Anthropos: Anthropos, 81.1986,1/6

Anthropos, 81.1986,1/6

Bibliographic Data

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistent identifier:: BV043334262

Title:: Anthropos

Place of Publication:: Fribourg

Publisher:: Ed. St. Paul

Year of Publication:: 1906

License:: Rechte vorbehalten - Freier Zugang

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711857

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711857

Persistent identifier:: 1513165623746

Title:: Anthropos, 81.1986,1/6

Year of Publication:: 1986

Call Number:: LA 1118

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Title:: Bd. 81, 1986, Heft 4-6

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Anthropos 81.1986: 415-433 Symbols, Ecology, and Cultural Variation Gary A. Wright Every landscape appears first of all as a vast chaos, which leaves one free to choose the meaning one wants to give to it. (Lévi- Strauss 1974: 48) 1. The Symbolic Problem in Prehistory 2. The Environmental Context 3. The Plains Perspective 4. Cultural Facts and Natural Facts l. The Symbolic Problem in Prehistory Robert H. Hall (1978) has suggested recently that archaeologists should consider more se riously the ideological components, in partic ular the cosmologies, of the prehistoric cul tures they investigate. He believes, for example, that he can trace an uninterrupted ideological succession in the archaeological record of the Eastern United States that directly links the Adena “culture” of the first millennium B.C. ^ith several historic Native American groups, ^his linkage is not necessarily in ethnicity but is rather in “ideas underlying certain symbols, Particularly those relating to sun and fire” (1978:265). In essence, then, Hall proposes *hat there is a deep structure wich endured for *Uore than two thousand years between prehis toric Adena burial ceremonialism and histori city recorded American Indian rituals such as the Sun Dance, the Earth Diver creation myth, the Green Corn Dance, to name but a few. 1 Gary A. Wright is a Professor of Anthropology at the tat e University of New York at Albany. He has conduct- heldwork in Turkey, Israel, France, the U.S. Great a kes, and for the past 10 years in mountainous northwest- e bî Wyoming. He has written seven books and mono- p a Phs, the most recent of which is “People of the High ° u ntry: Jackson Hole Before the Settlers” (1984). He as also published 50 articles in journals and as book Cba pters. Several crucial problems arise in any at tempt to join the past and present however. First is the difficulty in isolating the significant individual artifacts or design elements. Which ones were truly meaningful ideologically or cos- mologically? Second, because symbols them selves are created by the arbitrary bestowal of meaning, how do we select the correct value(s) from a range of possible interpretations where we lack written records referring directly to these symbols? Neither question has an obvious solution at this time. Directly related to these issues is the broad er problem of methodology. Typically, possible parallels from myths, tales, and the material culture of ethnic units, linguistic units, or both have been assembled, regardless of any proba ble relationship between the historic or ethno- historic groups from which these data are origi nally derived and the prehistoric situation under investigation. These are then, in turn, employed in the construction of ethnographic analogies. We may illustrate this approach with two exam ples. A total of 55 conjoined copper tubes, or pan-pipes, have been recovered from 27 Hope- well burial sites in the Eastern United States (ca. 300 B.C. to A.D. 400) (Griffin et al. 1970: 99). They are considered by archaeolo gists to be ceremonial paraphernalia for either courting rites or rainmaking rituals; they are also interpreted as symbols of plant or animal fertility, or both. Additionally, they are refer red to as symbolic of shamans, of other, less 1 Hall (1978) uses data from a large number of North American tribal groups in his analysis including the Arapa- ho, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Mandan, Menomi nee, Ojibwa, Omaha, Osage, and Plains Cree.

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