Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 2005
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 25, No. 4, Winter 2005, pp. 58.
Abstract
David Jones's purpose is to fill the curious gap in studies of the armor used in raids and warfare by the Native peoples of North America. Lacking iron and steel technology, Native Americans constructed their armor of "wood and bone (hard armor), leather (soft armor), and combinations of hard and soft materials."
The need for armor, Jones states in his introduction, preceded European contact, since "warfare was endemic among the North American Indians." He goes on to maintain that the superiority of European technology made Indian defeat inevitable, despite whatever improvements in armor production Indians might have made. "If Native Americans had evolved metallurgy and the ability to manipulate iron and steel, the struggle with the European invaders would have been somewhat protracted; but, of course, the end result would have been the same because of the overwhelming population numbers and overall technological, political, and economic complexity of the European culture."
I applaud Jones's effort to cover so many cultural areas in this work, including the prairie region and the High Plains, and for admitting the paradox of cultural components that do not fit: the desire to die in warfare versus the wearing of armor and the production of elaborate fortifications by various tribal groups; that is, the willingness of a warrior to die fearlessly in battle versus the wearing of armor in order to live.
Comments
Copyright 2005 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln