Ethnohistorical and Ethnographic Sources on Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 16-47
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Waselkov
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Many ◽  
Eastern Half

This chapter compiles outsiders’ reactions to relationships observed between Native Americans and black bears (Ursus americanus) in the eastern half of the continent, with emphasis on the Southeast, during the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries. Written accounts provide a sense of the diverse patterns of bear-human relationships expressed by Native Americans that are potentially revealed by zooarchaeology. These accounts focus on economic transactions and food acquisition, preparation, and consumption. References cover bear hunting methods, bear meat consumption, the many uses of bear hides and bear oil, and some notes on bear cubs kept as pets. This systematic overview of ethnohistorical accounts and ethnographic sources on bear-human relationships in Native Eastern North America can inform interpretations of bear remains by zooarchaeologists who are studying Indigenous lifeways in contexts of hunting intensification, commodification of forest products, encroachment by intrusive settlers, missionizing, and cooption of Native American political elites.

Introduction

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Heather A. Lapham
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Indigenous Worldviews ◽  
Human Animal

This chapter introduces the volume topic, bears and bear-human relationships in Native Eastern North America, and provides brief summaries of each chapter. It explains how ethnohistory, zooarchaeology, and ethnography are used to more fully understand and explore bear ceremonialism, human-animal relationships, indigenous worldviews, and Native American beliefs.

Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 271-310
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Waselkov ◽  
J. Lynn Funkhouser
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Foot Bones ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Turn

This volume’s case studies recognize the black bear (Ursus americanus) to be among the most socially consequent of species in Native Eastern North America, despite meager remains at many archaeological sites. Indeed, that sparseness offers valuable evidence for the social roles long played by bears. Ethnohistorical sources suggest bear population densities in some habitats were greater than seen today in Eastern North America. Most archaeological assemblages of bear skeletal remains have skull parts and foot bones but lack most other postcranial elements, often reflecting ritual off-site discard of post-cranial remains and feasting on head and feet. Differences in quantities of bear remains, their relative proportions to other mammals, and differing representations of various parts of the bear skeleton are sensitive indicators of a society’s relationship with black bears. We apply precepts of the new animism, or the ontological turn, to animate the zooarchaeology of bears in Eastern North America.

Tracking the trade in animal pelts in early historic eastern North America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Lapham
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Castor Canadensis ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Early Historic Period ◽  
Deer Hunting ◽  
South Central ◽  
Central Pennsylvania ◽  
Early Historic

This chapter highlights zooarchaeology’s contribution to our understanding of the trade in animal pelts (furs, skins, and hides) that flourished between Native Americans and Europeans in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in eastern North America. Hides from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) dominated exchanges in the southern trades, whereas the northern trades focused mainly on acquiring pelts from American beaver (Castor canadensis) and other fur-bearing animals. Zooarchaeological signatures of hunting to procure deerskins for commercial trade are outlined on the basis of evidence from Native American animal economies in southwestern Virginia. A case study focused on early historic-period Susquehannock deer hunting and beaver harvesting in south-central Pennsylvania is then presented.

In Feast and Famine

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 160-192
Author(s):  
Heather A. Lapham
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
The Many ◽  
Ritual Behavior ◽  
Contextual Study

This chapter reviews the archaeological record of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the southern Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries to better understand Native American bear procurement and use prior to and following European colonization. A contextual study of bear remains from two sites more clearly defines the role of bear in subsistence, ritual behavior, and mortuary practices, deepening our understanding of bear-human relationships. Differences among sites in geographic location, occupation period, disposal methods, and other variables suggest changing patterns of bear use through time and space. Careful consideration of bear-human relationships reveals the many roles and multiple functions that bears and their body parts had in Native North American societies, from subsistence resource, to gifted object, marketable good, ritual offering, and political symbol, among others.

Intolerance toward Native American Religions

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
John Corrigan ◽  
Lynn S. Neal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Native American Religions

Settler colonialism was imbued with intolerance towards Indigenous peoples. In colonial North America brutal military force was applied to the subjection and conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. In the United States, that offense continued, joined with condemnations of Indian religious practice as savagery, or as no religion at all. The violence was legitimated by appeals to Christian scripture in which genocide was commanded by God. Forced conversion to Christianity and the outlawing of Native religious practices were central aspects of white intolerance.

Scalp-taking

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ennio E Piano ◽  
Byron B Carson
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Native American ◽  
North America ◽  
Information Costs ◽  
Institutional Solution ◽  
The Many ◽  
High Information

At their arrival in North America, travelers from the Old Continent were exposed to a radically different civilization. Among the many practices that captured their imagination was scalp-taking. During a battle, the Native American warrior would often stop after having killed or subdued the enemy and cut off his scalp. In this article, we develop an economic theory of this gruesome practice. We argue that scalp-taking constituted an institutional solution to the problem of monitoring warriors’ behavior in the battlefield under conditions of high information costs.

scholarly journals Wing Color of Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in Eastern North America across Life Stages: Migrants Are “Redder” than Breeding and Overwintering Stages

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew K. Davis
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Color Difference ◽  
Color Variation ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Bright Orange ◽  
The Many

Monarch butterflies are famous among insects for their unique migration in eastern North America to overwinter sites in Mexico and their bright orange wing color, which has an aposematic function. While capturing migrating monarchs in northeast Georgia, USA, I noticed that many appeared to have unusually deep orange wings. I initiated the current study to compare wing hues (obtained using image analysis of scanned wings) of migrants (captured in 2005 and 2008) to samples of breeding and overwintering monarchs. Consistent with initial observations, migrants had significantly lower orange hues (reflecting deeper, redder orange colors) than breeding and overwintering monarchs. There was also a difference in hue between sexes and a relationship with wing size, such that larger monarchs had deeper, redder hues. The reasons for the color difference of migrants are not apparent, but one possibility is that the longer-lived migrant generation has denser scalation to allow for scale loss over their lifespan. Alternatively, this effect could be confined to the subpopulation of monarchs in the Southeastern United States, which may not be well represented at the Mexican overwintering sites. In any case, this discovery highlights the many questions emerging on the significance of wing color variation in this species.

Native American Ethnicity: a View from the British Museum1

2000 ◽  
Vol 73 (182) ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
J. C. H. King
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native Identity ◽  
Native North America ◽  
American Ethnicity

Abstract Identity in Native North America is defined by legal, racial, linguistic and ethnic traits. This article looks at the nomenclature of both Indian, Eskimo and Native, and then places them in a historical context, in Canada and the United States. It is argued that ideas about Native Americans derive from medieval concepts, and that these ideas both constrain Native identity and ensure the survival of American Indians despite accelerating loss of language.

Reconstructing the Past

2020 ◽  
pp. 94-122
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Weiss ◽  
James W. Springer
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Population Size ◽  
The Past ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Native American Tribes ◽  
Answering Questions

Weiss and Springer summarize the bioarchaeological research that has challenged previously held stereotypes of Native Americans, answering questions about population size in North America prior to Columbus’s arrival; social structure of pre-contact Native Americans; violence rates in Native American tribes both before and after Columbus’s arrival; Native Americans health and diseases, such as tuberculosis and syphilis, before and after contact with Europeans; Native American diet throughout time; and Native Americans’ relationship with their environment.

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