ARKY 201 Lecture 1: Arky 201- Post Midterm Material
19 Jun 2018
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11/22/2017
-Spirits/entities go through the same kinds of things as people. The breathing hole is there for
the underworld spirits to breathe. If you want to communicate with the spirits in the wintertime
you have to go to the breathing hole.
-Napi and the Rolling Stone- explains the origins of the Foothills Erratics Train, series of erratics
forming a line that stretches from Rocky Mountains to Montana. They were brought into the area
by ice sheet recession located on sediments called moraines. Blackfoot story- boulders are
focal points of spiritual energy. One day Napi and his friend Kitfox were travelling from south to
north on a warm fall day, he was wearing a robe and it got warm so he took off his robe and
gave it to a rock because he felt bad for the rock, they kept on travelling north and suddenly the
weather changed, so he sends kitfox back to get the robe and when he comes to take the robe
back the rock says ‘no’ napi is upset that the rock will not give him his robe back. Napi takes the
rock back. There is a roaring sound, kitfox says that the rock is coming after them. Napi asks
animals to help him stop the rock, they try and fail to stop the rock and are all marked in some
way. The nighthawks(bull bats) are the ones who stop the rock, they split it in two pieces.
Beaver has a flat tail because it got rolled over by the rock. Once you offer something to
somebody you cannot turn around and take it back. Offerings are left near the stones during
annual movement across the landscape. The offerings would help save the traveller in a
snowstorm. The most common offering is a pinky finger.
Bullberry Story- Berries grow on bushes with big thorns. Napi is sitting by the river when he
sees a reflection of a berry patch in the water. He thinks it is in the water, he attempts to dive
into the water four times and cannot reach the berries. He realizes that the berries were on the
land beside him the whole time. He is angry and begins to beat the berry bush with a stick. To
this day, this is the method first nations use to harvest bullberries to avoid being cut by the
thorns. Manyberries becomes a sacred patch as well as a repository of traditional knowledge.
Archaeological evidence of homes and tools surrounding berry patches. The berries were there
because they came there.
Sacred Groves- At regular intervals along their pathways they would encourage the growth of
particular trees to create groves in which to rest. When a person died they would wrap the body
in a fur and then they would put the body up in a tree in one of the groves. Just because the
person had died does not mean the spirit of that person was dead, so every time they visited
that grove they would go and greet the body of the deceased in the tree. Many years after the
person died they would appear in a family member’s dream saying that they were ready to be
moved to their final resting place. Places, narratives and ceremonies establish continuity
between the spirits, ancestors, living community, resources and land. In other places they would
remove certain weeds to encourage grass to grow for the bison. The resources are there
because of the people, not the other way around.
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Chief Mountain- home of Thunder, master of summer. Mountain looks like a tipi
Crow’s Nest Mountain- home of Raven, master of winter. Image of a bird sitting in a nest, going
through the crows nest pass, you are moving through the nest. Also looks like a tipi.
Thunder was jealous of a young bride that was married to blackfoot man, and so with a bolt of
lightning he hit the tipi, went in and stole the bride and brought her back to the mountain. When
the gentleman came to, he started looking everywhere for his wife, he asked the animals. The
animals said they would not help, only Raven said that he would help. There was a battle
between Raven and Thunder. Raven made cold by flapping his wings, Thunder made heat by
making bolts of lightning. Thunder returned the bride to the blackfoot warrior. They made a pact
that Thunder would be the master of summer and Raven would be the master of winter.
Chinooks represent this battle between winter and summer.
Beginning of the Cycle- some groups use plants and animals to time their seasons, the
blackfoot people use the first sound of thunder to shift from winter to summer. Beginning of their
ritual cycle. After the fight between thunder and raven, thunder gave the people a bundle that
they were to open at the first sound of thunder in the spring. The movement was described to an
anthropologist by Kainaikoan as a series of moves from one place to the next place, starting
and ending at chief mountain. Pilgrimage interpreted as following the bison herds, alternative
interpretation is that they are moving for more than just one food source. They take their own
names from the landmarks. They had to offer 100 buffalo tongues to the sun during the sun
dance. Harvesting berries was also important for the sun dance ritual. Sweet pine refers to
alpine fur, they would collect it and burn it at an altar. Collecting resource for personal use and
also to use them in rituals. Social Odyssey- spent the winter in small groups and then gather in
larger groups as you travel east, and then come together in one big group for the sun dance.
You reconnect with ancestors at each place that you stop. People exchange goods in the big
group. Young people find their future partners, continuity in the social organization.
11/24/2017
Key transitions in world prehistory- changes in adaptive strategies-changes in subsistence,
settlement and political organization
3 transformations:
(1) Sedentism- shift from nomadic to sedentary lifestyle- evidence: storage containers, food
preservation technology, changes in architecture-more permanent infrastructure, the
presence of cemeteries *if you are a nomadic group moving across the landscape,
individuals’ burials will be dispersed across the landscape. People were overall healthier
when they were nomadic, the preference was to move across the landscape
Theories:
Population increase- territorial packing as pop increases and people fill all the niches in a
particular areas, they must develop a new strategy.
Environmental Change- reduction in the productivity of the environment causes restricted
movement.
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Exploitation of New Resources- fish, marine mammals and plants, there are certain strategic
places on the landscape where you have access to all resources in one spot ie on a beach
where a river flows into ocean.
Attachment to Place- historical, social or ideological connection to a homeland, you diversify
your diet to incorporate resources available in the area.
(2) Domestication-shift from hunting-gathering-fishing to food production. Why did people
move away from harvesting resources on the land to producing resources? Producing
your own food requires much more energy than gathering from the landscape, but it
does allow for higher population densities.Earliest evidence of plant domestication is in
Fertile Crescent in the Near East-mountainous area and foothills where we find the wild
(ancestral)species that eventually were domesticated
Theories:
Oasis Hypothesis: Gordon Childe- at the end of the last ice age there was a radical change in
temp, melting the ice also caused the aridification of other areas, in these desserts there were
oases(grasses, trees and water) these areas became attractive to the animals, people followed
the animals to the oases, because of the proximity of humans and animals, animals became
used to the presence of humans, humans learned how to manipulate/domesticate cereal crops
present in the oasis. Change in the distribution of subsistence resources.
Hilly Flanks Theory- Braidwood- settling in leads to familiarity with plants and animals, the
people living in the hilly flanks started to get accustomed to the resources in their environment
and began to harvest them, contributing to the genetic changes that eventually led to the
domestication of wheat and barley, people were becoming better adapted.
Density Equilibrium Model- Binford- population pressure moves people to marginal
environments. As people moved into less fertile environments they were forced to incorporate
and manipulate the other types of resources, the grasses that led to domesticated wheat and
barley in the hilly flanks.
Coevolutionary Model- Rindos- natural selection operative in plants and people.
Domestication occurred over a very long time period, certain mutations that occurred in plants
are selected for unintentionally by humans and those plants have the traits that are particularly
important for later domesticates ex harvesting the mutant wheat which have lost their ability to
disperse themselves leading to more and more wheat that requires humans in order to spread
their seeds.
Environmental Potential Model- Richerson- prior to the end of the pleistocene these plants
were not available in sufficient quantities because at the end of the ice age the atmosphere
contained less carbon dioxide, plants growth was stunted, at the end of the pleistocene the
atmospheric composition changes and more carbon dioxide was available and that led to
greater plant growth allowing people to domesticate the crops.
Competitive Feasting Model- Hayden- in temperate environments people have to produce
excess food during times of plenty so that they can have supplies to feed themselves during the
winter. When you have surplus you have a feast, inviting the less fortunate to share the harvest,
this gradually changed into leaders encouraging the people to produce even more food to be
competitive with their neighbors, this effort encouraged people to manipulate their landscape
leading to the domestication of these resources.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Spirits/entities go through the same kinds of things as people. The breathing hole is there for the underworld spirits to breathe. If you want to communicate with the spirits in the wintertime you have to go to the breathing hole. Napi and the rolling stone- explains the origins of the foothills erratics train, series of erratics forming a line that stretches from rocky mountains to montana. They were brought into the area by ice sheet recession located on sediments called moraines. Blackfoot story- boulders are focal points of spiritual energy. There is a roaring sound, kitfox says that the rock is coming after them. Napi asks animals to help him stop the rock, they try and fail to stop the rock and are all marked in some way. The nighthawks(bull bats) are the ones who stop the rock, they split it in two pieces. Beaver has a flat tail because it got rolled over by the rock.
