He planted his seeds and delicately covered them up with the fresh fertile earth. Yams were a delicacy. They really "tasted good" with the fresh meat that Pamela, his wife, would hunt in the surrounding forest. It was a magical life, and the land and the forest provided everything.

HUMAN ADAPTATIONS IN THE ANDES: A LOOK AT NUTRITION AND BRAIN FUNCTION WITH RESPECT TO COCA AND HIGH ALTITUDE PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATIONS (Barrett P. Brenton) .............. 1

Introduction .............. 2

Biochemical Aspects of Tryptophan and Serotonin .............. 2

Nutritional Control of Brain Tryptophan and Serotonin .............. 3

Food and Nutrition in the South American Andes .............. 7

Diet Composition and Tryptophan/Serotonin Production .............. 9

The Affects of Coca Chewing and Serotonin in Thermoregulation .............. 16

Possible Effects of Coca Alkaloids and Serotonin in Hypoxia .............. 18

Conclusion............... 23

References .............. 25

MANIOC AND FISH: A "METHIONONIAN" COMPROMISE IN AMAZONIA? (Tom Langdon) .............. 28

References .............. 59

EARLY AUSTRALOPITHECINE SEED EATERS: A VALID HYPOTHESIS (Cathie Masters) .............. 63

Expectations for climate .............. 68

Expectations for available wild grasses and grains .............. 68

Expectations for niche availability.............. 70

Expectations for a seed eating technology in the archaeological record .............. 74

Expectations for a seed eating physiology .............. 77

Expectations for a seed eating dental morphology .............. 79

Expectations for optimal foraging .............. 85

Conclusion .............. 86

References .............. 88

AN ATTEMPT TO PUT ONE ASPECT OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS TRADITION INTO FOCUS (Elizabeth Barker) .............. 92

Introduction .............. 93

Eight Basic Assumptions of Relevance to Archaeological Research .............. 93

The Pomona Focus .............. 101

A New Perspective .............. 104

Conclusion .............. 106

Footnotes .............. 107

References .............. 108

PRECIPITATION AND DIVERSITY IN FARMING (Janis Dial) .............. 111

Introduction .............. 112

Precipitation as a Limiting Factor .............. 112

Diversification in Farming .............. 113

Problem Statement .............. 116

Methodology .............. 116

Results Regarding Data Sources .............. 123

Results Regarding Precipitation and Diversity .............. 129

Conclusions .............. 131

References .............. 132

AFRICAN INFLUENCE IN MEXICAN FOLKTALES (Carla Mundt) .............. 136

References .............. 150

THE PLOW AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION (Tom Langdon) .............. 152

In a study of this type it becomes necessary to first break the barriers of scientific jargon and give a brief overview of the biochemical aspects involved in the study of nutrition and the brain. Within the context of this paper I have chosen to deal primarily with the neurotransmitter, serotonin, and its precursor tryptophan, due to their possible correlations with high altitude adaption.

The information available on the subsistence practices of these peoples suggests a hunting and gathering economy with a high degree of seasonal mobility. The political organization characteristic of this type of economy is usually portrayed as an egalitarian one (Service 1964). However, the presence of burial mounds implies a more complex social, political, and economic system than would be associated with a hunting and gathering economy and an egalitarian political organization.

Describing the Hopewellian mound complex in the midwest, Martin, Quimby, and Collier (1947:277) state ...burial mounds imply a social structure capable of organizing a co-operative labor project on a large scale. Albert Spaulding implies that a complex social organization and an efficient economic base would have been necessary for the development of the burial mound complex of the Adena culture (1955:19-20). This effective economic base was, during Adena times, a mixed hunting-gathering and maize agriculture economy. Later, during the Hopewellian tradition, the economic base shifted to one of more intensive maize agriculture. If we assume that the rise of burial mound complexes reflect a more complex form of social organization than is possible under a hunting and gathering subsistence base then the burial mounds associated with the Woodland tradition of the Rainy River District present us with a special problem. It has been shown (Yarnell 1964:128) that this region was unsuitable for effective maize agriculture. If, in this region, maize agriculture is ruled out as a resource which has the potential for large scale group integration then an alternate resource must be sought.

James Stoltman (1973:6) in the introduction to The Laurel Culture in Minnesota, suggests the possibility that the mounds in the Rainy River District could be related to the spring spawning of sturgeon. If indeed these mounds are located at prehistoric sturgeon fisheries then sturgeon fishing could be the economic basis responsible for large scale group co-operation and a more complex form of social organization necessary for the rise of the burial mound complex in northern Minnesota and contiguous Ontario. The possibility that these mounds are located at sturgeon fisheries and that sturgeon fishing could be the catalyst for the development of these burial mounds is the subject of this paper.

Support for the above hypothesis will be examined with reference to at least four data sources, each of which will be discussed in the following pages. The ecological and environmental data will be used to create an overall view of the subsistence patterns which would have been necessary in order to survive in this area. A discussion of the physiology and behavior of the lake sturgeon provides an introduction into the possibility of this fish as a potential food resource for a large group of people, while the ethnohistoric records provide documented evidence of the use of the lake sturgeon as a food resource by the historic Chippewa. Lastly, the archeological reports from various Laurel sites will be discussed as they reflect the subsistence-settlement aspects of the people of the Laurel culture.

Ecology is not an anthropological subdiscipline, nor is it even a standardized approach in anthropology (Bates, 1953). Ecology may be defined as the science dealing with the study of entire assemblages of living organisms and their physical milieus, which together constitute integrated systems (Anderson, 1973:182). More simply, ecology is the study of the structure and dynamics of nature, mankind being a part of nature (Olum, 1975:1). Both of these definitions stem from concepts developed from biology and the biological nature of the world. The dualism which separates the study of "natural environment" from the study of "human environment" had effectively in the past to isolate the natural sciences from the social sciences. The holistic concept of ecosystem -- a type of general system capable of including the activities of man -- has recently gained wide acceptance. The ecosystem conceptually unites the biology, organization, and behavior of man with other animals, plants, and inorganic concepts within a single framework in which the interaction of the components may be studied (Anderson, 1973: 183). This is particularly appealing to anthropology since it allows for the study of the mutually dependent interactions of organic, inorganic, and sociocultural components.

Foremost among the problems concerning the Initial Coalescent sites are questions concerning the origin of this culture complex. These problems arise from the identification of cultural elements from the Central Plains Tradition and the Middle Missouri Tradition. Another problem apparent in the literature concerning the Initial Coalescent is the question of causation for the rise of this cultural entity. The most prevalent theory accounting for the rise of this culture is some type of environmental shift to drier conditions and the subsequent associated consequences of this phenomena. This paper, however, will not focus on the causal reasons of the rise of this culture due to what is perceived as the absence of reliable information in the literature. Instead, this paper is intended primarily as a review of the taxonomic identifications applied to the Initial Coalescent, a review of origin explanations, and a review of the four major village sites. In addition, the trait contributions of the Central Plains and Middle Missouri Tradition to the Initial Coalescent will be partially examined.

LIST OF FIGURES ............ iv

A REVIEW OF THE INITIAL COALESCENT VARIANT (Greg Fox) ............ 1

Taxonomic Identifications ............ 1

The Sites ............ 2

The Arzberger Site (39HU6) ............ 3

The Black Partizan Site (39LM2l8) ............ 4

The Crow Creek Site (39BFl) ............ 4

The Talking Crow Site (39BF3) ............ 6

Archeological Origin Myths ............ 7

Dating the Initial Coalescent Variant ............ 11

Central Plains and Middle Missouri Tradition Traits ............ 12

Central Plains Tradition Trait Contributions ............ 13

Middle Missouri Tradition Cultural Traits ............ 14

Summary ............ 15

References Cited ............ 16

CULTURAL ECOLOGY: A BRIEF OVERVIEW (Michael Gunn) ............ 18

References Cited ............ 24

HUMAN AND CULTURAL ECOLOGY: A PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY (Michael Gunn) ............ 28

ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY -- A BIBLIOGRAPHY (Pat Halama) ............ 73

THE HUFF SITE: "A RECONSTRUCTION OF PAST LIFEWAYS" (Emery LaDean Mehrer) ............ 91

Introduction ............ 93

Environmental Setting ............ 93

Archaeological Background ............ 93

Aboriginal Subsistence ............94

Social Organization ............ 95

Political Organization ............ 97

Religious Organization ............ 100

Summary ............ 103

References Cited ............ 105

CONNOISSEURS OF CAVIAR (Mona Thompson) ............ 107

Environmental and Ecological Data ............ 108

Ethnohistorical Reports of Chippewa (Ojibwa) Sturgeon Fishing ............ 111

Archeology of Laurel Sites ............ 113

Conclusion ............ 114

References Cited ............ 116

The second reason for undertaking the project pertains to the relative strengh of retrospective holdings within the UNL libraries. Admittedly, the budget cuts of recent years have precluded any possibility of maintaining the collection at an adequate level. Nevertheless, the UNL collections reflect some thorough and systematic bibliographic spadework in years gone by, particularly for North American archaeology and ethnology. This bibliography will hopefully bring this fact more fully to light. Due to various problems of providing adequate access to library collections in the past, it is doubtful whether these rather extensive holdings are being utilized to a very full extent. The prospect of unearthing a "good", if not "excellent" collection, plus the hope that access to the materials might be enhanced, would each be adequate justification for undertaking this bibliographic project.

With this in mind, I am still wondering how I came to be embroiled in an attempt not only to understand the multifaceted theorizing of Levi-Strauss myself, but to interpret even a portion of this wide inventory to my colleagues. There is much (the majority, perhaps) of Claude Levi-Strauss which eludes me yet. To quote Edmund Leach again, "The outstanding characteristic of his writing, whether in French or in English, is that it is difficult to understand; his sociological theories combine baffling complexity with overwhelming erudition" (Leach 1970: 8). In addition, the whole corpus of Levi-Strauss' writings is packed with plays on words, oblique references and puns. I ask that the reader bear with my tentative exploration into the mind of this enigmatic man.

Relevance is defined as pertinence and, social applicability, in other words, the ability, to satisfy a need. The concept of responsibility encompasses this social applicability but also includes moral and rational accountability for one's conduct and obligations. Not only is it the ability to satisfy a need but the accountability for the actions taken to satisfy the need and the repercussions which follow.

Just as it is true that each anthropologist must reinvent anthropology for himself or herself, each anthropologist must be held accountable and responsible for his or her research. This is not merely a matter of professional ethics and the responsibility of producing accurate and valid research. It also includes the responsibility for uses that are made of the anthropologist's work and the entire range of repercussions which pertain to these uses. This is a tremendous responsibility and one which increases the amount of planning and preparation occurring in connection with research. But it is an ethical problem not peculiar to anthropology or even the social sciences. Almost every profession is beginning to feel demands for accountability and responsibility.

Hale views Anthropology as a product of its origin. He believes that it is constrained by the limitations of a white Anglo-Saxon denomination in the field, in academic endeavors, and more precisely in its most important aspect, it's application. In particular he attacks the idea that non-native speakers, as objective observers, are more successful. The probable cause for such success is that compiled data is more readily available to application by "Imperialistic Western Powers," and thus gains support from certain government agencies.

The author suggests that a reversal of proportion with a dominance by native speakers within the field would be more successful in accomplishing the original goals of Anthropology. I disagree, I believe that a balance of native and non-native speakers would be much more appealing. I would favor a cooperative effort in solving questions of relevance for the benefit of all concerned.