W of the

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Atop Sundial Hill (or Butte) 28.6km W of Carmangay. Nearby country is hilly, grassed prairie. The Little BOW k v e r is visible to the E.

Description: A 6m diameter, l m high, central cairn surrounded by two concentrjc circles 17 and

27m m diameter. Two non-straight but parallel spokes extend 8m out from the inner circle past the outer circle toward the south. These mark a 1 to 2m opening in the circles. Four small calms were noted to the SE, with three of these exhibiting central depressions. (Quigg 1984:53) , I

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form indicates entryway is to the SE: "The central annulus is essentially the same as' CRumsey] but in this case there

are two outer concentric rings, one with a radius of thirty feet and the other with a radlus of forty-five feet. Possibly because of the remoteness of this site, these have only been slightly disturbed by vandals, and hzve an opening through both rings wh~ch is lined with stones much the same as a garden path." (MmGregor 1959:ll)

A 26.0m diameter stone ring with a large central cairn, external passageway, enclosed circle, and internal passageway (Brace 1 9 8 7 ~ 8 5 )

Status: r*

8 The o r i p a l sketch map indicates the central cairn and three of the outer cairns '

may have been disturbed. (Quigg 1984:53) Partially vandalism-disturbed before 1975 mapping. (Wilson 1981:334) Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form indicates the central cairn was plundered

recently before the 1958 vlslt; it was restored to shape.

. . 218

- SfrNDTAL HILL EaPe-1

Nearby Features: \

8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form indicates many tlpi rings on nearhy hills. 8 "Scattered on this and on adjoining hills over perhaps a quarter section of pasture land are other piles of marker stones, some of them quite large." (MacGregor 1959:Lll

Four cairns are listed nearby. (Brace 1987:85)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: 8 In the first known Medicine Wheel reference (Dawson 188.5) it was called "Onoka-katzi", which may be Blackfoot gloss for 'Elk Shirt', a n historic individual. (Wilson 1981 :334)

May have been attributed to a mid 19th century chief of the North Blackfoot. (Kehoe I956:l82)

Suggests 200 AD due to similarity with, Grassy Lake. (Brace 1987:108) Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta site form: Forbis suggests antiquity similar to

' Grassy Lake Medicine Wheel. . ,

Theory: 8 Listed a s a vision quest structure by Brace. (Brace 1981: I )

Type A: ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:85). m Demsky 'is quoted a s saying the Indians have much reverence for the Sundial Hill structure?' lKehoe 1954:134)

Kehoe suggests this is a place where a chief is buried in his lodge and interred under a cairn of stones, even though no evidence ' of a burial. exists. (Ke'hoe l972: l87)

Images: 8 :A4~chaeological Survey of Alberta site form sketch map of 1951.

Map of 1976 iArchaeologica1 Society of Alberta - Lethbridge Gcntrc 2 9 76c:3O) H Accurate survey map of W d d e 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Ground photo of central cairn and partial rings. (Brumley 1986:23) Ground photos of site from SSW and SSE. (Wilson 1981:335)

Other References: Dawson '1885:28c Dempsev 1956:182 Forbis 1958:5

8 W o r m g t o n & Forbis 1965:124 m Forbis & Calder 1973:l

- D Freiberg 1974:18 D Calder 1977:201

, Setting:

MANY ISLANDS LAKE

Place:

Latitude:

, Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Alberta

50. lnnnN

1 1 6 . 1 ~ ~ ~ ~

800m

72L/I

nnnnun

Partly disturbed .

Aligned Survey

. . - . . On prairie level ori the north side of a major glacial basin. (Quigg 1984:59)

.> ' . rn Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: On gently undulating prairie near the

edge of bluffs overloohng Many Islands Lake basin.

Description: A 2.5rn diameter, 0.20m. high, central cairn encircled by a deeply-buried oval circle.

Six spokes radiate from the'. circle out- to between '18. and 135m. The spokes aren't ' $. straight and don't terminate in cairns. At least two other spokes lie to the SE but do

not connect v i th the circle. Sh-r stone lines bifurcate from the spokes. Many small stone rings and cairns are in the vicinity. The 1979 excavation revealed tha t the

, central cairn based 0.20m below -the surface and had no central pit. (Quigg 1984:59) Archaeological he^ of Alberta site form: The 'circle is about 12m in diameter.

Th@,.features and tipi rings are all deeply buried and not easily discerned.

I Status: il

Some displacement of stones by cat* is noted. (Quigg 1984:59)& ~ r c h a e o l 6 ~ i c a l Survey of Alberta form: At least one cairn seems to have been

vandalized. 8 "The Many Islands Lake wheel is undsturbed" -(BrumZey 1985~79)

Nearby Features: Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: Estimated a t least 100 deeply buried

tipi rings are in the immediate area. Many stone circles, cairns and lines are in the area. (Quigg. 1984:59) "Outside the wheel, a t least 20 stone circles and 4 small to medium stone cairns

were noted. ... As well, two isolated stone line sections are located SE of the stone circle, the largest of these is 57m long with three connecting bifurcating branches. The

MANY ISLANDS LAKE'. ' EbOm-1

second is a simple stone line 17m long." (Brurnlej. 1985:78) "The base of the cairn appeared a t approximately 0.20m below surfacr." (Brumlq

1985: 79)

Cultural Materials: Extensive quantities of cultural materials were obtained from a single 2m squaw pit

excavation of the central cairn in 1979. The materials were found between 0.05 and 0.65m below the s~rrface and consisted primarily of local chert debitage and core . fragments. A single Pelican Lake phase projectile point was found O.2Om below surface. (Quigg 1984:59) C - 8 "Diagnostic materials recovered in excavation consisted of a post-Avonlea stde nhtcheciq- ' . .

.. . ~

projectile point and a corner notched Pelican Lake point. Both were found in . . . . apparently rodent disturbed contexts." (Brumley 1985: 7 9 )

P

, ,

Dating Evidence: , . -. The P e l i e h Lake point suggests an age between 1000 BC aml 250 AD, an age

supported by the depth of stone burial. (Quigg 1984:59) \ "The 'general impression a t this point is tha t the locations of the 'Many Islands

wheel was utilized extensively over a long period of time prior to construction of the central cairn. Material reflecting this occupation is unusual in that it only minimally reflects general campsite activities with apparent use emphasis on a lithic workshop area. This is even more unusual in that tHe primary lithic being utilized - Swan River chertr - is present but not pa&icularly abundant in surficial deposits within the site area." (Brumley 1985:80)

Theory: 8 Listed by Brace; but not categorized. (Brace 1981:l)

Type C Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace l967:79) 8 Fries suggests the NE spoke points to a skyline dip which misses t h e s u l n m e l . solstice by 3 degrees. (Quigg 1984:59) . .

Images: 8 Archaeologicp.1 Survey of Alberta - Lethbridge Centre mappmg of 1979 '

Other References: Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form of 1979.

Setting:

ELLIS 1 SUFFIELD EXPERIMENTAL

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude: I \

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Alberta

50.3uaaN

110.6uunW

687m

72L/7

uannun

condition: Partly disturbed

Record: ,Aligned Survey

8 On an isolated spur of prairie overlooking the South Saskatchewan River valky on the +st rim of the valley. (Quigg 1984:63)

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: on short grass, *prairie overlookmg the river from- the west on a slightly projecting- bluff. " 8 Hummocky morraine around and to the N and W. 'The slopes of the river valley are extremely steep in the area and for sqrne 2 - 3km N and S along the T v a l l e ~ edge. The site is 80m above the river. Therex-is no valley bottom below the site; j . access to the river would be extremely, difficult. (Brumley 1985:184)

Description: 8 A 5m hameter stone circle with 10 spokes radiating between 16 and 26m. A 12.5m spoke on the E side parallels the others but doen't connect with the circle, and four spokes have bifurcatmg segments (including the one above). Three spokes terminate at stone circles and others cross through stonq circ!es. There is a 2m

* dameter cairn 2:5m E of the central wheel. (Quigg 1984:63) 8 cairns are visible in the aerial photograph, on the terrace. (Bnrmley 1973:39) Site was discovered and recorded in 1971 by W.J. Byrne. (Bmmley 2985:180)

P The stone ,ring *has a mean inside diameter of 3.56m and a mean outside diameter

of 5.32m, with the longest axis NE to SW. 11 spokes and three branches extend outwards. A full table of dimensions is provided for these and other features. I t is noted that many of the spokes traverse tipi rings, and that it appears boulders were taken from the f i g s to make the spokes - indicating .the tipi rings may be older than the spokes. l7Iu-s wouldn't be true if the Medicbk Wheel were .constructed as a signpost, for instance, as the camp was being taken down.] (Brumlg, 1985:189) -

The central ring of the Medicine Wheel was "well within the range of structural exhibited by the tipi rings", suggesting that it codd easily have t e n one.

besldes the spoke boulders being borrowed from rings indica- the rings

. .

were n ~ t contemporaneous ivithL.each other and the Medicine Wheel. (Brurnlej, ..1985:.182) -+%

r The two stone cairns were single-tiered, consisti- of 9 stones a t the end of one spoke and 19 stones W of the Medicine Wheel. .There is ' a gap in the spoke nearest- - this latter cairn, indicating stone's were borrowed from. the spoke to construct the .. cairn. (Brumley 1985:192! . ..

Status: * ~

n

"None of the stones comprising the features show evidence of recent disturbance or displacement. The average depth of burial of stones comprising the hledlcine Wheel and tipi rings range from 6.75 to 12.90cm." (Brumlej 1985.'187)

Nearby Features: m 14 stone circles ranging from 4 to 6m in diameter are within the site. Their depths of burial vary from 0.02m below surface to almost completelf. buried. One isolated cairn is 2.5m E of the central circle. (Quigg 1984:63) 8 Mentions 13 tipi rings and 2 small cairns; one' of which is questionable. (Brumlcj, l985:l8O) 8 Brace counts 11 spokes, 1 4 tipi rings and 3 alignments. (Brace 1987:791

Cultural Materials: , ,

8 ~ w e n t ~ - & g h t square meters of the site were excavated in 1974, d o n g with four lrn square pits in the SE quarter of the central circle. 892 cultural items were recovered, including 18 -pieces of fire-cracked rock, 707 pieces of debitage, 22 tools, a portion of a painted wooden post, and 142 bone :'fra&.ents mainly from a single elderly male. iQuigg .1984:63) .~ .

8 The bone fragments were mainly in the SE and SET quadrants of the ceri=tl;af circle, with none in the NE. The 'cranial fra,ments were in the SW and the long bone fragments jn the SE. The' depth of burial of the fragments suggests contemporaneity ul th the %Medicine Wheel. iBrumZe? I985:1941

Dating Evidence: ' 8 The pojectilb points raeovered are from th8 ~ a & historic period. The wooden post was date3 to '1430 -4D plus or minus 169 years [how could it have been painted??]. The surrounding. stone circles were a t various depths to almost cornpletdy buried. {Quigg l984:63 )

The single projectile point recovered which can^ be hssociated Gfth a site feature itipi rin'gi relates ~LI the Irvine variety est imated'at 600 to A 2 0 0 AD. -.@rumlej. . I985:196)

Theory: Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. iBrace 198I: l J

8 Type B Medicine Wheel according to Brace. iBrece 1987:79) .-. "It has a central circle that looks like it might have been a tipi ring" !Edd?,

1977a:261 . - -

Forbis and Eddy made transit observations in 1975 but no significant 3stronomical alignments were found. (Brurnk f ' l985: l83)

A strong case can be made for the contemporaneity of the the Medicine Wheel with

ELLIS 1 SUFFIELD EXPERIMENTAL EcOp-4 ,.-'

the skeletal fragments, wooden post and pigment recovered, indicating that 1430 +/- 160 AD is the best e s t m a t e of age. (Brumley 1985:204)

The lack of woody fuel and the e x g s e d location indicate occupation in the temporak months from spring to fall. (Brumley 1985:205)

"almost certainly represe1;tts a burial lodge a s recorded for the historic Blackfoot and other Plains groups." (Brumle2 l985:205)

"The central rmg of the Ellis Medicine Wheel is simply a tlpi ring which was used to secure the cover of the burial lodge. The stone spokes were attac ed to the central ring a s a sign of. respect and honor b Indicate the deceased was a enowned w a d o r . The palnted wooden stake located just southwest of ring center prob ly represents &-- wooden tie-down stake used to secure a rope looped around the ap > x of poles atop" the lodge." Four lmes of evidence indlcate the lodge 8 a s or~ented w i t b its doorway to the northeast. These are 1) the prevailing wind; 2) the place of honour for the bed; 3 1 the long axls of the ring ~tself; and 4) the wind;offset of the wooden stake. The lack of deterloration of the human bone frag-qents also supports ths specific condusion. (Brumlej I985:2I 8 ) t

"lt is felt that the Elhs slte has provided a significant link between informat~on", gathered on the historlc Medicine' Wheels documented by Kehoe and Dempsegr p*\

similar archaeolog~cal features." ( B n c m l e ~ 1985:220)

Images: , *

m Ethos Consultants alr photograph (also In Brumley 1973:39, Brumley 1986:25) iQu1g.g l984:64) . Ethos and Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta - Lethbridge Centre mappmg of 1979-1980. (also Bmmley 1985:181f (Quigg 1984:64) 8 Accurate mapping of Walde 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Aer~al photo (Ed& 1977a:24~ - Detailed excavatlon map of 1980 (magnetic north only) t ~ k r n l e , , 1985:182)

8 Aerial photograph looking NE IBrumlej 1985:183) €hound colour photo of the, Ellls central ring. 1987:118)

Other References: Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form of 1971, : &

Byrne 1971:15: 8 Brumley '& Wlllis 1978.

Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta field notes of 1974 excavatlon.

Setting: On a high prairie hill called The Lookout situated on the west rim of a .glacial

channel. (Quzgg 1984: 77) Along the west edge of a post. glacial stream channel known as tlie Ross -

:,Depression. The majority of the cultural features sit on a- hummock which rises 9m above the prairie level to the south andam99m above the floor of the R ~ s s ~Degressioxl. The impressive dko; on the east side of the site leqds a 'spectacular vi&w and gives % - the hummock its name: the bokouti T+e tbpography to the. N; W, and S is . moderately rolling; the slope ,on the E side exceeds 60 degrees. (Finnigan 1982.%4) ,

The most not;tbie deficiency of the environ&erit is water. A spring is located 0.9km to the SW, an unpotable lake is 2km SE, $nd the South Saskatchewan River is 12km SE. The only other source kould be snow during the winter. (Finnigtzn 1982:73) -.

".

Description: . I

A 9m diameter, 2 . b high, central cairn enwrekd; by a 30m diameter stone circle:- There is &-I estimated 8,000kg of rock in the central cairn, inclilding small pebbles .to,c -' boulders of 182kg. Soil changes indicate a two-stage consthction, beginnjng &tjl a low

"mcqnd gradually: covered with cobbles and wind-blown deposits. The outer sing is w e l ~ f i n e d with side-by-sjde. Two other large cairns ,of -4.5 'and 17m diaaqter are situated > S oF th Medicine Wheel. (Quigg 1984:77)

Extensive been done by the Glenbow Foundation; they seveal an about 2 feet high at -the center of the cenwal mound,

with no pit beneath this. Many low mounds of, e&,h 'in the area resemble this central one. (Forbis 1970:30)

A 9.11~ hameter, 1.8m high c b t r a l cairribsurrounded by a stone eiicle about 24m . in diameter. - There are na s

'1: (~in&an ' 1 982: 761 A &.9m diameter ring large cGntra1 cairn and an intewa! pigsageway. i

(Brace 198 7:85) ' - 0

-

L. L I

u, 0'- _ '

7 *

+ . 2

225 . I e - , ' - BRITISH BLOCK EdOp-1

Cowboys spelled out their ~nitlals and brands w t h some turn of the"" century. (Forbis 1-970:31)

Effigy bin& -disturbed prior to 1976. ( Q u g g 1984:78)

Nearby peatures:

of the boulders near the Q

A complex of surface features is associated with this 'Medicine Wheel. These include 51 well-defined stone @-cles. 5 small cairns, 1 large cmrn and 1 human effigy. The e f f 1 0 to constxucted;.within the east side of the outer wheel. I t is 7m long with a rect&@ar body an4"'kwo e e n d l n g fegs. The h e d and a rms are badly scattered. The ttpi rings are i i clusters &BOSS the hill and on the benches below. (Quigg I984:77)

her; are nyplerous .lowr mounds in the vicinity. (Fsrbis 1970:30) rn There is a human 6ff1g-y nearby. cf. Rumsey and Grassy Lake @orbis 1970:32) 8 There are Fl,' tipi riilgs toea4 less t h a ~ half of w h l ~ h are within tke camp circle. <The rings r q ( j vary, from 2.5 to 7-.4m in diameter, with a mean of 4.6m. The average tip1 rmg 'ha9 made of 80. stones of about 9kg average weight; the actual number varied from 26 to 195 $tones. Most of the rocks were to the S, S W and W 6 0 9 of the' time. (Frnmgan 15180:2)

The 19 camp circle tipis open north; slx other cluswrs af rings numbering from 2 to 7 are tn the vicinity. (Brurnte? 1986:18) \r

8 There IS a human effigy on the NE side of the cairn. Not idcluding the the Medtcine Wheel cairn, there are 8 stone cmrns a t this site, all of which are less than 1152' hlgh and 5m in darneter. Three of these a r e situated along the NW edge of the hilltop, four are spread aound the S half of the Medicine Wheel, and one is a t the base of* the hill on the S side, The cairns probably served a number of functions. The human effigy IS 6m long; a seeond possible effigy is treated a s three tipi rings. The1.e alp three stone -ci<~les other than tlpi rings, all small with a number of posslMe functions. There Are 51 tipi rtngs rangrng from 2.5m to 7.4m inside dtameter 1 mean 4.6m) contamng about 80 stones. (Frnnigan l982:76)

Ltsts- 243 ttpt rlngs, 2 alignments and 4 cairns nearby. (Brace 1987:85) -

Culkural Materials: The 1961 Glenbow excavataog (S half of central calm) found quantities of cultural

materrals while removing layers of the central cairn individually down to the natural soil. The materials encompassed most common artifact classes. (Quigg 1984:77)

The smaller mounds yield keterogenous cultural materials, indicating they. were ' _

perhaps offerings. No human rematns were found. (Forbls 19?0:31) Tlpt ring analysis indicates roughly 9 persons per tipi ring, about the same as

4 other estimates. 9 persons would include perhaps 2 adult males, 3 females, and as m m y as 4 children pel tip^ Given the s u e of tipi ring clusters, thts indicates occupattonal populations of between 9 and 190 individuals, wtth a mean of 32 persons pel occupation. These numbers support other s t u d e s indicating average band sizes from 2 5 to 75 persons. On this basis $ the camp circle might represent from 4 to 8 bands parttcipating. It is aIso significant khat the camp circle population IS very close to the 200 persons thought to be necessarp for communal bison hunting and for connubial tnbe functmns. The variation tn populations represented by different tlpi clusters suggests tribal, band and family use of the site a t different times. (Frnnigan 1981';139)

BRITISH BLOCK EdOp-1

Dating Evidence: w Unlike in Calder's work a t Majorville, there was no chrelation between the stratigraphic position of diagnostic points and pottery detected within the central cairn ... However, the earliest points identified relate to Oxbow types of 5,000 years ago,' and .-: , .

materials up to the 1700's were present. (,Quigg 1984:77) I

. T

8 +The variety of artifacts may represent offerings placed a t the caien over time. , . (W'ormington & Forbis '1965:125)

8 The similarity of pottery styles through the cairn indicate a uniform age, but there ;. is a 'remarkably varied' yield of ancient to modern arrowhead types. [cf. Calder's

.result a t Majorville] (Forbis 19 7O:3Oj .. ' m Diagnostic points and radiocarbon dates from the tipi camp circle suggests the -'I

, - '' hlcKean complex; the other tipi clusters indicate both middle and late prehistoric agcLs. , - - ,

. (Finnigan l982:2 71 1 8 Camp circle is estimated a s 2715 years old. (Finnigan 1982:1421 '$-

8 Suggests 3500 BC - 1850 AD due to pottery found. (Bruce 1967:1061

Theory: Listed a s a vision quest structure by Brace. (Brace 1981:11 Type A ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:851 J ..

w I t is possible that Medicine Wheels such a s this bear some unestablished relationship with the burial mounds of the Middle West. (Forbis 1970:31)

Kehoe suggests this is a place "whefe a secondary burial would Ge interred. tKehoc, l972:17) '

-<

' 6

Wilson suggests the lack of human remains suggests a memorial to m important person is the most likely answer. (Wilson 1981:337): . - I ,

Given the populatibn dynamics indicated by the tibi rihg clusters and time depth of the site, some speculations on function are possible. First. the meager faunal remains limit discussion of bison killing and processing. Abundant cobbles and lithics indicates

t

stone tool production took place. The Medicine Wheel and cairik suggest ceremonial activities such a s the sun dance. The site is an excellent.location for early summer tribal gatherings, which is supported by the camp circle. The camp circle appears older than much of the Medicine Wheel, but not all of it. There is, no apparent solstice- sunrise alignment, but cairn 7 and the Medicine Wheel .cairn do align with the solstice sunset. Summe'r occupation is wgued bjl the fgrm ;f the camp -circle, lack of insects, the use of rainfall for *water. '.and -.the win&'6rientation of tipi ring clusters on the site. In winter t h e S& IS exp~sed:~~-iacks wood. and is not a good pasture. r Finnigan 1982:143i - = .- _ - -

- . ."

Images: 8 ~ c c u r a t e mapping of if-alde 1976. cl5'i;ldt 1977:931

Dpi rings mapped accurately by Finnegan 1911. (Finnigc~n 19,4'1:n Aerial photo: bFinnigun l98OiZ ,

8

Aerial photo showing mound. (Forbis 19 7O:3l? Aerial photo. iBrumle? 1986:121 Sjte map ~ h o w i n ~ ~ c o n t o u r ~ and tipi rings. etc. (Finnigan 1982:67) Site map showing proposed tipi clusters. (Finnigun 1982:1151 Sketch maps of effim figures. (Finnigan 1982:80)

227 * . _ . . - BRITISH BLOCK EdOp-1

%

Other References: Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta slte form Forb15 1965: 12 Bryan 1967:288

8 Byrne 1971:13 Kehoe 1972:186 Byrne 19?3:433

8 Calder 1973:l Freiberg 1974:18 Adams 1976:lOO

8 Calder 1977:l F~nn igan 1979: 1

r Q u ~ g g 1981b:59

Setting:

BRYNE'S / BRYNE'S M40 EdOq-30

V

Place: h Alberta

Elevation: 820m

Map: 72L110

Legal : uuunun

Condition: Badly disturbed

Record: Aligned Survey

On a hilltop in knob and kettle topography on the Suffield Military Reserve. (Qu~gg %

l984:82)

Description: A 3m diameter, Im h g h , central cairn with a 19.5m diameter stone ring encircling

it. The ring is quite apparent even though the stones a re well buried. A cairn slightly larger than the central cairn lies 17m NE of the Medicine Wheel. (Quigg 1984:82)

A 19.7m diameter stone circle with, a small central cairn. (Bmce 1987:85)

Status: The ~ e d l c l n k Wheel and outer cairn have been heavily damaged by mllltary vehlcle

activity. ( ~ u g g 1984:82) Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Knoll has been fired upon ex&r.slvely by

tanks.

Nearby Features: A smgle stone ring lies n e a r the M e d n n e WheeI and the outer c-a~rn. (Qugg

l984:82) A single stone cairn is noted. (Bmce 1987:85)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theoly: Listed a s a ceremonial circle by Brace. iBrace 1981:l) Type C #menial circle according to Brace. (Bruce 1987:85)

/'

BRYNE'S / BRYNE'S M40 EdOq-30

Images: y

Accurate mapping 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Survey of -4lberta site form.

. ,

Setting: .. . . . .. . Qn a . h g h river terrace N of the Bow Rivet. (Quigg

( 1

JAMESON'S PLACE

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Description: An irregular circle of stones with foui spokes dividing the circle into

Alberta

Partly disturbed

Aligned Survey

roughly equal quadrants. The junction of these h e s ,is a void of stones. IIt could be a small circle.] (Quigg l984:92)

The structure once had a small central cairn; thls has been vandalized. (Thorpe l982:2O)

- < .

Status1 m One tibi ring appears U, have been potted. (Quigg 1984:92) :

Nearby $eatures: About 4 tipi rings and many cairns are close by. (Quigg 1984:92) Brace c o h t s 15 tipi rings. (Brace 1987:79)

',

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: . ,

Theory: m h t e d as a Medcine Wheel by Brace. (Brace 1981:l)

Type D M d c i n e Wheel according to Brace. (Bmce 1987:79)

Images: 8 Accurate map of Walde 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

.4rchaeolog~al Survey of -4lbert.a site photo reference R3:4-7.

Setting:

4

ROY RIVERS 1 EMPRESS Ef01-2

Place:

Latitude:

~ongitdde:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Saskatchewan

50.9nnnN

109.9unnW

680m

Partly disturbed

Aligned Survey

8 Atop a knoll on the prairie north of the Red Deer River. An unobstructed view in every direction. (Quigg l984:l92) rn Site caps a knoll with a great view on every sick. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:15) 8 On a valley rim in till plain country with a 360 degree unobstructed view. ,A river is 1.5km to the S. ( B m e 1987:84)

Description: 8 A 6m diameter central cairn encircled by a 30m diameter stone circle. There is a 2m dmrneter cairn sitting on the NW side of the circle and a 2m wide opening in the S of t h 4 circle where two parallel spokes from the central cairn touch it. The stone circle and spokes are composed of cobbles placed side-by-side, with some areas showing a heavier b e of two or three cobbles wide. Roughly 15 stone c& andlor '

clusters, all about l m across, are situated about half-way between the , circle and bairn. One of these clusters was thought to be a human effigy, but the Kehoes (Kehoe & Kehoe 1976b:433 have interpreGd it as a 'sunburst' nearly 3m across. (Quigg 1984:?92)

Mapped & magnetic line given but rest of notes not located. ( B m e 1981:l) Examination in 1980 showed that the smaller cairns within the stone ring "lay high

on the prairie sod, suggesting recent placementn (Brace 1987:86) The N-S and E-W ring diameters are 25.2 and 26.6m for an average of 25.9m. .

There is a large central cairn, a cairn along the ring diameter and 2 interior boulder h e s . (Bmce 1987:84)

Status: 8 Site believed to be intact. (Quigg 1984:193)

/ 8 Brace notes indicate central cairn has been potted. (Brace 1981:l)

:.ROY FUVERS 1 EMPRESS Ef01-2 . . v . .

Nearby Features: 8 Several stone rings are on a bench 'to the south. (Quigg 1984:192) 8 There a re at least 6 tipi rings rangmg in size from 1 3 to 17ft on a lower ben& of the escarpment just W of the : site. One is directly below the W corner of' the walkway,-' the others are a short 'distance away overlooking the river. It "is sugge9ted' that the whole camp of rings "was deliberately placed in conjunction with the wheel. The separate 'r ing may have been used for a shaman's t ip i set apart from those of commoners and in the Plains Cree holy direction, south, from the wheel configuration." (Kehoe & Kehoe 19 79:26)

Notes 1 tipi ring in the vicinity. (Brace 1987:84! ' 8 Visit of 811988. Lots of tipi rings in the vicinity. The ,landowner, Mrs. Brooks said there were two possible turtle effigies on her land; the one visited looked more like a tipi ring.

%# Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: 9 G-

8 Provides a 'high confidence' date of 1894198 d r the slte based on llchenomrtry. (Brace l987:36) -

Theory: 8 Listed a s a vision quest structure by Brace. (Brace 1981:l)

Type A ceremomal clrcle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:86) 8 Included in Brumley7s subgroup 1 (cairn and clrcle only) desp1t.e the preseice of spokes indicating subgroup 2 membership. (Brumle~ 1986:14)

The human effigy figure is here interpreted as a ,'sunburst' .figure. allowing a n alignment with the summer solstlce sunset (Kehoe d! Kehoe 1979:151

Images: Kehoe map of 1363. (Kehoe 1963:1281

P - Other References:

Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History site form. Saskatchewan Dept of Natural Resources Report 1966:43 Kehoe 1972: 186 4

~ e h o e & Kehoe 1976b:43 Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:E;G

d-

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Alberta

nnnnnn

. . Condition: . . Undisturbed

Record: Aligned Survey

Setting: 8 Located N of the Red Deer bve r , occupying the prairie level adjacent to the valley rim with an extensive view. (Quigg 1984:96) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: on shortgrass prairie which drops away rapidly on 3 des. More prairie to the N, and water about lkm S. Miner df l sits on the western en % of a 170m long E-W rise.

Description: 8 A 5m dameter central c a m encircled by an irregular 15m diameter stone *cir@e. There is a 2.2m E and a 1.2m SE wheel opening. The SE openbig is marked by two spokes radiating outward; the N one is 30m long and ends in a small cairn .after passing through a well-defined stone circle, and the S one is 9m long and also ends in a small cairn. There are seven other spokes with lengths between 4.5 and 9m. Four of these end in large stones, and one in a small cairn: There are also a number of shorter spokes, two small irlternal cairns on the S and E side, and two large cairns (5 and 3.5m diameter) outside the circle 2.2 and 9m to the W. The outer cairn closest the circle appears to be linked with it via a short spoke. Five other outer c a m s are near the large ones but much smaller. (Quigg 1984:96)

Status: 8 Site form lists the site as undisturbed, but an opening withb Miner #2's central cairn may inhcate disturbance. (Qurgg 1984:97) 8 m n e r 1 is unexcavated and undisturbed. (Brumley 1985:79)

Nearby Features: There are roughly 38 stone circles in the vicinity with diameters ranging from 4 to

6.5m, and possibly a turtle effigy 23m NE of Miner #l. (Quigg 1984:96) 8 Brace counts 9 spokes, 1 tipi ring and 7 cairns. (Brace 1987:79)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: "f .

Llsted a s a Medlclne Wheel by Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 1 : l ) Type B Mehcine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:791 [Has a n effigy of the same form and orientation a s Grassy Lake].

Images: Archaeological Survey of Alberta s ~ t e form of 1975 sketch Accurate mapplng by Walde 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Other References:

MINER 2 E~OO- lob

Place: - . . Alberta

Latitude: - . 50.,9nnnN

Longitude: I l0.4nnnW - .

Elevation: - 730m . ,

2

Map: 7 2 ~ 1 1 6

Legal: n n n n ~ n

,Gonditibn: I . Partly. disturbed . .

Record: Aligned Survey

Setting: - rn Located N of the Red Deer River, upying the prairie level adjacent to the valley rim with an extensive view. Mmer #2 is 120m NE of Miner #1 on slightly higher ground. (Quigg 1984:96) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: on shortgrass prairie which drops away ;apidly *on 3 sides. More prairie to the N, and water' about lkm S.

Description: Miner #2 is composed of a 5.5m diameter stone cairn encucled by a 15.5m

diameter stone ring. There are two rectangular stone concentrations attached to the ' . outside of the ring along the N edge. Two cairns about l m in diameter are 4 and 7m to the east. (Qurgg 1984:96)

A l5.4m' diameter stone ring with a large central cairn and 2 peripheral circle cairns. (Brace 1987:85)

Status: rn Site form lists the site as unhsturbed, but an opening within Miner #2's central cairn may indicate disturbance. (Quigg 1984:97)

.Nearby Features: There are roughly 38 stone circles -in the vicinity with diameters ranging from 4 to *

6.5m, and possibly a turtle eifigy 23m NE of Miner #l. (Quigg 1984:96) Nearby are 20 tip1 rings, an alignment, a semicircle, and 8 cairns. (Bnzce 1987:85)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

. - 236 , , . . I 6 - ..

MINER 2 EfOo-lob I ,'

?. -,. . '3 ..- , ' _. I .

. " .+ . . , . ..1

. . A \ .. , . - . . , . ' . *

Theory: * Listed as a cerebomal circle. by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) Type C cefemonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:85)

Images: Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta site form of 1975 sketch Accurate mapping by Wdde 1976. (Walde 1977:93)

Other References: - * .

MINER 3 --

EM)~-24

Place: * "

~ati tude: k - 50.9nnnN A1berra

Longitude: 1 1 0 . 4 n n n ~ ,

Elevation:

Map: - * CY5,

72U16

Legal: nnnnnn

Condition: par t ly disturbed . .'

Record: Aligned Survey

Setting: On prairie"kve1 overlooking the Red Deer River valley to the S. (Quigg 1984:102)

Description: A 4 to 5m diameter central caiPn encircled by a 19m diameter oval ring. The ring

is quite distinct with stones placed side-by-side. (Quigg 1984:102) A 17.6m diameter stone ring with a large central cairn. (Brace 1987:85)

Status: The central cairn is void of stone, possibly implying a disturbance. ,(Quigg 1984-:I021

6 Archaeobgical Survey of Alberta site form sketch map indicates potting of central cairn . Nearby Features:

There are roughly 40 stone circles and two cairns within the site. (Quigg 1984:102) Lists 13 nearby tipi rings. (Brace 1987:85) Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta site form sketch map indicates the 40 tipi rings ,?+

are manly towar& the E, and many cairns and a small dried-up pond.

Cultural Materials: -

Dating Evidence: -

Theory: B

Listed as a ceremonial circle by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) Type C1 ceremonial circle according $o Brace. (Brace 1987:85)

Images:

RINKER .EfOp-58

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

~ a ~ :

Legal:

Condition:

Record

Alberta

. . " nnnnnn

. , Partly disturbed

Aligned Survey

Setting: ,

rn Octupying the prairie level a t the edge of the Red Deer River valley rim on the S side. (Quigg l984:lO9)

Description: rn A 6m diameter central cairn with 4 well-defined spokes radiating between 22 and 30m. The SE spoke ends in a cairn and the end of the SW spoke hooks S. There is a 5th, poorly-defined spoke composed of small cairns of 2-6 stones and about 12m long. There is another cairn drectly N about 50m. (Quigg 1984:109)

status: ' . . The central cairn appears ta have been vandalized. (Quigg 1984:109)

Nearby Features: rn At least 5 stone circles surround the site. (Quigg 1984:109) , rn Brpce counts 5 tipi rings and 3 cairns. (Brace 1987:79) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form shows a t least 2 additional stone circles rn Visit of 811988. There is a location about 1 mile west of the site which has about

% 10 tipi rings and 3 cairns; one of the cairns had about two spokes radat ing oytwards; this may be another Medxine Wheel. (EfOp-414?)

~dltural Materials: -

- Dating Evidence:

- ' Theory: 8 Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) 8 Type A Medlcine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

'a

I ages: ccurate m a p by Walde 1976. (Quigg 1984:112)

8 Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta site form sketch map of 1975 - / + Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta photo reference R6: 14,15.

Other References: Adams 1976:44

v , , . 4

Setting: On an appendage of the plain with an excellept view

- Description: .:

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

to the S and

- Alberta

Badly disturbed

Aligned Survey

Archaeological Surv'ey of Alberta site form description is very M e r e n t from the 1976, survey by . ~ a $ l e . Listed as one large potted cairn sitting a t the edge of a blvff with a linear ndn-S&al rock alignment and 3 to 6 cairns running parallel to:.:thu alignment. +-A . .

- -. Status: -

Archaeolopcal Survey of Alberta form lists as largely disturbed.

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: * Listed a s a geometrical rock alignment by Brace. (Bruce 1981: l )

Images: .$ccurate mapping by Walde 1976. iWd& 1977:93)

Other References:

. - Setting : 8 Occupies a knoll on the prairie & b u t 300m from the

ANDERSON EfOq-36

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

-

Alberta

50.8nnnN

110.6nnnW

730m +A

72L115

nnnnnn

Partly disturbed

Aligned survey

N valley rim of the Red Deer h v e r . This 1s the hghes t paintpin the vicinity. (Qurgg 2984:113)

Description: . '- , . .

A 4m & m e t e r central cairn encircled by a 14m diameter. stone ring which has a l m opening ..in its E side. Two parallel 2m long spokes extend out from the opening, with scattered stones a t their ends. There is a l m square notch out of the ring on the S side, and a 3.5m diarneter stone ring immediately adjacent to the SW side. A 5 by 3m cairn containing a t least 1,000 stones is 5m west of the main circle. (Quigg l 9 8 4 : l l 6 )

-4 14.0m diameter stork rmg with a large central cairn and an external passageway. (Brace l98?,:65)

Status:

Nearby ~eatures; * There a re many stone circles in the area. (Quigg 1984:113) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form indicates tipi rings are 3m in diameter, and that there are other cairns located to the E of the tipi rings on the E side of the coulee. The sketch map indicates 13 rings v e v close to the Medicine Wheel and another 15 in the near area. There may be as many as 10 cairns indicated in the area.

Lsts, 9 upi r ings and 1 alignment nearby. (Bruce 1987385)

Cult@ Materials:

Dating Evidence:

ANDERSON I EfOq-36

Theory: T~stedq a s a ceremon~al circle by Brace. (Bruce 1981 :I ).. -

8 Type A ceremon~al circle accordmg to Brace. (Brace 1987:85) r Krchaeologlcal Survey of Alberta form (Adarns) suggesd t h ~ s - may be a turtle effigy

Images: 8 .4rchaeologrcal Survey of Alberta s ~ t e form sketch map. 8 .4ccurate map of Walde 1976 iQurgg 1984:/16)

Other Rekrmces: eL

Adams 1976:41 Q u ~ g g 1981b:63 t;.

Setting:

ANDERSON EfOq-65

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map: .

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

. .

Alberta

50.8nuuN

715m

72Ll15

nuunnn

Partly disturbed

Aligned . Survey ' .

Occupyutg the prairie level between two steep coulees on the N rim of the Red Deer - k v e r . valley. Near tihe crest of a small rise. (Quigg 1984:117) rn Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form suggests a good vie^ to all but the NW and E. Bordered to the north by gently sloping plain and the S by fingers extendmg to the floodplain. m e river is 3km S and there are seasonal sloughs 1.6km NE. Site is

. on a bluff extending to the SE. . -

Description: A 10m diameter, 1.3m h g h , central cairn encircled .%by a 20m diameter irregular

stone circle. 11 short spokes appear to extend beyond the circle, but these could just 9

s- represent scattered stones. (Quigg l 9 8 4 : l l 7 ) A 20.0m diameter ring';vith a large central cairn and an external passageway.

sbbtus: ' 0

a m Archaeolog7cal Survey of -4lbert-a form suggests cattle have dsturbed the cairn.

Nearby Features: )I ; Many stone circles to the SE. (Quigg 1984:117l

.4rchaeolog.lcal Survey of Alberta form indicates 7 stone rings to the SE and 2 rubbing stones to the sou'th.

Cultural &terials: 8 . Archaeologzcal Survey of Alberta form indicates some flaking.

, . Dating Evidence:

. . . . ANDERSON 2 EfOq-65

Theory: ,,

8 Listed a s a vision quest s - thzture by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) 8 Type A ceremonial circle according & Brace. (Brace 1987:85) 8 Included in Brumley's subgroup 1 (cairn .and circle, only) on the speculation that the spokes were ancillary features. (Brumley 1986:14) i '

Images:- , ,

8 Accurate map&g by Walde 1976. (Quigg 1984:120) Archaeolopcal Survey of Alberta site form sketch map.

Other ~ e f e r e n c e s : . e

?

Setting: , ,

ROSS EfOq-87

hace:

Latitude: * +

Longitude:

Elevathn:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Alberta

Record: 5-

Aligned Survey

On a high hill w ~ t h a n excellent view in all directions, aboct 4.5km N of the Red. Deer k v e r valley. (Quigg 1984:121)

Archaeological S w e y of Alberta form indicates the distance on the highest hill in ehe area, about 20m level.

i

Description: ,.

A 3.9m dlameter central cairn with an a ~ c of stones tl, the NW about 20m. The central cairn c o n h s about 100 small boulders and the partla1 circle contains pebbles, cobbles and a few small boulders. The body -and legs of a; male effigy lie l m eas t of the central cairn. the legs extending 4.5m from a 2m torso, and a 1.2m 'long penis. '

. - There is a depression a t the foot of the k g s . There are no neck bouiders, if the central cairn was meant to be the head. There is a 1.5m, 20 stone, cairn a few meters to the NW of the central cairn. The Archaeological Survey of Alberta drawing does not include t h s feature. (Qurgg 1984:121)

Status: i

Nearby Features: m 'A' male e f f i is associated with the Ross Medicine Wheel, head directed to the WNW. Features include a h e a r t h e , penis, stick outline, a cairn, and an alignment. Giv6n the borden number Ems-36 [?I (Brace 1987~97)

Cultural Materials: Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form indicates some bone and many flakes present.

Dating ~v idence :

ROSS EfOq-87

5

+ Theory: L -

Listed .as a rock ahgnrnent abd disturbed human effigy by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) '

.. * Images: Archaedogical Survey of Alberta sketch map o f , site Accurate map by W,alde lgi6,.: (Quigg 1984:123)

... - Other References:

SUITOR 1 EgOx- 1

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Recard:

Alberta

5 l . 0 n n n N

11 1 . 9 n n n W

7 1 5 m

7 2 M l 4

n n n n n n

Partly disturbed

Aligned ' ~ u r v e ~

Setting: 8 On the eastern edge of the Red Deer River valley on the p ra r le Level immediately adjacent to the valley rim. (Qurgg 1984:125) 8 Archae.ological Survey of Alberta site form - on the high point of a coulee bank overlooking--the Red D& River.

Descriptio~: . '

Two concen'tric stone rings 5 p ~ d 13nJ; in dmneter. Eight spokes radiate from the outer circle from 1 4 to 26m and end in shall cairns. Two short spoke bifurcate to the SE and SW. There is some confusion .bkt.yeen the features and details as expressed on the two- 1.976 maps. Thrs is 'tb farthest S of the three Suitor Medicine Wheels. (Quigg 1984: 125) w Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form suggest the boulders are all well seated.

Status: 8 Disturbance from cattle, road and gas line noted. (Quigg 1984:126)

N k r b y Features: Several stone rings are in the area. (Quigg 1984:128) Brace lists 2 ahgnments and 1 cairn. ( B m c e 1987:79)

B Archaeologxal Survey of Albem site form indicates at least 100 rings around the site extendrng down toward the Suitor 2 and 3 rings. There is an 'omega' outline w h c h opens to the S W near a circle whlch opens to the NE. There is also a 'nova' or 'sunburst' o u t h e situated back from the coulee edge.

Cultural Materials: Xrchaeologxal Survey of .4lberta site form indicates sbme quartzite debitage, cores

and Fire cracked rock observed, a s well as some flakes, cores, and a biface.

SUITOR 1 EpOx-1

Dating Evidence: 8 Archaeolo@cal Survey of Alberta site form indicates boulders are all well seated.

Theory: . . ' 7 -. , 8 Listed a s - a Medicine Wheel by Brace. (Brace 1981 : I ) . .

8 Type B Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79) 8 Forbis reports that the Suitor 1 . ring has a stbne 'line which aligns with the summer solstice sunset, while a second aligns with the summer solstice sunrise. (Forbis 1977b:4)

4

Images: , Q 8 Archaeological Survey of .Alberta map of Walde 1976. (Quigg 1984:129) 8 Archaeological Society of .Albert% - Lethbridge Centre map of 19'76. -4Quigg I984:13O)

Other References: Bryan 1967:288

8 Brumley 1980:s

Description: 8 A 4m diameter central circle- with 16 to 18 stone h e s radiating from 23 to 3 3 m to small cairns of 3 to 4 stones. At least two spokes bifurcate? to,the $3. (Quigg l984:l25)

1

. - I

4 Z

Status: \ ..

8 Disturbance from q t t l e , &road and gas line noted, (Quigg 1984:126) . . - 7,

' l . ?, . , -

4 . ~

1 .' . . Nearby Features: . +..-. . + , .< c %

Poorlydefmed stone cirdles lie amongst the spkes, but their exact numbeF is ' . . questionable. This is the easternmost of the three Suitor Medicine Wheels.. (Quigg l984:125)

; ?L; .-- k

8 Brace counts 10 tipi rings marby. (Brace 1987:79) .' .

8 Archaeologrcal Survey of Alberta site form inhcates a t least 100 rings around the . site extending down toward the Suitor 2 and 3 rings. There is 'omGa' outhe. . which opens to the SW near a circle wgich opens to the NE .~ There is also a 'nova' or 'sunburst' o y h e situated back from the coulee edge.

. -

Cultural ~ater ia ls : Archaeologrcal Survey of Alberta site form mdcates some qudftzite deb~t+ge, cores '.

and fire cracked rock observed, as well as some flakes, cores, and a biface. , r

Setting: c ?

8 On ihe eastern edge of the Red Deer h v e r valley on the prairie ,level immediately -.

adjacent to the valley rim. (Quigg 1984:125) %.

-

. .)

, . ' .

/- .-. .. . -- f _ i. I .. -. - - . , . . . .. . . . . 'u... i

. . .

. .

P L

-

Dating Evidence:

SUJTOR 2 E@x- 1 b

',

Place: Alberta

Latitude: - 5l.OnnnN

Longitude: 11 1.9nnnW

Elevation: 725m . ,

, I . , . Map: . . 7 2M/4

,Legaka ; :.. -nnnnnn

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Aligned Survey

iirchaeologcai Survey of Alberta site form indicates stones are all well seated.

' 1

lorn+ C- -

. . i - . *

Theory: -*

8 Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. (Brace U 9 8 l :I) 8 Type B Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

Images: Aichaeological Survey of Alberta m a p of Walde 1976. (Quigg 1984:132)

8 Archaeological Society 6f Alberta - Lethbridge Centre m a p of 1976. (Quigg l984:133)

Other References: .c 8 Bryan 1967:288

8 Forbis 1977b:14 - 8 Brumley 1980:5

~aiitude: 5 l.OnnnN t w , .

Longitude: 11 1.9nnnW L -

Elevation: , - :325m '

Map: 72W4 q s

I < "

Legal: - aqnnnn

Condition: ' Partly disturbed

&cord: - Aligned 'survey '

- . - Setting: rn On the eastern edge of the Red Deer River valley on the praifie- level immediatdy . , adjacent to the ' valley rim. (Quigg f 9841125) e '

Description:, , rn A 6 to 7m giameter stone circle with 7 radiating spokes; 6 of which ra&ak from

the west half and 1 from the east. AI1 of -the' spokes terminate in small cairns a t distances ranging from 19 to 41m. There are three bifurcating spoke segments, a n , . upattached 6.5m segment, and two cairns:' As with the Suitor 1 maps, there a k rn-epancies between the 1976 maps of the Archaeologicd Survey of Alberta and - * .

Archaeolo~cal Society of Alberta - Lethbridge Centre. (Quigg '1984:125) 1 <

status: ' ',

rn Disturbance from cattle, road and gas line Go$d. (Quigg" 1984:126) ' - I. + . -

Nearby Features: 8 Two 2m stone cairns and several stone circles with central stone clusters to the, -and E. (Quigg I984:126) . - d

rn Tlpi rings and cail'ns to the NW on site% map. (w'alde 1971:n) (

Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form' i n d i c a ~ s at least 100 rings around'the site extending down toward the Suitor 2 and 3 rings. There is an 'omega' outline which opens to the S W near a circle which opens to the NE. .There is alsa, a 'nova' of 'sunburst' outline situated bsctk. from the coulee edge.

Brace counts 9 tipi rings, 4 alignments and 2 cairns. ( B m e 1987:79) ii

Cultural Materials: ~rd;aeological Survey of Albertaektea form x-d&&s &some quartzite dqbltage, cores

and fire cracked rock observed, as well as some flakes, cores, . , and. a b~face. - .

4

" q OC

' .-%. > Dating 'Evidence: P

rn ~ r c h a e o i o g d l Survey of Alberta si$ fork+indicates boulders a re all well seated. - T

. d a_. Theory; : . - Listed as a Wedwme ~VheeJ ky Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 I : I )

rn Type- B hl;ddine ,Wheel accordmg to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

*~rna&: Z . . - p - e

gxaf Survey- Df ~ l b e r t s , map of Walde 1976. (Quigg 1984:134) k,

g c a l Society of- Alberta - Lethbrldge Centre map of 1976. (Quzgg L,

I

F'

Other References: i;

Bryan 1967:288 1 ) Forb~s 1977b:1'4 Brurniey 1980:5 . %

. . ?&

BARRY EgPn-53

. Place: Alberta

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal: u n n n n u

Condition: Badly destroyed.

Record: "Aligned Survey

* *

Setting: on ' the prairie level northwest of the Bow River, overlooking the river valley.

(Quigg l984:139)

Description: I

A 3.5m diameter central cairn with an irregular 10 to 12m diameter stone ring encircling it. A 2m opening lies on the E side with a small cairn in the middle and two spokes radiating out 4m to cairns. (Qugg 1984:139) . .

A 10.9m diameter stone ring with a small central cairn and external passageway. (Bmee 1987:85) , .

Status: Central cairn was vandalized prior to 1962. (Forbis 1970r28) Excavation done but results not published. (Brumlq 1986:28)

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials: A 1962 excavation w i t h the central cairn recovered no artifacts. Five test pits .

were undertaken. (Quigg 1984:139)

Dating Evidence:

Theory: Listed as a vislon quest structure by Brace. (Brace- 1981: I )

r Type A ceremon~al circle according to Brace. (Brace 1287:85)

Images: 4

BARRY 'EgPn-53

@ Forbis m a p of 1963 showing entryway. (Forbis 1970:28) . 8 Archae~logical Survey of Alberta site form sketch of 1973.

8 Accurate m a p by Walde 1976. (Walde 1977:93) 8 Ground photo. from outside the entryway. (Brumlej. 1986:25r .'

~rchaeolo"gical Survey of Alberta photo ref R4:l-6. 4

Other References: il

I I

Kehoe 1972:186. .

BUFFALO BIRD

Place: - '~

. - Alberta

Latitude:

Longitude:.

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

&cord:

Badly disturbed

Aligned Survey

Setting: 8 Atop the prominent Buffalo Bird Hill on the open prairie of eastern Alberta. (Quigg 1984:144)

Description: B An 8.7m diameter, l m h g h , central cairn surrounded to the S by a 22 to 23m diameter stone half circle. The cairn stones are all 30cm diameter or larger while the circle stones are 15cm. A single spoke extends S from the cairn and through the ring for 19m. A 1933 excavation of the central cairn revealed a O.Wm deep bowl-shaped

. depression beneath the central cairn which was filled with stones. ,. (Quigg l984:144) 8 A 22.5m hameeer stone ring p i t h a large central cairn and external passageway. ' (Braced 1987:85)

Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form reports that the central' eairri was 3 feet .r hlgh and 8 feet across before 1933.

Status: 8 North half 'of the circle is mlssing; all of it on one slde of a fence whrch crosses the central c a m . (Qurgg 1984~144)

Archaeological S k e y of Alberta form: Excavated In 1933 by Russell ~ d h n s o n .

Nearby Features: Ruck ahgnrnent listed by Brace nearby: "Buffalo Bird Hill". Borden number gwen as

EhUo- 1 [Possible Confus~on] ( B m e 1981 :1)

Cultural Materials: An excavauon of the central c a r n in 1933 by Russell Johnston recovered a

corner-notched polnt and some worked pleces of stone. Ash-llke 'streaks observed a t the bottom of the plt beneath the central cairn were thought to represent decomposed

t

." t

BUFFALO BIF€D EhOp-1

bone. (Quigg 1984:144!

Dating Evidence: 8 Suggests ' 1000 BC' to 750 AD due to corner-notched point. (Bruce 1987:108)

Theory: 1 Listed as a vision quest s tructure by Brace. (Brace 1981: l )

8 ~ & e C ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:65~ '=.=

b a g e s : 8 Accurate map of Walde 1976. (Qu~gg 1984:148)

P. 7

.$ - - Other References: 7

8 ArcIfaeolopcal S u r v e oY Alberta s i k f ~ ; m of 19.58 and attached field notes. Forbis & Caider 1973: l ,

Freiberg 6974:18 W~lson 1981;3413

P * *

Setting:

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

condition:

Record: - <

E'

::

Alberta '

5 1.2nnnN

1 lO.7nnnW

777m

72M/7

nnnunn

Partly disturbed

Ahgned Survey

On top of a high ridge bordering a valley, with an open view of the surrounding terrain. (Gryba 198 7:4) 8 On a high NE-SW trending excessively stony ridge offering a commanding view of the surroundmg countryside. (Gryba 198 7:3 7)

Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form: Atop the most prominent hill in the vicinity; a good view in all duections for up to 10km.

Description: A central cairn surrounded by a stone circle from which radiate , 6 and possibly 7

spokes which seem to end a t large naturally occurring boulders. The questionable spoke extends through a very stony area. Most of the feature is situated on the crest of the knoll, with the spokes extending &&hill. The dsturbed 'cairn is 4m across a t the widest part; the ring diameter ranges from 8.25 to 10m. The longest spoke extends 24m, the others a re between 8 and 9m. The three large boulders a t the north, west and southeast termini seem too large to have been placed there. The line to the longest spoke appears to diverge away to avoid it for a while before turning back; the other two go directly to the large , boulders. (Gryba 1987,:40) .. ,

8 "site consists of a central cairn 7.3 meters in diameter immediately surrounded by . .

a ring of large r o c k and a 2nd small ring 1.8 meters apar t from the center". Only three spokes (E,N & W) extending 7 to 1 2 m were mentioned in this 1986 report. - Suggests the presence of a small rectangular annex to the wheel a t its south end. ,

(Pollock l986:l4) rn Large cairn with no features mentioned. (Forbis 1970:n)

Mentions that Forbis in 1 could make out only three spokes amongst all the other boulders. (Glybc

Status:

* TI L SUTHERLAM) CAIRN EhOqdl

* '

Central cai& had been vandalized; prior .to 1958. (Gryba 1987:37) . . r . . . . . . . . , : Nearby Features: - . . .. , . . .._... . . ,

Archaeolopcal ~ u r v i ~ , of Alberta fo rk : A second cairn is.. a'pdut 230m away to the west, on the second. of the. two hikhest hills in the ~ i c i n i i y . . i ~ t is separated from the

' ~ u t h e r l a n d Cairn by a saddle. This'. second cairn was said to .have a bowl-shaped depression beneath it when 'excavated: -. . .

, ,

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: . . "This Medicine Wheel is similar to that constructed by historic Blackfoot and Blood

Indians. The fact that three of the spokes terminated a t naturally occurpng large boulders suggests that they were positioned to indicate onIy general northerly, ' easterly and southerly directions. The observaion. that none of the spokes were oriented in the direction of the summer solstice sug&sts- that the feature was not used to predict this event. I t is more likely that the funcbion of the Medicine Wheel was siinilar to that recorded for ethnographic examples, ' t h a c is as a mortuary or burial site for important persons." CGryba 198 ?:id

There .appears to be a general alignment of the longest spoke with the North Star; two others closely align to the East and South. ( G q b a 1987:40) 8 Relates this site to Buffalo Bird, l l k m to t h e , SE, which is similar in shape and. possibly had a burial within it. (Gryba 1987:44)

Images: .. . Detailed map and photos of Gryba. 19,SG. iGqsba 1987:l I % '

. ,s. , .

--Other . . References:

Setting:

ZEIGENBEIN E kPe-3

Place: : Alberta

Latitude: , , 5 1 . 8 u n n ~

~ o n ~ i t u d e i 112.7nnnW

Elevation: 850m

Map: 82P/ 15

Legal: n n n n n n

~dndition: Partly disturbed

Record: Aligned Survey

b

8 On a high knoll in knob and kettle terrain about lSkm E of the Red Deer ~ i v e t ' (Qurgg 1984:149)

Description: A 5m hamete r stone cricle with a 0.80m central rock hearth. Five spokes

composed of small cairns rachate from the circle to between 4.5 and 9m. There is a 1.5m dmnete r depression 2m NW of the circle. (Quigg 1984:149)

Status:

Nearby Features: 8 Plan of site indicates several cairns to the SSW and a t least 5 circular depressions,

f two of which are rock-lined. There is also a stone ring and perhaps a widely-spaced rock line heading S. (Walde 1977:93)

Brace counts 2 tipi rings, 1 alignment and 8 cairns. ( B m e 1987:79)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: "6

Theory: Listed as a Medlcine Wheel by Brace. (Brace 1981:l ) Type C Medlcine Wheel accordmg to Brace. ( ~ & e 1987:79)

Images: 8 Forbis map of 1961. (Forbrs 1970:29)

Accurate map of Walde 1976. (Quipg 1984:152)

ZEIGENBEIN .EkPe-3

Archaeological Supie? of Albepa p h o t ~ ref dl:10. @ - T <

Other ~efeiences: a

Archaeologxal Survey of Alberta site %rrn of 1965. Kehoe 1972: lM.

m -

' 5

Setting: On a h g h knoll known a s Stpne Pile Hill situated

(Quigg I984:153)

RUMSEY CAIRN / . , .. - STONE PILE HILL EkPf- 1

Place: Alberta

Latitude: 51.8nnnN

Longitude: 112.8nnnW

Elevation: 920m

Legal: unnnnn ' .

fi Condition: Partly disturbed

. . Record: - , Aligned Survey

!km E of the Red Deer River.

.on a hill near the Red Deer: River, from whch the Three Hds, far to the west, are visible, and standing out to the east are other hills on whch are found ribstones, while in the distance rise the misty blue outllines of the Hand Hills and the Wintering m. And' in between stretches the vast prairie - the prairie once filled with the black dots &d- masses tha t were grazing buffalo herds." (MacGregor 1959:lO) 8 Archaeolopcal S v e y of Alberta form: .Has a commanding view to the north and distant views to the eas t and west.

Description: A massive stone central cairn origthdly estimated a t 6m in diamepr in 1.5m high

surrounded by an obvious -stone circle 13m in &ameter whch has nearIy 13m missing on the SE side. The cirale is 2 or 3 stones thlck with no spaces left between the stones. There are reports of a 2nd stone circle around the cairn. A human effigy is 5m E of. the Medicine Wheel and consists of ,&I irregular rectangular body 3m long with two lines of stones extendmg 2.5m .to represent the legs. A cluster of ' stones and a stbne line rest between the legs andT only a few stones are present in the head area. Some salvage excavations in 1961 by the Glenbow Foundation central cairn followed hggings into-,$he same by R. McCarthy in the 1930's. A yellow Saild mound

'

covered by larger stones a l ' the centet of the cairn could -have been the ori&aI cairn: I t contained few finished tools, although numerous flakes and bone fra&ents j were present. A red ochre layer was alsg .noted, but no pit was found &neath the cairn. (Qugg 1984:153) 8 There is a human effigy nearby,,ff .-Grassy Lake and British l lock. (Forbis

' *-. 19 7O:32) 3

A 1 i . 4 m diameter stone' ring ulth large ~ e n t r a l cairn. , b ( ~ m c / l987:851 - i

263

' RUMSEY CAIRN I STONE PILE HILL EkPf-1

8 -4 human effigy with head directed to large smne ring attached. This feature is Wheel. (Brace 1987:97) 8 Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form: obviously more recently placed.

Status: 8 Central cairn totally reconstructed after

the , WSW. This is a stick outline with a associated with the Rumsey Cairn Medicine

The human effigy is pot deeply set; it is '- , ,

, .

excavation. (Quigg l984::l54) Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form lists it a s a designated historic site.

8 Apparent pit wyhere head of effigy was shows vandalism. This scale drawing clearly shows a complete stone circle. (MacGregor 1959:IO)

i -

Nearby Features: .An amorphous s b n e feature lies a t the edge of the Red River valley in --the vicinity

and there are numerous stone circles recorded to the N. (Quigg 1984:.153) 8 ,41so on the hilltop are several tipi rings, one 27 feet in diametei,..'There is also a long, sinuous snake figure made of l f t boulders and having a n overdl length of 50 feet. A mosaic near the human effigy vaguely resembles a bear, wold- or horse.

. - iMacGregor l959:lO) 8 An alignment and a single cairn noted nearby. (Brace 1987:85)

Cultural Materials: Considerable quantities of cultural materials were recovered In the excavations,

mcluding projectile points, beads, ceramics, pipe fragments, bone fragments, shaft . smoothers, charcoal, ash and debitage. ' There is a report of a skull having been dug up years b e f ~ r e . (Quigg 1984:153)

Dating Evidence: . ,,-

8 - ~u'ggested 2 0 . - 1800 AD due to associated artifacts. iBrace l987:lO8) 8 ~ i - ~ h h e o l o ~ c a b Survey of .Alberta site f o r p notes a Late Prehistoric b Protohistoric date. F"

8 Byi-ne places the ceramics into both the South Saskatchewan Basin and Cluny complexes. (200 b 1800's AD.)* l ~ ~ r n e 1973:660)

, _ .

~ h e o r y : . . -

8 Listed -2s a ' h u m h e f l i p and' vision quest structure by Brace (Brace 1981:l) Type (2' eef-emonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:85)

8 This is 'unquestionably' a b&al site because of 'reports'- of hu,man remains found there. Cf Grassy Lake and four 'other sites. There is a suggestion of a n ochre-stained ea r t h Ipyer in the disturbed cairn. (Forbis 1970:30)

Images: - 1

8 .4ccurak map of f alde 1976, (@ulgg 1984:157) 8 Scale drawing of hIacGregor (MacGregor 1959:lO)

Survey of filberts photo ref 91:21,R3:8-12.

RUMSEY CAIRN / STONE PILE HILL EkPf-1

Kmg 1961:12 . ..Wormington & Forbis 1965: 124 8 Forbis & Calder 1973:l 8 Freiberg 1974:18 i Calder 1977:206

Quigg 1981b:59

PLENTY E10d-2

'*

c L

Place:

Latitude: - t Longitude

Saskatchewan

Elevation: 70 1m . *

Map: 72Nl15 + -

Legal: uaunnn

Condition: Undisturbed ..

Record: ~ h g n e d ~ ; r + e y

Setting: 8 On' a high, grass-covered terrace overlooking deep coulees to the south and ,east , situated 2km NE of Eagle Creek. Lies atop a small knoll near the end of 'the terrace. (Quigg l984:2Ol) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: Deep ravines to the NW & SE; a water source (creek) is less than 5 0 m to the NW.

On a hlgh escarpment. (Kehoe B K e h 1979:1_6)) 8 On a valley nmlterrace 500m from a spring. (Bmce 1987:78)

Description: 8 A 3m diameter central cairn with . four , spokes radiating in, roughly c a r d i r d directions from 16 to 23m. The S spoke is the longest and exhibits a major kink about half-way which could include a small scattered cairn. (Quigg 1984:201)

"a 9 foot central cairn with four spokes extellding from 4 8 to 1 9 0 . f e e t in length." (Kehoe 1 9 7211 86)

. 8 Listed a s a Medicine Wheel by Brace. Gives magnetic directions of spokes from .. - center as: 1. -144'42'; 2: 154'45'; 3. 60•‹31': 4. 231'48'; and 5. 314O05'. (Braee - . . 1981:I) . .

,. .. .> Gives the spoke angles relative to true north as 41•‹34', 135'48', 212"21', &d

295'08'. The numbers of boulders in these are 63, 242, 39 and 66, respectively, for :'. '.

a total of 410 boulders. 'Note that Brace now counts 4 rather than 5 spokes. (Brace :. -'

198 7:68) . 8 The spokes intersect a t the hill apex. ( B m e 1987:80) 8 The south spoke is more than twice as long as the others. Although the lines of this configuration are oriented to the cardma1 directions, it happens tha t the contours of the ridge a t this site are also roughly so oriented. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:19)

Status:

. . ' * * b * . - b. 1

I =. ' Niea;by ~ea tures i k t z . ,

A - stone circle, cairn, ~ s s @ i e ' effigy'snd other stone .feature's k e he&ioned ';n,thl;, A and nearby sites E108-9, 1 4 and 15. @~&~-1984:2&i )~ . - . .

-8 S h e r e are two tipi rings o n ~ ~ a bench jy&t*below @e knob- and. many on the - - . . unplowed border of the e s q r p m e n t ( K e h o ~ &- Kehoe 1978;2 7 ) ,t, , + ' m, Nearby are 28 tip1 rmgS a n d 3 . caltfis.. (Bmce 1987:78). ': ;' % * Notes 44 t i p 1 rings loam NW of t M - site. (Brace 1987:80) l , ,'

. i .

* .

. Cultural ~ ~ t e r i a l i : , I

No notes er catalogue are available TOT a 1964 excavatmn, ofr h e sentrac c&iuir!l by I . f .- , the U. of SBsk. (Quigg 1984:201)

- " L > + " -

8 Saskatchewart -Archaeological Survey form notes single bone excavated by the U. of *

Sask. frbm the central aalrn. 8 Visit of 811988 * Doug, Rlchards Af ~ l ' en ty kmd tha t a , tmbd e@er (tribe?)+; had. t

vlsited the wheel in Juhe @ condird' a pipe cer&ny. ,The eiddr' 'told ' ~ i c h a r d tliat . +

his grandfather h i d described vision quest ceremonies - a t spme petrogl~phs 20 miles south of the site, and , that t h e ,ion$e%t' spoke of Plenty points a c t l y u, the petroglyph, showing',.people how to get there. Clo2er to the petrogIgphs a ~s'trl'ng of ": . cairns runnlng for *two miles suRpose'db Jeads &ople in. I

Dating Evidence: I

8 Provldes a ' hgh confidence' date of~'l851 for the Site, using 1lcheLornetric results - \ - , , from two hchens. (Brace J987:46)

*

Theory: , $

P Interpreted as a co~memoratib 'e marker fbr a war chief. (Kehoe 1972:186.) 8 Exammed unsuccessful^ for astronomical alignments. Welzoe & Kolqe 19 79; I9 I

8 Suggest thrs type of four-armed strucwre mlght represent. the sAcred cq+mal . dlrect~ons or perhaps a star , pa~ t lcu la r ly~ the Mornlng Star. tKeAoe di h'c~izoc 1979:;lt31 '-

i

Images: t .a

* Saskatchewan Museum of Natural f i s to rg map of 196.5 b i b Kehoe and ~ a t s b n . (Quigg 1984:204) i a + u ' .

Photos on file with the Saskatqbewan Museum of Natural History. * + , . '1 1 . 4 .

6 4

Other Reference$: I

I ' 8 Saskatchewan Museum of Natural &story slte Form ' * d .

8 Saskatchewan Dept. of Natural Resources Report 1966:43 ' , . 8 Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:86

.

TIPPERARY CREEK d CRONK'S BIG CIRCLE FbNp-2

Placerq Saskatchewan - -> * w I "

Latitude: . , ,. 5 2 . ' 2 n m ~ - -

Longitude: 106.5nnnW

Elevation: ' 495m e

Map: 73B/2

Legal: t l n ~ n n n

Condition: p;rtly disturbed .,

W o r d : ~ l i ~ n e d Survey

I *

Setting: Lies on a e grass covered pr8kie on the N edge of the

Saskatchewan River valley. (Qurgg l984:2O5) ' 1 8 On a valley rim in till plain country with aH.36Q degree unobstructed view. A river is 300m to the wuth. ( e 1987:84) 9

' 4 .

' a' 4p

Description: * b . ; . 8 A 7m diameter central cairn cbmposed of loole rpsk eheircled by a 13m diameter discontinuous stone ring. At least five caiCns are nearby; one 2m N, a second 9m E, a third 5m SE, a fourth 10m S and ' the last 17m SW. (Quigg 1984:205)

_ . The N-S and E-W diameters of the ring are 14.9 and 15.lm for an average of " ' 15.0m. There is a k g e central cairn and Many scattered intkrior boulders. (Brace

l987:84)

Status: 8 Disturbance of central cairn noted on Saskakhewan Museum of Natural History form, as WE$ as apparent disturbance of the stone ring. (Quzgg 1984:205)

Presently 'zealpusly protected by the uwner of the land.: (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23)

Nearby ~eatures: No tipi ring survey was done for this site; none were noticed in the immedate

vicinity. (Kehoe &. Kehoe 1979:28) One tipi- ring noted in the vicinity. (Bmce 1987:84) .- Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: Many tipi rings, campsites, a suspected

winter bison kill sites, stone cairns and debitage reported.

Cultural Materials: Map shows test trench on E side from circle to cairn, but there aren' t other

TIPPERARY CREEK 1 CRONK'S BIG CIRCLE FbNp-2 . ,

references to t h ~ s d ~ g available. A few lithics, a corner-notched point and some thick pottery were collected. (Quzgg 1984:205) 8 "Extensive surveys and site test excavations by the Department of Anthropology at the Untversity of Saskatchewan have revealed the presence .of numerous sub-surface sites, including a buffalo pound in a nearby ravine." (Brace 1987:871

d

Dating Evidence:

Theory: 8 Interpreted 9s a burial site, even though no bones found th'vhoc 1972.1871

Listed a s a ceremonial circle by Brace. (Bruce 1981 : I 1

8 Type C ceremohial a rc le according to Brace. (Brace 1967:811 No significant astronomical alignments found. (KGhoe & Kehoe l979.1"J 1

"As a site marker to denote a particular coulee, i t would have been evldc>nr fr-am .i

variety of locations." (Brace 1987:87)

Images: I m

Saskatchewan Museum of Natural H ~ s t o r y m a p of 1964. 7"

:Other References: Saskatchewan Museum of Katural History site form of 1959. Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:86

ZODIAC RIDGE AaAa- 1 (BB:5:27) * .>

Place:

Latitude:

Elevation: 1 ' . d - -

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record: '

Arizona

32.5nnnN

1 1 1 l . l n n n W

1417m

Tucson

nnnnnn

condition

Aligned plan

. * Setting: - On a bajada of the Tortilla Mountains,- 2km east of Indian Town village site.

rp (Autrey & A'utrey 1981:81) * 9.1

Description: r

A circular rock alignment consisting of a rmg 4Om in diameter and involving more than 800 stones of coarse granitic structure. Most of the stones are imbedded horizontally In the soil, however numerous upright stones are found in the perimeter. Central alignments of stones and external cairns are also present. (Autrey & Autrey 1981 : 8 l )

Status:

Nearby Features: ".

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: "

Theory: Astronomical implications of this site in Arimna n e w Tucson are compared to

megaliths rather than Medicine Wheel's. (Autrey & Autrey 1981:81)

Images: 8 Ground survey with true declination. (Autrey & Autrey 1981:83)

Other References:

BIG HORN BeNx-0 (48BH302)

Pkjce:

~at i tude: ...

" Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Wyoming

44.8nnnN

107.8nnnW

3 2 0 0 m

Burgess

nnnnnn

Condition: Badly Disturbed - . -

. ~ e c o s d : Aligned plan

' P

Big Horn and numerous stone circles are situated on the gently sloping western . - -

shoulder of Medicine Mountam. (Quigg 1984:228) , ,

There is a sheer precipice 20 yds west. The site is 9 6 4 2 feet above sea level, at;' ' 107.9nnnW and 43.8nnnN. (Grey 1963a:30) * c :

On the highest point of a ridge adjacept to ~ e d i c i n e ' - ~ o b n t a i n , which is to the Sl?. A spring is about a mile away. (Gky 1963a:31)

Jus t above the tirnbedhe in the Big Horn National Forest, near a well-vlorn travois trail. (Eddy 1,974:I 035) -

Description: I

~ u r r o u n d r n g cairns are: 1 0 7 feet to the SE; 9 5 feet to the W of S; 277 feet to the S of Wi 1 1 4 feet to the NW, 110 feet the E of N, and 7 1 feet to the S. (Grey l963a:32) .-

c'J . ' a ~ncludes a central cairn roughly 4 m across and 60cm high. 2 8 spokes radiate out to a 2 5 m diameter flattened circle. Six c a i s reside either immediately outside (n=5) or ' just ' inside th& Sircle. The cairn to the % is connected by a spoke extending 3.5171 beyond the circle. The single inner cairn opens onto two spokes radiating inward, and the SE cairn appears to have been avoided by the outer circle which seems to swerve to avoid it., (Quigg 1984:228)

"A roughly circular pattern of stones laid upon the surface of the ground. In the center of the pattern is a hollow oval cairn-of rock from which 28 radial lines extend to a peripheral':circle. Around and near the peripheral circle are located 6 more cairns. Five of these are exterior to the main circle, while one is mostly interior. One of the external t i i r n s is removed from the peripheral circle, about, 1 2 feet along an extensionof one,.of.the radial lines. Each of the cairns is hollow, and is in reality a more or less heavily walled circle -of small size." (Grey 1963a:30)

Once the rocks are stripped away, the central points of the cairns in Eddy's data

BIG HORN BeNx-0 (48BH302)

are all on a 41.34 foot circle. with a standard devi?tion of only 1.4 feet. (Fries I98O:23) 8 "The outer wheel is not complete. for on its eastern side the rim of the wheel is interrupted for about two and a half feet, and this interruption furnishes an entrance or gateway into the circle. The opening actually faces a little south of east." (Grinnell I9,?2:3OO1

'*

Status: 8 "The Big Horn wheel including the ancillary cairns along and immediately outside the wheel has remained relatively intact. The interior of the central cairn was apparently vandalized. As well, the various cairns appear to have deteriorated to varying extents since initial discovery. The area surrounding the Big Horn %.heel has apparently been highly--disturbed." (Brurnlej' 1985:62)

In an 1887 vislt by George Griffin described the central cairn a s a small house 12 feet high, and the outki .cairns a s small homes 3 feet high openned to the cent&. In 1894 the same individual had found the structure badly altered. (Fries 1980:22) 8 "Because it has been disturbed by visitors and walked over and disarranged by wandering cattle, accurate measurements of it can not be given." (Grinnell 1922:300)

Nearby Features: 1 8 There are two tipi ring sites within a mile. (Grey 1963a:31) 8 Walled stone structures resembling stone circles and cairns are in the immediate vicinity. (Quigg l984:228) 8 Gives rough direction: and meq.ured distances to six irregular stone circles -outside the border of the wheel, from 70 to 280 feet away. "That in ancient times it was a place of resort for- great numbers.. of people is clearly indicated by a very old and . worn travois trail ... On thiz $avois trad there are no signs of recent use, yet it is ;,

apparent that, ir, times pzst, r".?.~itudes of people must have passed over it." (Grinnt,ll 1922:301 I

8 Apparently other feat&res we1.e orignally located outside and in the vicinity of the Big Horn wheel (eg. .Grey 196.1:1:32, (Brurnley 1985:61) 8 (Hunter & Fries 1L'86:7).) . . .

8 "peoplg ,did camp n e w , the wheel in cwsiderable numbers. Tipi rings are abundant near thg-&heel, a s are x i inghead camg$es." (Wilson 1981:343)

Brace lists 8 tipi rings in the vicinity, .(Brace 1987:79) ,.

'.& . Cultural Materials?' 8 Big Horn wheel was mapped and tested in 1958 by the Wyoming Archaeological Society, which dug two 33m trenches NW of the wheel. Cultural material was limited to the top 5cm. Excavations between the radial lines ,and the interior cairns were also done. Some wood remains in one cairn and r2d ochre-covered bone objects, pot sherds and stone artifacts were found. The central cairn excavation revealed three distinct soil layers, the second of which yielded some ceramic trade beads, a shell bead and a potsherd. The soil penetrated into a 60cm depression created benea'tb the cairn by removal of bedrock slabs. Further excavations in 1973 by M. Wilson revealed that the spokes were likely added after the central cairn, a s there was 6cm of loess between the two. Artifacts included a few points and many flakes. The spread of cultural material indicated a dissociated level beneath the structure itself. (Quigg 1984:228)

BIG HORN BeNx-0 (48BH302) 'I.

"Grey noted that although excavations produced numerous ,cultural items, they were all contained within a thin humus zone. overlying a limey subsojl. No cultural stratigraphy could be found." (Brumley' 1985:68)

Two European beads and two pieces .of wampum were found ..uhder one of the stones in the spokes. (Grinnell l922:305) -.

., < , -

Dating Evidence: Dendrochronology and trade beads indicate a date around A.D. 1750. (Quigg

1984:-228) 8 Wooden limb found beneath the west cairn dated by dendrochronology to 1760 AD. (Grey l963a:3 7 )

Clear evidence that the central cairn was much more deeply buried than the surrounding spokes by about 0.40m. (Wilson 1981 :364 8 Finds Eddy's date of 1700 based on Aldebaran to be in error. and shows that 1270 to 1470 AD are more likely dates based on that calculation. Shows how the calrulation has assumptions with enormous implications for the date, and dismisses its usefulness. Some rocks of the outer cairns seem deeply buried, and the fact that the ring swerves to avoid cairn C sugests that cairn existed in its present size first. Also, the joint circularity of the: cairns suggest they are much older than the other f ea tu~es . Also notes that Wilson foGnd the lichen grcwth on stones of the wheel to be less.:,. tnali >ome of the nearby..bipi rings, suggesting relative youth of the wheel. (Fries ,'

l98O:231

Theory: 8 Suggests that the hole beneath the central cairn and the . presence , of rotting wood suggests the pocketing of a wooden pole. (Grey 196da:38) '.

Hypothesizes use of a central pole for solstice-horizon observations. and viewing of heliacal s tar rises. (Ed* 1974:1038) , ,

8 Suggests the ring is flattened because it was made afcer the cairns, and avoided them due to their importance. (Eddy l974:lO4O)

"We can imagme tha t the Big Horn Wheel may have been origmally used by a knowledgeable few who climbed to the site in June to mark the day of the summer solstice for a n 1 e&suing Sun Dance ceremony." (Eddy 1974:1042)

I t is possible. tha t this '-one site has served several to many diverse functions, and could support a s -many. of the theories which have. become attached, to it. (Wilson l976:33). -

Several,; ethnogaphic accounts attribute Big Horn variously to the Shoshoni, 'Crow, Cheyenne and Kiowa. (Brumley^.-1985:63)

Field aiid Stream, 45:269, 1895. "In the middle of it is a hut, also of stone, from which spokes radiate (like a wheel) to the circumference, there terminating in smaller huts. It is said that these smaller hats were, during the religious ceremonies, occupied by the medicine men of the different tribes, while the larger f i t in the center was sumosed to de the abode of Manitou. The wheel appears to 'be of great antiquity." my*-they believed in gods, chief of which was the sun, .and consecrated their lives to them: and- their eternal happiness will ke complete in the great happy regon where all is br i ih t and warm. The great wheel, or shrine, of this people is eighty feet across the face, and has twenty-eight spokes, representing the twenty-eight tribes of their iace. At the center or hub there is a house of stone, where Red Eagle held the

BIG HORN BeNx-0 (48BH302) .

posftion of chief or leader of all the tribes. Facing the nor theas t was the house of the god of plenty, and on the southeast faced the house of the goddess of beaut;.; and due west was the beautifully built granite cave dedicated to the '-s& .god, and from bhis position ' the services were supposed to be directed by him. Standing along the twenty-eight spokes were'. the worshippers, chanting their songs of praise to the heabens. while their sundial on earth was a true copy of the sun:" Told to Allen in sikn language by an old Shoshoni woman said to be the last of the 'Sheepeater' grbup. (Allen 1913:9) . . . 8 "Among the older Cheyenne the existence of the Medicine Wheel is well known. Some of them t e l l -of one or more similar structures, or of pictures on cllffs perhaps made in mit tat ion ,of it." Words of Grinnell. (Grinnell I,922:307) 8 "Years ago, when I showed to Elk River Mr Simms's figure of the Medicine Wheel, he said a t once that it was the plan of an old time Cheyenne Medicine Lodge. The. outer circle of stones he, said represented the wall of the Medicine Lodge; the lines leading toward the center, 'the rafters or, a s he called them. tht? lodge poles - of the Medicine Lodge; and the, small circle in the center of t h e . large one, frai-n which ,

the so-called spokes radiate;, represented the center pole of the. Medicine Lodge. 'He. added that the building to the .northwest of the entrance, %and-,withn the circle and '

touching it , was the place from which the thunder came; and by this I understood \'.,

him to mean what :I. call the alter - the place in the Cheyeniie Medicine Lodge whi@ 1s especially sacred, ahd in which is the buffalo skull. ... the ,oval construction to t h e west and connected w i t h the large circle by a line of stones occupies approximately the place of the 'lonely lodge' where instruction is gwen to the Medicine Lodge makers and from which the Cheyenne Medicine Lodge women carry the buffalo skull down to the Medicine Lodge which is in the process of being built." Words of Grinnell. (Grinnell I922:64) 8 Hismi-ical and legendary accounts of the use of Big Hern i n , vision q x s t s . A famous legendary Crow chief performed a 4-day vision quest there, apparently. (Fries l98O:2O 1

"Vision quests have long been an important feature of Plains Indian culture, and require the seeker to stay in an isolated and dangerous place of his choosing, which' is often a t high altitudes" (Fries 1980:Zl)

Only cairns C, -F . .and 0 are large enough to have been vision quest houses. (Fries I98O:ZZ) . -

"During this century, the Great ~ e d i c i n i * ' ~ h e e l has been and' continues to b,e the site of an annual Crow tobacco-offering ceremony. This use of the wheel is probably a rccrnt ~nnovation." (Grant & Harrison 1981:65)

\ 8 Bilateral symmetry with the symmetry axis apparently solstice-oriented. The spokes and symmetry could imply an animal, perhaps a turtle or bison; .(Wilson 1981:347)

Account of Red Plume's vision quest experience a t the site. If 'he is the same a s Long Hair (died 1836) this & - t h e earliest ethnohistoric reference to Medicine Wheel's. Other vision quest uses are c i $ ('Wilson 1981:337) m Discounts possibility and usefulness of a , central pole within the site. (Wilson 1981 :3431 ~.

Suggests that if the solstice alignment o f - the symmetry axis is true, then "it would have been no more an observatory than w a s an everyday sunrise-oriented tipi or medicine shield." (Wilson l98Er346)

The shared symbolism between Big Horn a d sun dance structures, if it exists,

274

BIG HORN BeNx-0 (48BH302)

doesn't prove related function.r? (Wilson 1981 : 3 5 l ) 8 Type D Medicme Wheel accordihg to Brace. (Brace 1987:79) 8 "the possible use of this site as a template for ceremonial consultation may be a more appropriate analysis. The partlal use of the slte as a boundar? marker (Stands In Timber and Liberty 1967:124) also may suggest that the site was a neutral ground for bordermg tribes during times of pattern rev~ew." (Bracc 1987.751 '

Images: 1

Aerial photogrammetry a s of 1981 (Grab 1982:n) Grey survey of 1963 tGre3 1963a:Zq)

8 The Grey map distances are shown '15% too small; an unpublished tr anslt map h \ Stockwell in 1917 IS also wrong. ( E d d ~ l974:I 0371 8 Results of 1972 transit survey presented In table. shovwg calm xnrnuths. h o ~ lzon d ~ p and dimensions. ( E d d ~ 19 74:I 0 3 8 ) D 'Grtnnell survey of 1922 and ground photos. (Grrnnell 1922:301 I 8 Eddy photograph? - many other photographs from early tlmes to modern miB available with the US Forest Servlce. (Eddy 1977c:140) 8 Ground photo from 1926 showing fe tures and a stone wall built to protect the site. ( E d d ) I974:lO36) 7' 8 Aerlal photographs. ( E d d j l9'77b:l5O) 8 C a r n B photo of 1902 showing ~t a s a 'house-and showmg a buffalo skull on the E slde of the central cairn. (Fnes 1980:ZU) 8 Ground shot from 1924 looking NE dver the central r a m (Fries 1980:211 8 Shot of the location viewed from the SE, and of the site itself looking south. (Wrlson 1981 :339)

Shots from site viewing clouds and thunderstorm: photo of escavacon are3 ; ! ~ i l w r ; 1981 :363 1

8 Map of excavated segment (1l'~lson 1981 :367i

Other References: L e m s 1941:105 Mullory 1957:137 ,

Kehoe 1954:136 Dempsey 1956:182 Wyoming Archaeolog7cal Society 1959:94 Wedel 1961:266 Brown 19633225 Kehoe 1972: 188 Eddy & F rbis 1975 Eddy 1 9 6 3 0 Kehoe & Kehoe 1976b:41 .4dams 1976: 100 Kehoe & Kehoe 197'i:8.5 Calder 1977:206 Lahren 1979:95 Dlckinson 1979: 2 1 Kehoe. & Kehoe 1979:34 Ovenden 198 1b: 3 7 1

Setting:

SUN ZUVER CjPb-0 .'(wTT~~)

t . .

Place: Montana

Latitude: -47.5nnnN

Elevation: ' 1 150m

Map: Choteau .EO

" 'Legal: nnnnnn

C .b

* A ~ d d i t i o n : Partially ~k&ro;ed w, .

+3.33cod:- Aligned Plan S ,

c 1mm;diately N of the Sun h v e r on a flat river terrace about 10m above the river itself. (Qugg 1984:222) 8 "On a gravelly flat on the noit-h bank of the Sun River ... [due to damming1 the former edge of the river cannot be actermined ... An abandonned channel on the north bank suggests that the wheel wiginally lay a s much ,as 25 feet back from the edge" (Newcomb 1967:17) . r

,, 1 - . . -.

Description: I .

,

8 The central ring is 4 k t . . ' i n diameter, the outer +qj is similarly 21 feet. 10 rows of stones 2 1 to 40 feet in ; length radiate gving a t&g*;'diameter of 100 feet. (Kehoe 1972:184) 8 Site contains numerous stone circles and a Medicine Wheel. A 7m diameter central circle yith a 1.2m stone-lined &rth in the center. Lewis (1941) indicates 11 spokes whereas most maps, indicate 10 vajring from 7 to 13m and a few ending in cairns. Newcdmb's ( Newcomb 1967:18) indicates cairns a t each terminus. Two small cairns lie to the northwest, and Wo line segments are also to the northwest. (Quigg I 984 :i22)

. - .

8 "The artifact [Medicine ~hee l ]<&kis t s of a central ring 21 feet across, witfiin whlch, a t the center is a second circle 4 feet in diameter. Radiating outward frpm the larger outer circle are eleven rows of rocks, arranged like the spokes of- a wheel. These spokes are only approximately evenly spaced, are roughly the same length ... The lengths vary considerabiy, as short a s . twenty-one feet to forty feet. This brings the outer tips of the spokes averaging distances apart, but reachir;g a maximurn on some places of forty feet ... The diameter of the wheel is approximately 100 feet, with a circumference bf well over 300 feet ... The central four-foot circle gives no sign 'of being used for fire. It :4! be noticed that [four spokes] lie closely along the four

'

principle points of the compass ... (Lewis 1941:76) 8 .

. , , ,

SON RIVER CjPb-0 (24TT67)

"The Medicine Wheel itself consists paces in drarneter. From the ring 10 spacing, nine of them being 14 paces terminates in a cluster of from three ariented north and south respectively.

of a .central ring of stones 2 1 feet, or seven a rms radiate outwardly in irregular angular in length and one 7 paces. Each of the a rms to eight rocks. ... Arms 1 and 6 are closely The other a rms have no relation to the cardinal

directions. Mr. Bisnette recalled observing an inner concentric ring, about 4 feet in diameter, in 1948 ... While the measurement of the a rms shows a variation In length -. a s much a s 5 feet, the irregularities of the ground equalize pacing to 14 steps per a r m except for the half-length arm." (Newcomb 1967:17) ~

s

Status: , .

a The site was intact in 1948 but 'four spokes have since .eroded and the hearth has .

been -vandalized. (Quigg l984:222 1

8 Intact in 1948 but southern a rms had almost disappeared d u e to flooding by 1 O G Z . Map of flooding lines to 1964 show most of the site had been affected, and complete inundation was expected by 1967. (Newcomb I96 i':171

j Nearby Features: There are ti;$ i ings ,to the east . (Kehoe 1972:184) There a re 1T'other stone circles reported on the same terrace. one of which is - 3

questionable Medicine wheel (Sun River 2). (Quigg 1984:222) + "Absence of teepee r ings ' (except a s hereafter noted) is glaringly noticeable. Very

evidently the place was not a camp site. The exceptions to be noted lie about a . . hundred yards eas t of the wheel, consist of a group of only four average-sized teeaee rings. These rings differ from ordinary camp site teepee rings only in having short rows of rocks, set a s though b i d e r i n g a n entry walk, and extending to the east. Two - of the rings had this feature, t h e * other two did not ... We should not overlook the

'

fact that the Medicine Wheel ,*is .ih the .verv heart of the buffalo drive cuun i ry . 7%~. Williams h l l .js directly across. the . river- the Eder slightly to the east." iLeu*is 1941:76) % . .

. . , , ."

Cultural Materials: . 2

Dating Evidence: - . ~,

7 "Based on the fact this area was under lackf foot dominion beginning in the late years of the eighteenth century (Kehoe 1954), the wheel co'uld have been built an?. , - time within the last 7.5 to 200 years. Judging from the depth the rocks have s u n k into the soil, 2 inches or less, the age is probably eloser to the later; figure." . Wewcomb 1967:19)

Theory: "The use of the number 7 [in pacing out the site], or its' multieles, is puzzling but

it must have some significance. Seven appears in other known wheels." t~e luc&nb l 967:17)

Refers to Dempsey's [19561 the use of 7 comes from the perso&'. (Newconb l967:ZO) 8 "It might be a coincidence,

77 circle stopes and 14 hearth stones and wonders if 7 sLara of Ursa' Major, which was called 'the Seven

but a rm number 7 points to ~ e k i s and Clark Pass,

A . SUN RIVER CjPb-0 (24TT67) %

, +

.over the Continental Divide;, humber 8 p i n t s ' ta' Lone Chief Mountain; in the Elk ~ & e k drainage, southwest of ,Augusta; number 9 points to the,: Saw Toath Ridge on the south side of the entrance to .Sun River Canyon; and 1 0 to Ear Mountain, west of ~ h o k . e a u ; Montana :.. There are specific.. landmarks visible -in the directions of the, other ,,&-ms a s visioa is obscured by the rise of ground and timber to the north, east and south." (Newcomb l967:2O?

~ e h o e believed it tb c o m m e m o r a ~ ~ a great chef. (Quigg 1984:2:!2) ' 8 Blackfoot: Dekc"ption b i ~ i r n weasel Tail of the spokes of the Sun ~ iver 'whee l

pointing -to 'direc$ions of war parties - of chief, being honored; the lengths of spokes denoting distances travelled. This testimony is consistent y i th earlier testimony by the

;same informant ' and his father. ( ~ e h o e & Kehoe 1979i34) . ' Type B Medicine ' ~ ~ h e e l , according *to ~ i a c e . (Brace 198 7: 79 1 , -

-Images: - . ,

sketch map from 1954. ( ~ e h o e 1954:135! . ' - ..

~ e t a i l e d map from 1979 (Kehoe'-& Kehoe 1979:33) 8 ~ a ~ ' from' about 39.62. Includes lengths and magnetic bearings of 10 spokes. (Newcomb f 967:l&

Ofher References: - m Kehoe 1955:n 8 Wedel 1961:268 . , . . 8 Brown 1963:226 .P Eddy 1977b:n

Montana State site form .

Setting:

GLEN EWEN

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

~ k c o r d :

Saskatchewan

49.0nnnN

101.9nnnW

526m

62Fl4

nnnnnn

Badly disturbed

Aligned plan

Not far from the Manitoba border and the international line, and overloolung the Souris River. (Kehoec 19 7Z:l88)

On the crest of a valley slope 8 0 0 m W of the Souris R.

Description: The site is all mounded earth and no rock. (Kehoe &- Kehoe 1979:23) "It has a central mound 50 feet in diameter ' a d 1.5 feet high. Four earthen

embankments only a few inches high and 12 feet wide radiate out from the central mound for as much as 670 feet in length and terminate in a conical mound 30 to 40 feet in diameter. The total length stretches 815 feet but the end of one embankment has been destroyed by plowing and probably originally stretched over 1000 feet in length. Charred wood remains from planking covering the burial chamber beneath the central tumulus was radiocarbon dat&d.'+ (Kehoe 1972:188)

Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: Stones marked the ends of the cross shape, wood poles or planks covered the burial pits.

4

Status:

, . Near y Features: . . . . . ?

Non$?but not likely since the &d is p1ow.d. (Kehw & Kehoe 1979:23!

Cultural Materials: Saskatchewan Archaeolopcal Survey form: Hum+ 'skeletal materials and other

artifacts recovered. - .

Dating Evidence: Rado-carbon date of 730 +I- 70 A.D. is in hand. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23)

. . 279 *. '

GLEN EWEN ~ g ~ ' 1 - ' 1

. . ,.

. ,. . . . . - . . , . . . , '

. . . . " , ,-

w Saskatchewan Archaeolog~cal Survey form: F ~ d i o carbon dates of i220 +/- 70 BP and 11 10 +/- 90 - BP oh wood planking. Mound may have contained 25-30 burials at - . one time. . .- .

' .. .. ' - . Theory: w Relates Medicine wheels and many kinds of earth embankments. ( ~ e h o e I w No boulders and therefore not a Medicine Wheel - Quigg. (Quigg I984:5)

Checked unsuccessfully for astronomical alignments. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:Z

Images: w Plan map with solstice sunrise and sunset marked. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:24'1 w Photos on file with the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History.

Other References: *

Piace: . Saskatchewan h+

Latitude: 4Y.OnunN

Longitude: 1 0 2 . 2 n n n ~

Elevation: 5 5 0 m

Map: 62E/ 1

Legal: n n n n n n

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Aligned plan . < ,t

Setting: E

It occupies a terrace on the south side of the' Souns h v e r where the rlver turns', north. (Quigg l984:l63) a* 1 8 On a valley rim / point bar island 500m from a stream. (Brace 1987:781 rn "The site extends approximately one kilometre east-west and approximately 200 metres north-south. The majority of the site is located on an ancient island-bar between the present height of land to the south and a river valley to the north of the site. The ancient river drainage to the south of the site possesses numerous flowing springs and one intermittent slough." (Bmce 1987:76,)

Description: rn A site containing two Medicme Wheels, an extremely large: stone circle and other small stone circles. Oxbow 1 is the easternmost Medicine Wheel, consisting of a 5 to 6m diameter central cairn from which 4 spokes radiate in roughly cardinal directions.

5 Cairn termini are not present. (Quigg 1984:163) 8 Gives magnetic directions of spokes from center as North: 326'50'; West: 240" 16'; South: 158'06'; and East: 47"26'. (@race 1981:l) 8 Spoke directions relative to true north gwen by 34"18', 148'58', 227"0$' and 313'42'. The number of boulders in these spokes given as 316, 288, 301, and 208 respectively, for a total of 1113 boulders. (Brace 1987:68) 8 [Shape and orientations same as Halbrite and Moose Mnt.]

Status: Seems the central cairns of Oxbow 1 and -Oxbow 3 were dug into near 1940 and L

'.!

some beads yere found. (Quigg 1984:163) 4

Nearby ~e&urerres: -a=-

8 Many other features are within the site, including rings. (Quigg 1984.163)

182 tipi rings observed In the vicinity. along with 2 cairns. (Bmce 1967:78)

Cultural Materials: Some beads found in central cairns of Oxbow 1 and 3.' rQ~lgg 1984:1631

? Some bones and beads reportedly found In the central cairn by the landowner.- (Brace 1987:119) /

7

Dating Evidence: \ Prov~des a ' h ~ g h confidence' date of between 1878 and 1881 f ~ i , t h e slte b+ed on"

l~chenometrg. (Brace 1987:361 t, ~ h e o r y :

Considered a RIedicine Xheel by Brace. (Brace 1981:l I

Images: - + r;

1977 Saskatchewan hluseum of Natural History site form sketch. sketch showing relation of the Oxbow s i tes .

1978 detailed map b?- Saskatchewan Museum of. Natural H ~ s t o r \ hlappmg was done in 1980. (Brace 1987:781 S ~ s k a u h e w a n Archaeological Survey form: Photos on file with the Sdshatchewan

Archaeolo@cal Su rve j .

Other ~eferences:

Setting: - p .. I t occupies a terrace on the south side of the Souris

north. (Qu~gg l984:l63)

OXBOW 2

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

River where the river .,turns

Saskatchewan

, - 1 9 . 0 n n n ~

62El1

nnnnnn I

Partly disturbed

Aligned Plan

On a glacial point bar island 1 tdl plain. A river is about 300m to the north. There's a 360 degree clear wew. (Brace 1987:84)

Description: 8 One of three Mebcme Wheels a t the site. Described a s an e x t r ~ n e l y large stone nng about 15m m barneter just west of Oxbow 1. (Quigg i984:163)

The scattered boulders m the m e n o r suggest a small l s t u r b e d cairn, conforming wlth the known disturbances of the related Oxbow site cairns. The N-S and e - W barneters of the n n g are 15.2 and 14.2m for a+ 14.7m average. Two exterior lines are also noted. (Brace 1987:83)

Status: P 8 Seems the central cairns of Oxbow 1 a n d Oxbbw 3 were dug into near 1940 b d - -

some beads were found. (Qr~rgg 1984:163) +

Nearby Features: ~ & y other features are within the site, including rings. (Quzgg 1984:163) Nearby are 182 s a n e rings, 2 Medicine Wheels, d 2 cairns. (Bmce 1987:84)

CuItural Materials: "r 1

Some beads found in central cairns of Oxbow 1 and 3. (Qucgg 1984:163)

Dating Evidence:

+. OXBOW 2 , DgMn-3b

rn Earned a ~ c e r e m o n i d clrcle by Brace. iBracc 1981: l ) rn Type B' ceremon~al clrcle according to Brace. One of the two ceremon~al circles ( d o n g w t h DgNg-2) close to t l p ~ rlngs. (Bruce 1987:84) 8 Kot eotlsdered a Medicme Wheel by Qulgg. ( Q u g g 1984:163)

Images: + 8 Detailed map by Saskatchewan hluseum of na tu ra l History completed rn 197h .

(Brace 1 9 8 I : l ) 1977 Saskatchewan hluseum of Natural History s ~ t e form sketch 1978- detailed map by Saskatchewan hiuceurn of Katural History

Other References:

OXBOW 3 - DgMn-3c

Place:

Latitude: eJ7\

~ongitu\de: 0 I

lev at id: c

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Saskatchewan

nnnunu

Partly dsturbed

Aligned Plan

- It weupies a terrace on the south side of the Souns h v e r where the river turns

north. (Qulgg 1984:I6J) On a valley r m / -point bar island 300m from a spring. (Brace 1987:78)

- - *

Description: 8 The westernmost of $he Oxbow sltes, conssting of a l m dmrneter cairn surrounded by a lorn dlarneter s h n e cvcie wlth a s m a b l e (10m) operung to the southeast. Seven stone h e s ' radiate from the c m outward 15 to 75m. Two of the spokes (W & NW)

.-have a slgnlftcani curvature to the north. The southeast h e termmates a t a small c w n and passes through a poorly defined stone ring. The two southern lines parallei each other for 40m before j o m g and contmumg southward. (Qugg 1984:163)

Brace used a compass at tkie mte to get magnetic direct~ons of spokes from center as North: 329' 47'; South: l78O 34'; Southeast: 105"OO'; East: 59" 19'; Northwest: 282'04'; XorwestNor !a): 256"52'; NorwestNor (b): 266'52'; and the angle tn feature $1: 39'02'. (Bmce 2981:l) R Spoke angles rdatlve to true north gwen by: 46"11', 91•‹52', 165"26', 166"32', 253'44', 282'04'. and 316'39'. The numbers of boulders m these spokes is given as 38. 20, 191, 327, 232, 127, and 169, respectively, for a total of 1331 boulders. (Bmce 1987.68) -L/

Status: Seems the central c m s of Oxbow 1 d Oxbow 3 were d u g mto near 1940 and

some beads were found. tQugg 1984:163) R The landowner a h : & to "pullmg the central c m apart as a boy". The caun 1s

presently l k m hlgh tBmce I987:7T)

in 1896 ( B m e I967 ;;-I

P 1 The calm was 85cm h g h m 1980 and reportedly 2.4m h g h and 4.3m In dmneter

'285 r . 7: . - I .

'" - . .. - -. , ,

.. . ' i -. ' .-' .. . II

- ,,? , ; . :. s - ,% Z ~ 2 :-

.L . ." -, ,

%-

-. ,:- - _. _ . OXBOW 3 ~ i l ~ n - 3 c

2

Nearby Teatures: r Many ocher features are m t h m the ate. ~ n c l u d ~ n g rings. (Quigg 1984:1631

~ o u n t ~ ' 182 t l p ~ rmgs m the vmnity. (Brace 1987:?8) . Cultural Materials:

Some beads found in central calm5 of Oxbow 1 and 3. ,Qulg2 1964.1631

Dating Evidence:

Theory: 3 a Consdered a bledxinr Kheei by Brace (Bruce 1881 1 )

k t e s that the spoke an& were measued b? E. Kr-upp ~Gr!fiiths Observ,itur\ I In Ju1k 1982. but no a s t r o n o m ~ c a l l ~ sgnif icant ahgnmen t s were found c f l ' r c ~ c ~ 1887.;;1

*

etalled map produced b the Saskatchewan Museum of Katural H ~ s t o r \ In 1 ' ) i h *s: { B r a e 1981:11

1977 Saskatchewan 3Iuseuin of Natural H ~ s t o n site form &etch m Llsts mapplng a s being done m 19W. (Brace 1987 781

Other Refkrences: . J:

MINTON TURTLE

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Saskatchewan

49. l n n n N

104.7nnnW

7 60m

72W2

nnnnnn

Partly disturbed

Aligned Plan

of the Big Setting:

On the N side Plowed on 3 of 4. sides; good SW view from hilltop. Muddy Valley overloobung miles of the valley to the S W and rolling plateau to the N and E. CKehae & Kehoe 1979:12j 8 On a valley rim in tiB plain topography 3.5km from a lake. (Bnure 1987:90)

Description: "figure of a *turtle 130 feet 4ong, composed of a single h e of small rounded

boulders f o r m i ~ ~ a n ovoid body with four w e d h e s as legs (the rear two ending in circular feet), ar A o r t neck, a rounQhead with a pair of rounded ears, 'dot' $yes,

, . and round mouth from whch a q u p b n mark-shaped 'lifeline' leads into the -,upper q

portion of the M y . The center of th; body is,-wcupied hy a cairn of loose stones 30- %'g feet in diameter, From the rear of this c&$% line of stones leads to the point on ., the circle opposite the head. A triangular tail proj&s from the circle at this ~ i n t ,is - #

and ends in a cross." (filehoe & K e h 1979:12) .- ' i Using a compass, Brace has provided some magn"etic measurements from an iron

pin @us diagram '+') to alignmeqt+:,. 1. 136' 17'; and 2. 266'54'. (Brace 1981:I) There is a 6 foot .cairn just weswof the turtle? ' just off the &E-W line on a lower

bench. (Kehoe & &hue 1979:26) a From McCorguodde's 1981 &: "During a conversation with Mr. Leon Uyttanhager ... he states that he had visited the Turtle Effigy in 1917 and had noticed , a large whtte boulder perched upright on top of the central pile of stones. T h s boulder had a face and numerous other marks incised upon it. During the following year (1918) he visited the site and noticed that the buIder (petroglyph) was missing. Mr. Uyttenhager atso informed me that during a visit to the site several years after 1918 he observed evidence of an excavation into the central pile of rocks together wi th the presence of human ribs in earth removed from the excavation." &Brace l987:93 1

/

- 287 J - d

RlINTON TURTLE DhNe-2 I .

-,

' a A 41.96m by 26.07m effig-y with a h e w t h e , alignment and ca lm within and 9 t l p ~ rrngs wthou t . (Brme 198 7:90 J 1

I

Status: v

9 9 Nearby Featyres: -3

There are 5 rings w % t h e % x t major plateau sectlon of the escarpment NW .of the Turtle, considerably closer'.'i&n the 3 mdes by road. The Turtfe itself 1s plowed on 3 s ~ d e s . (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:12!

Saskatchewan Archaeo\og-cal- Survey form: Three cairns lie to the west on the ridge. The pair of cairns lOOm K are deeply buned, the s ~ n g l e h i r n 200m M' 1s shdlow.

4 Cultural Materials: During mappmg operations, local informants reported the presence of "human hones

in the central cairn". (Brace 1987:93) ' O

8 Saskatchewan Archaeologcal Survey form: Quartzite flakes and spalls.

Dating ~vid,en'&

Theory: B

8 Considered an effigq- ratAer than a Medicine WJ-ieel by Qu>gg. iQugg 1984:5, 1 Ahgnments with summer so ls t~ce sunset suggested. as well t a l k of Capella and Sinus . I t is even suggested tha t the figure could represent .a dog, as Slrius is known a s the dog s t a r over much of the world. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:13) a Suggests the figure could be a bear or dog as well, with the central cairn being borne on the bellj-: hmts tha t the figure would have to have been seen from the nlr

.to have been made out. I how about from a tall central pole? I (Kehne 6- Kchoc 19 iT:89)

Considered a badger rather than a turtle b j Biace: twb Katixe ~nforrnant- wele found _who concurred w-ith this. brace l987:9? I

Images: t Detaded map, but some confusion as to scale between different verstons of it.

i K e h e & Kehoe 1979:14) -

Aenal photo, s h o w g g lqrge central bushes iEdd? 1977a:241 8 Saskatchewan ~rch"aeolo&al Sunre>- form: Photos on file with Saskatchev.,an Museum of S a t u r a l History. Sask 3ledia shot some \-ideo footage in 1982.

Other References:

BIRD FOqT SHRINE - - e

, *

Dh-Ng-1 - )

Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude: 49.2nanN

Longitude: 105. lnnnW

Elevation: , 778m

Map: .. 7 m 3

Legal: n u ~ n n n

Condition: . Destr~yed

Record: Aligned plan

Setting: 8 The Blrd Foot site contains a single feature 500m S af the Big Muddy Valley on the prame level. (Quigg 1984:170)

On rolling hllls. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23) m On hummocky morraine a t a valley rim approximately lkm from a spring. ( B m e 198 7: 78) m Saskatchewan ArchaeologvA Survey form: On the crest of a slope area with deeply cut coulees leadmg mto the Big Muddy Valley.

Description: 8 Once consisted of a small cent-11 cairn with three stone lines radiating from it. The W h e was 77m long, the east line was 38m long and teiminated in a small cairn, and the third reported line was not found in 1975. (Quigg 1984:170)

Just west of the Doug Wade site. In 1975 Bird Foot had one long E-W line wkh a small cairn one-third of the &tame (115ft) from the east end of the line. Each end of the h e has a s d w, the west one consistmg of three deeply embedded rocks. (K hoe & Kehoe 1979:23)

The s&ke angles relative to true north are given as 24"56', 180•‹31', 213'26', and 253" 06'. (Bmce l987:68) 3-

!-It appears that the spokes intersect atop "a slight prehistoric m a - m a d e rise in the topography". ( B m e 1987:80)

Saskatchewan Museum d Natural History Site form. a

Status: b

8 An excavahon of the central cairn to 20cm below the lowest stones, wkch were 5 a n beneath the surface, was done, but notes and catalogue sheets were not on fde at the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History. The site form on file indicates some eroslon from 011 dnliing, and that by 1975 a temporary road had destroyed one of

BIRD FOOT, SHRINE ,\DhNg-l

. , -1 .

the spokes. (Quigg Q 8 Brace lists thls as the 'Big Muddy Bird Foot Shrine', a Medicine Wheel that has

been d;stroyed wound 1968. I t was mapped in the field in 1964. (Bruce 1 9 8 1 : l ) f Listed a s destwyed. (Brace 1987:681 -* Kehoes found partial remalns (three cairns joined by rock lmes In an E-U7 direction in 1976. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:23)

Nearby :Features: 8 No other features reported. ~€&i&1984-:120) 8 Tipi rings are scattered over the rolling range land of t h s south escarpment. About 118 mile S W of the slte 1s a small cairn on a hill slope. (Kchoe & Kehoe 1979:271 8 Numerous tip1 rmgs were orlg~nally noted ~JJ the north. (Brace 1987:XOl

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theom 8 The E-W fines kernamlng In 1975 dld not appear to be astronomically al~gned. tKehoe & Kehoe 19 B:23

The site may be built on a slight man-made hill. (Brace 1987:80)

h a g e s : rn McCorquodale map of 19.56

Other References: Kehoe 1972:186 Kehoe 8; Kehoe 197'7:86

Setting:

< . , -

CANUCK ' . . DhOb-2 -

Place: Saskatchewan . .

Longitude: 108. 1ont1W - Elevation: 950m

Map:

Legal: nunnuu

8 This Medicine Wheel is 5km southwest of the Frenchman River Valley atop a knoll on the prairie. The region is knob and kettle topography, giving away to flatter prairie to the west. (Quigg 1984:173)

On hummocky morraine/tdl plain 3km from a stream. (Brace 1987:78) r "approximately 2krn south of a major river valley on rolling plains topography" ( B m e 1987: 76)

Description: 8 A 3m diameter stone cairn ha's six spokes ting away with closely spaced, nearly straight lines, The SE line is slightly curved. The spokes a re 1 0 - 15 long and are without terminating cairns, except tha t the E and W spokes each ha a midway cairn of 10 to 15 stones. (Quigg 1984:173) 8 Spoke angles relative to true north give3 by 2g036', 67"51', 9S016', 217O2 ,

31, respectively, for a total of 174 boulders. (Brace 1987:68)

'1 264'46' and 310•‹46'. The numbers of boulders in these are 31, 34, 17, 17, 44 and

Status: 8 No excavations have been done and it is believed the site wac destroyed by cultivation. ( Q u g g l984:173)

Listed a s a destroyed M d c i n e Wheel by Brace: Was mapped directly before destruction. (Bmce 1981:l) 8 Listed as destroyed. (Brace 1987:78) 8 Not found by the Kehoes in 1975 after a foot survey of the sectipn. They did find a low cairn on a mth- fac ing hill with two 20ft spokes heading N and ENE, but found h s "would not Rave been suitably situated for astronomical observations" and dld not consider it the site. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:28)

Nearby Features: Stone rings are recorded in the vicinity. (Quigg 1984:173)

8 No tipi rings were noted during the initial sits mapping. (Brace 1987:76)

Cultural Materials: .

, Dating Evidence:

Themy:

Images: 8 Mapped in 1967 by G. Watson. (Watson 1974u:6)

C

Other References: 8 Saskatchewan Museum of Natura l History site form 1966

Place: Saskatchewan

-w Latitude: - 49.7nnnN

4.. -*

Longitude: 1 0 2 . 7 n n n ~ -i

Elevation: - +.

780m

Map: 623115

Legal: dannnn

- Condition: Partly disturbed

~ee06d: Aligned Plan

Setting: 8 At 5-50 feet it caps the hlghest hill in the n&;ghh%ood. Commands impressive views of the susroundrng knob and kettk 'moraine to the N and E, and the flat grassland to the S and W. The summit is cont.iouously windswept. (Kehoe & Kehoe 19 79:9)

Near the southwest-corner. of :Moose Mountain, overlookmg Moose Mountain Creek to the sou~$west. It occupies 'The Bate' , the highest hill in the district. (Quigg 1984:180)

"not a mountain a t all, but a low, timbered ridge thst stretches across softly ,rolling farmland.:. about 15Om above the nearby plain." ( ~ d d ~ 1977b:I62)

8 On hummocky moraine on a highland rim 350111 from a spring. (Brace 1987:78) 8 'Saskatchewan Archaeologicql Survey form: Numerous ponds and seasonal ponds all around.

Description: (Personal communication - Brace '831 Kehoes had missed an 1895 survey reference

to Moose Mountain that the central cairn had had been 8ft high. Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. Was unable to obtain permission to take

angle measurements in 1980, 1981. '(Bruce 198I:I) Gives the spoke angles relztive to true north as 7"48', 63"13', 176"03', 216"18',

and 284"03'. The numbers of boulders in these are 152, 90, 123, 294 and 151 respectively, ,for a total of 810 boulders (970 including the ring boulders). (Brace l987:68)

"a ceqtral cairn 30 feet in diameter and four feet high with a heart shaped circle of stones encircling it 50 to 65 feet in diameter. The apex of the i r r e b a r circle is LQ the southeast ... Four of the linesiare in the cardinal*directions." (Kehoe 1972:185) * A lorn d i h e t e r by l m h~gh central cairn is-encircled by an oval-shaped stone circle roughly 25 by 17m across. Five stone spoke6 radiate from the cairn through

n

i* , - . - - ' / - , , I +.+" . , " . - . , ., . . . - , " I. 4 . - - 3

2 . .

" C . x

* .- I . , , - I e , *

1 . - 293 - ,,' . . +-

,&-*>. z *

. ?,,- . . ,- MOOSE MOUNTAIN -DkMq-2 . - a , , = ' . ad A . -

*, - , - - *, r f .

,- - 4' >A<. , k- ."., - - * .P+" " ,

43. \ ,. r * - - . t ,

. . . i . s \ 15 * - - * i;

. - . _ hr- f , , 3 r

the circle and termin& in cairns from lirn to 30m away. All spokes are relatively . straight except for the soutbeq one,. .which curves slightly. The largest spoke .-@rn iS

nearly 5GL across. T h e 'features are well defined by boulders laid side-by-side, . , , t

sometimes twwab-reast. '$in& 'dlbl~ters of stines. are seen in and out of the circje:; A- c:' .6,< v

SrnaIl c a n is- l.Bm outsjde of the circle to the SE. The 1976 K e h e excavatlun found' . the centk l cairn to be dirt-fil~ed the+5m !ebel. There were three e'rCcep&nnfly -'

J large baulders -near' the center 07 t i ie central .cairn, and the stones beldw -s$med . . ' show* some ordering of size.---The SW ' s p k e cair? *iv+ eons t rbad of s m d & stones B. - .' and herd a. centrd depression 0 . 4 2 ~ b ,below the. surtaoe. The ends of tke SW spoke

'

.. were at the same depth a s their' adjoining cairns. (Quigg 1984:J80) "* -

. "The central cairn is composed of loose stohes, and n-qsures 'abou8 th~r ty feet in diaaeter" ' m d four' feet high. T h s is surround& by a heart-ihaped figure ^OF stones, .f '

having i t s apex t ~ w a r d the east, and from this radiate ei2z rows of str>nq, each tet'minating in a small cairn. Four of &hew radiating lmes nearly ,correspohd to points of the cornIjass and each of the lines of d ' ierent lengths terminate in a srnalhq cairn:? ' %he Indians know nothing of the origin of these) lines .and cairns, but state%h&t they

. .- L, A &8e made by the _spirit of the win&." Gb4c~ean 1896r;S80) , .. - *

' % ' i The bottom 6f the. dentral -ci&il Features a fl2t ston; f l ~ ~ r < ' ~ u n d ~ & e a ~ k h i c h ,,. - * . charcod layer, (Brecher & .Fzertag 19 f'9:23)L * .* t = . c . ~ U f s

I*, r .,. . I 1

r- .d * -

b i . %

_- - k' . *.,

% - ' * * 3 - , Status: - ';r C . " . < .

LY -,'- l k *

Brian Spurling (Personal C o r n m p ~ E a t h 11881 -;It-'is 6ow qufk &ffi<ult to get near the site because the local Indiaqs are guarding it veiy wdl 85% a s & p d ute. +, a C

" ~ 6 e center of the c a i ~ n is lower than its periphery, perhaps due to the act~on of ,* $ 3s treasure-seekers. (There is no feebrd 'of"su&.8ctibity, but the spot is visited by

9 '

p~cnickers.) ... The stdnes in the lines and circle, and those a t the bases of the cairq. and mounds, are solidly embedded in the spilil" (Kelzoe 61. Kehoe $9?9:9i-

t .

Nearby Features: ' m There are 3 to 5 tipi rtngs toward the SW on a flat narrob terrace on the hillside. There is a rock cairn on the hillside above the tipi camp terrace. (Kehoe & - Kehoe 1979:26) I

Counts 30 tipi rings nearby and 1 cairn. (Brace 1987:78)

Cdtural Materials: . + - . ,"Ethnographic interviewing c6nsistently drey a blank on the ~ o c k e Mptintain

configuration." ( K e h e -& KeAoe 19 79:361 B 7

5'55 classifiable artifacts were obtained in the Kehoe excavation of 1976. 4Ck3 of these were endscrapers, 44 were side scrapers, 35 knives, l as gravers, 10 flakes, 1 8 cores, 10 spokeshaves, 6 chisels, 2 hammers, 2 points, 9 pottery sherds, 1 drill, 1 blade. 1 bone awl and 1 bone spatula. Most of these &me from test~ng the western edge of the central calm, the fewest from near the SW, spoke cairn. (~z&g 1 9 R I : I t i I ~

C

Dating Evidence: Claim that Eddy dates the slte astronomically to the 18th or 19th century. ( K r / i o ~ -

& Kehoe 1979:lO) , . - -, The presence of two P r a ~ n e s~de-notched points and ceramics implies an age

between AD 250 and 1750. The charcoal in the humus layer beneath the central u % -

294

., MOOSE MO'UNTAIN DkMq-2 :

cairn was dated to AD '800 + I - 360 years. (Quigg 1984:18l) 8 "The charcoal fragments . . . gave the radiocarbon date 2650 +1- 245 years (700 BC radiocarbon, which calibrates by the MASCA formulation to 800 BC, or with the standard deviation to between 1080 and 440 BC). We accept this sample as dating the initial construction of the central cairn a t DkMq-2, and consider the younger end of the standard deviation, 440 BC, the most likely date." [!I (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:42) 8 "There is no evidence that wguld contradict the hypothesis that tbe rock lines of the Moose Mountain configu<ation were constructed a t the $ m e tims a s the central

\ and station cairns. However, the very slow accumulation of soil on the hilltop, would allow some time to elapse between construetion without sufficient accumulation of soil to indicate the interval." (Kehoe & Kelzoe 1979:47) ,

8 Provides a 'no confidence' date of 1880 ba?ed on l ichenometr~. [Brace 1987:36) Notes that the Kehoe 4408C date corresponds to the 4central cairn y. (Brace

198 7:8O) ' P

% 4 . . T

Theory: 8 [Brace - 1983 phone .conversation] The Assiniboine had been adding to it, and do so even today. Also suggested that the spokes here and a t other Sask. sites tended to point to nearby campsites. 8 Alignments to summer solstice sunrise, sunset, Polaris, S~r ius , Rigel, Aldebaran and Capella suggested. It is also suggested t h a t the observed summer solstice sunrise "would seem closer to the center bf the cairn - if the observer were taller, or were higher' by standing on top of t h e mound of stones. [Suggesting that the observers were taller is ridiculous, and standing atop a pile of stones to make an observation is - -'. quite silly. Also, the report tha t the central cairn mas originally higher makes the supposed observation even more unlikely.] (Kehoe & Kehoe 2979:IO)

Discovery of 'sGnbitl*st' figure here led to similar disco&-ies a t Fort Smith, Roy R~vers , hlinton ahd perhaps Hughton. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:12)

"The artifacts excavated do not appear to have had ceremonial sigmficance. The preponderance of crude endscrapers suggests the cool, windy hilltop was a favourite spot for scraping hides - one can picture the women of a prehstoric hunting band, working a t the stretched bison hides, grateful for the wmd that relieved their perspiring bodies and carried away the stink of the skins." {Kehoe & gp- 1979:59) 8 "In summary, the 1975 and 1976 work at Dkh4q.2 identified the be% 3 i r construction as an observatory for summer solstice sunrise and br ightrs tars that .aid in noting the perlod of solstice. The configuration was probably construct+&& in the final ?el turies BC. Subsequent to its constructions, the site was occasionafiy vlsited ,by hunting bands whose women took advantage of the cod wind ts labor a t hide~craping on the hilltop. Some of 9 e s e brlef occupations occurred during the first millenium AD.

.

The slte does not a p p e x to have been considered an &~ect of ceremony." Rehoe & Kehor 19 79:6O 1

.g Images: 8 Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History site- m a p from 1961. '

Lists slte a s being mapped by the Kehoes in 196L- {Brace 1987:78) Aerial photo. (Edd? 1977c:nl

8 Ground shot of summer solstice sunrise- over central cairn. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:4) Ground shot of central cairn looklng NE. (Kehoe & Keboe 1979:44)

295 d

MOOSE MOUNTAIN DkMq-2

B Ground photo of surrounding countryside. iEddj, 1977a:261

Other References: B Je lks 1962:70

Grey 1963a:27 B Kehoe 1972:185

Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:F;S Eddy 1977b:144 Dickinson 1979:21 Fries 1980:23 Wilson 1981:337

8 Ovenden 198lb :371

Setting:

ALONSA EcLp-0

0

Place:

Latitude:

? Longitude:

Elevation:

Map: . Legal :

Condition:

Record:

Manitoba

5 0 . 4 n n n N

98 .5nnnW

? m

625115

%

n n n n n n

condition

Aligned plan

Description: r A 14.5111 diameter stone ring with a small central ' cairn and f ans of loose boulders extendmg out to the north and south. (Brace 1987:85)

Status: >

Nearby Features: a Two cairns noted nearby. (Brace 1987:85)

Cultukl Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: - Type B ceremonial. c~rc le according to Brace. (Bmce 1987:85?

Lmages: 8 Plar, map with magnetic and t&e north inchcations but no scale, published - in 1&9. (Brace l987: lgg)

Other References: 8 Rutkowski & Wescott 1979

WILSON RUSSELL

Setting:

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

-

8 .Prairie level on the S' run of the Qu'Appelle b v e r valley, with trees the north-facing slopes below- the site. (Quigg 1984:187) 8 On a valley rim 350m from a spring. (Brace 1987:78) 8 The Qu'Appelle h v e r ' is l.5km to the N3TE.

Saskatchewan

Partly disturbed

Aligned plan

and brush on

8 .4 thick rock ring between 6 and 7m In dmmeter m t h a roughly 3.5m diameter open space m the m~ddle. Three stone h e s radiate to c a m s m the NE, NW and S. The spokes a re 29.5, 28.1 and 27.7m long and their c m s are 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3m in dlarneter. A fourth unconnected calm hes about 25m to the E. (Qucgg 1984:187) 8 Listed as a Medlcme Wheel by Brace. He set up for magnetic measurements from center (hs hagram ' + ' i to alignments: North: 18'01'; West: 306'51'; South: 215'10'; and East: 165'59'. ( B m e 1981:I) 8 Spoke angles reiatwe to true north are gven as l o l7 ' , 15.j002', 198"47', and 290•‹02'. The numbers of boulders m these are 113, 61, 66, and 82-Jor a total of 332 boulders. (Bmce 1987:H) --

The' spokes appear to intersect on "a slight prehistorjc man-made rlse in the topography" !Bruce l987:801

- -

Status: A field road disrupts the E spoke but very l~t t le d1sturban;e is noted other than

hs. (Qurgg 1984:10"71 Cult~vatlon to the east h a s ,removed nearby tip rings. (Brace 1987:80)

Nearby Features: A j m stone clrcle is ZSm E of the end of the eastern llne and other srone e~rqles -

are much further io the west. ~Qurgg 1984:187)

WILSON 'RUSSELL EeNe-14

Llsted as nearby are 2 3 tlpi rings and 2 cairns. (Brace 1987:78) "Has 26 tip1 rings to the north and west of ~ t . and had numerous other stone

clrcies in the now-cultn.ated field .to the east." (Brai.c 1987:80~

Cultural Materials: 1 Dating Evidence:

Provides a 'poor confidence' date of 1646 for the site based o n ' lichenometry. (Brace

Theory: 8 Type C hledicine ~ f - h e e l according to Brace. (Brucc . 1987: 7.8 1

Possibly atop a s l~gh t rnanFmade hill. (Brace 1987:80r -

Images: Saskatchexvan , ~ u s e u & of Natural Htsmry site form sketch of 1980.

m Photos on file wlth the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural Hlstory; Sask Media took

Other References:

Setting:

JELLY RANCH EeNg- 1

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map: k

Legal:

Saskatchewan

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Aligned Plan

m A few hundred meters S of the Arm River. (Q@gg 1984:1891 8 On a valley rim lkrn from a stream. (Brace 1987:78) m " w i h fifteen metres of the valley rim of a minor river system" (Brace 1987:v)

Description: '. 4 5m diameter central c m w t h a central depression and three welldefined stone h e s rada t ing to the I\;. S and E 13 to 16.6m and termmating in cairns. (Quigg 1984 ;iI 89) Listed as a Medicine Wheel by Brace. He has mapped it and taken angle

measurements, but misplaced tLls notes. (Brace 1981:l) 8 Spoke angles relative to true north gwen as 342'53', 73"58', and 163'33'. The numbers of boulders in these are 64 , 62 and 42, respectively, for a total of 168 boulders. ( B m e l987:68) s Three spokes: 40, 44 and 50 feet long. There are a large number of tipi ring5 nearby. (Kehoe 1972:1861

"An ahgnment of twenty-four cairns extends from the eastern side of the site to the top of a hill approximately one-half 5lometer south of the Medicine Wheel. This site, not includrng the cairn alqnrnent) occupies approximately ten hectares" ( B m e i987:7Ti t

I

Status: Map indxates scattered c a m s . (Wcrtson 1972b:18) Partly drsulrbed by gravel testing operations in 1977. (Brace 1987:118)

Nearby Features: Xumerous stone c~rcies m d rock d g n m e n t s are mentioned nearby. (Qurgg 1984:189)

m -4 total of 15 t ~ p l rin25 counted nearb:;. {Bruce 1987:781

300 .

JELLY RANCH EeNg-1

8 Lists 44 tlpi rings. (Brace 69LW:77) rn Saskatchewan Archaeological ~ G r v e y form: 5 5 cairns, 1 2 4 circles and a possible ear th mound a re listed nearby.

Cultural Materials: A gravel truck operator in the area In 1977 reported h e a r ~ n g of someone taklng

h

some bones from the rock pile. (Brace 1987:118)

Dating Evidence: I Provides a 'poor confidence' date of 1157 for the site based on lichenometry. (Brace 198 7.'367

Theory: 8 Kehoe says that hisiorical records ~ n d i $ a p a smallpox ep~dermc m hlstor~cal times, and tha t this is the type of Medicme W W e l which typ~cally contains a chief burial. [Kehoe apparently wasn't aware of Montgomery's' work (Montgomery 1908).] (Kehoe 1972:186r

Images: . 8 hlap attributed to K e h w in 1960. (Brace - 1987: 7 8 ) I- '

8 Map of 1972[?]. ilt.atson 1972b:18!

Other References: 8 Montgomery 1908 8 Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History Site Form of 1960. 3 Kehoe & Kehoe 1973:2'i e'

b

Setting: 8 On a long bench-shaped segment within the Red Deer 300m W of the Red Deer h v e r . (Quigg 1984:136)

Deskription:

Place: A1 berta

Latitude: 5l.OnnnN

Longitude: ; .- . . 1 l'l.$nBnw

Elevation: .80'0m '

. - . . . Map: ' 72Ml4.

. .

Legal: nnnnna -

Condition: pardy disturbed' -

Record: Aligned Plan

Rwer valley a b o u t .'200 to .

A 6m &+bed l'im, and

diameter central circle made with a considerable amount of stone with a 1.5m c a m a t its center. 17 spokes r a d a t e out from the circle from 2 to 14 of these end m cairns. (Quigg 1984:136) -

Status: * -

8 Disturbance of central cairn noted. (Quigg 1984:136)

Nearby Features: ' .

5

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

, - Theory: - 'm Listed but not categorized by Brace.. (Brace 1981:l)

Type C Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

Images:. 8 .4rchaeolog1cal Survey of Alberta site form sketch map

Mapped., in 1980-82 by the . Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta Au photos have been taken by Ethos Consultants

Lethbridge Centre

Other References:

Setting: "lies on -a windy srest above Trail Ridge Road, a t

TRAIL RIDGE A d a - 2 a

Colorado i

4 0 . 4 d n n ~ ' -

Map: Greeley

Legal: U U P ~ I I ~

Condition: Undidxrbed

Record:

h u t 3,500 meters altitude."

Plan

(Eddy 19 77b:l55) "on a smdl ,hill a short ds-ce northeast of the pass ... well above the timberline

in a regon dominantly tundra" (Husted 1963:221)

Description: 8 "The alignment conslsts of a small cairn on a hillock from whlch two h e s , or spokes, or rocks meander about 30 meters in roughly opposite directions, ending in rough piles of stones ... The structure is crude and the alignment rough." (Eddy l977b:l55) n "a line of stones running down both sides of the slope a t a right angle to the trail. In places it almost resembled a wall... I t wound this way and that in order to take advantage of large boulders ... the northern line of stones is 240 feet long and

. runs almost parallel to the trail, southeast to northwes and is 150 feet north 'of the saddle. The line of stones to the south begins a t a ? arge boulder south of the saddle and extends for 510 feet. It runs southwest over the top of the hill and down the slope to another saddle ... viewed from above they would look like the letter L. But the rock walls do ~ o t quite meet. The opening is located a t the bottom of the pass and the trail goes through it." (Moomaw 1954r5) t Consists of a rock &gnment and a roek wall which do not quite intersect. (Hwted 1963:222)

Status:

Nearby Features: 8 Other kmds of rock alignrn 1s are k n o ~ in t h s area. Considers the rock wall a d~fferent feature.

TRAIL RIDGE AaAa-2

"Nearby is a reported Ute trail ... There are no tipi nngs or other evidence of habitation in the area and, indeed, I cannot think that anyone would expect to find them there." (Eddy 1977b:1551

- Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: ". "It is apparently old, judging by the sunken rocks and their lichen cover." t E d d ~ .

. 1977b:155! .. - . - ~

m - "The stones had not been moved in ages, and many were embedded in the sod and covered in lichens." (Moomau: l954:6 I

. . ~ h ~ o r y :

Summer solstice sunrise alignment is suggested a t only 1 in 20 chance of k i n g accidental. (Eddy l 9 7 7 b : l 5 5 1 rn Does not consider this a Med'cine Wheel, suggests possible v i s b L quest ideas. i h iMusted l963:222)

Doesn't state it explicitly, but considers that one portion of the wall is perpendicular to the trail, or running down slope. while the other is running parallel to the pass and trail - a topographic hypothesis. (Moomaw 1954:6) rn "No one. who 'has driven u, the summit of the Trail Ridge qoad would evqr propose that agrieGlture was practised there. ,Any who step from their cars into the thin, biting winds of June will probably agree that only the 'masochistic would schedule celebrations there, a t any time of the year." (Eddy 1977d:153\

Images: m Plan map and two ground photos from the central calm. ( H r ~ s t e d 196.7:23-11

Ground photo from end of rock line: transit sightings lvere done In 1 9 i : i . (E t l d~ I 9 77b:155)

Other bferences: Eddy 1974:1040 Fries 1980:22

P /

Setting:

TENSLEEP -I

I s-

l3aNt:O (48WA56-)

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition: Disturbed

Record: *L

In a meadow above Meadowlark Lake in the Southern Bighorn Mountains, County, Wyoming. (Gmnt & Harrison 1981 :63) ,

Wyoming

44. lnnnN

107.2nnnW

2650m

Worland

nnuunn w

Partially

Plan

W ashakia

Description: Consists 'of a stone ring with many poorly defined spokes. (Gmnt & Harrison

1981 :n)

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials: , .

Dating Evidence: 8 Authenticity of the site IS qcesuoned because it is in a heavy recreation area, h i s httle deposition, and a local shepherd claims to have built it. Enough deeply imbedded material remains to suggest it may have been rebuilt at some more recent time. (Gmnt & Han-ison 1981:68)

Theory:

Lmages: 8 G o d aerial photogrammetry turned into good map. (Grady 1982:n) %

z .. . Other References:

Setting:

JENNINGS BcLr-O (39HD22)

Place: South Dakota,

Latitude: 44.3nnnN

Longitude: 9 8 . 9 n n n ~

Elevation: 530m

Map: Huron

Legal: nnnnnn

Condition: Undisturbed

Plan '

* *

Located on open prairle 266111 E of a dry lake. (QuiggL 1984:236) - .

Description: , . a There is a single Medicine WheeJ with a 2.5m .diameter central cairn of unknown

height from which four stone lines- radiate to the NE, NW, SW and SE. These lines terminate at a 6rn diameter stone circle. The lines and circle are comprised of single cobbles layed side by side, and are continuous except for three 0.5 to 1.5m gaps in the circle toward the S, SF and NW. -8. S.S.D. site form was completed in 1982 mcluding a sketch map. (Quigg 1984:236)

Status: No excavation or disturbance is noted on the site form. (Quigg 1984r236)

D "appears to be undsturbed and has not been excavated." (Brumley 1985:62)

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials: - Dating Evidence:

Theory: . Type D Medicine Wheel accordmg to Brace. ( B w e 1987:79)

Images: Sket& map on State of South Dakota site form (also Brumley 1985:59). (Quigg

l984:236)

JENNINGS BcLr-O (39HD22)

Other References: Abbott et a1 1982:31 Rood and Rood 1983

Latitude: 46 .3nnn~ '

Longitude: 107.8nnnW

- - Elevation: 5, - 946m >

Map:

Legal: nnnrtnn -

Condition: 'Piirtly disturbed

Record: , Plan '.'* .

jetting: 5 Nearly lkm east of the Big Horn F&er on the west edge of a 13tn high river

terrace. On the Crow Indian reserve. (Quigg 1984:210) - . rn Site is on a terrace over t& right bank of the Big Horn River in Montana. I ts is 40 feet above the flood plain and 3100 f&t above sea level. Same d&criptibn as with Grinnell (1922:310). About 3 miles north of Fort Smith. The sumtinding terrain is flat, open pasture land covered with short wild grasqes. (Brown 196$:226) . .

Says elevation is 992m from topographic maps. (Robinson l98l:li') Says topographic confumed location is 45.3nmnN and' 107.8r ; 'un~ to within 0.002.

(Robinsoh 1981 :18) - *- Description:

Spokes are 42 to 63 feet in length,-. c e n h circle is 3 feet in diameter. Spokes are not cardinally oriented. The water rwnded rocks are only slightly embedded in the ground. (Kehoe 29 72:185) ..-. -. . .

' + %

m' The Medicine Wheel is compound,' includjng a l m " diameter central circle with six 12.8 to 19.2m spokes radiating out. The two easternmost lines have . h n shortened-

- -by a -road. The circle is 15 rdcks 18 to 35cm in diameter. The spokes contain - between 15 to 65 slightly -burfed stones. (Quigg 1984:210) 8 "a central circle* of stones measuring 3.2 feet-in diameter with six straight spokes

> .

m pairs ... [ranging] from -42 to 63 feet in length -and the disturbed ones" are about 40 feet long ... hub and spokes &e composed .of single rows of water-worn rocks- J measuring from 0.6 &Q 1.1 feet in length. The wheel does not seem to have been b td t with the &entian of orienting it to the fow cardinal directions." (Brown l963:226)

Status: - -

FORT SMITH a BhNx-0 (24BH.220)

Nearby Features: B No other features were mentioned, except that stones a t this site. (Qugg 1984:210) 8 No other archaeologcal s ~ t e s are k n m n within l963:226)

Cultural Materials: None mentioned. (Quzgg l984:2I 0 )

Dating-Evidence: S-.i's

B g€o& are partially burled. cEdd? 1977b:1561

Eddy reported a 'sunburst' cluster of

the imediate vicinity. (Brown

Theory:- s ~ o e Medicine Crow's 1964 tale tells of the wheel's relatively recent orign, but the connectmn and confusion with Crow Scarface myths is apparent. Eddy claims a good solstice .observation, and others have found different alignments. (Qu~gg 1984:210)

Suggestion that the shape and location of the site show it wasn't constructed wlth regard to topography. Also suggests that the terrain 'doesn't lend itself to a complex celem$ny, 'and the lack of cultural remams may a function for the vlsion quest or a s 3 marker or commemorative monument. "It is reasonable to conjecture that the Fort S m ~ t h Wheel served in a ceremonial or commemorative function." (Brown 1963:228) 8 Claims a Fomalhaut alignment for the SE spoke and a winter solstlce alignment for the S W cairn; both looking from the central c a m out. (Roblason 1981:17) 8 Only 5% chance the solstice alignment is accidental; not sure that this is an astronomical marker - however the 'sun symbol' found opposlte the solstice alignment convmced him. (Ed& 19 i'7b:l56)

Type C Medicine W'heef according to Brace. (Brace 19&7:79) F ~ n d s that good alignments are still present after correcting for atmospheric

ext~nction. which hadn't been considered in any previous analysis. and suggests that the alignments aq- even better when i t is supposed that the observatmns were being done f r 6 h s& center rather than across site center. [In other words, alignments can be found any .which way!] fRobrnson 1989:497)

%'

Images: Aerial photo from north showifig cow grazing nearby. (Eddy 1977b:1573

r Ground photo showng summer solstice sunrise 1974. Transit measurements were ~ s h e n in 1973. (Edd? 1977b:1581

Sketch map completed in 1963. (also Brown 1963:229) (Quzgg 1984:210) Aer~al photograph. (Eddj 1974:157) l'iew from site of the SE horizon. mvith prominent knoll. iRobrnson l 9 8 l : Z l )

- A l . x f i r shdes available of site from various ground angles. iRobrnson 1983:6)

Other References: Grmndl 1922:310 Conner 196.5 l

Conner 1967 U Conner 1969

h v e r Basm Survey Site Form

FORT SMITH BhNx-O (24BH220)

Eddy 1976:30 Kehoe Bi Kehoe 1979:12

m" Fries 1980: 198 8 Wilson i981:352

ORAHOOD CINV-0 (24PH 1 1 18)

Place: North Dakota

Latitude: 47.9nnnN

Longitude: 107.5nnnW

Elevation: 8 1 0 m - -,

Map: I' Fort

Legal : nnnnnn

Condition: Unknown.

Record: Plan

Setting: 8 Situated on the top of a hlll south of Malta, Montana. (Dau r986a:23)

Description: Large boulders in the middle of an 1 8 m stone circle with 3 cairn alignments -

towards the northwest but not t o u c b g the circle. (Quigg 1984:5) Within this site there is a central cairn surrounded by a ring of stones 1 8 m in

diameter. There is a large cairn 75m northwest of the Medicine Wheel; between the feature are three dgnrnents of cairns that run roughly parallel, yet converging on the Medxine Wheel. (Dau 1986a:23)

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials: Native groups visit this site occasidnally. (Dau 1986a:23)

Dating Evidence: (I

Tneory : Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:5)

8 L n e l d in the M&ine Wheel list by Dau. (Dau 1986a:23) m Included in Brumley's subgroup 1 (cairn and ring only) despite the p a r d e l rock alignments. (Brumlej l986:14)

.-.

Images: o 1980 Montana State Archaeolog7cal Survey sketch. (Dau 1966a:25)

h

FRESNO DdOl-O (24HL32)

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation: . .

Map:

Legai:

Cqndition:

Record:

Montana

48.6nnnN

109.9nnnW

2600m

Havre

nnnflnti

Partly disturbed

Plan

Setting: On a small prairie hilltop just southwest of the Fresno Reservoir. (Quigg 1984:219)

The site includes stone circles, a rock ahgnment and a ~ d c i n e Wheel. There is a 5~ diamekr stone circle (or possibly a cairn) containing 225 stones. Two stone lines radiate from it 14m to the south and 5m to the east. The former contains 90 stones wide the latter has 15. ( Q u a 1984:219)

Status: L

Possible displacement of stones noted. (Qurgg 1984:219)

Nearby Features: .Cairns and stone rings mentioned in the vicinity. (Quigg 1984:219)

Cultural ~a ter ids : Numerous quartnt,e flakes a d choppers were observed in the area, and a single

ml collectSd. ( Q u g g 1984:219) E

Dating Evidence:

Theory: r Kegrser suggests it may have been, a stdne rmg whlch was later mod~fied by addmg arms and mterior stones. (Qwgg 1984:219)

Images: . - Map by Keyser in 1974 (Keyser 19796:221 Sketch with Montana State Archaeolog~cal Survey site form. iQurgg 1984:219)

* * . a 312

( , Condition: Partly disturbed

. . *. ' 5 .

tt***r%. .a*: , '% -

# , '4 . - '?. - - C $3 : - - > -

s. '. r '1 .. *-*;*;.>:.~c 2

! 1 Record:

WHITEWATER DfNv-O (!&pH 1 102)

Place: A Montana a

Latitude: 48.9nnnN

bngitude: 1 0 7 . 5 n n n ~

Elevation: 805m

Map: Wh~tewater

Plan

Setting: On two low knolls 600m SW of East Fork Wlutewater Creek. (Dau 1986a:22)

Description: A Medicine Wheel along with eight cairns and two stone circles whch is surrounded

by a well-defined nng of stones approximately 15m in dnrneter. No other details a re avadable. (Dau 1986a:ZO)

Status: D The central cairn has been badly disturbed. (Dau 1980"a:20)

Nearby Features:

Cultural- Materials:.

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: Sketch map completed in 1980. (Dau 1986a:Zf)

Other References: hIontana State Archaeolopcal Survey site form.

Setting:

GILES TURTLE

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Fkecord:

Saskatchewan

49.0unuN

105.0nunW

763m

72Hl3

uuunuu

Badly disturbed

Plan

8 "located wi thn 5m of a valley rim, with the head dlrected away from the creek in the valley." (Brace l98?':89)

A small creek is 4 b ,M the south.

Description: Saskatchewan A r c h a e o i o g d Survey form: A turtle effigy facing south with 2

possible burial cairn once in i ts center. 8 L~sted as an animal effigy by Brace. Magnetic direction from head rock over t;+il

c e n t e r h is 165'14'. (Brace 1981:l) A 10.55m by 14.2Qm turtle effigy with an internal cairn and 6 nearby tipi rings.

The effigy wxupies a valley rim on till plain topography 120m from a creek. (Bmce I98 7:BO)

Status: Site has been painted with white enamel paint, thus there is no hope of

lichenometnc dating results. (Bnzce 1987:36)

Nearby Features: ir I

8 The site is 18m west of 5 tipi rings and within 1.5km of a ceremonial circle and suspected war lodge remnant. ( B m 1987:92)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theov: Listed as an an~rnal e f i a bb- Brace. (Brace 1981:I)

GILES TURTLE DgNg-1

r Turtle effigy according to Brace; perhaps a water pointer. (Brace 1987:89)

Images: Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History detailed m a p of 1978. (Bruce 1981,:l) Sask Media took video footage of the effigy in 1982; many photos on file.

Other References: *

GILES CIRCLE DgNg-2

Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude:

Longitude: - Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Undisturbed

Plan

Setting: On a flood plain 50m SW of a spring. There is 160

(Bruce 1987:84) Within a valley complex adjacent to a stream on one

the opposite side. ( B e e 1987:88). Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: On the first bench below the prairie

level, on a spur above coulee.

degrees of unobstructed view.

side and nine stone circles on

Description: Listed as a ceremonial circle by Brace. The d~rection from the juncture of the

interior line with exterior circle (his diagram '+') to the (Brace's) point marked 'a' is magnetic 330'46'. (Bmce 1981:l)

The N-S and E W diameters are 17.5 and 25.9m for an average of 21.7m. There is an interior line dissecting the circle. (Brace 1987:84)

This is a n unusual ceremonial circle in that it doesn't occupy a higher topogriphic location. (Brace 1987:85) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeologml Survey form: Constructed of fairly large rocks, not too deeply buned.

Status:

Nearby Features: Nine tipi rings are in the vicinity. (Bmce 1987:84) Nine stone rings are right beside the feature. (Brace 1987:88)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

316

G E E S CIRCLE DgNg-2

8 Provides a 'high confidence' date of 1857161 for the site based on lichenometry. (Bmce 1987:36) ca

Theory: Type D ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Bruce 1987:841

Images: 8 Saskatchewan Museum of Natural Hlstory detailed m a p of 1978. (Brace 1981:l) 8 Photographs taken by Walde.

Other References:

Setting: rn On a till plain 500m W of a river. ?here is 270 (Bmce 198 7:84)

ALAMEDA CIRCLE DhMn-9

Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude: 49.3nnnN

Longitude: 1 0 2 . 2 ~ ~ ~ ~

Elevation: 580m

Map: r 62E/8

Legal: n ~ ~ n n n

Condition: Unknown b

Record: Plan

legrees of unobstructed view.

Description: A stone ring a t the apex of a hill with a large (0.5Pn) dolomite boulder a t centre.

, The NrS and E-W dkmeters of the ring are 15.9 and 16.lm for an average of 16.0m. (Brace 1987:86)

Status:

Nearby .Features: One tipi ring noted nearby, but not within 275m. (Brace 1987:84)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: Named a ceremonial'circle by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) A large (0.5m) dolomite boulder a t ring center may have been a 'speaker's

platform'. Type B ceremonial circle. (Bmce 1987:86)

h g e s : Detaded map by the Saskatchewan Museum of ~ a t u r a l History. (Brace 1981:l)

Other References: /-'

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

HARDY TURTLE

Map:

Legal:

Condition: = - -

Record:

Saskatchewan

49.3nnnN

104.8nnnW

750m

72Hb7 ':

nnnnntl

Destroyed +

Plan

Setting: On knob and kettle till plain topography 200m from a creek. (Brace 1987:90)

. Description: 8 A 26.50m by 17.08m turtle effigy with a center line. (Brace 1987:90)

status: Listed as a destroyed animal effigy by Brace. Tt h& been mapped directly and was

effectively destroyed in 1966 when it. was moved to a nature park. (Brace 1981:l) I

Nearby Features: The unplowed rangeland adjacent to the now-broken site has several tipi ring camps

with three or more distinct rings on the lower knolls in this steeply rolling country. One camp had unusually large rings of 30 feet in diameter. Small rock cairns occur on many of the highest knolls in this area. Especially interesting was a commanding ridge top on which were one cairn 4ft in darneter, three smaller cairns each two feet

' in hameter (not apparently in any alignment) and a tipi ring-sized stone circ'le with two semicircular ears attached to its SE and SW sides. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:28)

C u l t u d Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory Turtle effigy; perhaps a water pointer. ( B m e 1987:89)

Images: Detailed map with magnetic north.

OGEMA CIRCLE

Place:

Latitude:

hn&tude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Partly distwbed .

Plan

Setting: , Knob and kettle till plain country with two 90 degree unobstructed views to the E

?

and W. A spring is lkrn to the NE. (Brace 1987:84) The site is located on a small depression or saddle between the southern uplands ,

and a northern knob landform. Vision toward the south permits a maximum view of the upslope landscape to a distance of 0.5km; however, the knob rises abrup& within 10m north of the feature ta an elevation 8m higher than the site. ( B m e 1987:87)

Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: On hghest hill south of Ogema, on the south part of a big flat.

Description: A stone circle with a disturbed central caim and a further cairn along the ring. ,

The ring N-S and E-W diameters a& 32.0 30.5m for an average of 31.3m. (Bmce 1987:84) ,

Stones from the central cairn are now scattered throughout the circle' area' (Bmce ,- -: 198 7:88) - p -

Saskatchewan Archaeological Sarvey form: There are two smaller rings with embedded rocks , wi'thin. the big circle, which is over 100' in diameter.

Status: - . ' . .

Visit of 811988 - not found, unless it was a 3m diarnet.& ti4 lm high recent cairn nearby (ie: destroyed?).

Nearby Features: Three stone circles noted. (Bnzce 1987:84) Saskatchewan Archaeolog~cal Survey form: There are two rock cairns about 150'

north of of the circle. Visit of 811988 - lots of tipi rings in the vicinity. . . . .

I.7 I

OGEMA CIRCLE DiNf-1 -< r

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: Prowdes a 'high confidence' date of 1825130 for the site based on lichenometry. +,

(Brace l987:36) *

q Theory: rn 'listed a s a ceremonial circle by Brace. (Brace 1981:l)

Type C ceremonial cnrcle according to 'Brace. (Brace 1987:84) This figure might have served as a marker for a fresh water spring located to the

4 NE- of the slte. (Brace 1987:88) - 7

"

Images: 8 Mapped with magnetic north and contours in 1964.

B&W and colour photos on file with, Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey. - % . - '1 Other References:

, - STEEL.

. -

., Place: - Alberta

Latitude: . . a . 49.3nnnN * .

Longitude: 113.OnnnW

Elevation: . . ' . 11OOm-

Map: . 82W6

Legal: annnng

Condition: Undisturbed

Record: Plan

h c a & d lkm from the St. Mary's River as it flows Reserve 4.8krn north-of Spring Coulee. (Quigg 1984:12)

through the ~ l o o d Indian

- Description: -

A 9rn diameter stone circle with a l m opening to the east. The opening is h n k d -

by larger stones than the 77 rocks making the circle. Within the circle are two smaller l m diameter circles made of 14 stones each. Four lorn stone spokes radiate

*cardmally from the circle. The N and W spokes are made of 12 stones and the S and E made of 10. (Quigg 1984:12)

"27 feet in diameter, with two fireplaces 3 feet in diameter, and four radiating lines, in the compass directions, and 30 feet long." (Kehoe 1972:1&5)

Status:

Nearby Features: r .

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: Built around 1940 to m e m o n k a Blood Indian. (Dempsey I956:181) Brace Gves a date of 1938. @ m e 1987:108)

Theory: 8 A memorial to Steel, a Blood warrior who died in 1940. The Medicine Wheel was completed according to Steel's m h e s by his sister and son. Steel had achieved . greatness and had earned a M d c m e Wheel; the spokes had no meaning other than to sigmfy his status. The ~ n ~ r i o r circles were meant a s symbolic hearths. A second

4

-

.

< d 4 - y " - I 7

C

4 , - -

I . ' > .

*" $22 I - , .. . ,

. a ,* STEEL DiPg-Ob I -

J

-- I

- 9 .

*--- v

c 8 > - * - -

.I > I'

. ' t ip- ring ivas found nearby w'hich was practically identical to the Medicine Wheel except that it had no radiating lines. This one was very deeply buried (dated a t 1885) and was at6rilsuted u, Steel a s well, apparently bemg the first double-hearthed rmg he bldlt. (Dempsey 1956:181 1 , - , .

-4 . e Type C Medlane. Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987'79) ' ' s - -- -4 . ,

6 - ,.*- . * Images: . .

Site plan. '[Dernpsej~ 1956:1781 ..- . . - .*

Referebpes: P x , .. - . Bsown 1963:227 -,

- -. . - . _ 9 ~ s ~ ~ ~ n 1979:93 , ,

/ 7

? . - 7 '

. i -

, r 1 - . -

,-

. '+ I *

r -, - *

- .-* - -

* 'n I _ 2-

- ~

I F

J %.

v , -

- - -3 . -

+

< - ; '- .

'i

- % -

. ,

. " . >

-

Setting: 8 Upon a knob in till plain country with .a 360 degree is 250m to the SW. (Brace 1987:86) -

FORGET CIRCLE

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

62E110 -

nnunnu

Partly disturbed

Plan .

unobstructed view.. A spring

Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: A slough is 100-150m to the NE. The circle lies in a saucer-hke depression on the saddle between three large hills south of Forget.

Description: 8 A large stone ring with a 0.4m dip in the centre. The N-S and E-W dameters of the ring are 22.5 and 21.5m for an average of 22.0m. (Bruce 1987:86) 8 Visit of 8/1988 - many rocks noted in the middle of circle; possibly badly dsturbed central cairn.

Status: ,

Nearby Features: 8 No stone rings withln 275m of the circle. (Brace 1987:86) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: 1200m west is a large boulder in a hollow; one side of the boulder is smooth and polished.

Cultural Materials: /

Dating Evidence: P r o d e s a 'fair confidence' date of 1885-1891 via lichenometry. @ m e 1987:36)

Theory: Lsted as a ceremonial circle by Brace. (Bnzce 1981:l) Type B, ceremonial circle accordmg to Brace. The dip at the centre of the circle -.

FORGET CIRCLE DjMr-1

may have been an amphitheatre. (Brace 1987:86)

Images: 8 Good sketch map with magnetic north. (Brace ,1981: l )

Other References: . .

NITAPINA W'S

Place: . G m d e : .

. hngitbde:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

~ecord:

Alberta

Partly disturbed

Plan

Setting: h a t e d on the W edge of the Oldman River Valley %dun the Blood :

Reserve, about lOkm west of Lethbridge. (Dau 1986a:4) Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form indcates unploughed grassland a t the prairie

level bordering on the north side of a coulee.

Indian

Description: 8 Consists of a slightly scattered central ca i rn about 1.0 to 1.5m in dmneter from w h c h four well-defined spokes radiate cardmally 3 to 4m. The south spoke ends in a cairn. (Dau 1986a:4) j

Status:

Nearby Features: Part of an enormous and relatively undisturbed site. (Dau 1986a:4) -

Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form inmcates an extenswe site with 100 bpi nngs, 50 cauns, dnve lanes, a Rledicrne Wheel, histonc graves and much surface scaUer. - C &I Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: Conaty and Tailfeathers map of 1984 ( C o w 1986:47)

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

-. 3

Map: .

Legal:

Condition: disturbed.

Record:

Alberta

J

nnnnnn . ,

~ e a v i l y

PIan

. . , ..

Setting: Located in the NE corner'of the Blood Indian Reserve, 500m W of the Oldman

- , River o n . an extensive grass-covered river terrace. . (Quigg 1984:37)

.,. . . Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: ,On a flat of the Oldman River above the . flood plain.

, .

Description: D A 6m diameter stone circle with a small eastern opening immediately below a spoke. There are two stone hearths comprised of 10 Bnd 11 stones within the circle, . and four spokes radiate c a r h a l l y - from the circle to l m hamete r cairns 4.5 to 6m away. (Quigg 1984:37)

Status: Site reconstructed pnor to 1956. (Qwg i ~ 4 : 3 8 )

Nearby Features: f

D Three graves were observed atop a l-d west of the site In 1971, and stone rings thought to have been m the area had e ~ t h e r been removed or dlsplacd. (Quzgg l984:3 7 )

Cultural Materials: ..

Dating Evidence: . . 8 There is a question of the authenticity of this ring. I t was reported that it had k n made g r i p a l l y for Sfany Spoued horses, a Blood chief who &* in 1884, but . had been s c a t ~ r e d before reconstruction in recent times. There is also some confusion on whether the wheel beiongs to ?Amy Spotted Horses or Steel. (Quigg 1984:37)

b

MANY SPOTTED HORSES DkPf-1

Theory: 8 Listed by Brace, but not categorized. (Brace 1981:l)

Type C Medicme N'heel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:791

Images: 8 Archaeolog~cal Survey of .Alberta form of 1957 includes a sketch map.

Archaeolog~cal Society of -4lberta - Lethbrldge Centre detaded map of 1971 Ground photo loolilng west. (Brumle3 1985:361

Other References: Dempsey 1956 Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:39 Wilson 1981:336

3 Quigg 1961a:60

CLAYBANK EaNh-7

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

., Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Saskatchewan

50.0nnnN

105.2nnnW

Undist&bed

Plan

Setting: 8 Knob and kettle till plain country -with a 270 degree unobstructed view. A spring is 450m to the SE. (Brace 1987:84) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: On the crest of a high knoll averlooking surrounding flats to the north, east and west.

Description: 8 A stone ring surrounding the apex of hill, which is 2.3m higher than the ring itself. A single large dolomite boulder is a t the apex of hill and center of the ring. (Bmce 1987:86) 8 The N-S and E-W ring diameters are 41.9 and 31.7m for an average of 36.8m.

4

There are many scattered interior boulders. (Brace 1987:84) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeological Survey form: Circle circumference 366' and diameter 108'.

Status: . .

Nearby Features: 8 Five stone rings are noted in the vicinity, but none within 275m. (Brace 1987:84)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: Provides a 'no confidence' date of 1769 for the site based on lichenometry. (Brace

198 7:36)

Theory: Named as a ceremonial c l r c k by Brace. (Brace . l9t l l :I)

CLAYBANK EaNh-7

A 'reverse amphithe8tr-e' along the lines of Type B ceremonial circles is noted, formed by the apex o f the MI being 2.3m higher than the surrounding circle. The large boulder a t r ing center may be a 'speaker's platform'. (Brace 1987:86)

Images: . Other References:

P

I .

MIDDLE SAND HILLS

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Setting: Atop a sand covered hill in the Middle Sand Hills about 4km NW of the

Alberta

50.6nnnN

1 lO.4nnnW

685m

72Ll9

nnnnnn

Undisturbed

Plan '

#

South Saskatchewan River. (Quigg 1984: 74)

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Atop a s m d l mammary-shaped hill.

Description: 8 A central cairn 5 to 6m in diameter with at least two spokes radiating to the W and S about 25m. The S spoke bifurcates with a 17m line going SW. Forbis postulates tha t more stone lines +re buried in the sand. Walde visited the site in 1976 to map the wheel but could not relocate the feature. (Quigg 1984:74) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form indicates lines a re to S and E, not S and W.

Status: !

Forbis felt the site was partially buried; Walde could not fmd i t at all in 1976. (Quigg 1984: 7 4 )

Neqrby Features: . Archaeological Survey of Alberk- forms for EdOo-1 and EdOo-2 indicate they a re ,

large cairns with N-S directed alignments of cairns.

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: listed but not c a t e g o d by Brace. (Brace 1981:l)

M I D D M A N D HILLS Ed00-3

Images: 8 Sketch map from Archaeological Survey of Alberta. site - form. (Qulgg 198.1: 761

' Other References: Walde 1977:93 Brumley & Wllis 1978:l Byrne 1971;lS

DARK HORSE EdOo-38 ,

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Alb fir ta

Setting: 8 On a small rocky knoll immediately south of White Horse lake on the Suffield Military Reserve. (Dau 1386a:ll)

I

- -Description: 4

8' Consists of a well-defined central stone circle about 5m in diameter from which 9 spokes radiate out 8 to 20rn. Five of the spokes terminate in small cairns. There is a 2 to 3m diameter cairn comprised of at least 100 stones about 2m NW of the site which appears to form part of one of the spokes. (Dau 1986a:ll) 8 One and possibly two small cairns were present within the stone circle. intermediate cairns were found along the of two spokes. (Brumley 1985:41) 8 Archaeological Survey ,of Alberta form indicates that the central circle appears to have been constructed around 3 large,' natural stones and that the N,S,E & W (magnetic) spokes are better defined.

x *

a . \

Status: ,-

8 The central ~ a i m appears to be completely undisturbed. The site is in a military training area, however, and as of 1986 at&mpts were being made to protect the site. (Dau l986a:ll)

Nearby- Features:

Cultural Materials:

Undisturbed .,

. - , . - ,.

Plan

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

DARK HORSE E~OO-38 0

'-. 3 -

~rna~es: .. .. - Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form sketch of July 20, 1985. (Dau 1986e:13) Feature was whitewashed and photographed from the air. (Dau 1986a:lZ)

Other References: Dau 1986b:27

LONE ANTELOPE Ed00-39

- . ,

- ,

f

Place: Alberta'

Latitude: 50.6unnN

Longitude: - 110.4nnn~ -

Elevation: 685m

Map:

Legal: unnnnn

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Plan

Setting: 8 Immediately south of White Horse Lake on the Suf'field Military Reserve. (Dau l986a:l4) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: On a prominent, rocky ridge top; the highest point within a t least 5km. I Description: -, . 8 A moderatelydefined feature c6mposed of a 2.5m diameter central cairn (which contains three very large natural stones) encircled by a 9.5m diameter stone circle. (Dau l986a:l4) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: About 150-200 stones in the centrd cairn.

k- 8 Status:

Site is undisturbed but in a military training area; as of 198% attempts were being made to protect the site. (Dau 1986a:14)

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Some of the large external c&s appear to have been potted. - Nearby Features: - The site contains 18 cairns and one stone circle besides the Medicine Wheel itself. (Dau J 986a: 14)

- 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Five cairns run down edge of the site; the cairns vary from 10-15 stones to 150 and 0.6m high.

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

, ? LONE ANTELOPE EdOo-39 7 - I ... I

Images: Archaeologxal

Other Dau

. -

\ , - , .

Survey of Alberta site form sketch hap. (bau '1986a:15) -+ 4

References: 19866:30

. . place: Alberta

Latitude: 50.5nnnN

Longitude: 112.4nnnW

Elevation: 910m

~onditi6d: Badly djsturbed h

Record: ~ l a h . '

Setting: 8 On a flat-topped hill 300m W of the Bow River. (Quigg 1984:86) 8 On a high knoll above the Bow River. There are 5 tipi rings and 3 cairns nearby- (Cdder 1 9 77:22O) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: On the highest hill for miles around, overlooking the river with a remarkable view.

Description: A 9m diameter, 1.6m high, central cairn encircled by a 27m diameter stone ring.

Approximately 28 spokes r d i a t e from the cairn to the circle. The central cairn is mainly fist- to headsized cobbles, but there are a few -very large boulders as well. (Quzgg /984:86) ..

&proximately 27 &dly disturbed spokes (Brumley 1485:61)

Status: 8 There is much displacement of the stones in the spokes: (Quigg 1984:86)

Nearby ~ e a k r e s : %

Amorphous clusters of stones were observed inside the circle and two stone rings lie to the west of it. (Qugg 1984:86)

cultural Materials: -.

r The 1971 excavation of the central cairn with detailed stratigraphic control revealed specific layers uqth the oldest cultural materials appearing a t W t h s deepest levels and consecutively later materials in upper layers. No pit or chamber was evident beneath the central cairn. A total of 2,980 artdacts and 13,000 pieces of debitage were - r e v e r e d . These included most tool categories, stone and ceramic pipes, shell, cermrcs, glass, a im. Most bones were &raps of long bones and .

t!

- MAJORVILLE EdPc-1

.. ,

ribs from antelope, bison, rabbit, lynx, badger, pole, 'pt; squirrel, Many of these were covered in red ocl~er , and borne Gpresented animals. (Quigg l984:86)

Dating Evidence:

horse and humans. very young or feotal

The cairn is postulated as having been utilized fairly c9ntino;siy over- the last 5,000 years with Oxbow points representing the earlie.s't phase and every phase since being present. The protohistoric and historic period a r e also represented in the artifact sample. (Q-uigg I984:86) 4 .

"From analysis, it appears t h a t a new cultura! practice was introduced into thy - Plains during the Oxbow Complex 13200 - 2500 BCI ... The tradition appears to hqve been maintained through subsequent cairn constructian and the accumulation of artifacts, until ca. 1000 BC, the begmning of the Pelican Lake phase. During the intervql 3200 - 100 BC use and construction of the cairn seems u) be fairly uniform through time with more or less equal representations of Oxbow. McKean and Duncan-Hanna phases. From ca. 1000 BC to 200 AD there appears to be a considerable decline in cairn use. A t approximately 200 AD there appears to be a revival in the use of the cairn. Judgmg from the number of Late Prehistoric P e l i d artifacts found in the cairn, there was a n increase in 'cairn use at t h i ~ time. t.elAii\,v

.,. . to the Oxbow-Hanna interval." iCalder 1977:202)

-

Theory: . .-

Calder could find no certain function for the Majorville Cairn except that it "no doubt represents a ceremonial site". In more detail, his conelusion was that: "Aside from the physical at t r ibutes of the site itself, the artifact inventory suggests ceremonial functions. Although the cairri contaiged a wide spectrum of tool types, amulets and de)?itage. the presence of such non-utilitarian objects as iniskims. fossils and concretlons arid the .extensive red ocllre stainin; on artifacts and bone a r e indicative of. 3

ceremonial function of some nqture. There is some suggestion in artifact provenwncc. tha t artifacts may have been deposited in small groups confined ta small-*areas 01.

pockets. Tl-us fact, in conjunction with the presence in the cairn of bird bonesL indicates t ha t medicine bundles m a y have been deposited in the cairn." iCalder 19 77:2O5)

"The exact function of Majorville remains enigmatic." (Calder 19 77:ZO6 r a Listed a s a Medicine Wheel by &ace. (Bmce 1981 :1!

Type D Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Bruce 7987:79)

Images: - . -% . - Mapping by Calder [Calder l977:1

a\erial photo. fEdd? 19/4:1601 .Aerial photo. ~ B r u r n l e ~ l983':$6 J

+ Colour aerial photo showing picnickers and -excavation area ~ B q . a n 198T:II&ml

Other References: - 1 . a

Archaeological Surve?- of Alberta site form Forbis 6; Calder 1973:n Byrne 1973:.500

- ,

Freiberg 1971:18

MAJORVILLE EdPc-l *

D~ckinson 1976 Adams 1976: 100 Walde '1977:93 Eddy 1977a:12 ~Gdrneth l978:92 Keho'e & Kehoe 1979:59 Qulgg 1981a:Eig Wilson 1981:358 B r u m l q and Rushworth 1983: 135

Setting: Atop buffalo hill. (Qurgg 1984:90)

BUFFALO EdPg- l

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

. . . HILL CAIRN

Alberta

, 5 0 . 5 n n n N

1 l 3 . l n n n W

1175rn

8 2 U l l

nnnnnn

PartJy disturbed

Plan

a Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form: Atop Buffalo E l l , the easternmost and hghes t hill in the vicin~ty. overlooking MacGregor Lake.

Description: 8 A central cairn encircled by a stone circle perhaps 40m in darneter. The stones forming the circle are widely spaced and deeply buried, forming an oval-shaped ring. ( Q u i g 1984:90)

Lethbridge survey crew notes indxate the landowner saw a second inrter circle about a dozen feet from the cairn when i t was still undisturbed.

Status: The central cairn has been v a n d a h d . (Qwgg 1984:90)

@ N e a r b y Features: A number of stone circles he in the vicinity (Quigg 1984:903

e

-

Cultural Materials: B h t h b n d g e survey crew notes t e l l of a Sioux-Blood Indian story relating the structure to a Sundanee wremony.

F

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images:

BUFFALO HILL CAIRN EdPg-1

. 3 8

Other References: F ."ichaeological S u r v e y of Alberta site form Forbls [19.58:48? field nows of 19.58.

Setting:

ALKALI CFtEEK

4

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

M'ap: . . ' +

Legal: .

Condition:

Record:

nnnnnn

Partly disturbed*

. . Plan

On a grass-covered hill in a very rocky area with excellent view in On the prairie level overlooking Alkali Creek to the E. (Qu& 1984:106)

Archaeological Survey of ,Ubert.a site form: creek is about lkm E.

all directions.

Description: A central cairn encircled by a smne circle which has openings in the E and W.

Two spokes radiate from the cairn to circle toward the N and W, while a third spoke radiates out from the circle to the S. A doughnut shaped cairn lies just east- of the third spoke and two smaller cairns lie within the stone circle N of the central ca i rn . (Qw'gg *1984:106)

Listed but not c a t e g o d by race. (Brace 1981:l)

Status: -4rchaeological Survey of .4lberta site form indicates mostly undisturbed except for

jmttrng of the central cairn. mcst features are only partially visible. (Qugg 1984:1063

5 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: Walde couldn't fmd the site in 1976.

Nearby Features: Two small stone circles and a small mu-n ke on the prairie ~ m m e h a t e l ~ S of the

?liedame Wheel. (Qurgg 1984:106)

Cdtr r rd Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

ALKALI CREEK EfOp-1 1

4

Images: s Archaeological Survey of .4lberta site form sketch map. (Quigg I984:108)

Other References: 8 ~ d a r n i 1976:60 8 Qulgg 198Ib:62

Setting: a

RED DEER EfOp-414

, Place: Alberta

Latitude: 50.8nnnN

Longitude: llO.5nnnW

Elevation: 655m

Map: 7 2 ~ 1 1 5

Legal: nunnnn

Co?dition: Partly msturbed

Record: plan

On the S edge of the Red Deer River valley about 9km NE of the village of Buffalo. (Dau I986a:16)

Description: A central cairn with four spokes radiating outward from 20 to 30m, and a small

outer cairn. (Dau I986a:I 6 ) -Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: The site consists of a badly d~sturbed central

cairn from which radiate 4 spokes 20 to 30m. A small l m diameter cairn 1s located to the north.

[Sketch map indicates cairn is in the same north onentatlon as the Rmker site, and that the spokes show the same relative orientations.]

status: Th& central cairn has been badly vandalized. (Dau 1986a.-16)

Nearby Features: r There a re 4 s b n e circles in the i r n r n d a t e vicinity. (Duct 1986a:16)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: [Quite a match with the b n k e r site]. e

Images: 9 Archaeolog~cal S u i v e ? o f , A ik r t a site form rough sketch map.

HUGHTON EgNx- 1

Place: Saskatchewan

Latitude: 5 1. lnnnN

-Longitude: . 1 0 7 . 9 n n n ~

Elevation: 670m

Map: 72014

Legal: nunnun

Condition: Badly disturbed

Record: Pian .I

Setting: 8 On a plateau above a steep north-facing ridge. The site is about 12km N of the East Gap buffalo slte. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:17) 8 On the N edge of Ben Bu&, overlooking porgan Flats. ,(QzL& 1984:196) 8 On knobJand kettle till plain country with a 270 degree unobstructed view. A spring is 500m to the SW. (Btace- 1987:84)

Description: An 81-13 diameter central cairn encircled by a 15m diameter stone circle which has

an opening on the N side through which two spokes radiate outward 6m beyond the circle. There is a further, unattached 3.5m spoke between the first two which is .

. outside of the bounds of the circle. (Quigg 1984:196) >

\

8 Reported as having 5 spokes in 1969. (Watson 1969:9) . a "A local historian said that when he first saw the configuration, about 1926, there were five 'walkways', one in each of the cardinal directions as well as the existipg nor thekt one." A report suggests that until 1912 the central cairn was a truncated cone of racks capped by a tipi-like set of poles, from the top of which hung a tribal emblem. G a l concern with preserving the monument and restoring it has likely caused enormous disturbance. (Kehoe &. Kehoe 1979:17) 8 Brace's central magnetic directions to: 1. north end of the west line 62'05'; 2. west line jnct. with c k t k 68O25'; 3. north end cntr line 65'00'; south end cntr line 70•‹30'; 5. north end east h e 6g020'; east line jnct with circle 73'30'. (Brace 1981:l)

The N-S and E-W diameters of the ring are 7.5 and 7. lm for an average of . 7.3m. There is a large central cairn and three interior boulder lines. (Brace 1987:84)

Status: 8 Saskatchewan Museum of ru'atural f i tmy site form indcates extensive central Mrn

HUGHTON EgNx-I -

* vandalism (Quigg l984:196) rn Excavation has been done, but it has not been published. (Brumlej 1986:28)

Nearby Features: . 2 J " - - 8 "The benches on both sides o f the valley are 'covered' with tlpi 1-ings." None noticed in 1975 because of tall grass (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:27)

'

Cultural Materials: Late irehistoric types of artifacts were recovered In an excavation. (Kehoe &- Kehoe

7977:87) One collection of artifacts included 10 Plains side-notched points. much pottery

sherds, and many bones that mlght be human. (Kehoe & Kehoc 1979:19) T"g"" I

Dating Evidence: r Late prehistoric artifacts. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1977:87) 8 Late prehistoric or protohistork from artifacts. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:19)

Provides a 'poor conGd&ce7 da& of 1834 for the site based on lic 198 7 :36p 8 Suggdsts 900 - 1850 AD due to the late plains pottery. (Brace 1987:108)

Theory: Listed a s a vision quest structure by Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 1 : l ~ Type A ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:841 Examined unsuccessfully for astronomical orientations. (Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:18)

Images: Map of Kehoe & Kehoe 1979 (Quigg 1984:199) Map of Hodges and LVatson 1970 (Qugg 1984:200)

Other References: Hodges & Watson 1970:l.j

8 Kehoe 1972:186 Watson 1974b:7

'YOUNG MOUNTAIN AdOe-0 (4.8FR1461)

Place: Wyoming +

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

42.6nnnN

108.7nnnW

2650m

Lander

nnnnnn

Undisturbed

Sketch

Setting: 8 Site form suggests the feature is atop Young Mountain with spectacular views of Freak Mountain, Lizard Head and other Wind River peaks. Cliff faces are nearby. Map indicates the actual peak of Young Mountain is 30x11 higher to the W(?) and that an Indian trail passes 400m below.

Description: 8 Personal communication by Steve sig&tad. A wheel newly discovered by an elk . hunter near Lander, Wyoming. I t is in a wilderness district quite far from any roads. Described as a giant circle of stones with no cairn or spokes. 8 Site form indcates a rock circle and tipi rings within a 68.5m box, witn ;he longest dimension of the features toward the SE.

Status: 8 Site form suggests good condition, although evidence o f visiting hunters is apparent.

Nearby Features: 8 Some faint tipi rings nearby

Cultural Materials: 8 No flakes, tools or artifacts were found in the vicinity.

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: Photos taken by Shp S h o u t ~ s , Lander Ranger District. One slide from the grsund

YOUNG .MOUNTAIN AdOe-0 (48FR1461)

shows a thlck ring of rocks, some interior stone f e w r e s , and dead but upright trees.

. .

Other References: Lander Forest District Site Form recorded 1!13/82.

,

and a t ' least two

. . .

very old

Setting:

GRASSY KNOLL BiOb-0 (24BH797)

fi

%

i

Place: North Dakota

Latitude: 45.3nunN a 7

1 - J-.c&itude: 1 0 8 . 2 n n n ~ ' - " 7 .

.El&v&ion: > 4250m

Map:

Legal: n u n u ~ n a .. .

Condition: Undisturbed ,- . . - r = ..: " . , %. -. - '~ - P

Record: ' sketch

Description: 4

The site consists of num;rous stone circles and a Medicine Wheel. The Medicine Wheel has a central stone circle with a stone-lined hearth a t center. Four or five lines radiak out fr6m the southern half of the ring, and at least three of these terminate in small cairns. No scale measurements of any features were taken. (Quigg l984:214)

Status: The site app'ears to be in good condition. (Quigg 1984:214)

G, , . , Nearby ' ~eahues:

Cultural Materials: rn None observed. (Quigg 1984:214)

Dating Evidence: , , ,

Theory: - rn Type C Medicine Wheel accordmg to Brace. ( B . 1987:79) :

Images: University of North ~ a k o t l ar&awlogcal survey form and sketch done in 1972.

Other. References:

Latitude: 4 7 . 5 a r k ~

Lsngitude i 112.QpnnW' ,

~fevattion: ?. r i ~ #

Map: ChottSau ? ,

Legal: n'unnna

Condition: -

R~CO-&: ' . Sketch

. . Settipg: . , , .

' -. 7 . Descrigtibn: All Hoffman suppiies is the diagraii above, with no description. (Hoffman 1953:13) [The state office could not supply further-betails regarding a site of the designation . , :, - + given. Clearly, the authenticity of this site is in. dobbt.]

1 * L . .

gstatus: 3 .

. - Nearby Features: A . .

~ u l ~ Mat;?rials:

Dating Evidence: - Theory: h, <

- ,

Images: L %

Plan of Lowry Wheel - a "t$picalW "Medicine Wheel ( H o f i a n 1953:13) ?-

\

Other References: r t 1

P

'A

MUD CREEK *

Cwq-0 (GRC-81-2)

Moriiana Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevatiori:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Unknown

Sketch

Setting:

Description: r. A 23m diameter stone circle with a small central cairn. (Bmce 1987:85) 8 Montana Cultural Resource Inventory Record form: Site includes a 23m diameter stsne feature with a central cairn and westerly extension. The site is locally known as the 'Medicine Wheel'.

I

" a Status: . Nearby Features: 8 One semicircle and 3 cairns in the vicinity. (Bmce 1987:85)

Cultural Materials: .. .

Dating Evidence: ~

- Jrheory: Type B ceremonial circle according to Brace.., ( B m e 1987:85)

Images:

Other References: 8 Deaver 1980

EAGLE BUTTE

Condition: -<

Jbcord:

-Place: . ,

Latitude:

Elevation:

Montana

47.8nnnN

110.0nnnW

lO8Om

' Winifred .- - , nnnnnn

Partly disturbed :: '

: : Sketch

Setting: Atop the summit of a prominent butte 3.2km f iom' the on the southeastern corner

of' Eagle Butte. (Qtiigg 1984:217) ,

Description: s- A roughly circular ring between 15 and 20m in diameter. Two parallel stone line@ 50 *-60m long extend from the ring only 1 to 1.5m apart in an kt to southeas$ direction. There are reports of disturbed cairns within the stone circle but there: was - '

little evidence of these. in 1983. No maps or excavations have been done. (Quikg. _, - '

.. - .

I984:ZI 7) = .. I : - . .

Stahls: f

rn Reports of &turbed cai rns whlch have since disappeared and general djsturbance of - central area, (Quigg 1984:217) ? .

' Nearby ~eatures:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidehce:

Theory:

Images: . . 0 Aerial photo by Brumley. ( ~ r u r d e ~ 1988:3b)

Other References: ,

NELSON DcOd-O (24PH1692)

->,

Place: .. , -- Montana

Latitude: ' 1. . 48.4nnnN

Longitude: i 0 8 . 6 n n n ~ - -

Elevation: 70 1m

Map: Ma1 ta

Legal: xnnnnn -. .

- Condition: Unknown

V o r d : . 1

Sketch

Setting:

Description: Montana Cultural Resource Inventory Record form: Site complex includes what looks

like a large ring 25m in diameter with a SE-extending alignment "20m in length, cons~sting of three cairns and three inhvidual boulders. The line ends in a complex stone configuration which contains about 30 large stones in an indecipherable arrangement."

[The descnpt~on and diagram don't j~ve perfectiy, but thls site is quite interesting because of the h e of cairns extendmg away from the ahgnrnent.]

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images:

Other References:

CHERRY RIDGE DfOf-0 ' (24BL33 1)

Place: - Montana

, Latitude: 48 .9nnnN

Longitude: 108 .9nnnW

Elevation: 1 0 0 6 m

Map: Havre

Legal: n n n n n n

Condition: U n.disturbed

Record: Sketch

Setting:

Description: A Medicine Wheel wth 5 spokes is noted. (Brace 1987:79) Montana Cultural Resource Inventory Record form: Site involves 5 nngs, 6 c a r u s , .

and a possible Medicine Wheel, The Medicine Wheel is a disturbed structure Qn a south-facing spur which has 5 spokes radiating relatively evenly from a 2.5m centrhl area. The overall structure is about 75m in diameter. On the next bluff' to the west - a large hsturbed ring may also be a Medicine Wheel.

Status:

Nearby ~ektures: Five nearby tipi rings are noted. (Bruce 1987:79)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images:

Other References: Deaver 1980

POLICE DgOp-38

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Alberta

49.0xxnN

1 lO.5nnaW

9 3 7 m

72E/2

xxxuuu

Unknown

Sketch

1

Setting: a %

8 Archaeolog~cal Survey - of Alberta form: On' the north edge .of upper police coulee. Y

,

I)escription: ' _ *- - A stone ring wlth average dmneter of 19.0m n a m g a small central cairn and

external -passagew'ay. ( ~ & e l987:85) I Archaeological Gurvhy- of Alberta form: There are more +an 30 features here; circles, and cairns. One circle is an 'omega' symbol.

Status: ..

Nearby Featwres: 8 19 stone rings, 4 alignments, 4 semicircles and 1 cairn were noted nearby. (Bruce 1987:85) c

8 Archaeatogical Survey of Alberta form: Nearby is a series of possible effigies running in a NNWISSE dkection. Many odd alignments and appendages extending from

'

rings. Cairn-like gmupings even with the ground surface.

Cultural Materials: *.

Dating Evidence:

Theory: . Type A ceremonial .circle accorhng to Brace. (Bruce 1987:85)

Images: Sketch based on the Grasspointer descrip,tion. (Brace 1987:178)

*pi

Other References: 8 Graspointer

. FAITH DhOs- 1

4;

Place: * Latitude: ..& Longitude:

Elevation: ' 9 #

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Setting: -. . .

m J u s t - west of Pakowki Lake OD the prairie level. (Quigg 1984:24)

-! -., . t . .

Alberta

Undisturbed 1 i Sketch

Description: - rn A low central cairn is surrounded by a stone ring. No spokes or openings are reported. Small cairns (0.3 by 1.2m) are in the vicinity. (Qttigg 1984:24) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta sketch indicates a 9' by 8' central cairn slightly off to the NW from center of a 36' (E-W) and 33' (N-S) in diameter. A 3' cairn is 6' outside of the ring to the NW; The central cairn is dominated by a siiigle very large rock, and in no place risqs more than 2' in height.

Status: . ..

A p i p e h e passes near the Medicine Wheel, but the site was still listed as u n h t u r b e d in 1978. ( Q i g g 1984:24)

Archaeological Survey of Alberta form lists rocks qs deepply (halfway) buried and lichen-covered, and that the cairns seem undsturbed so far. . .

1, .

Nearby Features: There are many cairns (0.3 by 1.2m) and stone circles in the vicinity. (Quigg

1984:24) r A r c h a e o l o g d Survey of Alberta form indcates 10 tipi rings and 12 cairns about 4' in diameter arid low-lying.

DhOs-2 is .a biuied rock mosaic or turtle effigy described by Quigg as being below surface a t N;NE;S2 1;T4;R8;W4. (Qucgg l 9 8 4 : W

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: 8 Listed a s a questlonab1 Mechcirre Wheel by Brace. (Bruce 1981 : l ) 8 Archaeolopcal Survey o 4 Alberta form: A note on the sketch by R.G. Forbis in 1978 suggests that the small external cairn is clearly' not a sunset solstlce markel because i t is too far south.

Images: 8 Sketch map mentioned on site form but unavailable.

Other References:

EAGLE CHILD

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Alberta

49 .4nnnN

1 l3.OnnnW

? m

82HIG

nnqnrfn

Partly disturbed

Sketch

Setting: Located on the Blood Indian Reserve, 2.5krn SW of St. Paul's Anglican School near

Eagle Child's house. (Quigg l 9 8 4 : l l )

'Description: Consists of a 4m charneter stone circle containing 5 4 rounded stones ranging from 6 .

to 30cm in diameter. Four spokes radiate from center in cardinal directions. The. E .r

spoke had 7 stones, the N & S had 6 and the -W had 4 stones. The spokes vary from 1.3 to 2.0m. (Quigg 1984:l l) ' ,

rn "a 12 foot diameter tipi ring with four lines, four to six feet in length. (Kehoe 1972:l85)

Status: rn Mmor lsturbances by cattle. (Quigg 1984:Il)

Nearby Features: . ,

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence: .- rn Built i n 193 1. (Quigg l 9 8 4 : l l )

Theory: 1

8 Dempsey relates that Eagle Child moved frbm his house to dip in the tipi in 1931. The spokes were put rn place by his son. The wheel is interpreted as a memorial. (Dempsey l956:18O)

Type C Medicine Wheel according to Brace. ( B m 1987:79)

EAGLE CHILD DiPg-Oa

Images: 8 Photo of the wheel from the ground looking NE. (Dempsey 1956:179')

Other References: Brown 1963:22'7 Lahren 1979:93 -

8 ,Kehoe & Kehoe 1979:32

I d

JIM ALLEN

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

levat ti on: 4 Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Setting: 8 In an area of hummocky moraine about 20km SSW hf the town of and 2km SW of the small McBride Lake. (Dau 1986a:7)

82HIll

nuunnu

Partly disturbed t %

Sketch

C-

.€

Fort Macleod, .

8 Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form indicates 'it to be on the very top of a high .

knob in hummocky hill region.

Description: 8 Composed of a large, badly disturbed central cairn about 1.5m in diameter, encircled by a 8.5m diameter stone m g . There is a doubk spoke stretchmg S from cairn ,b circle. (Dau 1986~: 7 ) a

8 Archaeological Survey of Al'krta form indicates &n was 0.5m h g h . 4 Status: s

8 Central cairn is badiy dsturbed. (Dau 1986a:7)

'Nearby Features:

. . Dating Evidence:

Archaeologmd Survey, of Alberta form: depth of rock burial and lichen cover suggest .

7 , ~~ antiquity. -

-

Images: -\ ' . C

8 A rough sketch 1s included with the site form-. (Dm 1986a:7) rn Archaeolog~al Survey of Alberta has 'B&W and colour photos on file. ,

I

Setting:

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Partly disturbed

Sketch

Alberta

Description: ; ' m Rock ali-ent listed b$ + Brace. (Brace 1981 :1)

8 - ' ~ r c b s e o l o ~ i c a l Surv%y of Alberta f&m: A cairn eonsistmg of 8 relatively large * surface rocks surrounded by a 40' diameter circle of equally large surface rocks spaced about 8'- apart. A ' smaller c a m consisting of 3 surface racks i~ about 40' to the west.

Status:

- Nearby Features: -

e I C@furaIC Materials:

D h g Evidence:

'nlecjry:

Images:

HALF MOON EfOp-3 12

Place: V Alberta

Latitude: 50.9nnnN

Longitude: * . 11Q.SnnnW -

' . ' <

Elevation: '77i'm L

Map:

Legal:

Condition: ~nciikturbed - .. I

Record: Sketch , '

%-

Setting:

Description: rn ~rchaeological Survey of Alberta site form describes cairn and cairn alignment with possible Medicine Wheel on southern portion of a hill. Drawing indicatek a large cairn with a stone ring and a t least three spokes extending' to. it. I t is suggested that the southern pqrtion *of the wheel has been disturbed. 8 Listed but not categorized by Brace. ( B m e 1981:I)

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: 8 Not- considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:6)

Images:

Other References:

* Archaeological Survey of h b e r t a form: Located on terrace near tributary of Mlchlehl .* Creek, , a L - ,

d

P > 5

1

*

L .. 9 - J < I Dekcription: ' A . L = - Archaeological Survey of ,Atbert.a k&-n lists 'a 30ni d ~ a m e k Medicine Wheel, b i t . , I Waide eouldn't'furd -it in 1976. @yigg 1984~7)

r 'Archaeolo~al Survey of &rta f6m: Crude sketch' indicates a central c i r n . I,- m o u n d e d by -8 'other cairn& and a single spoke heading east. froth the central caGn

out to the surroundmg ones. , , . * - ,

%Status: - + - &

Newby Features: 4 c =, 1

t3.d- Materials:

Dating Evidence: %

r - * . - , . - Theory:

Not considered a . Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Cjuikg '198k7) 8 Listed but not categofed by - Brace. (Bmce 1981 :1 ) a . c

d T - . , . , Images: . . -

- -. I

other .+ferences:

i- ' . 2

' 3

atitude: . 4 5 . l n n n ~

Longitude: 105. l n m W

Elevqtion: 3630m

Map: ' Broadus

Legal: nnnnnn

Condition: , Partly disturbed

Record: ' Conceptual&ation . *

Description: . ' - 8 Very little information is available. An MontanB State Archaeological Survey. site site form has not been completed. A h August 1985 report by John q d Mavis Greer ' describes a $Om diameter stone circle containing six spokes. No mention of a central cairn was made. (Dau 19860.-26)

Status: Limited da,ta suggests some disturbance of the site.;(Dau. 1986a:26)

Nearby Features: 8 There were other alignments and rock clusters rae&ioned outside the circle, but nut

A

accurately recorded: Two large stone circles were also recorded for the site. (Dau 1986a:26) b %

Cultural Materials: +. P= I <

Dating Ekidence: - J

Theory: * .

Images:

Other References: f'

, . s t

, . . - Setting: ,. .- - ,

- >

Description:

:. LAME JOHNNY

Place:

Latitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal: i

-.. Condition: ,;

South Dakota

46.3N

105.5W

? m

Miles

nnnunn

Unknown ...

Rx3c0t.d: Conceptualization

d

m A Medicine Wheel with five sppkes radiating from a small ring, with middle and ' . terminating cairns pn each spoke. (Bm'e 1987:79) --

stat&: - Reported by Over (1941:48), but the st& office hasn't located the slte In Custer

County. (Quigg 1984:5)

Nearby Feaares: ,

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: Type B Medicine Wheel according to Brace. (Brace 1987:79)

Images: i Sketch based on the Over. description. (Brace 1987:178)

Other References:

C H N N OF LAKES DeOm-Ob (24HL87) a

- ,

Place: Montana

Lptitude: 4 8 . 7 u u u ~

Ungitude: 1 10. lnnnW

' I

Elevation: 8 0 0 m

Map: Chester

Legal: uunnnn +

Condition: , . . Undisturbed

Record: .:. 1 Conceptualization.

Setting:

Description: . , 8 A Medicine Wheel with 13 spokes is noted. (Bnzce 1987:79)

Montana Cultural Resource Inventory Record form: Site involves 38 rings, 2 1 cairns, 4 stone'features, a bison kill, and an historic alignment. Disturbance is minimal and .

stones are buried up to 60 to 80%. A Medicine Wheel within the complex sits on ,a westifacing bluff and is described a s "10m in diameter, three internal and ten external features".

Status: . '. 1 , . .

Nearby Features: \ . .

Nearby are 38 tipi rings afid I 1 alignmmts. ( B m c e 1987:79)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: #

d

Other References: 8 4

Deaver 1 9 8 0

Setting:

Description:

WILD HORSE DfOm-0 (24HL169)

:, .

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

Montana .,

4 8 . 9 n n n ~

110. l n n n W

860m

Chester

n n n n u n

Undisturbed . .

8 A Medicine Wheel with 9 spokes is noted. (Brace 1987:79) - 8 Montana Cultural Pvesource Inventory Record form: A complex site involving 97 tipi rings, 25 cairns and 17 stone alignments, and including a likely Medicine Wheel - described: "There is one Medicine Wheel on a spur. Spokes leading outward from- the 1Qm diameter n n g indicated a feature tha t departs from the normal design of the m g s m this area." Later descriptions eount 9 spokes in total, and unnamed central -and external features. All of the stones at the site are approximately half-way buried in the soil and undisturbed. 9

stat&: - ,' ,

b

Nearby Features: - 8 Nearby are 97 tipi rings, 17 alignments and 25 cairns. (Brace 1987:79)

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: . .

Images P.

0th ' r References 2 8 eaver 1980

MANYBERRIES / ONE FOUR DgOo- 1

Place: Alberta

Latitude: 49.0nnnN

Longitude: -0.4nnn~

Elevation: hrn Map: 72~h

Legal: + unnnnn

Condition: Heavily disturbed: . . Record: Conceptualization

Setting: - 8 The s ~ t e is on a terrace on the north side of the Nilk River, and clearly visible on the crest of a low rldge running across the terrace. (Quigg 1984:15)

'L

Description: 8 The site consists of stone circles, a Medicine Wheel, rock alignments and a possible

, effigy. There is a central cairn is a large earthen mound covered with about 400 large stones and surrounded by a stone ring. The cairn in 1965 was reported to have a di a d eter of 10m and a height of almost 2m. The surrounding stone ring was not noted in 1965, but may have been 25m in diameter. There were no spokes. many other features are nearby. 1965 excavations of the\ southern half of the cairn revealed a covering of cobbles ovc;r 5cm of dark soil, a layer of white sandy silt and lastly dark brown clay. (Quigg 1984:15) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form describes large 30 foot diameter stone cairn with a stone circle surroundmg it.

Sk3tl.i~: b

8 There was a pit-like depression near cairn center which seemed to indicate a ,

dsturbance after construction. extensive disturbance (potting) prior to the excavation The stone circle may have &Pn "destroyed prior to 1965 a s well. (Quigg 1?4:15) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta ,form lists as bemg potted many times and ultimately destroyed. The' snake effigy nearby is in e x d e n t condition.

I l Nearby Features: . - 8 The site consists of stone circles, a Medicine Wheel, rock dgnrnents and a possible( effigy. (Quigg 1984:15) - 1

8 Archaeologcal .Survey of Alberta form hts a snake effigy, and that human, animal and reptile effipes made' wlth small stones had been reported from 1910. DgOo-2 is a'

MANYBERRIES / ONE FOUR D ~ o - 1 i

..! '

small cairn north of the site. ,

Many tipi rings in near vicinity. (Walde 1977:n) . -

. - Cultural Materials: . >.

Central earthen core was devoid of artifacts. while the upper earthen 18yers contained a mixture of historic and prehistoric cultural materials. A second intrusion into the central cairn contained portions of a male (18-21 years) skeleton, possibly ochre stained. (Quigg 1984:15) 8 Burial of a young woman. (Bryan 1987:118) 8 Archaeological Survey of AlLerta form says Walde,-oDtxr?4 a single obsidian flake from potter's back fill in 1976.

. . .

Dating Evidence: . . - . , -

rn There a re several different kinds of evidence., Dating by obsidian hydration . p ~ o v l d d ' dates between 100 A.D. and 1350 A.D., while projectile points concentrated in the 'late prehistoric (150 - 1756 ;AD.) but included Middle reh hi stork (5500' B.P. to 156 ' A.D. 1. Late prehistoric pottery'pieces and historic trade items we& also, found. Evidence , .

suggests the stone covering was added by the ..Northwest Moun.ted Police in 1875, . . since the structure lies Qn the border with t - ~ ~ " ' u s A . There was a suggestion that the .,: site actually was a border marker, but prehistoric material; indicate usage' before then. . .

(Quigg l 984 : l5 ) rn Projectile points forms were dominated by styles associated with the Avonlea and Old Women's phases. (Brumley 1986:19) - -+

Probable date of young woman's burial is 1750 AD. (Bryan 1987:118)

Theory: z i

R Listed a s a rock alignment by Brace. (Brace 1981:I) : rn Shape of the central ;.aim was interpreted a s a turtle eXgy. 'with clustel.s of stonc forming the head and four appendages. Previous disturbances could have lead to this interpretation, however. (Quigg 1984:151 rn Turtle shape is '.interesting because western painted turtles are found only in S W Saskatchewan and 'SE Alberta, and with the woman's burial the turtle is the spirit w h c h presided o v e r female fertility. (Bryan 1987:llBo)

Images: 4

Cairn drawn in 19m. (Freiberg 19-74.'n) Accurate survey by Archaeological Survey of Alberta. (Il.nlde 1977:931 =

Aerial photo by Brumley (Bnrrnley 1986:12!

Other -Fk:ferences: Carter 1967 Freiberg 1974:93 . Calder 1977:l Baldwin 1979 Davis 1972:126

MILK R N E R 1 RED CREEK *

Place: ,: . , Alberta , . _; ' .

, . , ,

Latitude: ., . r:.- 49.0nnnN

Longitude: 112. lnnnW

Elevation: 1 160m

Map: 82W 1

Legal: uuuuun

Condition: ' Destroyed

Record: Conceptualization

, *

Setting: i

It is atop a prominent hill 500m west of Red Creek. (Quigg 1984:22) Li

Description: I t is described as a 2.5m diameter cairn surrounded by a 13m diameter stone .

circle. There was a cluster of stones (measuring approximately 0.8m by 2m) on the south-southeast edge of the central cairn with smaller rock concentrations on the margms of the cairns as well. Other cairns weren't 'described, but scattered debitage was observed. (Quigg l 9 8 4 : Z )

Status: 8 The site was destroyed in 1968 by the Murphy Oil Company of Calgary. (Quigg l984:22)

Nearby Features: Site incorporate; a Medicine' Wheel, rock lanes and cairns. The rock lanes mentioned

were close by, but their association was not clear. (Quigg 1984:22) a

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: 8 Listed but not categorized by Brace. (Brace 1981:l) -

The cairn, circle and stone clusters on the margin were interpreted by two informants as being a turtle effigy, but Forbis felt this took considerable imagination. (Qucgg l984:22)

Images:

Other References: Walde 1977:93 Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta site form

Description: - 8 Four spokes attached' to the tipi of a dead chief upon (Dempsey 1956:179)

ST. MARY'S . . DiPh-0 , -

Place: , Alberta

Latitude: 49.3nnnN

hngitude: . 1 1 3 . l n n n ~

~levat iok ? m

Legal: s - nunnnn

Condition: ' Destroyed .

Record: Conceptualization, . e.

. . i. ' tII

break-up of t&e camp.,

i

Status: I , . %

8 Reported to ~ e & ~ ~ e ~ (1956:177) but 'I& beneath the St. Mary *reservoir near the I ,

Blood Reserve 'in SE Alberta. (Quigg .1984:6) ' + +

* * .

Nearby Features: . '

ih. -b

Cultural Materials: Built for Red Crow, a Blood head chief who died on ~ t i & t 28, 1900. Full

description of death and set-& of his tipi with' four radiating lines upon break-up- o f . - 8 '

the camp.r Well recogmix$ a s a symbol th'at 'the, man was dead. (Dempsey 1856:179) *

s ,

' > , .

Dating Evidence2: , a , . 3 . ' " . . . - . i ' Built August 28, 1900.. (Dempsey 1956:179)

. , i . * , *

Theory: . .. o ,F ,, - , . t 1 ' I 1 -.

NoGdescription; not considered a ~ e d c c i n e ~ h & i & $&I@. I(Quigg 1984:6) '8

B [Historical evidence suggests this site was a c o m m m o r a . t i v e l m e ~ ~ a l Strueture.1 ' - z . d ib .*. . .

Images:

Other .References:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legak

- Condition:

Record:

Alberta '

49.9nnnN

unnnun

Partly disturbed

Conceptualization

- * I . - . > ' . , , ..; A

Setting' , . ' 8 Located on the N srde o r the South' Saskptchewan k v e r valley, on an isolated spur of the prairie immediately adjacent to t k ~ p ,valley rim. (Quigg 1984:47)

. v ' *i , ~

~escri&k: . . . . . I I , . . , .

Composd of a 5 m dia'nktei s.&, circle 4 t h "a poorly defined rock hearth inside it. T h e r e a re at least- f o q spokes extending <:omc 50 to 120m to small (less than l m diarnet&):qairns. Twb lines cress or. pass by s b n e circlek in the vicinity. (Quigg 1984~4.n.y . ' I , . ., * , , .

, . . . a '.

..? .. .. ; ;-; , ,* *. ' , ' .. : .'. . .,,. .-,. statGg; ' 9 7 ' - . 1 . . , - . 1 w ' . . . Cattle appear0 to have d i i h r b e d ' a : considerable -o&t of each - 5 y . k -;: the

central circle. A 15m' wide development through the site- avoided the M-. 4 c i n e W h t 4 and .most ot@r features. (Quigg 1984:47) "'

? . 1 . ' , -

'Nearby'. ~ & t & s : .'

There a re 31, wehdahned stone ,ciicles; a d i ive lane, four small (less than lm) . , cairns and a Medicine Wheel o n the sit.+, The dFive lane appears to separate this .

land s p h .from t h e - rest of the prairie. ' (Quigg 1986$7)

Cultural Materials: > '

at&^ Evidence:

Theory: ' 1

Images: ~ $ 0 ; Consulting ~h . a,; photo of 1 k 3

,

'b b

1 -

,374 ' / -

MURPHY . .DlOy-6

. "

Other References: Quigg 1983

- 8 Archaeolog~al Survey of Alberta site form.

Setting:

7 i

LOOSE WHEEL

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

. ' , . , , - -3 . I . .. . . . . -<: , - . _ . .

. .

. . , I . .

A@*&' .,

50.0nnaN

l lO.2nnnW .

785m

72L11

nnPnnn

Partly disturbed

Conceptualization

Atop a n eroded hill in rolling terrain, approximately 5.5ktfi west of Many Islands Lake. (Dau 1986a:g)

Description: 1s composed of a disturbed central cairn, approximately 2.0m in diameter,

by:-a rink of stones about 10m in diameter. At least two spokes run from the cairn to the ring. (DBU 1986a:g)

Status: -X *.. . , Central cairn is disturbed. (Dau 1986a:g) U I

8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form indicates that an access road to a well site is a few feet to the north of the wheel.

t

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials: 8 A possible Pelican Lake projectileboint was collected in the immediate site area. - (Dau 1986a:9) * , --.

4 .' -

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images:

Other References:

I

TWIN PEAKS CAIRN

Place:

bngitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Alberta ,

Partly disturbed , , , <

Record: . CmceptualizatioG - . -

2 - .

Setting: 8 The feature' occupies the high Twin Peaks hill in moderately rolling country 3km W of the South aska at chew an River. (Quigg 1984:69) rn Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form: ~ u p i e s highest point of land in the surroundrng area. Short grass prairie. Area to the N, E, and SE is high to moderate rolling hills; the S and W has lower rolling ws. Description:

A large central c a m encircled by s tme circle of large dmneter. A small cairn igwithin the circle on the SE side -with .a second small.,cairn 5m E of the circle. (Qutgg 1984:69)

Status: , .

8 The central cairn appears heavily chsturbed with intrusive pits and digging into the cairn.' A steel tower situated several meters from the central+ caifn has, also disturbed a portion of the s ik. (Quigg 1984:69)

,Nearby Features:

Cultural * ~aterials: A 1975 excavation by John Rrumley on the south half OF the central cairn arid an

area of the circle uncovered five separate features. The most sigtllficant was an irregular pit on the SE side containing human remains (skull fragments) bison bones, flakes and a bone tool. The 84 square meters excavated yieldeda diverse and plentiful (n=2,446) materials',includng 2,034 flakes-, 24 'fire cracked rock, 260 bone, 128 tools. and 20 historic items. CQuigg 1984:69)

The burial may be intrusive and secondary. (Brunley 1986:19) L

Dating Evidence: * ' ' * .

rn The 1975 exeavatson y~elded a Pellean Lake and a Besant point of the M~ddlr Prehistoric period and also a single Avonlea polnt. three triangular pd~nts and 12 OI11 Woman's points of the Late Prehistoric period. I t is postulated that t h ~ s slte has 'been utilized over the last 2.000 years, including' recen: hlstoric t ~ m e s . .lQr,,gg 1,rs~:{i91

heo or-: Listed but - not categorized by Brace. (Brace 1981 : I 1

Images: 8 ~ r c h a e o l o ~ c a l Survey of Alberta site form rough sketch.

Other References: - -. Brumley & Willis 1978 '

Archaeological Survey of Alberta field excavation notes .

MCNEILL EdOm-2

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:.

Map:

Legal:

Condition:. +

Badly disturbed

Conceptualizathon

Setting: .d

Occupying a high knoll overloolung the South .Saskatchewan f iver valley on ~ t s west margm. (Quigg l984:72)

desc;iPtion: T

A central cairn surrounded by a stone circle with a t least 6 cairns and 12 stone circles nearby. (Quigg 1984: 72)

Status: . m The central cairn had been vandalized prior to 1976, and the outer stone ring is being ergded down the bank. (Quigg 1984:72) - ,

Archaeologxal Survey of ~ 1 b e k . a form: Badly+ disturbed (16.

Nearby Features: : There are a t least 6 cairns and 12. stone circles in the vicinity. (Quigg 1984:72J

Cultural Materials: rn Three artifacts were collected from near the central cairn, along with chipping . detritus. (Quigg 1984:72)

Dating Evidence:

Theory: Listed but not c a t e g o d by Brace. (Bmce 1981:l)

Other Fteferences:

ANDERSON 3 -

EfOq-68

' Place: Alberta '

Latitude: 50.8nnnN

Longitude: 11O.GnnnW

Elevation: I 686m

Map: 72L/15

Legal: nnnnnn . .

Condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Conceptuahzation

Setting: 8 ~ r c ' h a e o l o ~ c a l ' Survey of Alberta form: On rolling plains with a coulee to the E and q floodplain 800m south.

Description: Rock alignment listed by Brace. (Brace 1981:l)

8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Described as a 55' diametertcircle of? large rocks spaced well apar t with a small cairn in the center ' and possibly fragments of #

radiating spokes. Three tipi nngs are in the vicinity. Archaeologwal Survey of Alberta form: Not found by Walde in 1976.

Status:

Nearby Features:,

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images:

Other References:

Setting: 8 Crowned the top of a high hill in the Stranraer area.

Description:

STRANRAER Elad-0

. [,

Place: ' Saskatchewan r a'

~atitud;: 5 1.6nnnN

Longitude: . 108 .5nnnW

Elevation: 7 8 0 m

Map: 7 2 ~ 1 1 0

Legal: nnnnnn

Condition: Destroyed

Record: Conceptualization '

The monument consisted of stone3 piled to a height of five or six feet, with rows of ~ r n a l l stones placed one ' and a half feet ap&, z d extending t h n y feet out from the cairn in various directions like the spokes df a wheel. At the end of each row was a stone pile two feet in darneter.* There were eight of these rows in all. [From a description written by p early settler in 1906.1 (Houston 1988:3)

Status: Destroyed to put up a 900 foot television towet , in 1962. (Houston 1988:33

Nearby Features:

Cultural. Materials: $

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: B &nceptualizatjon provided with article. (Houston 1988:3)

Other References:

1 HUXLEY

,

Alberta

' L,atilde: 51.9nnuN s

Longitude:

Elevation: . . 860m

Map: 82P114

&gal: nunnnn

I Conceptualization

Setting:

~ s c r i ~ t i o n : rn Archaeo logd Survey of Alberta form lists' a M d c i n e Wheel with radiating spokes but Walde couldn't frnd i t in 1976. (Quigg 1984:7) s Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form description from 1961 @& a ring of stones from which spokes extend. Several groups have unsuccessfully tried to relocate "he wheel since then.

?

-

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory: rn Not c~nsidered a Medicine iThee1 by Quigg. (Qugg 1984:7) a Lasted but not categorized by Brace. ( B m 1981:l)

Images:

Other References:

Setting:

Description:

1

Place: Alberta '

Latitude: 5 1 . 8 n a n I j

Longi-tude: 1 1 ~ . 2 n u n ~ /

Elevation: 892m

Map: b S2P/ 14

Legal: n n n n n n

Condition: Undisturbed

Record: Conceptualization

8 Rock -aLignrnent fisted by Brace. ( 3 - e 1981:l) B Archaedogical Survey of Alberta form: ' ~ b s e r v e d by Forbis in 1976. A stone ring about 150 to 200 feet in darneter made of gravel; on a low hill near water. The site is completely buried, -&i& only .in early spring as distinct grass growth. -

..

Status:

Nearby Features:

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Other Gferences: '

NEUTRAL ~b0r-48

Place:

Latitude:

Longitude:

Elevation:

Map:

Legal:

Condition:

Record:

--

HILLS

Alberta

52. l n n n N

110.9nnnW

860in -,

7 5 ~ 1 2

nnnnnn \

Undisturbed

Conceptualization

Situated on Setting:

N of the site. Atop a high grass-covered. ridge w t h aspen tress just . the S edge of the Neutral Hills. (Quigg 1 9 y 1 5 9 )

Archaeological Survey of Alberta Forrp: views to the SE, W and NWW.

Description: rn A 2m d a p e t e r central c m with 30 or more stones in multiple layers encircled by an approximately 8m diameter stone ring. (Qugg 1984:159)

Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta form: The central cairn ~s deeply buried.

Status: 8

Nearby Features: a Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: one tipi ring W O r - 4 9 ) nearby is also deeply '

buried and lichen covered.

Cultural Materials:

Dating Evidence:

Theory:

Images: r Sketch map with site form.

-!

Other References: "

F. REPORTED OR POSSIBLE MEDICINE WHEELS - & '

F1:- UNNAMED --?? Oklahoma

A highly disturbed k o w a site near Mt. View, Oklahoma. (Grej 1963u:391

F2: UNNAMED AdNg-? (?) 1

Wyoming I

Small one near Gdendo d ~ g . [AdWg?] (Brown'1963:22?1 '

F3: UNNAMED BeOc-? C?) Wyoming -

Several Jn the Shoshone Basin. [BeOc??] tBr~uln 1963:2271

F4: UNNAMED BiNo-? (?)

\ P

Wyoming &'

A Aledlcine Kheel near Tongue R~vel- Reservation. [ B I K ~ ? ? ] ( B r o u ~ n 196,;:2271

F5: UNNAMED ,

-:?? Wyoming

(Personal Communicarion, John Greer. 1/88) Recently discovered site just north of Rock Springs, Wyoming i4 1 . 6 n n n N . 109.2nnnW. -Reports tha t all informat~on \vas passed on to John Brumley. ,

8

FG-NAMED ????-?? ( 2 4 ~ L 3 3 . l )

. South Dakota -

Sketch maps of possible 3fedicine R'heel show quitg disturbed feature5 - could be an&ung. iQuigg. ,,I 984:s I

F7: UNNAMED t

ll??-?? ' (24MC 1002) South Dakota 8 No description or location: o n 1 a possible lead to a Aled~cine. \i.heel s ~ t e . l o t considered a hlemcine LYheeI b ) Qulgg. (Quigg 1981:51

- . F8: UNNAMED . ,

24PH 1922 South Dakota

No d e a l s - Not considered a SIedicine Wheel by 'Quigg. ~Quigg 1981:51 ~

F9: UNN4MED "?-?? 2

South Dakota I

Small. d t e red structure v;est of Barnum. tBroKln 1963 :227~

0 I

F. REPORTED OR POSSIBLE M E D I C W WHEELS

F10: UNNAMED P

????-?? North Dakota d

8 Eddy mentions a North Dakota Medicine Wheel northeast of, the Missouri River, but the state office has no record. (Quzgg 1984:5)

F11: UNNAMED ????- ?? North Dakota

Lewis mentions surveys of opened, jo.ined wheels. He provjdes detailed scale drawings of seyeral very elaborate rings from 13 to 17 1 8 9 ':I91 .' r F12: UNKAMED 3 . --?? Arizona 8 Xumerous wheels reported seen from t h e - air en route City, always at high elevations and In extremely rugged In Mex~co itself. (Ransom 1972:31

feet in diameter. (Lewis

fro- Los ~ n g e l e s to Mexico country. Possibly Arizona or

F13: UNNAMED 'BfPf-? (?) Montana

Near -k-nstead, south of Dillon. DfTf ?I (Brown 1963:227) 8 "Is said to bave been loca~ed a short distance west of the town of Armstead, south of Dlllon, Montana ... 'behind the first red butte a r e lines of stone running from it across the valley like spokes radlatmg from a hub. At the foot of the butte a r e crude paintings In the center of a large ring of rocks."' (Kehoe 1954:136)

F14: SADDLE BUTTE % I , . DeOm-Oa (24HL811

Montana 8 Location: 48.7nnnK 110.0nnnW 800m

Map: Chester , . Legal: nnnnn

8 Condition: Undisturbed r .A hledicine 11-heel v:ith no description is noted. (Bruce 1987:79r

l l on tana Cultural Resource Inventory R e ~ o r d form: Si te involves 2 0 1 rings, 2 4 arcs, 18 alignments. 18 cairns, 5 'bison kills, a stone feature, lithic scat ter and one J I e d x ~ n e \$-heel. The llet5cine LYheel is not described, only !isted as 8 m in diameter. 8 Neal-b- a r e 201 tipi rings. 1% ali_gnments, and 1 8 cairns. i B m e 1987:79>

rm Deiiver 1980

F15: SUN BEAR --n i5'ashington

.An historical t 19821 Sledlcine Wheel constructed by Sun Bear in Waskng ton State. , \\-ilkre 1986:401

F. REPORTED OR POSSIBLE MEDICINE WHEELS

F16: ,UNNAMED d

????-?? Saskatchewan , 8 ' Three sites reported by a pipeline survey crew could not be located, and ' a n , additional 4 sites reported in 1983 and 1984 have not been surveyed or mapped yet. (Brace 198 7:53

F17: UNNAMED .????-?? Saskatchewan

A 19.Sm diameter stone ring with an enclosed alignment is noted. (Brace 1987:851 m Type B ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Bmce 1987:85) 8 Field notes of Syms, 1970, in possession of Brace.

F18: UNNAMED . EfOm-44 Alberta 8 O n , map 7-2,L/16 a t about .50.9nnnN 110.0nnnW

complex' ot' rings and ,cairns k i th one cairn which "may have -had spokes radiating f ~ o m it" (AcQms 1976:38i." (Quigg 1984:6) 8 Not consfaered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:61 -6

listed b&-not categorized by Brace. (Brace 1981:li 8 Archaeolo~cal Survey of Alberta form: Shows small Medicine Wheel with 6 spokes. Someone has erased the words "possible Medicine Wheel" on the form.

Fl9: UNNAMED EfOq-8 Alberta

Location: 50.8nnnN 110.7nnn\V elevation=2200' 8 Map: 72Ll15 rn Legal: nnnnn

A r c h a e o l ~ p c d Survey of Alberta form describing a ring and cairn comfdex suggests that or& may be a Medxine Wheel. (Quigg 1984:7) 8 Not considered a Medicine Wheel' by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:7)

.4rchaeological Survey of Alberta form: Three large cairns with an indistinct ring group which may be a Medicine Wheel.

F20: UNNAMED EcOr-9 b

Alberta 8 Location: 50.4nqnN. 1 l O . Y n n n \ i -

Map: 7&!i Legal: nnnnn a

Rock alignment .'l~sted' by Brace. (Bruce 1981:l) Archaeolog~al Survey of Alberta form: An undisturbed site consisting of 67 tipi

rings 2 cairns and 2 Medicine Wheels scattered along the edge of bluffsiseries of hills overloohng a creek and a lake. Diagram gwes no impression of what the Medicine Wheels are meant to look like.

F21: UNNAMED DgOp- 1 1 Alberta

On m a p 72E/2 a t about 49.0nnnN 110.5nnnW. Archaeological Survey of Alberta site form indicates a cireular effigy which may

have been a Medicine Wheel. @uigg 1984:6) Not considered aaMedicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:6)

F22: UNNAMED DjPm-49 Alberta

Map: 82G/9 . 'Legal: nnnnn Archaeolopcal Survey of Alberta forms indicates a possible Medicine Wheel, but no

description is available. Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:6) Also iisted by Brace as a rock alignment. ( B r a e 1981:l) . Archaeolopcal Survey of Alberta form: On the edge of the prairie level on the

north slde of the ~ r o w s n k s t River. A t least 1 5 tipi rings and a possible Medicine Wheel 01- stone configuration. The ' s i t e is undisturbed and 3 'miles NW of thd town of Cowley.

F23: UNNAMED EfOo-46 Alberta

Location: 50.9nnnN 110.4nbnW elevation = 2475" Map: 72Li16 Legal: nnnnn Described as a ' large cairn surrounded by a seini-circle of stones (Archaeolog~cal

Survey of Alberta site form!; Walde. (1976:93) thought i t natural due to inflation. . (Quigg 1984:6)

Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg: (Quigg 1984:6) .4rchaeolog~al Survey of Alberta form - A cairn on the edge of a steep bank.

F24: UNNAMED EfOp 170 Alberta 'm On m a p 72L; l j at about 50.9nnnN l lO.5nnnW. 8 Listed a s possible Medic-ine Wheel on Archaeo lo~ca l Survey of Alberta form - a large l m high cairn with stone alignments adjacent (undetermined correlation). (Quigg l984:6 1

r Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:6) .Listed but Got categorized. by Brace. (Bruce -1981:l)

i Archaeologcal Survey of .Alberta form describes a large cairn a t the peak ,of a hill with other cairns in N-S and E-W alignment. A large ring of stones surrounds the large cairn and two rock alignments [spokes?] running NE-SW. The drawing of all this

1 IS not very clear or exciting.

F25: UNNAMED

DjPm-61 Alberta B. Map: 82G19

Legal: n n n a n Archaeological- Survey of Alberta site form reports Medicine Wheel, but none found

in 1974. ~ o t considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Qrrigg 1984:61 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: An undisturbed site of 5 2 tipi rings and

some cairns; heavy grass prevented the location of a reported Medicine Wheel, which may also have been plowed. On a high bowl-shaped terrace area west of the Castle River and south of a &Hey.

F26: UNNAMED >

EeOp-2 Alberta

Map: 72LJ10 , . Legal: n n n n n No details - not considered a Medicine ~ h e e i by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:6! Archaeological Survey of Alberta files #56 and #456 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: An undisturbed site on a small ridge in the a . \-mnity of a seasonal pond. A probable 4 foot diameter cairn composed of very large

stones with a possible 60 foot diameter ring surrounding it amp a knoll. Four sloppy t ipi , rings 12-15 feet in diameter are to the east. All of the stones a re mostly buried.

1

F27: UNNAMED EfOq-62 Alberta

Location: 50 .SnnnN : ' I 1 0 . 8 n n ' n ~ elevation=2250' Map: 7 2 L i l 5 Legal: n n n n n

0

Rock alignment listed by Brace. (Brace 1981:Ii Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: A 'fairly large' cairn encircled by a stone

ring - steep bluffs to the i e s t . Walde visited in 1976 and found only a tipi ring.

F28: UNNAMED EgOm- 15

* Alberta Location: 5l .OnnnN 110 .0nnnW el,evation=227.5' .Map: 72MJl Legal: n n n n n

m Archaeologtcal Survey of Alberta form indicates a Medicine Wheel but no description given. Kot considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. iqrtigg 1984:7)

Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta form: NO rings and 4 cairns with a large central rock,

F29: UNNAMED EgOn-10 Alberta

Map: 72W1

8 Legal: nnnnn I

Multiple rock alignments listed by Brace. (Bmce 1981:l) .d

8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Evaluation suggests this site is of the highest order of value. There are more than 200 rin'gs, large and small cairns, rock alignments and ~ e d c i n e Wheels. There are several large (3-7m diameter) -disturbed cairns. On the west side of a creek valley.

F30: UNNAMED EgPn-37 - Alberta 8 Map: 82011 8 Legal: nnnnn 8 , Archaeological Survey of Alberta form indicates a Medicine Wheel but no description given. Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg.'(Qui& 1984:7) 8 Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: A site including 100-200 rings along a railroad track. ,

F31: UNNAMED ????-?? Alberta 8 One of two inGA historical whee d claimed to be on the North Blackfoot Reserve, east of Calgary, .by an elderly Blackfoot named One Gun in 1955. One was a t Blackfoot Crossing and was builc for Little Medicine Pipe, a Blackfoot who died in 1869 or 1870 id the smallpox epidemic. (Dempsey 1956:179) - F32: UNNAMED ':???-?? Alberta

Second of the two mentioned for this spot. This one was on Arrowhead Creek and was built for the Blood chief Bad Head. (Dempsey 1956:179)

F33: UNNAMED ????-?? Alberta 8 "At least ten" historic blackfoot Medicine Wheels w e r e known to elderly informants in 19.54, including ones for Bull Plume, Bull Shield and Bull Back Fat. (Kehoe 7972:184)

1

F34: RUNNING WOLF ????-?? Alberta

Reported by Dempsey, 19.56: to commemorate the spot where Running Wolf died a t the Belly Buttes on the Blood Reserve near the Sun Dance ground.

P

> .r -- -

390 - Z, 4 I .

I .

G. UNUSUAL RINGS AND CAIRNS ..

3

G1; UNNAMED ????-?? South Dakota - . 8 Vision quest structure. (Bra& 1987:149) *

-

8 Howard 1972:300

G2: UNNAMED ????-?? (32MN40) North bakota -

Vision quest structure.. (Bmce 1987:149) <. - , 8 Fox 1980:88 J

G3: UNNAMED ????-?? (32MN41) North Dakota " I

Vision quest structure. (Brace 1987:149) Fox 1980:88

G4: SHANAHAN CAIRN i_

I .

????-?? (24CP202) Montana . , . I =

8 Large cairn with no spoke; or outer wheel discussed on site ibrm. (Quigg 1984:51 8 Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984.5)'

b 4

G5: UNNAMED . , 4 .

1 i ????-?? (24MA75) 3 -

Montana 8 Reported a s a Medicine Wheel bu t" the outer ring is "worn spots" mther than stones surrounding a cairn. (Quigg ~984.'5.) 8 Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Qtiigg.' (Quigg 1984:5) -

G6: UNNAMED ???-?? (24HL 160) o

Montana 8- Immediately N of the Sun River on a flat river terrace about lorn above the river itself. (Brace l987:85)

>

A 30m diameter stone circle with many tipi rings, alignments,' semi-circles 'and. cairns in the vicinity. (B&e 1987:85)

Site form indicates 403 tipi rings. 6 alignments, 24 semicircles and 27 c$i-ns in - the area. (Brace 1987:85)

8 Type B ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1887:85) ~ =

8 Deaver 1980

G7: UNNAMED ????-?? (24HL167)

: Montana 8 Map: Dry Lake

Legal: nunnu

f -

391

G . UNUSUAL RINGS AWD CAIRNS

8 Montana Cultural Resource Inventory Record form: Site includes a n elliptical form 4m x 6m with a l m spoke outward to the east , and several 100 to 300m rock lines which intersect in pairs.

. G8: UNNAMED ????-?? (24CB4 10) Montana

Vision quest structure. (Brace 1987:145) . 8 Conner 1982:90 (Fig. 2)

G9: UNNAMED ????-?? Montana

Vision quest structure; fasting bed. (Brace 1987:145) 8 Conner 1982:92 (Fig. 41

G10: UNNAMED ????-?? (24CB654) Montana 8 Vision quest structure. (Brace 1987:1451

Conner 1982:94 (Fig. 41

G11: UNNAMED ????-?? Montana 8 Vision quest structure: fasting place. (Brace 1987:145)

Conner- 1982:97 (Fig. 7,

Gl2: UNNAMED ????-?? (24BH4 17) Montana R .Vision quest structure (Brace 1987:145) 8 Conner 1982:102,103 Wig. 9,101

G13: UNNAMED ????-?? (24BH665) Montana

Vision quest structure (Brace 1 9 8 7:l45 1

Conner 1982:lO.j (Fig. 12)

G14: UNNAMED ?--?? (24BH665IV) Montana

Vision quest s tructure (Brace 1987:146) Conner 1982: 106

G15: UNNAMED ?m-?? (24CB420)

-3 , (

G . UNUSUAL RINGS AND CAIRNS * +i-

+ 3

Montana Vision quest structure. (Bruce 1987:1461

B Conner 1 9 8 2 : l l l (Fig. 161

G16: UNNAMED ????-?? (24PA5.5 1 ) Montana

Vision quest s t ructure. (Brace l987:14'6, Conner ' 1982:114 iFig. 1 7 )

G17: UNNAMED ????-7 (24CB411) Montana $ Two vision ques t s t ructures . ~ B r m e 1 9 8 i : l 4 6 1

Conner 1982:87

GlS: UNNAMED ????-?? (24CB4 19) Montana 8 Four v ~ s ~ o n ques t s t ructures . (Bruce l96'i:1$6 r

Conner 1982:91

G19: UNNAMED ????-?? (24HL28) Montana w

B Three vlslon quest s t ructures . ~Bracr 198<:1471 Keyser 1979:21

z!

G20: UNNAMED -2.

I. i ,+ : ?"-?? (24CB750) Montana 8 Three vision quest s t ructures . 1 Bmce 198 7:I 4 71

, 8 Loendorf 1969:49 .- G21: UNNAMED .j '

?"- ?? Morrtana

Five vision quest s t ructures in the Pryor- hlountains. ( B ~ c L c ~ l g X r : l 4 i 1 6 Wedel 1961:266

GLX? UNNAMED P

--?? #ontana

Three vision ques t s t ructures In G1ac:er Park. (Brace 1987:1371 Kehoe 1951:131-132. *

G23: SUN RIVER 2 C j P M b (241367)

G . UNUSUAL RINGS AND CALRNS.

Montana rn Location: 4'i.SnnnN 112.2nnnW

Legal: qnnnn 8 condition: Partly disturbed

Record: Sketch < 8 Immediately I\; of the SU; River on a flat river terrace about 10m above the river itself. (Qyigg I984:222 1

(Neu~com b 196 7.2 1 8 The site was intact in 1938 bui four spokes have since eroded and the hearth h a s been vandalized. iQuigg l984:222) 8 There a re tipi rings in the vicinits. iKehoe I972:184) 8 There a r e 17 other stone circles reported on the same terrace. several of which make up this Medicine Wheel site. (Quigg 1984:2221

i Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:2221

8 Detailed plan map of site from 1962. (Newcomb 1967:21) (Leu~is 1931:761 Kehoe 19.54'-134 11954:76)

8 (Kehoe 1955:n) Wedel 1961'-268 (1961 :n) Brown 1963'"226 (1963:n) Newcomb 1967" 17 (1967:nI 8 tKehne 1972:i811 8 iEdd? 1977b:n) K e h w Br Kehoe 1979--33 (1979:n) 8 Site form 1981

" I

G24: MORSTAD ????-?? Manitoba 8 Record: Aligned Plan 8 .4 23.9m diameter stone ring w.ith% small central cairn and 2 curving interma1 alig>rnents old ring s e p e n t s 3 1 . (Bruce l98?:83'1 8 One semicircle, two cairns and 6 tipi rings noted in the 'vicinity. (Bruce 1987:85) 8 Type B ceremon~al circle according to race. (Brace 1987:8$1 '

8 Plan map with t rue north indication from 1959. (Bruce 1987:1981 Jerde 1959 .

G25: DAND DhMc-0 1 , Manitoba B 49,: innnS 100.5nnnif- rn .A thlck. 9.75m diameter stone ring. (Brace 1987:85) B .4 single stone rmg, 3 single ca lm and 5 alignments noted nearbv. ( B m e 1987:85) 8 Typt. B ce~emonla l cilcle accord~ng to Brace. (Brace 1987:851 8 Plan map 1 ~ 1 t h mzynetlc ~ndicatlon. no date. (Bruce 1987:198! 8 Tampiin nd

G26: UNNAMED DkLw-18 Xlanitoba 8 Location: 5 1.7nnnN 99.7nn;rLT 8 -4 rough. dispersed stone ring of average diameter 19.3m. Site m a p indicates N-S

e

394

G. UNUSUAL RINGS AND CAIRNS *

C

inside a n d outside ring diameters of 1 2 and 22.5m, and E-W iiiameters of 1 2 and. 16.5m. (Brace 1987:853

Type B ceremonial circle according; to,Brace. ' (Brace 1987:851 8 Plan m a p with magnetic i ? ~ north indicated. (Brace 1987:199i

Nicholson 1980

G27: U N N A M E D DkOj-2 Saskatchewan S Locat~on: 4 9 . 8 n n n N 1 0 9 . 5 a n n I Y

Map: 72F/ 13 Legal: n n n n n L'islon quest structure. (Brace l987:143') Saskatchewan Archaeolog-ical Survey form: A stpne configurat~on 4 0 ' long conslstlng

of stones piled In Imes extendmg from a half-circle of stones. On the surf act^ overlookmg the valley.

-G28: PERRIN RANCH EeNu- 1 Saskatchewan

Map: 72J!11 s Legal: n n n n n

Record: plan Constructed on t i l l plain a t a valley rim l k m N of a river with a 360 degree

unobstructed view. On a hill apex. (Brace 1987:841 Two side-by-side stone rings with a disturbed cairn. The rings are roughly 19.5 and

I.S..jrn iN-S line) in diameter. (Brace 1987:84~ m Seven'-s tone rings and a ca lm are nearby. (Brucc l 987 :8 l I

4

None of the rings a re within 27.5m. .A line of small cairns extend> . : ?m tn\vdrd thc. 7 c~rcies. (Bruce 1987:861 s Type B ceremonial circle according to Brace. (Brace 1987:84~

Plan m a p with a magnetic north indication. (Brace 1987:1971

G29: KEYHOLE STONE PILE DkOj-2 Sashatcheulan m On map 72F 13 d t ~ P P I - O X . 1 9 . 9 n n n N 1 0 9 . 5 n n n U ' . s Named as a v l s ~ o n quest s tructure by Brace. (Brace 1981:1,

, G30: GENTLE CAIRN Edoo-2 Alberta B h c a t m n : ' 5 0 . 5 n n n ~ 1 lO.?nr rn \ i - B >lap: 72L 9

Legal: n n n n n Possible association confusion with EdOo-3 s ~ t e . 1 9 6 2 Archaeolog-ical Survey of Alberta s~ te form reports a rock mound (cairn1

covered in sand and estimated at .5-im in diameter. (Quigg 1984:61

G . UNUSUAL RINGS AND CAIRNS

B Not cons~dered a hledtcine Wheel by Quigg. (Qugg 1984:6) 8 Archaeologcal Survey of Alberta site form of 1962 describes it as 15 to 20 feet across and 2 to 3 feet high and atop a good-sized hill.

G31: HAWKEYE E e o v - 1 Alberta

Map: 72L 12 Legal: nnnnn

B Rock alignment listed b\ Brace. (Brace 1981:l) Archaeological - Surve j of Alberta form: On a knob on the north bank of the Red

Deer River. There a re tw6 concentric rings of large stones surrounding a single large stone. The rings a re 6 feet and 4 feet in dlarneter.

G32: UNNAMED EfOp-370 Alberta B Location: .50.8nnnN 1 lO..innrLY elevation= 731m

Map: 72L!15 a Legal: a n n n n

Condiwn: undisturbed Record: sketch

rn Archaeolog.lca1 Survey of Alberta form: -4 prairie hilltop within knob and kettle topogr-aphy with a slough to the eas t , prairie to the west, hills to t he north and hills and coulees to the south.

.4rchaeolog1cal Survey of Alberta form describes ,a 6m smne circle with small central ca lm. and many other circles in vicini~y. iQuigg 198d:61

.4rchaeological Survey of 'Alberta form describes .5 rings and 4 cairns. Sot cons~dered a Lledicine LYheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1983:61 Llsted but not categorized by Brace. [Bruce 1981:l)

HI: HUGHES TURTLE

. > - BdKla-0 South Dakota

.* Location: 44.5nnnK 100.OnnnLV -4tup Snake Bluff near the city- of Pierre. Diagram wlth descrlptlon of othel ef'figws

In the Dakotas. One of many efi;:@es, most of which have d~sappea red . Diagram w ~ t h magnetlc north. (Shetrone l93O:3l4 1

h H2: WILD 'MAN BUTTE DgNc-1 Suskatclzewan

Location: 49.0nnnK 104.4nn~Lf- 8 Map: 72H11 8 Llsted a s a human *efig?- (male1 by Brace (Brace 1981 1

A -male effigy w t h the head cilrected north. Effigy features include a hea r t l~ne . body outline, mouth c a v n and a nearby tlpi ring. (Brace 1987:971 a Provldes a 'hlgh confidence' da te of 1651 for the site based on Ilchenometr?. ( B r u c ~ 1987:361 r'

Saskatchewan hluseum of Za tu ra l History detaded m a p of l'97F. (Brace 1981:ll Kehoe 1965 Clandening 1928

3

8 Dyck 1981

H3: G E E S EFFIGY DgNf-5 Saskatchewan

Location: 49.OnnnN 105.OnnnW elevation= 7241-11 8 ?,lap: 72.H'2

3

8 Legal: nnnnn Saskatchewan Archaeolog~cal Survey form: Coulee with 10m to the SLY. Listed as a ceremonial circle by Brde,. (Brace 1981:I I

Saskatchewan hluseum of Natural ist to* detailed m a p of 1978. (Brace l 9 8 l : l ) Photos on file with the Saskatchex~an hIuseum of Natural History. ,

War lodge. (Bmce 1987:145' --

B4: BIG BEAVER DgSh-3

, Saskatchezcan I

Location: 49.0nnnX 105.lrrnn\i- elevation = 8 l 0 m \ lap: 72H 3 Legal: znnnn Located 32m from the cros: -of 3 coulee v;hlch descends toward the s o u t h . openrng

mta a minor valley O . S h from the .site. brar re l98::911 On a high steep-sided hill.

8 iisted a s a n animal e f f ~ p . by Brace. 91ade magnetlc measures from rock between . . C- :(,relegs lhls dlagrarn - to alignments: a . along stomach 313" 11': 2 . to top of &I ]

293"08': and base of mandible 138" 14'. ?;ow that his diagram was printed In reverse. 1 Bmce 1981 :1 I

8 The effigy's head is lowered. possibly depicting a pre-charge stance. The .lowered tail, however, should denote tha t the animal is not chargmg. The headpoints 'toward the valley, while the feet point ea s t toward the first coulee. An indistinct heart-line is depictect (Brace 19&7:94! . . = ,

8 ' A 10.48rn by 4.68m pison e f i a &ith 23 tipi rings nearby. The effigy occupies a valley rim in till plain %opo@aphy l .5km from a . spring. (BrcGe 1987:901 8 Within a habitation c&p of 23 tipi rings. (Brace 198?:943 m Provides a %igh confidence' da te of 1856 for the site bag& on lichenometry. ( B v e I98 7:26 1

r Mdp of SaskatcTewan 3luseum of Natural History survey in 1964 detailed by Brace [Bmce 1 9 8 1 : l ) 8 Photos on file with the Saskatchexvan Aluseum of Natural H m o r y ; filmed by Sask hledia in 1'982.

HS: MANKOTA SALA~~IANDER ,

DiNs- l Saskatchewan 8 Location: 49.4nnnN 107.0nnnL5- 8 >rap: 72Gi6 ., 8 LegQnnnn . r

8 Condition: -destroyed - A, 8 Record: plan

& 8 Dorsal view of a tiger salamander (according to a Regma biologist); a n &omalY as far- a s Great -Plains animal effimes a r e . concerned. (Brace 1987:93) B Listed a s a destroyed animal efFrgy by Brace: I t has been mapped directly and was - destroyed soon after. (Brace 1981 : 1 \ 8 hlapped in 1964 by Kehoe: removed in 1966 when ) h e landowner requested culrlvatlon of the land. P r e s e n t 1 cemented together a t Condie Wildlife Park near Rppna . \Brace 198 7:g-f I 8 .A 10.55m by 4.64m salamander effig?- on knob and kettle till plain topography 200m from a creek. (Brace 1987:91t

H6: K+YVlLLE HUMAN EFFIGY DkIg-2 Suskatchewan s ,

8 ~ o r h t l o n : 49 .7nnnS 10.5.0znnU- - a U s p : i2H 11 i s ' Legal: nnnnn r Ssskatchewan Archamlogical Survey form: Knob and Kettle topography. s .i female e , f i p v.-ith the head directed south. A~ stick f i r e with 9 nearby tipi

& 1987:971 ' 8 i i z t e d as a-- d m ~ ~ y e d ef i ig . by Brace. i f-as mapped directly, but original n o e s have no t been found. i B m e f 9 8 l : l l

. ', 8 Plan m a p with magnetic north. ' 1981:1! r \i-arson 197.5

H7: DEWDNEY \,

EcNh- I

.& - *.

- 3 H. EFFIGIES

Saskatchewan " 8 Location: 50.4nnnN 105.3nnnW elevation = 535m 'm Map: 72U6 '

D Legal: nnnnn Condition: undisturbed ,

8 Record: plan Saskatchewan Archaeologictd Survey form: On a terrace on the eas t side of the

Moose J a w River, 12km NW of Belle Plaine. a ema ale ,-child & female e f i p e s and a geometric configuration.. iBruce 1981 : I )

-a A female effigy with h e a d directed to "the west. Fea tu re s . include a body oudine with eyes and breasts. A rectangular boulder configuratio* is attached: m o t h e r figure. (Brace 1987:97]

Provides a 'fair confidence' date of 1826-1868 for the site based on !ichenometry. (Brace 198 7:36) .' Brace mapping wjth magnetic north. illrace 1 9 8 1 : l )

H8: CABRI LAKE Egok- 1 Saskatchewan m Location: 51.OnnnS 109.7nnn\$-

Map: 72N14 a Legal: ' nnnnn 8 Listed a s a human effigy by Brace. Magnetic direct~on from last penis stone to central hear t stone is 52'00' . (Brace l 9 8 l : l )

-4 male effigy wlth the head directed ENE. Features include a heartline, penls. stick-body outhne, t ~ p l ring. and a cairn. iBruce 1987:97) m Sketch map by Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 i : l l

H9: CONSORT - ???-??

Alberta . m -4 male effigy figure with the head directed t6 the VS'SM;. Features include a heartline, penis, stick outline, tipi ring and a cairn. (Brace 1987:97) D Kormingmn and For t i s 1965

H10: CLUNY --?? Alberta 8 -4 male effigy figure with head directed to the S. Features include a stick outlinc and m alignment. (Brace 196;:971 8 Kehoe and Kehoe 1957

H 1 1: STEVEVILLE ?m-?? Saska fchetcan

\ m A male e f T - 1 ~ suck figure ivlth head dlrected to the SE. Features ~ncludt. 3.

h e a r t h e and penis. i Bmce 1987:9 71 8 Bryan 1961

a Kehoe 1965

H12: TIE CREEK FEMALE EaKv- 14t 1 ) * Manitoba

A body-outline female ~ t h head directed SSE. Features include heartline. breasts and an ahgnmen a University of South D

Steinbring 1970

H 13:. TIE CREEK MALE EaKv- l4(4) Manitoba

A sfick-figure male e f f i e with a heartline. (Bruce- 1987:97) 8 University of Sodth Dakota 1976a

Steinbring 1830 . ,

H14: BOZEMAN ????-?? (24GA106) Montana 8 A stick-figure male effigy w t h head dlrected W. (Bruce 19.87:97~

Kehoe and Kehoe 1957 Malouf 1975

H15: PRYOR EAST --?? Montana

.4 female stick-figure effigy with a - v a p n a featui-e. (\Fatson 1975:971 Simrns 1903b: Figure 75

H16: LANDSLIDE *BUTTE , . -- ??

Saskatchewan .A male stick-figure effigy with a penis feature. (Watson 1975:971 Keboe and Kehoe 19.57

H17: N'ESSINGTOS SPFUNGS -- ?? South Dakota

.A female stick-figure e f f i p 1~1th head directed NNE. Features, ~nclude eyes, a mouth .~nd a nearh:; tip1 ring. l B m e 1987:971

Todd 1 P X 6 8 Lew-is 1891 O .

H 1s: PUNISHED WOMYS H I L L "?-?? South Dakota

hiale and female st~dk-figure effiges w t h the heads du-ected hW. The male has a

H. EFFIGIES

penis and the female has breasts and a vagina. There is a cairn and an alignment nearby. (Brace 1987:9 7) e

, Lewis 1891

H19: MURPI-AY COUNTY ????- ?? South Dakota

A male stick-figure effigy with head directed to the NLV. (Brace 1987:971 Hudak 1972

H20: HUGHES COUNTY ????-?? ( 3 9 ~ ~ 7 0 ) South Dakota

r

a -4n 82m snake e f f i a and a 10.76 by 5.56m turtle ef'figy 1 ~ 1 t h - head alignments. (Brace 198 7:9 1 )

A 8 Over 1941

H21: RUGHES COUNTY ????-?? (39HU74) South Dakota

' A snake, turtle and bird effigy. The turtle is 2.70m by 1.83m and has a heart l~ne, the snake is 159.11m by 3.6m. -4 river is 120m away, the effipes occupy a vallev nm and till p l a n surface. tBme l987:911

Over 1941 L e w s 1889

H22: CUSTER COUNTY ??-??-?? South Dakota 8 -4 rabbit effigy w t h a geometric figure nearby. (Brace 1987:91~ 8 Over 1941

823: JERAULD COUNTY / --?? South Dakota

i -4 4.57m by 2.94m turtle e f f p and a 47.8m snake e f i i p near a rtver w t h a

cairn and a human fi,pre n-..a!-b~.. (Bract 1987:911 Over 1941 Todd 1881

8 Lewis 1891

H24: MIKNEHAHA COUNTY --?? South Dakota - .

Turtle and f i sh .ef ig ies v:ith a mound nearby. (Bruce 1987:91 I Over 1911

H. EFFIGIES

~ e b r a s k a A 4.19m by 3.05m turtle effigy with, a n internal cairn. The effigy occypies a valley

rim 200m frbm a river. (Brace 1987:91) Gilmore 1932 .

H26: MURRAY COUNTY ????-??. . Minnesota

A 2.'95m by 1.62m bison effigy with eyes. A cairn, an alignment and small stone circles are nearby. iBrace 1987;91)

Lewis 1890

H27: OLIVER ????-?? North Dakota

A 4.63m by 3 . lm turtle effigy with a centre line. The effigy occupies a valley rim near a river. (Bruce 1987:91)

Libby 1910

H28: CONSORT SNAKE ????- ?? Alberta:

A 3.66m by 3.05m turtle effigy and a 8.0511~-b-y 0.57m snake effigy on a knob in ti1 plain topography. ( B m e 1987:90)

Bayrock 1963

H29: BANNOCK POINT EaKv-3 +

Manitoba A 2.57m by 1.75m turtle effigy and two 3.90m and 35.66m snake effigies with

eyes, external cairns and geometric patterns nearby. On bedrock. (Brace 1987:90) Sutton 1965

m0: RAINBOW FALLS EaKv- 12 - . Manitoba

A 3.05m by 1 . 9 6 ~ 1 turtle and a 2.74m by 2.46m turtle on bedrock 50m from a nver. (Bruce 1987:901 8 Sutton 1965 8 Stetnbrlng 1960

H31: BASKET FALLS EaKv- 13 Manitoba

A 12.80m by 3.2m turtle e f f 1 ~ - on M r o c k .5Om from a river. (Bruce 1987:90) 8 Stelnbnng 19$0

H. EFFIGIES ' -

H32: TIE CREEK SNAKE E&v- 14 Manitoba 8 A 20.66m snake effigy with eyes, an alignment, cairn and geometricaP figure nearby. On bedrock. (Brace 1987:90) 8 University of South Dakota' 1976a

Steinbring 1980 -

H33: PINE POINT SNAKE EaKv- 17

t Manitoba A 2.40m snake effigy on bedrock. (Brace 1987:90)

8 University of South Dakota 1976a 8 Steinbring 1980

H34: 'PINE POINT LINEAR

A snake effigy 'on bedrock 200m from a nver. (Brace 1987:901

A 13.01m snake effigy.. (Brace 1987:90)

H36: PETROFORM --?? Manitoba

A 6.70m snake effigy on bedrock. ( B r a e 1987:90r Steinbring 1980

H37: UNNAMED . EaLa-6 Manitoba '

m -4 1.5m snake effigy. (Brace 1987:901 Steinbring 1980

~ 3 8 : ,UNNAMED ????-?? (24PH 1707) Montana

-4 14.0m by 6.0m snake efflgy wlth 15 tlpi rings, 3 calrns and an alignment / nearby. On a * valley r m m tlli plam toppgrabhy 500m from a lake. (Brace 1987:90)

1 Deaver 1980

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS

11: GREENLAY CROSS DhNe- 1 P Saskatchewan - I.

8 Location: 49. lnnnN 104.7nnnW Map: 72Hl2

m Legal: nnnnn On the side of a small knoll on the south side of .the Frenchman valley. (Kehoe $

Kehoe l979:26) 8 Saskatchewan Archaeolog~cal Survey form: DhNe-1 site form has no mention of the cross[?] m A 2.8m cross with rough circle described by Kehoe and Kehoe (1979:26). No site . . form on file. (Quigg 1984:5)

jr 8 A cross of stone, the lines 8ft long, with a low - e a h 8ft across at the S end of the S line of the cross. A rough- circle Joins the ends of the cross. l979:26 )

Kehoe

8 Very close to Minton Turtle (DhNe-2) ,- - ,

8 Many tipi rings nearby: (Kehoe &. Kehoe 1979:26) 8 Not considered a Med~cine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:5) 8 The configuration may have been formed from a single tipi ring; there are many s ~ m i l a t ones nearby. No astronomical alignments found. (Kehoe &. K e h e 1979:26) a

12: DAN THOMPSON CROSS DlNg-2, Saskatchewan 8 Location: 49.8nnnN 105.0nnnW 8 Map: 72H1'14 -

Legal; nnnnn -

Cond~tlon: destroyed Record: Plan

" 8 Reported but destroyed prior to being recorded in 1980; not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:5) 8 Listed as a questionable Medicine Wheel or historic bur id by Brace, who also lists ~t a s destroyed. Was mapped. (Bruce 1981:l) 8 Sketch provided by Brme, - no orientation. (Brace 1981 :1) A

13: MILLARWS EhPn- l i Alberta s Location: j l .2nnnN 114. lnnnW 8 Map: 8 2 0 ' 1 8 Legal: nnnnn 1 Condltlon: disturbed g ;

r Record: Sketrh 8 .4rchaeolog~al Survey of Alberta form: On a stream terrace lOOm from a creek. On top of a n exposed hill

Archaeoiogcal Survey af Alberta form indicates possible Medicine Wheel with 2 or 2 spokes rad~at ing SE, but Walde couldn't find it. (Quigg 1984:T) 8 Archaeolog~cal Survey of Alberta form: 'S' shaped effigy ' nearby.

- I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS

. 1 - I

8 Not considered a Medicine Wheel by Quigg. (Quigg 1984:T) Archaeological Survey of Alberta form: Crude sketch. 2 -

15: UNNAMED o

DgPn-28 British Columbia

-, . . Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 7: 145) 8 Carpenter 1975:38 , > - 1 *.

8 Possibly a' poor desimation; h i s been labelled as an Alberta site otherwise. h

16: BONE CREEK DkOe-2 - Saskatchewan ' .z' Location: 49.7nnnN G 8 . 7 n n n ~

Map: 72Fl15 B Legal: nnnnn

Record: ~ l a n Saskatchewan Archaeologwal Survey form: On a flat plam &ing to the east of Bone

Creek. -7 y-

hsted a s a geometrical configuration by ~ r a c e a (Bruce 1981:l) 8 plan map with magnetic north. (Brace 1981:l) .-

Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:145) Watson 1975:20

EaKu-7 Manitoba

- - -

8 Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 i':l45) Buchner 1976b:33

18: UNNAMED EaKu-9 Manitoba

Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 7:l45j Buchner 1 9 7 6 b 3 1 . -

-. '19: UNNAMED EaKa-9

Q

Manitoba \

8 Boulder geometric: (Brace l$82:l-l5) .* Buchner 1976b:34

_ V

110: UNNAMED EbKu-9 Manitoba 8 Boulder geometric. (Bruce 1%7:145) 8 Buchner & Callaghan 1980:98

405

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS .

. I1 1: UNNAMED ' 3aKv-14(2)

' Manitoba + - WW*, Boulder ghometric. (Brace 1987:145)

Buchner 1976a:16 - - -

< , I 1 2: UNNAMED EaKv- 14(3) Manitoba

Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:145) Buchner 1976a:17

113: UNNAMED EaKv-14(6) . Manitoba E Bwulder geometric (?I (Bruce 1987:145) c Bucknet. "' l976a; 20

114: UNNdA'MED EaKv-2 1 . 'P

C

Manitoba r ,>Boulder geometric. (Brace 1987:145) 6 Bbbhner 1976b:35

115: UNNAMED EgKx-8 Illanitoba 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:I 45 1

8 Carmichael 1979:9'i

116: UNNAMED EgKx- 15 Manitoba 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 7 : l 4 5 ) 8 Carmichael 1979:8

117: UNNAMED EgKx-23 Manitoba

Boulder geometric. [ B r u c ~ 1937:145', 8 Grmich-ael 1979:gh

118: UNNAMED CbGu- 1 0 n ta rio

, 8 Boulder geometric. \Brace 198 7 : l 4 5 ) 8 .Tv~ska . . & Burns 1973:l'i-23.

I. -UNUSUAL WALLS AND KIXGNMENTS

119: UNNAMED CbGu-2 Ontario

Boulder geometric. ( B r c e l987: l45 1

Tyyska & Burns 1973:23-27

120: UNNAMED CcGs- 1 Ontario 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace I987:l45 r 8 Tyyska & Burns 1973:27

121: UNNAMED ????-?? (24PH70) Montana

Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:146 1

Davis 1975332

122: UNNAMED ????-?? (48FR302) Wyoming m ' Boulder geometric. iBrwe l987:Id 7 )

&a 1966:15-21.

123: UNNAMED ?"-?? South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric in Custer County. brace 1987:1371

Over 1941:47

124: UNNAMED ????-?? . South Dakota

Boulder geometric in Custer County. (Brace 1987:1471 Over 1941:48

125: UNNAMED ????-?? South Dakota

Boulder geometric in Custei- Count\- i Bruce, 198 7 : 11 7 1

8 Over 1941:49

126: UNNAMED f ????-?? (29CU46) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. I Brace 198 7: 14 7 1

8 University of South Dakota 1981

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS

127: UNNAMED ????-?? (39FA 150) South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace I987:ld 7 ) 8 University of South Dakota 1981

(128: UNNAMED ????-?? ( 3 9 ~ ~ 168) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. (Bruce l987:I 4 7 ) m Unlvers~ty of South Dakota 1981

v

129: UNNAMED ????-?? (39FA 186,) South Dahota 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace 1987:1471 m University of South Dakota 1981

130: UNNAMED ????-?? (39FA34 1) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 7 : l 4 7 ) . 8 University of South Dakota 1981

131: UNNAMED 3"-?? (39FA369) South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace I987:Id 7)

Z

rn Unlverslty of South Dakota 1981

132: UNNAMED ????-?? (39FA383) i , South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:14 7 )

University of South Dakota 1981

133: UNNAMED ????-?? (39HU227) South Dahota ,

Boulder geometric. !Bruce I98 ;:I 4 71 Cnlversity of Sobth Dakota 1981

134: UNNAMED ????-?? (39HU352) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. (Brace l987:1471 8 Unlverslty of South Dakota 1981

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS

135: UNNAMED ????-?? (39HU353j South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. (Brace 198 7:I 48 J

B Universitv, of South Dakota 1981

186: UNFAMED ????-?? (39JE4) South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. c Brace 198 7: l46 1

8 University of South Dakota 1981

137: UNNAMED ????-?? (39JE6) South Dakota

Boulder geometnc. (Brace I 9 8 7: I 4 8 1

University of South Dakota 1981

138: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL85) South Dakota B Boulder geometric. (Brace I 9 8 7:I 48 r 8 University of South Dakota 1981

139: UNNAMED ????-I? (39SL136) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. (Bruce l987:148 1

B University of South Dakota 1961

140: UNNAMED "?-?? (39SL143) South Dakota B Boulder geometric. (Bruce 198 7 : l48

University of South Dakota 1981

141: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL146) South Dakota a Boulder ge0rnetl.i~. iBmce 198i ' : I ld l

University of South Dakota 1981 pt

142: UNNAMED ?"-?? (39SL145) South Dakota i Boulder geometrlc. I Bmce l98::1481

University of South Dakota 1981

409

I . UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNNIENTS -

143: UNNAMED T-?? ( 3 9 s ~ i w South Dakota rn Boulder geometrlc. (Brace I987: l38 J

U n ~ v e r s ~ t y of South Dakota 1981

144: UNNAMED @ ????-?? (39SL158)

South Dakota Boulder geometric. bL3wc-e 198 7 : l18 1

Unlvers~ty of South Dakota 1981

145: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL162) South Dakota I

Boulder geometrlc. (Brare I 9 8 7 : l48 I rn U n ~ v e r s i t p d South Dakota 1981

146: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL163) South Dakota rn Boulder geometrlc. (Brace l987:148) rn Unlvers~ty of South Dakota 1981

147: UNNAMED ?"-?? (39SL168) South Dakota

Boulder geometr~c . 1 Bruce 196'7: 148 . 'Un~\yel-s~ty of South Dakota i 9 S l

148: UNNAMED m?-?? (39SL175) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. !Brace l 9 8 7 : l 4 8 1

Unlvers~ty of South Dakota 1951

149: L'NKAMED ??1?-?? (39SL 17 7 ) South Dakota * Boulde~ georne t r~ i ~ B u c i967.146

I n;\t.rsl:\ of bou th Dakota l 9 i 1

130: UNNAMED Tm-?? (39SL179) South Dahota

Bouidel- geometric. BTCE ! 98 7 : I 4 6 1 Un!vers l t~ . of South D & o a 1981

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS

151: UNNAMED ????-?? ( 3 9 ~ ~ 1 8 6 )

9

South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. (Bruce 1987:1491

University of South Dakota 1981

152: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL2 13) South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. ( B r ~ c e I 9 8 i : l 4 9 I 8 University of South Dakota 1981

153: UNNAMED ????-?? (39SL229) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. 1 Brace I 9 8 i : l 4 9 1

University of South. Dakota 1981

154: UNNAPED "?-?? (39~Lf230) South Dakota 8 Boulder geometric. I Brace 1987: I 4 9 I 8 Gniversity of South Dakota 1951

155: UNNAMED ?"-?? (39SL232) South Dakota

Boulder geometric. c Bruce 1 9 8 7: 1-19 University of South Dakota 1981

Suskatchewan Geometric configuration near Dewdney listed b$ Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 1 : l l

157: CFB SUFFIELD E b O p l l S Alberta 8 Q c k alignment listed by Brace. IBITLCE 1981:1!

.i;rchaeologlcal S u r v e - of Aiberta form: -4 roxv of 9 cairn.; runntng N - S along a d e h ~ e d hllitop. Thert. art. 1 2 tipi I-lng: in t h e vicinity. but not found by M'alde in

l976,

158: UNXA3IED EfOn-23

' AEbenk Rock alignment ilstei b ~ . Brace. Brace 1 9 8 I : l r

1 Xrcnaeolopcal Survey o! Alberta form hsts a s a c a m w t h m a tipi ring.

411 - h R

I. UNUSUAL WALLS AND ALIGNMENTS 'F r

159: UNNAMED EfOn- 105 Alberta

Rock a l ~ g n m e n t listed by Brace. (Brace 1 9 8 I : l ) Archaeological Survey of -4lberta form lists a s a .5m tip1 ring with a ds turbed

calrn.

160: UNNAMED EgOm-8 Alberta

Location: 5 l .0nnnN 110.0nnnW elevation= 2000' Map: 72M!1

8 Legal: nnnnn

SITE INDEX BY BORDEN NUMBER

SITE INDEX BY BORDEN NUMBER

SITE INDEX BY BORDEN NUMBER

SITE INDEX BY BORDEN NUMBER

SITE INDEX BY BORDEN NUMBER

SITE INDEX BY NAME .

ALAMEDA CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .- . . . . . . . . . . 317 ALKALI CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

. . . ALONSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 ANDERSON 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242: ANDERSON 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 244 ANDERSON 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 ANTELOPE HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

. BANNOCK POINT . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 BARRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 BASKET FALLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

.- .. h . BELLE CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 . . BIG BEAVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

BIG HORN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 BINDLOSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

. BIRD FOOT SHRINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 BONE CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 :- a

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BOZEMAN 399 BRITISH BLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 *

BBYNE'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 BR'~VE'S M@ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228:

I BUFFALO BIRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 BUFFALO HILL CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 CABRI LAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 CANUCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 CFB SUFFIELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 CHAIN O F LAKES . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 CHERRY RIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 CLAYBANK . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 . a

CLUNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 CONSORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 . .

CONSORT . SNAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COULTERS . . . . s 363

CRONK'S BIG CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 CUSTER COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 DAN THOMPSON CROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 D m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 DARK HORSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 DEWDNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 DOUG WADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 EAGLE BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . . 35) EAGLE CHILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 ELLIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 EMPRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 FAITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 FORGET CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 FORT SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 FRESNO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 .

- .. 1 . .

. _ _ " .. < l . . . . . . 418 ' : . . '

SITE INDEX .BY NAME . . . . . . , *. . . . . .

....

. . . .

.. #

. .

. ~

.. GENTLE CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9 GILES CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

. GILES EFFIGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 :

G E E S TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 GLEN EWEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 GRASSY KNOLL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 GRASSY LAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -. . 213 GREENLAY CROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 HALBRITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . 209 HALF MOON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 HARDY TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 HAWKEYE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 HUGHES C O U ~ T Y . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 HUGHES TURTLE . . . : . . . . . . . . . % . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 HUGHTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -. . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 HUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 HUXLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 JAMIESON'S PLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 JELLY RANCH ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 JENNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 JERAULD COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 HUMAN EFFIGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . STONE PILE , ... 394 u 01s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

LAME JOHNNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 LANDSLIDE BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 . LONE ANTELOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 .

LOOSE WHEEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 " . LOWRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 . .

<. MAJORVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 MANKOTA SALAMANDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . 397

.. MANY ISLANDS LAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 MANY SPOTTED qORSES . . . . . . : . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 MANYBERRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MCNEILL 378 MIDDLE SAND HILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 MILK RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MILK RIVER RIDGE 207 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MILLAR'S 403

MINEB 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 . . MINER 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

MINER 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' d " " . 237

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MINNEHAEFA COUNTY 400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MINTON TURTLE 286

MOOSE MOUNTAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MORSTAD 393

MUD CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

419

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MURPHY . . ; 373 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MURRAY COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .':.. . . . . . . . ;- 400 401

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NELSON 352 i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' NEUTRAL -HILLS 383 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NITAP~NAW$ 325

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NNAMED 409 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O G ~ M A CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . *. 319

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OLIVER- ., 401 ONE FOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

. ORAHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 OXBOW 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 OXBOW 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OXBOW"3 284 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PERRI.N RANCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 394

. . . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PETROPORIW - . . . . . : . . . . . . .. : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . PINE POINT LINEAR : ., . . . . . . . . . . . 402 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PINE . POINT SNAKE . . . . . . .+-. . . . . ..- 402

.& .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PLENTY 265 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . POLICE + 354 . h

. . PRYUR EAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PUNISHED WOMAN'S HILL :. : ..:.. 399

RAINBOW FALLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 . 9 R E D CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

. . . . RED DEER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .'- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. 343

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . RINKER ..-. 239 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I :ROSS ; 246

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . ROY RIVERS : 231 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 RUR~SEY CAIRN , 262

.. ~. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RUNNING 'WOLF 389 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SABDLE BUTTE 3P5

. . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... * ;- . . S H A N A H A ~ CAIRN : 1 .. 390

. . ST . MARY'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 . . . STEEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 ... . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . STEVEVILLE 398 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . STONE: PILE BILL 262

S T U m A E R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SUFFIELD '. . . . . . . . '. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 " 15.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'SWFFIELD EXPERIMENTAL : 221 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SUITOR 1 248

SUITOR 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SUITOR 3 .-. : 252

SUN BEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 . SUN RIVER . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -; 1 . . . . . . . 275

S I P - W E R 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 . ; SUNDIAL HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SUTHEREAND CAIRN 258 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TENSLEEP 304

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TIE CREEK FEMALE 399

. u . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TIE CFtEEK MALE 399 TIE CREEK SNAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 TlPPERARY CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 -TRAIL RTDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 "I'RoCHu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 TWIN PEAKS CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 . UNNAMED . . 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 306 400 102 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 WESSINGTON SPRINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WETZEL 3 4 1 WHITEWATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :< 1 2 WILD HORSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 WILD MAN BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396; WILSON RUSSELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 WOLFCHILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . YOUNG MOUNTAIN 346 ZEIGENBEIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ZODIAC RIDGE 269

42 1

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Alberta. ????-?? CLUNY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? GONSORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "???-?? CONSORT SNAKE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? RUNNING WOLF.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgOo-1 MANYBERRIES 1 ONE FOUR

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgOp- 1 1 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgOp-38 POLICE.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgPa-la MILK RIVER 1- RED CREEK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DhOs-1 FAITH

. . . . . . . . . . . . DhPb-2 ANTELOPE HILL I MILK RIVER RIDGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiPg-Oa EAGLE CHILD

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiPg-Ob STEEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiPh-0 ST MARY'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiPi-2 WOLFCHILD

DjPf-23 NITAPINA W'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DjPi-1 JIM ALLEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DjPm-49 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ j ~ m - 6 1 UNNAMED. .'

. . . . . . . . . . . . . DkPf-1 MANY SPOTTED HORSES . . . . . . . . . . . 'i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D10v-2 GRASSY LAKE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DIOw-6 MURPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaOn-3 LOOSE WHEEL

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaOs-2 SUFFIELD EaPe-I SUNDIAL HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EbOm-1 MANY ISLANDS LAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EbOp-119 CFB SUFFIELD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . EcOp-4 ELLIS / SUFFIELD EXPERIM'ENTAL. ? . . . . . . . . . . EcOp-51 TWIN .PEAKS CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EcOr-9 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

r EdOm-2 MCNEILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EdOo-2 GENTLE CAIRN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EdOa-3 MIDDLE SAND HILLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ed00-38 DARK HORSE.

Ed00-39 LONE ANTELOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EdOp- 1 BRITISH BLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EdOq-30 BRYNE'S / BRYNE'S M40. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EdPc- 1 MAJORVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EdPg-1 BUFFALO HILL CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EeOp-2 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EeOv-1 HAWKEYE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EePi-2 JAMIESON'S PLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOm-44 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOn- 105 UNhTAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E f 0 ~ 1 15 BINDLOSS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOn-23 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOo-10 MINER 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Ef00-lob MINER 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOo-24 MINER 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s t .e . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOo-46 UNNAMED E f O p l l ALKALI CREEK. . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp- 1 18 WETZEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp-170 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp-312 HALF MOON. EfOp-370 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOp-414 RED DEER, EfOp-58 RINKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOq-36 ANDERSON 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOq-62 UNNAMED. EfOq-65 ANDERSON 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOq-68 ANDERSON 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOq-8 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EfOq-87 ROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOm-15 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOm-8 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOn-10 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx-1 SUITOR 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx-lb SUITOR 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx-lc SUITOR 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . EgOx-46 HUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. EgPn-37 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EgPn-53 BARRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. EhOp-l BUFFALO BIRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EhOq-1 SUTHERLAND CAIRN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EhPn-17 MILLAR'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EjPd-2 COULTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EkPe-3 ZEIGENBEIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EkPf-1 RUMSEY CALRN 1 STONE PILE HILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EIPg-3 HUXLEY EIPh-1 TROCHU . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FbOr-48 NEUTRAL RILLS, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arizona ????-?? UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AaAa-1 (BB:5:27) ZODIAC RIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

British Columbia. DgPn-28 UXRAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colorado AaAa-2 TRAIL RIDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manitoba. ????-?? LAC DU BOIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

?"-?? MORSTAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? PETROFORTI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DhMc-O DAND. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DkLw-18 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKu-7 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKu-9 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaRv-12 RAINBOW FALLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv-13 BASKET FALLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv-14 TIE CREEK SNAKE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. EaKv-14(1) TIE CREEK FEMALE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 EaKv-14(2) UNNAMED. ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 EaKv-14(3) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaKv-14(4) TIE CREEK MALE. 399 EaKv- 1416) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 EaKv-17 PINE POINT SNAKE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 EaKv-20 PINE POINT LINEAR, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 EaKv-21 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 EaKv-3 BANNOCK POINT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 EaLa-6 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 EbKu-9 UNNAMED. . . . . . . : .- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

. . . . . . . . . . . EcLp-0 ALONSA. .'-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 EgKx-15 ~ N A M E D . . . . . .& . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 EgKx-23 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 EgKx-8 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Minnesota. ????-?? MURFEAY COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Montana. -?-?? (24B.H4 17) .UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

????-?? (24Ed~665) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; i. 391 ????-?? (24BH666rt7) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 ???'!-?? (24CB410) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 ????-?? (24CB411) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9 2 ????-?? (24CB4 19) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 ????-?? (24CB420) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 ???-?? '(WCB654) IRUXAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

- ?"-?? f24CB750) UhXAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 ????-?? (24CH202) SHANARAN CAIRN , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-?? (24GA106) BOZEMAN. 399 . ????-?? (24HL160) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 . -

???-?? (24HL167) UNNAhfED. . . . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 ????-?? (24HL28) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 ????-?? (24MA75) UNNAMED- . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 ????-?? (24PA551) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 ????-?? (24PH1707) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 ???-?? C24PH70) b3XAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 . '

. m?-?? PRYOR EAST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ??-?? UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 3 9 i BfPf-? (?I UhXAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 B h i h - 0 (24PR881) BELLE CREEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 BhlVx-0 (24BH220) FORT SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 CjPe-0 1241T201) LOWRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 CjPb-0 (24TT67) SCN RIITER . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

. . . . . . . . . CjW-Ob I24TTB7) SUX RIVER 2 . . . . . . . . . . . ( . . . . . . : 393 CINq-0 (GRC-81-2) ML'D CREEK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 ClOm-0 EAGLE BUTTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 DcOd-0 ( a P H 1 6 9 2 ) NELSON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 DdOf-0 (248132) FRESNO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 DeOm-Oa f W H U l i SADDLE BUTTE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 DeOm-Ob (24HL87 CR4IN OF LAKES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

424

SITE INDEX BY REGION

DfNv-0 (24PH1102) WHITEWATER, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DfOf-0 (24BL331) CEfERRY RIDGE. 353

DfOm-O (24HL169f W D HORSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 Nebraska. ????-?? UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . North Dakota. ????-?? (32MN40) UNNAMED 390 ????-?? (32MN41) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 ????-?? OLJYER, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? UhNAE)IIED. 385 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ i 0 b - 0 (24BH797) GRASSY KNOLL 348

C ~ V - 0 (24PH1118) ORAHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oklahoma. .??? ?.?? UNNAMED 384

' ~ n t a r i o . CbGu-1 UNNAMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CbGu-2 UNNAMED. 406

. CcGs-1 UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saskatchewan. 3???. ?? LANDSLIDE BUTTE 399

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -. ?? STEVEVILLE. 398 ????-?? UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 DgMI-1 GLEN EWEK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 DgMn-3a OXBOW 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DgMn-3b OXBOW 2 : &' DgMn-3c 0XBOH7 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 DgNc-1 WILD MAN B U . T E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 DgNf-3 DOUG WADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 DgNf-5 GILES EFFIGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 DgNg-1 G E E S TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 DgNg-2 GILES CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 DgNh-3 BIG BEAVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396' DhMn-9 ALAMEDA CIRCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

. . . . . . DhNe-1 GREENLAY CROSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; 403 . DhNe-2 MINTON TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

DhNg-1 BIRD FOOT SHRIKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 . Dh0b-2 CANUCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiMv-2 HALBRITE 209 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiNe-1 HARDY TURTLE 318

DiNf-1 OGEMA C m C L E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DiNs- 1 MANKOTA SALAMANDER 397

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DjMr-1 FORGET CIRCLE 323 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DkMq-2 MOOSE MOU3T.4IN 292

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DZrNg-2 KAYVILLE ElUMAlrc' EFFIGY 397 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DkOe-2 BOYE CREEK 404

DkOj-2 KEYHOLE STOSE PILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 DkOj-2 L7WPLhTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DINg-2 D.4N THO3PPSON CROSS 403 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EaWh-f CLAYBANK 328

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EcNh-1 DEWDh'ET 398 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EcXh-la UNKAMED. 410

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EeNe-14 WILSON RUSSELL 297 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EeNg-1 JELLY M N C H 299

SITE INDEX BY REGION

EeNu-1 PERRIN RANCH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ef01-2 ROY RIVERS 1 EMPRESS 231

EgNx-1 HUGHTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 EgOk-1- CABRI LAKE . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 EkOd-0 STRANRAER, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . .................... 380 E10d-2 PLENTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

. . . . . . . . FbNp-2 TIPPERARY CREEK / C R O W ' S BIG CIRCLE 267 ......................... South Dakota. ????-?? (24BL331) .UNNAMED 384

????-?? (24MC1002) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-?? (29CU46) UNNAMED. 406 - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?"-?? (39FA150) UNNAMED. ; 407

?"-?? (39FA168) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? (39FA186) U N N m D . 'I , 407

????-?? (39FA341) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . '; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 "I-?? (39FA369) . UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 ????-?? (39FA383) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

. ????-?? (39HU227) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 ????-?? (39HU352) UhWAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 ????-?? (39HU353) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ????-?? (39HU70) HUGHES COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 ????-?? (39HU74) HUGHES COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 ????-?? (39JE4) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ????-?? (39JE6) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ????-?? (39SL136) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ????-?? (39SL143) UNNAMED. J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ?"-?? (39SL146) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '. . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . 408 ????-?? (39SL147) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .??? ?.?? (39SL149) UNNAMED. 409 ????-?? (39SL158) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (39SL162) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ?m-?? (39SL163) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (39SL168) UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (39SL175) NNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (59SL177) NNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (39SL179) NNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s . . . . . . . . . 409 ????-?? (39SL186) NNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 ????-?? (39SL2131 UhWARIED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 ????-?? (39SL229) UNNAfiwD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 -?-?? (39SL230) UhTh:ABTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 ????-?? (39SL232) UNNAMED. . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 ????-?? (39SL85f UNNA3TED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 ????-?? CUSTER COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 "Trt-99 JERAULD COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 ?m-?? hlINNEHALIA COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 ????-?? MURRAY COUNTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '400 ????-?? PUNISHED WOMAN'S HILL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 ?"-?? UNNAMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 390 406 ?m-?? WESSINGTON SPRINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

i

4 SITE INDEX BY REGION - '

*' r

i

BcLr-0 (39HD22) JENNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 BdMa-0 WGHES TURTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 CbNj-0 LAME +JOHN#~Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 24PH1922 UNNAMED, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Washingtc~n, ????-?? SUN B E A R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Wyoming, ????-?? (48FR302) UNNAMED.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ????-?? UNNAMED, 384 AdNg-? (?) U N N A ~ Q , .................................. 384 AdOe-0 (48FR1461) YOUNG MOUNTAIN, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

. BaNt-Q (48WA56) TENSLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 BeNx-0 (48BH302) BIG HORN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BeOc-? l?) UNNAMED, 384 . BiNo-? (?) UNNAMED, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

.I

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Aaboe, A., 7 980 Observation and Theory in Babylonian Astronomy Centaurus, 24: 14-35.

Aaboe, A., 7 986 Mesopotamian Mathematics, Astrology and Astronomy manuscript draft in possession of the author.

Abbott, j., Ranney, W., and Whitten, R., 7 982 Repor? d the 1982 East River - Petrofoim Survey Report o n File, South Dakota Historical Preservation Center. Fort Meade.

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Anonymous, % . . 7 958 Bar-C Cairn Line, 4810302 Wyoming ~rchaeologist , 1(5).

Anonymous, 7 959 Structures Site (Sheridan County) Report Wyoming Archaeologist, 2(3-4).

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Anonymous, 7 960 Turk Tip i Ring Site,, 4810313, Progress Report W y ~ m i n g Archaeologist, 3(7).

Archaeological Society o f Alberta, Lethbridge Center (ASA-LC) 7 970 Antelope Hill: A Survey o f _Two Boulder Outl ines ASA-LC, Project #4, 2-8.

Archaeological Society o f Alberta, Lethbridge Center (ASA-L(;) 7977 Blood Ind ian Chief T ip i Circle ASA-LC Project #9, 1-10.

Archaeological Society o f Alberta, Lethbridge Center (ASA-LC) 7976a The Grassy Lake Sites ASA-LC, Project #17, 1-11.

-

Archaeological Society o f Alberta, Lethbridge Center (ASA-LC) 79766 ,

The Suitor Ranch Sites ASA-LC, Project #i8, i2 -25.

Archaeological Society o f Alberta, Lethbridge Center (ASA-LC) 7 976c The Sun'clial Butte Cairn Site ASA-LC, Project #13.

Archaeological Survey of Alberta, ~ e t h b r i d ~ e Center M A - L C ) 7 980 Story o n Stone ASA-LC. Project #20. ta, pp. 72-73.

Ascher, M., 7967 -2

Analogy in Archaeological Interpretation southwestern journal of Anthropology, 17:317-325.

1

Ascher, hd., 7 986 Mathematical Ideas of the Incas in Native American Mathematics, Closs, M:, ed., Univwsity of Texas Press, Austrn.

Atkinson, R.J.C., 7974 . Neol i thic - Science and Technology Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, A,, 276:123-132.

1 Atkinson, R.J.C.,. 7975 ,

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Autrey, N.E., and Autrey, W.R., 7987 Zodiac Ridge in Archaeoastronomy in the Americas, Williamson, R.A., ed., Ballena Press, Maryland.

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Aveni, A.F., 7972 Astronomical Tables Intended for use in Astro-Archaeological Studies American Antiquity, 37:531-540.

Aveni, A.F., 7975 Concepts of Positional Astronomy - Employed in Ancient Mesoameiican Architecture in Native American Astronomy, Aveni, A., ed., University of Texas Pres, Austin, pp. 3-20.

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7 976 Megaliths,;Myths and Men Taplinger, New Yo&.

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1976 to 7980 Salvage investigations on the Sufield Military Reserve, Alberta ~rchaeological Survey of Alberta, Report on File, Edmonton. . ad, L., 1987 Rocks of Ages Western Living, September l987,, 11 8-1 21.

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--

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1973 The Question of Mode of Deposition of Soils in the Ceremonial of the Prehistoric Great Plains Mawscr ipt o n file with author, LJniv. o f Calgary.

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Campbell, W.S., 7975 The Cheyenne Tipi American Anthropologist, 17(4):685-694.

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1978 Watchers of the Pleiades: Ethnoastronomy among Native Cultivators in Northeastern -

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7 984 The Origins of Astronomy and Astrology in Mesopotamia Archaeoastronomy, 7(1-4):89-95.

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Clark, Ella, $ 7 966 Indian Legends of the Norfhern Rockies University of Oklahoma Press, Norman

Clements, orr rest, 7 93 1 Plains Indian Tribal Correlations With Sun Dance Data American Anthropologist, 33(20):216-227

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\ Closs, Michael, 79866 Tallies and Ritual Use of Number in Ojibway Pictography in Native American Mathematics. Closs, M., ed., University o f Texas Press, Austin.

Coggins, C., 7 980 The Shape of Time: The Four Part Figure American Antiquity, 82:235-247.

Conner, S.W., 7 969 Fori Smith Medicine Wheel 24BH220 el Manuscript on File, University of Montana, Missoula.

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- Critchlow, Keith, 7979 Time Stands Still: New l ight on Megalithic Science Cordon Fraser, London.

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Davis, L B . , 7972 The Prehistoric Use of Obsidian in the Northwestern Plains Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Archaeology, University o f Calgary, Calgary.

Dawson, G.M., -

7 885 Report on the Region i n the Vicinity of the Bow and Belly Rivers, Northwest Territories Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, Report of Progress, 1882-83-84:lc-l69c, Ottawa.

Deaver, Ken, 7 980 Fresno Reservoir Survey Project Unpublished records for the US Bureau o f Land Management Cultural Resource inventory Records, o n file with: Professional Analysts, 101 5 Broadwater, Billings, Montana.

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i

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Dunnell, R.C., 7977 Systematics in Prehistory Collier, N York.

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Eddy, john, 7974 Astronomhl Alignment of the Bighorn

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9

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The Type Concept Revisited American Anthropologist, 56:42-5 3.

6

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4

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Fries, Allan G., nd Alignments in Altitude at. the Moose Mountain and fort Smith Sites Unpublished manuscript.

Frison, George C., 7978 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains Academic Press, New York.

Frison, George C., 7981 Linear Arrangements of Cairns in Wyoming and Montana Proc. 11th Chacrnool Conf., U. of Calgary, Alberta, 11:133-148.

Frison, George C., 7 985 Prehistoric and Early Historic Mountain Sheep Procurement in the Central Rocky Mountains i n Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper #26, 267- 276.

Frolbv, B.A.; 7977 Numbers in ~aleolithic Graphic Art and the lnitial Stages in the Development of Mathematics Soviet Anthropology and Archaeology, 16(3-4):142-166, l7(1):73-93, 17(3):41-74, 17(4):61-113. . ,

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Gibbs, Sharon, ,7975

9 Mesoamerican Calendrics as Evidence of Astronomical Activity in Native American Astronomy, Aveni, A., ed., University of Texas Pres, Austin, pp. 21-36.

Gilbert, B.M., 7 980 The Plains Setting in Anthropology on the Great Plains, Wood, W.R. and Liberty, M., eds., University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Gill, Judith and Hymers, Merna, 7 968 Indian Boulder Effigies o f the Northern Plains Unpublished manuscript, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.

Gillings, RJ., 7972 Mathematics i n the Time of the Pharaohs MIT Press, Cambridge.

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-z

Goddard, P., 7927 Notes on the Sun Dance of the Cree i n Alberta American Museum of Natural ,$

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Gowlett, J., 1984

P Ascent to Civilization: The ~rchaeology of Early Man New York, Alfred A. Knopf.

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-- Grant, M., and Harrison, C., 7987 Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Red Butte Stone Circle Site (48C026) near Glenrock, Wyoming Unpublished report, Western Cultural Res~urce Management Ltd., Boulder, Colorado.

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Crey, D., 7 963b The Turk Burial Site, 48BH302 Plains Anthropologist, 8(20):98-102.

Grim, john, 7 983 The Shaman: Patterns of S i k r i a n and Ojibway Healing University of Oklahoma Press. Norman

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Grinnell, C., 7973 Blackfoot lndian Stories Charles Scribnef s sons, New York.

Crinnell, C., 7922 The Medicine Wheel American Anthropologist, 24:299-310.

Crinnell, G., 7961 Pawnee, Blackf601 and Cheyenne Charles Scribner and Sons, New York.

Crinnell, G., 7969 Blackfoot Lodge ~a!es University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Cryba, Eugene M., 7 987 Test Excavations at Tipi Ring Sites EaPd-2 and EhOq-3, and Mapping o f the Sutherland Cairn Medicine Wheel (EhOq-7) Archaeological Survey of Alberta, Report o n File 86-53, Edmonton.

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Haack, S.C., 7986 A Critique o f Medicine Wheel Astronomy Archaeological Survey o f Alberta Occasional Paper #31:129-139.

Haack, W., 7987a A Critical Evaluation o f Medicine Wheel Astronomy Plains Anthropologist, a 32(115):77-82.

Haack, S.C., 7 9876 Response to Kehoe Plains Anthropologist, 32(116):325-328.

Haile, Berard 7 947

-i. Starlore Among the Navajo Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, Santa Fe.

Hale, H., 7885 Report on the Blackfoot Tribes Report of the 55th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement o f _Science, 696-708.

Hall, Robert L., 7 976 Ghosts, Water Barriers, Corn and Sacred Enclosures in the Eastern Woodlands American Antiquity, 41(3):360-364.

Hall, Robert L., 7 985 Medicine Wheels, Sun Circles, and the Magic of World Center Shrines Plains Anthropologist 30(109):181s193.

Hadingham, E., Harris, E., d 7 984 7 979 Early lMan and the Cosmos Walker and Principles o f Archaeological Stratigraphy Co., New York. Academic Press, New York.

Hadingham, E., 7 987 Lines to the Mountain Gods Random House, New York, pp. 308.

Harrison, E.H., 7 985 Masks of the Universe Macmillan Publishing Co., New York

Hagar, Stansbury Hartung, H., 7 900 7975 The Celestial Bear Journal of American Ancient Maya Architecture and Ptnning: Folklore, 13:92-103. Possibilities and Limitations for

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Hartung, H., 1975 Astronomical Signs i n the Codices Bodley and Selden in Native Ame'rican Astronomy, Aveni, A., ed., University of Texas Pres, Austin, pp. 37-41.

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Harvey, H.R., and Williams. B.J., 1986 Decipherment and Some implications of Aztec Numerical Glyphs in Native ~merica; Mathematics, Closs, M., ed., University o f Texas Press, Austin.

Hawkins, D.M., 1 982 Topics i n Applied Multivarjate Andy-.. Cambridge University Press, cambridge.

Hawkins, G.S.; 7 965 Stonehenge Decoded Dell, New York.

Hawkins, G.S., 7 968 Astro-Archaeology Vistas in Astronomy, 10.35-64

Hawkins, G.S., 1974 AslronomicaJ AIignments in Britain, Egypt aMf Peru Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London,

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, .

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Heggie, D.C., 79766 Good and Bad Evidence o n Megalithic Astronomy j. Hist. Astr., 7:216-234.

Heggie, D.C., , 7 977 d

~ e g a l i t h i c Astronomy - Fad or Fiction? Quart. I . Roy. Astr. Soc.,' 18:450-458.

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7987a Highlights and Problems o f Megalithic Astronomy j. Hist. Astr. (Archaeoastronomy), 32516-537.

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79876 Megalithic Scienqe Tharnes and Hudson, London.'

Heggie, D.C., 1982 Archaeoastronomy i n the Old World Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Hicks, Robert D., 7976 a,

Astronomy ia the Ancient Americas Sky and Telescope, June 1976:372-377.

Hil l , B., 7 974 Indian ~et rog lyghs o f the p ic i f i t ~ o r t h w e s t Hancock House, Sanichton, BC, Canada.

Hil l , ).N., and Evans, R.K., 7 972 A Model for Classification and Typology in Models in Archaeology, Clarke, D., ed., L o n d o ~ , 231-273.

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d

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Hodson, R.R., 7 982 Some Aspects of Archaeological Classification in Essays in Archaeological Typology, Whallon, R., ed., Center for American Archaeology Press, Evariston, 21-29.

Hoebet, E.A., 7 980 The Influence o f Plains Ethnography on the Development of Anthropological Theory. in Anthropology o n the Great ' Plains, Wood, W.R., and Liberty, M. eds-, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln..

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Holmberg, Uno, 7 964 Siberian Mythology Mythology of All ~ac"es, vol. 4, Marshall Jones, Boston.

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. Stargazing into the Past American Way, September 1983, 124-1 36.

0

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Howard, 1 . ~ ~ ~ 1984 The Canadian Sioux University of Nebraska Press, ' N o m a n

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Huber, Peter f., 7 987 Dating by Lunq ~&i;s&- Omens with Speculations *e Birth of Omen Astrology cia Historica ~c iek ia ru rn Naturahm et Med~c~naliurn, v 39, ~ o ~ e r h a ~ n

Hudak, I. , 7977 Boulder Outlines in Southwestern Minnesota Plains Anthropologist, -16.345-346.

"#

Hughey, D.V., 7 980 An Overview of Great PI^ Physical Anthropology in ~ a t h r o ~ o i o ~ ~ o n the . Crea Plains, Wood, W.R.,. and Liberty, M., eds. d University o f Nebraska. Press, Llncoh.

Hultkrantz, A h , 7 967 The Religions of the American Indians Unive~s~ty ,of California Press, Berkeley.

Humphrey, R., ed., '7 979 Pre-Llano Cultures of the Americas Nebraska university Press, Lincoln.

Hungry Wolf, Adolf, 7977 The Blood People Harper and Row, New York

H U ~ , C., and Fries, A., 7986 The Big Horn Medicine Wheef, A Personal Encounter Big Horn Medicine Wheel Research, Meeteet~e, Wyoming.

Husted, W., 7963 A Rock Alignment in the Colorado front ' Range Plains Anthropologist, 8:221-224.

ifrah, G., '3

7 985 From One To Zero Viking Penguin, . . London.

Jacobsen, T., 7 949 . . Mesopotamia in Before Philosophy, - 7

Frankfort, H., et al, eds., Penguin ~ o o k s , ' London.

James, E.O., 7 957 Prehistoric Religion Thames a d Hudson, London.

Jelks, E.B., 7962 Notes and News, Saskatchewan Plains Anthropologists, 7(15):70.

Jenness, D.; 7 937 The Sarcee lndians of Alberta National Museum of Canada, Bulletin 90, Anth. Series 23.

Jenness, D., 7977 The Indians of Canada University of Toronto Press, Toronto

Jennings, J.D., 7 968 Prehistory of North America McCraw-Hill, New ~ o r k '

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Kehoe, T., 7 955 Museum- News and Notes Museum of the Plaiw Indian Newsletter 1(2) , Browning.

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Kehoe, T., 7960 Stone Tipi Rings in North-Central Montana and the Adjacent Portion of Alberta, Canada Bureau of American

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Kehoe, T., 1972 Stone Medicine Wheel Monuments in h e Northern Plains of North America Atti del XL Congress0 lnternazionale degli Americanisti, 2:183-199

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Kehoe, T., and Kehoe, A., 7959 Boulder Effigy Monuments in the Northern Plains Journal of - American Folklore, 72 109-1 17.

Kehoe, T., and Kehoe, A., . 7976a

Excavation at Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel Paper presented at the 34th Plains Conference, Minneapolis.

Kehoe, T., and Kehoe, A., -

79766 Solstice-aligned Boulder Configuralions in Saskatchewan Calgary Archaeologist, 4:41-43.

Kehoe, T. & Kehoe, A.. 7977 Stones, Solstices and Sundance Structures Plains Anthropologist, 22(76):85-95.

Kehoe, T., & Kehoe, A., 7 979 Solstice-Aligned Boulder Configurations in

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Kehoe, T., & Kehoe, A., 7 987 Reply to Haack Plains Anthropologist, 32(117):323-324.

Kelley, D.H., 7 960 Calendar Animals and Dieties southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 16:317-337.

Kettey, David H., 7975 .+

Maya Astronomical Tables and Inscriptions In Native American Astronomy, Aveni, A., ed.. University of Texas Pres, Austin, pp. 57-71.

Kendall, D.C., 7974 Hunting Quanta Phil. Trans. Roy, Soc. London, 276:231-266.

Kennedy, MS., ed., 7967 The Assiniboines University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Keyser, J.D., 7 979a Variations in Stone Ring use at Two Sites in Central Montana Plains Anthropologist, 24:133-143.

Keyser, J.D., 79796 Late-Prehistoric Bison Procurement on the Milk River in North-Central Montana Archaeology in Montana, 20( 1 ): 1-241.

Kidd, K.E., 7937 Blackfoot >thnography Archaeological Survey of Alberta, ~ a n u s c l i ~ t Series, #8, Edmonton.

Kidwell, AS., Jr., 7 969 The Conical Timbered Lodge on the Western Plains ~rchaeo logy in Montana, 1 O(4).

Kidwell, C.S., 7 985 Native Knowledge in the Americas Osiris, 2nd Series, 1:209-228.

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Krieger, A.D., 7 956 Notes and News - Early Man: Alberta American Antiquity, 21(4):449-452.

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Krupp, E.C., 7977 In Search of Ancient Astronomies Doubleday and Co., New York.

Krupp, E.C., ' 7984

A Glance into the Smoking Mirror in Williamson, R., ed., Archaeoastronomy in the Americas, Ballena Press, College Park, Maryland, pp. 55-59.

Krupp, E.C.: 7 988 Light in the Temples in Records in Stone, Ruggles, C.L.N., ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 473-499.

Kunike, Hugo, 7 920 Zur Astralmythology Nordamerikanischen

der lndianer International

5

Archives of Ethnology, vol. 37

Lamb, H.H., 7 974 'Climate, Vegetation arid Forest Limii in Early Civilized Times Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc London, A, 276:195-330.

Lamb, Weldon W., 7987 Star Lore in the Yucatec Maya Dictionaries in Archaeoastronomy In the Americas, Williamson, R., ed, Ballena Press, College Park, MD, 233-248

Lane, C., 7886 Sun Dance of the Cree Indians Canadlan Record of Science, 2: 22-46.

Lapham, I.A., 7855 The Antiquities of Wisconsin 'Smithsonian Contributions t o snowledge, vol. 7.

Laubin, R., and Laubin, C., 7977 The Indian f i p i University of Oklahoma Press. Norman.

Lee, G., and Horne, S., 7978 The Painted Rock Site, Sapaski, the House of the Sun J . Calif. Anthropology., 5:220-224.-

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Levi-Strauss, Claude, 7977 The Naked Man Harper-Colophon, New - York

Levi-Strauss, Claude, 1975 The Raw and the Cooked Harper-Colophon, New York.

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Lewis, H.P., 1947 Buffalo lumps in Montana Report o n File. Srnithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys. Lincoln.

Lewis, T.H., ..

1889 Stone Monuments in Southern Dakota American Anthropologist, 2 : 1 59-1 66.

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LfHeureux, Jean 1 959 * 1

The Sacrificial toh he: fact o f ' Fiction? I

Alberta H i s t o r i d Revue, 7(4):12-15. s

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% - **

Linton, Ralph -.%

' 7 922 -

The Szcrifice to the Morning Star by the Skidi Pawnee F1e16 M u s p u r n Leaflet 4%. Chicago , ,a I*.

r I

Linton, Ralph, 7 926 The Origin of the Skidi Pawnee Sacrifice to the Morqing Star Amencan ~ n t h r 6 p l o ~ k . t , 28(3) 457-466

Littman, Mark, 7976 The People: Sky Lore of the American Indian Hansen Planetanum, Sa!t Lake C ~ t y

*. .

Locke, Leland L., 'r

7 932 The Ancient Peruvian Abacus Scnpta Mathematrca 1 37-43

Lounsbury, F.G., 7973 Maya, Numeration, Computation and Calendrical Astronomy Dictionary of Scientific Biography, l3:759-818.

Lounsbury, F .G.< 7 982 Astronomicai. Knowledge and its Uses at Bonampak, Mexico in Aveni, A., ed., A r c h a e o a s t r ~ n o m ~ ~ in !he N e w Wor ld, Cambridge university Press. 143-1 68.

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Lowie, R., 7970 The Assiniboine Amencan ~Ctuseum oi Natural History Anthropolog~cal Papers . 4hl, -

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Lowie, R., , . 7927 The Sun Dance of the Crow Indians American Museum of Natural His tory Anthropological Papers, 16: 1-50,

Lowie, R., 7927 The Sun Dance of the Wind River Shoshoni and Ute Amencan Museum of Natural Histor)!, Anthropological Papers, 16:387-410.

Lowie, R., 0 7927 The Hidatsa Sun Dance Amencan Museum o f Natural History. Anthropolog~cal Papers. 16:411-432.

Lowie, R., 7 922 Religion of the Crow Indians Anth. Papers of the American Musei jm o f Natural History, vol. 25.

Lowie, R., 7 935 The Crow indians Fmar and Rinehart. N e w York.

Lowie, R., 7 963 Indians of the Plains Natural H ~ s t c q Press, ~ e w York

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Lynch, B.M., and Robbins, L.H., 7 978 Namoratunga: The First Archaeoastronomical Evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa Scrence 200 766-768

Lyons, T.R., and Avery, T.E., 7977 Remote Sensing: A Handbook for Archaeologists U S Nat~onal Park Servrc:, h 'ash~ngton

McCiintock, W., 7 936 The Blackfoot Tipi Masterkey. 10:85-96.

McCiuskey, Stephen, . 1977 The Astronomy of the Hopi Indians I . Hist. Astronomy, 8:174-195.

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McCluskey, Stephen, 7983 Maya Obsemations of Very Long Periods of Venus j . Hist. Astronomy, -14:91-101.

MacDougall, John, 7896 Saddle, Sled and Snowshoe: 'pioneering on the Saskatchewan Ryerson Press. Toronto

MacCregor, James G., 7 959 Stone Gods of the Prairies Alberta i f~storiczl Revue, 7(4):7-11

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1974 Archaeological Tests on Supposed Prehistoric Sites i n Scotland Phil. Trans. Roy. SOC. London, A,, 276:169-191,)

MacKie, E.W., 7988 - 7C

Investigating the Prehistoric Solar Calendar i n Records in Stone, Ruggles, C.L.N., ed., Cambridge Unrversity Press, Carnbndge, 206-231.

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McMann, J., 1980 Riddles of the Stone Age Tharnes and Hudson, London.

Mails, Thomas E., 7978 Sundancing at Rosebud and Pine Ridge University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Malouf, Carling, 7 950 The Archaeology o f the Canyon Ferry Regiun, Mqrrtana Montana State University Anthropology and Sociology Papers #I 1.

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*

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7975 r

Statistics o f . Direct ional Data I . Roy. Stat. SOC., B., 3:349-393.

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i.

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7 979 . ,

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5

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* =

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Martynov, A.I., 7 988 The Solar Cult and the Tree of Life Arctic Anthropology, 25(2):12-29.

Mayer, . D., 7975 An ~xaminat ion of Miller's Hypothesis in Native Am3rican Astronomy, Aveni, A., ed., , University of Texas Pres, Austin, pp. 179-201. A

Megaw, J., and Simpson, D., 7 979 introduciion to British Prehistory Leicester University ~res"9,.,~eicester.

Menninger, K., 7 969 Number Words and Number Symbol MI1 Press, Massachusetts.

Michell, John, 7 977 A Little History o f Astro-archaeology Thames and Hudson, London.

Michell, john, 7 982 Megal i thmania Thames and Hudson, London.

Mikami, Yoshio, 7973 The Develbpment of Mathematics i n China and japan Chelsea Publishing Co., New York.

Montgomery, H.W., 7 908 Prehistoric Man in Manitoba and Saskatchewan American Anthropologist, 10(1):33-40.

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i

Moomaw, Jack, 7 960 The Ring Makers southwestern Lore, 25(4):5-9.

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Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Alberta

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