Enduring Motives: The Archaeology of Tradition and Religion in Native America

2. Will the Circle Be Unbroken? The Roots of Plains Indian Views of the Cosmos - Linea Sundstrom

2 Will the Circle Be Unbroken? The roots of Plains indian views of the Cosmos Linea Sundstrom The indigenous religion of the northern great Plains that non-native observers encountered in the nineteenth century was a complex mix of elements , most of which had parallels in northern (Algonquian) and southeastern (siouan and Caddoan) native cultures. While it may be impossible to reconstruct the points of origin and paths of diffusion of these elements,i suggest here that those occurring over wide areas likely represent traditions of great historical depth. Further, some widespread traits that occur within both the northern and the southeastern traditions may represent the remnants of even older religious traditions. such sets of traits appear to have been retained as peoples left their homelands for new areas over the centuries or millennia. While these groups and factions thereof subsequently adopted Christianity to various degrees during the contact period, my focus here is on those beliefs and practices retained to this day that have clear precontact antecedents.1 i examine the question of retention and mixing of ancient religious traditions on the northern great Plains by looking at cosmograms, or symbol sets that encode beliefs about how the universe is structured.As one example, i examine how northern (Algonquian) and southeastern (siouan) derived groups view the Black Hills, an isolated mountain range on the border of south dakota and Wyoming, and suggest that these perceptions reflect the distinct ancestral belief systems of these groups, as well as beliefs common to both. northern and southeastern roots of great Plains groups Algonquian-speaking groups of the northern great Plains include the Blackfoot alliance,comprising the siksikawa,Pikuni,and Kainai nations; the Chey- roots of Plains indian views of the Cosmos 61 enne nation with its tsistsistas and sutai divisions; and the Arapaho and gros ventre nations. The ancestors of Algonquian speakers appear to have first arrived in the northern great Plains by way of northern Canada at an unknown date at least 2,000 years ago.The tsistsistas appear to have arrived most recently, during the mid-eighteenth century.These Algonquian groups brought with them several important religious ideas, including ritual animal trapping, embodiment of animal spirits, reverence for albino or white animals ,and shamanism as it was originally defined for subarctic and arctic Europe and north America, including shaking-tent rituals and using drums to induce a trance state (schlesier 1987). Most of these Algonquian groups have an Earth-diver origin story. The primary symbolic structure of their ceremonial grounds and ceremonial objects is a netted or spoked circle or a walled circular enclosure with a small opening to the east or with no opening at all (Figure 2.1a; Hall 1997; schlesier 1987, 2002).Their most important constellations are associated with stories of hunting and escape from monsters (bears, bulls, or a giant head), the story of the dog husband, the story of Figure 2.1. symbolic structures of ceremonial grounds, houses, and objects serving as cosmograms on the northern great Plains; the top row shows boulder alignments, the bottom row shows schematics of the basic forms: (a) netted circle (Big Horn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, from a 1903 drawing by stephen Chapman simms [simms 1903]); (b) circle open to the east or south (sundial Medicine Wheel, Alberta, from website www.royalalbertamuseum.ca, courtesy of the royal Alberta Museum); (c) quincunx (unnamed medicine wheel, south dakota, from field notes on file, south dakota state Historical society, Archaeological research Center, rapid City). 62 Linea sundstrom the poor children,and the story of star Boy/scarface (Barbeau 1965:195–199; dorsey and Kroeber 1903: 152–160; Josselin de Jong 1915:32–38; Kehoe 1996; Kroeber 1900:182–183;McClintock 1910:281;Mooney 1896:1015; schlesier 1987; schwartz 1988:88–89; stone 1982:7).They recognize the Corona Borealis constellation as the Camp Circle or spider’s (trickster’s) Lodge (dorsey 1905: 62; McClintock 1910:281, 500).2 From the woodlands of what is now the southeastern united states came speakers of siouan and Caddoan languages.The siouans primarily followed the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the northern great Plains, while the Caddoans tracked farther west on their migrations. These siouan- and Caddoan-speaking peoples appear in the northern Plains in historic times as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, dakota, nakota, Lakota, Assiniboine, Absoroka (Crow),and skiri Pawnee.They brought with them concepts of a world organized into halves or moieties.Their...