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The Persistence of Southern Cult Gorgets among the Historic Kansa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James H. Howard
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Extract

Shell gorgets in the shape of a human face are well-known artifacts of the North American archaeological complex often termed the “Southern Cult.” These gorgets were usually made of a pear-shaped section of the outer whorl of the shell of the whelk (Busycon perversum). Though the whelk is found only on the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, gorgets of this material have been found as far north as Manitoba and Saskatchewan (Montgomery 1908).

Recently the writer, in reading ethnographic accounts of the Kansa, was surprised to find descriptions, together with one native drawing, of what are very likely Southern Cult gorgets, used in Kansa war-bundle ceremonies as late as 1883. Since no one, so far as is known, has pointed out the persistence of th's archaeological trait in historic Kansa culture, a few notes are perhaps appropriate.

The earlier of the 2 accounts, and one which is liable to be overlooked by most anthropologists, is J. Owen Dorsey's “Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas” (1885).

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , January 1956 , pp. 301 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1956

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References

Dorsey, J. O. 1885 Mourning and War Customs of the Kansas. The American Naturalist, Vol. 19, No. 7, pp. 670–80. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Howard, J. H. 1953 The Southern Cult in the Northern Plains. American Antiquity, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 130–38. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Henry 1908 Prehistotic Man in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. American Anthropologist, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 33–40. Menasha.Google Scholar
Skinner, Alanson 1915 Societies of the Iowa, Kansa and Ponca Indians. Anthropological Papers, American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 11, Pt. 9, pp. 679–801. New York.Google Scholar
Swanton, J. R. 1952 Indian Tribes of North America. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145. Washington.Google Scholar