572.05
FA
N.S.
no. 22-27
199^-96
Anthropology
!;\\' CPprPQ Vi'l ">(S
Ethnographic Collections from the Assiniboine
and Yanktonai Sioux in the
Field Museum of Natural History
James W. VanStone
June 28, 1996
Publication 1476
PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS IT
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Hild be tvpcd in the following form:
Croat,! Jairo Colorado Island. Stanford Universits i I
Gkt'HH. r ... dT. D. Pennington. 1963. A conin;iri^nii :; ,.;.;,,„,... „ ;;
1 he forest structure, physiognomy, and fl( i irnal of Ecology, SI:
1979. Yage among the Siona: Cultural pan i \ isions, pp. 63-80, In
ind R. A. Schwarz, eds.. Spirits, Shamans, and Stars. Mouton Publishers, The Hague
• 1946. The historic tribes of Ecuadoi, pp. 785^821. In Steward. J. H.. ed.. H.-
The Ande ,
•-hinplon. I
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FIELDIANA
Anthropology
NEW SERIES, NO. 26
Ethnographic Collections from the Assiniboine
and Yanktonai Sioux in the
Field Museum of Natural History
James W. VanStone
Curator Emeritus
Department of Anthropology
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496
Accepted October 30, 1995
Published June 28, 1996
Publication 1476
PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
© 1996 Field Museum of Natural History
ISSN 0071-4739
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Table of Contents
Abstract 1
I. Introduction 1
The Assiniboine 1
The Yanktonai 2
George Dorsey as Collector 2
II. The Assiniboine Collection 3
Introduction — Previous Anthropological
Research 3
The Collection 3
Tools 4
Household Equipment 5
Clothing 6
Ceremonial Equipment 9
Pipes and Accessories 9
Clothing and Accessories 10
Musical Instruments 12
Personal Adornment 13
Games 13
Miscellaneous 14
III. The Yanktonai Collection 15
Introduction 15
The Collection 15
Household Equipment 15
Toys and Games 16
Ceremonial Equipment 18
Pipes 18
Musical Instruments 18
Clothing and Accessories 19
Miscellaneous Ceremonial
Equipment 21
Clothing and Personal Adornment 22
Miscellaneous 24
IV. Conclusions 24
Acknowledgments 25
Literature Cited 26
Appendix 1 28
Appendix 2 30
Appendix 3 32
Appendix 4 34
Appendix 5 36
List of Illustrations
Assiniboine
1 . Map of Montana and the Dakotas
showing Yanktonai reservations 2
2. Hammers, whetstone, quill smoother,
hide scrapers 37
3. Bags 38
4. Berry bag 39
5. Berry bag 40
6. Bags, twisted sinew 41
7. Dipper or ladle 41
8. Belts 42
9. Man's leggings 43
10. Man's leggings 44
11. Man's leggings 45
12. Man's leggings 46
13. Man's leggings 47
14. Moccasins 48
15. Moccasins 48
16. Moccasins 49
17. Moccasins 49
18. Moccasins 50
19. Moccasins 50
20. Pipes 51
21. Pipes, pipe bowl, pipe bag 52
22. Headdress 53
23. Dance cap 54
24. Headdress 55
25. Mirror cases, charm, fan handle, fan .... 56
26. Drums, drumstick 57
27. Rattles 58
28. Knife sheath, games, necklace, hair
parter, mirror case, clubs 59
29. Pad saddle 60
30. War club 61
Yanktonai
31. Bags 62
32. Mortar, pouches 63
33. Games 64
34. Games 65
35. Games 65
36. Sled, games 66
37. Pipes, pipe stem, pipe bowl 67
38. Drum 68
39. Rattles 69
40. Sticks, whistle, rattles 70
41. Shirt 71
42. Shirt 72
43. Hair ornament, dance feathers, webbed
hoop, buckskin ring, necklace 73
44. Dance necklace 74
45. Shield 75
46. Shield 76
47. Dance wand, fans, necklace 77
48. Dance headdress 77
49. Dance wand 78
50. Spoons, bowls 79
m
51. Spoons 80 60. Belt 86
52. Medicine bag 80 61. Hide scraper, earrings, hair parter, war
53. Medicine bag 80 whistle, hammer 87
54. Girl's robe 81 62. Spit, armbands, hammer, hair parter,
55. Girl's robe 82 rattle 88
56. Woman's leggings 83 63. Man's leggings 88
57. Man's leggings and moccasins 84 64. Headdress 89
58. Moccasins 85 65. Headdress 90
59. Moccasins 85 66. Armband 91
Ethnographic Collections from the
Assiniboine and Yanktonai Sioux in the
Field Museum of Natural History
James W. VanStone
Abstract
The ethnographic collections of the Field Museum of Natural History contain 163 objects
collected among the Assiniboine and Yanktonai Sioux by George Dorsey in 1900. Small col-
lections were made for the World's Columbian Exposition by E. F. Wilson and Edward Ayer.
The artifacts in these collections are described and illustrated. For comparative purposes, in-
formation is included from previous studies of the Assiniboine, Yanktonai, and neighboring
peoples on the northern Plains.
I. Introduction
The Assiniboine
Although it is probable that just prior to Euro-
pean contact the Assiniboine occupied the bound-
ary waters area between Minnesota and Ontario
as well as a large portion of south-central Mani-
toba, there are no archaeological materials gen-
erally accepted as Assiniboine. Their neighbors to
the south and east were the Cree, with whom they
maintained close relations. Although there is a
Sioux tradition that the Assiniboine originated
from the Yanktonai, there is no parallel Assini-
boine tradition, and linguistic evidence shows no
special closeness between the two (Parks and
DeMallie, 1992, pp. 247-248).
The first documentary mention of the Assini-
boine as a separate tribe is in the Jesuit Relations
in 1640, but no information is provided regarding
their location or their relationship with the Yank-
tonai Dakota. The construction of trading posts on
Hudson Bay after 1670 brought about a more
northwesterly movement of the Assiniboine and
their Cree allies toward and beyond Lake Winni-
peg in Manitoba. These two groups became mid-
dlemen between the fur traders and more westerly
tribes in a trade that was oriented toward York
Factory on James Bay.
After 1763 the Assiniboine began to drift in-
creasingly to the south toward the international
boundary. American trading posts on the Missouri
River were an attraction, as were the contraction
of bison ranges and the increasing importance of
this animal. By 1825 the Assiniboine were estab-
lished in American territory around Fort Union at
the juncture of the Yellowstone and Missouri riv-
ers (Rodnick, 1938, p. 103; Ray, 1974, pp. 4-13;
Fowler, 1987, pp. 13-14).
The Assiniboine acquired horses and firearms
at about the middle of the 18th century. Although
they were apparently always poor in horses, by
1750 the Assiniboine had fiilly adopted the life-
style of horse-mounted buffalo hunters typical of
Plains peoples during the historic period. The
Milk River Agency, intended for the Assiniboine
and Algonquian-speaking Gros Ventre, was estab-
lished in 1 870. In 1 873 it was moved to Fort Peck
and the name was changed to Fort Peck Agency
on 22 December 1874. Here the Lower Assini-
boine were settled with a variety of Sioux refu-
gees from Dakota Territory. Fort Belknap was es-
tablished in 1873 for the Upper Assiniboine and
Gros Ventre (Parks and DeMallie, 1992, pp. 248-
250; Hill, 1974, pp. 100-101) (Fig. 1).
By 1883 the buffalo had disappeared from the
vicinity of both reservations, although the Assin-
iboine at Fort Belknap were able to follow the
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, N.S., NO. 26, JUNE 28, 1996, PP. 1-91
Fig. 1. Map of Montana and the Dakotas, showing sites of Yanktonai reservations.
nomadic life a few years longer because buffalo
remained in the Little Rocky Mountains and along
the Milk River. The disappearance of the buffalo
compelled the Indians to settle permanently, and,
increasingly dependent on the federal govern-
ment, they were more receptive to the introduc-
tion of farming (Rodnick, 1938, p. 3; Dusenberry,
1960, pp. 44-46; Fowler, 1987, p. 53). In 1900
there were 1,313 Assiniboine in the United States,
694 at Fort Belknap and 619 at Fort Peck (U.S.
Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1900, p. 644); in 1902
425 Assiniboine were reported to be living on re-
serves in Saskatchewan (Hodge, 1907, vol. 1, p.
104).
The Yanktonai
Traditionally the Dakota or Sioux were divided
into seven bands: Mewakantonwan, Wahpekute,
Sissetonwan, Wahpetonwan, Yankton, Yanktonai,
and Teton. The first four bands are designated as
the Santee bands and speak the same dialect of
the Dakota language. The Yankton and Yanktonai
share a dialect, and the Teton speak Lakota, the
third dialect of the language (Howard, 1976, p. 4;
Parks and DeMallie, 1992, p. 235).
When first encountered by Europeans, all seven
bands were living in Minnesota. In the late 18th
and early 19th centuries the Yankton, Yanktonai,
and Teton began to move west. The Yankton
moved into what is now southeastern South Da-
kota, while the territory of the Yanktonai was lo-
cated in that part of northeastern South Dakota
and southeastern North Dakota east of the Mis-
souri River. A brief account of traditional Yank-
tonai subsistence activities and other aspects of
their culture is given by Howard (1976, pp. 4-
12).
Today the Yanktonai are, for the most part, set-
tled on four reservations: the Standing Rock Res-
ervation in southern North Dakota, the Devil's
Lake Reservation in central North Dakota, the
Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana,
and at Crow Creek on the Missouri River in
southeastern South Dakota (Fig. 1). In 1900 there
were 1,047 Yanktonai living at Crow Creek and
1,134 at Fort Peck. In addition, approximately
half of the total population of Standing Rock
(3,588) and Devil's Lake (1,041) were Yanktonai
(U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1900, pp. 644,
646, 648, 650). The Yanktonai also live in Canada
on at least three reserves in Saskatchewan (Parks
and DeMallie, 1992, pp. 238-239). Comparable
figures for Yanktonai living in Canada are not
available.
George Dorsey as Collector
George A. Dorsey joined the staff of the Field
Columbian Museum (later the Field Museum of
Natural History) in 1 895 as curator of anthropol-
ogy. During his first 10 years at the museum, he
concentrated on building the North American In-
dian collections, an effort accomplished through
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
a series of expeditions that he undertook himself
or entrusted to various assistant curators. Dorsey
firmly believed in concentrating money and en-
ergy in selected locations to "fill in the gaps" in
collections acquired from the World's Columbian
Exposition of 1893.
Dorsey's views on collecting are evident in his
correspondence with various field-workers sent
out under his direction (Rabineau, 1981, p. 34;
VanStone, 1983, pp. 2-6; 1992, pp. 2-3). He con-
sidered it important to "clean up" reservations
because he did not believe that most regions were
worth a second trip when so many other areas
were poorly represented in the museum's collec-
tions. Dorsey sought to collect broadly, but fo-
cused his research on a small number of related
groups. While at the museum the Caddoan peo-
ples were the focus of his research studies, which
he carried out in greater depth and detail than
most other anthropologists of his day. He insisted
that collections made by his colleagues be well
documented and encouraged collaborators, such
as H. R. Voth with the Hopi, to engage in research
for the museum.
In 1 897, the year after taking up his post, Dor-
sey made his first field trip for the museum. On
May 12 of that year, he and Edward Allen, the
museum's photographer, left Chicago on a 4-
month trip that included visits to the Blackfoot
(Blood), Kutenai, Flathead, Haida, Tsimshian,
Hopi, and Zuni reservations. The purpose of this
expedition was "to secure ethnological and phys-
ical anthropological material for the building of
groups which would adequately portray the cul-
ture and physical characteristics of these tribes"
(Field Columbian Museum, 1897, pp. 186-188).
Three years later, from May to July 1900, Dor-
sey undertook an ambitious trip through the west-
em states with similar goals in mind. He paid vis-
its to, among others, the Sauk and Fox reserva-
tions in Iowa, the Shoshone and Arapaho reser-
vation in Wyoming, the Bannock and Nez Perce
reservations in Idaho, the Paiute reservation in
Nevada, the Ute reservation in Utah, the Umatilla
and Klamath reservations in Oregon, as well as
the Fort Belknap, Fort Peck, and Devil's Lake res-
ervations, where he made the Assiniboine and
Yanktonai collections described in this study.
During this whirlwind tour of western reserva-
tions he collected more than 1,800 ethnographic
objects. Although precise information is lacking,
he could not have spent more than a few days at
each location.
11. The Assiniboine Collection
Introduction — Previous Anthropological
Research
The most complete account of the Assiniboine
is that given by Edwin T Denig (1930), who was
employed by the American Fur Company from
1836 or 1837 to 1856 at Fort Union, the principal
trading post in the United States of these Indians
at that time; he was married to an Assiniboine.
According to Ewers (Denig, 1952, p. 121), during
his later years he was generally recognized as an
authority on Assiniboine language and culture.
His monograph is still considered the best source
on these people.
The first trained ethnographer to visit the As-
siniboine was Robert Lowie, who spent the sum-
mer of 1907 with the Stoney at Morley, Alberta.
The Stoney, related to the Assiniboine, are a sep-
arate tribe and speak a dialect so distinct that it is
virtually a separate language from that of the As-
siniboine. Lowie spent the month of August 1908
at Fort Belknap. He published a monograph
(1909) devoted primarily to social and religious
life and mythology. David Rodnick spent 4Vi
months at Fort Belknap during the summer and
fall of 1935 and produced a study of cultural
change (Rodnick, 1938). John Ewers did field-
work at Fort Belknap and Fort Peck in the sum-
mer of 1953 and published two articles, one deal-
ing with the bear cult (1955a) and the other with
the horse medicine cult (1956). The only research
dealing specifically with Assiniboine material cul-
ture was undertaken by Vem Dusenberry in 1959.
Dusenberry apparently worked with a single in-
formant, and his short article (1960) deals with
only a few categories of material culture.
The Collection
Of the 77 Assiniboine objects described in this
study, 62 were collected by Dorsey in July 1900
(accession 689). Of this number, 34 were obtained
at Fort Peck and 28 at Fort Belknap. Also includ-
ed in this study are 9 objects from Fort Peck, ob-
tained by E. F. Wilson in 1892 or 1893 (accession
23) for the World's Columbian Exposition, and 4
objects, also from Fort Peck, part of a large eth-
nographic collection made for the Exposition by
Edward Ayer, one of the founders of the museum
(accession 112). The total number of inventoried
Assiniboine objects in these three collections is
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
80, 3 objects having been sold or lost. Except for
provenience, these collections are largely undoc-
umented. However, the accession lists in Dorsey's
handwriting included in the files of accessions
689 and 691 (see Appendices 3 and 4) include
some ethnographic information and the prices
paid. For the most part Dorsey apparently failed
to follow the collecting advice he gave to other
field- workers, a fact that can perhaps be explained
by the extensive itinerary of his 1900 expedition
and his consequently brief stay among the Assin-
iboine. He may have kept a more detailed field
notebook documenting this trip, but, if so, it is not
now in the archives of the museum's Department
of Anthropology.
Objects in the Dorsey, Wilson, and Ayer col-
lections are described under the following seven
use categories: tools, household equipment, cloth-
ing, ceremonial equipment, personal adornment,
games, and miscellaneous. (See Appendix 1 for
catalog numbers and proveniences. Catalog num-
bers for each object are also in the text.)
Tools
Trade in buffalo (Bison bison) hides was an im-
portant activity for the Assiniboine, as it was for
all the northern Plains tribes. According to Denig
(1930, p. 541), 2 days were required for a woman
to completely prepare one buffalo hide for market,
and preparation of 25 to 30 robes was considered
a good winter's work for one woman.
After a hide was fleshed with a bone flesher, it
was dried and bleached in the sun for a few days.
Then it was laid on the ground and scraped evenly
with an adze-like scraper, of which there are two
in the collection. Both are of the elk (Cervus can-
adensis) antler elbow type, with the distal ends
flattened on the inner surface to receive a metal
blade. The blades are missing on both scrapers,
but they would have been wrapped with a strip of
tanned buckskin and lashed to the haft with raw-
hide thongs. At the proximal end of each scraper
is a small hole for attachment of a thong to aid in
maintaining a firm grip. Both scrapers are orna-
mented with parallel incised lines and dots
(60199, 60188; Figs. 2c,e). Denig (1930, p. 540)
noted that this scraping procedure required a half
day for a whole hide and was "very fatiguing
employment." This form of scraper is common
throughout the Plains. A similar implement from
the Teton Dakota is illustrated by Densmore
(1948, PI. Ih).
If a hide was to be soft-tanned, it was treated
with melted grease and animal brains or livers,
heated, and rubbed with a porous stone or bone.
The collection contains a single fragment of pum-
ice-like stone that is identified in the catalog as a
hide dresser (60201; Fig. 2f). The final tanning
step involved further softening by moving the
hide back and forth through a loop of twisted raw-
hide or sinew attached to the underside of a lodge
pole (Denig, 1930, pp. 540-541; Rodnick, 1938,
p. 31). The collection contains a length of twisted
sinew, which is described in the catalog as having
been used in tanning. Cloth ties are attached at
either end (60216; Fig. 6d). For the Blackfoot, this
step in the skin-working process is described and
illustrated by Wissler (1910, p. 64, PI. V).
According to Wissler (1910, pp. 21-22, Fig. 1),
the Blackfoot crushed berries with a stone ham-
mer like the single complete example in the As-
siniboine collection. It has a broad, flat sandstone
head with a transverse groove around the upper
end. The handle is wood, doubled and wrapped
with rawhide and cloth, which passes around the
head in the groove (60197; Fig. 2b). A quartzite
hammerhead has a transverse groove around the
middle (60191; Fig. 2g). The collection also con-
tains a quartzite hand hammer that was used un-
hafted. This implement is wider at the distal end,
with a rounded proximal end for a better grip
(60193; Fig. 2a). Denig (1930, PI. 66) illustrated
two hafted stone implements, which he described
as a "hatchet" and a "war club," that were
among the few "ancient stone implements" he
observed among the Assiniboine in the 1850s.
A flat, oval quartzite pebble is identified in the
catalog as a "sharpener," presumably a whet-
stone. According to the catalog, it was used for
sharpening the steel blades of hide scrapers, but
it does not show obvious signs of use (60200; Fig.
2h). A similar oval whetstone from the Teton Da-
kota, described as being used for the same pur-
pose, is illustrated by Densmore (1948, p. 174, PI.
lb).
A curved bone implement pointed at one end
is identified in the catalog as a porcupine (Ereth-
icon dorsatum) "quill smoother," ornamented to-
ward the proximal end with incised parallel
grooves and dots filled with red pigment (60212;
Fig. 2d). According to Lyford (1940, p. 44), "Af-
ter the quills were sewn down they might be fur-
ther smoothed by rubbing with a 'quill flattener,'
a special instrument made of a smooth flat bone."
A metal quill flattener from the Hidatsa is illus-
trated by Oilman and Schneider (1987, p. 131).
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOOY
They call it a quill presser. The manner of using
this implement is illustrated by Ewers (1944a, p.
29).
Household Equipment
The collection contains two bags made from
the whole skins of buffalo fetuses. On one the
anus is closed with a piece of red wool stroud
outlined with small blue heads, and the feet are
sewn with sinew strung with blue beads. The V-
shaped neck opening is covered with a piece of
drilling. Narrow strips of red wool stroud and blue
beads are sewn into the seams with sinew (60209;
Fig. 3b). The second bag is unmodified except for
a slit at the neck, which could be closed with
twine lashing (60179; Fig. 3a).
A bag in the Read northern Plains collection
similar to these two was identified by the collector
as a woman's work bag (Markoe, ed., 1986, pp.
153, 161). In Dorsey's handwritten Hst for acces-
sion 689 (Appendix 3), no. 60209 is identified as
a bag for storing dried meat. A similar calfskin
bag, illustrated by Ewers (1944a, p. 28), is de-
scribed as containing a quill worker's equipment.
Described in the catalog as berry bags are two
large, oval skin bags with narrow openings. The
first is made from a single piece of cowhide with
the hair left on. It is sewn up the sides and has a
wide strip of buckskin around the opening cut at
intervals for a drawstring of the same material. A
pair of ear-like pieces of skin are sewn on either
side of this bag at the bottom (60217; Fig. 4). The
second bag is similar in shape and made of fawn
skin. A strip of buckskin approximately 3 cm
wide is sewn into the seam on each side. The
drawstring at the top is a strip of cloth (60208;
Fig. 5). Neither bag shows berry stains on the
inside. A similar bag from the Teton Dakota is
illustrated by Densmore (1948, p. 176, PI. IVc)
and is described as a bag for holding dried meat.
The collection also contains three bags not
identified as to use, two of which are rectangular
in shape. The first is made from a single piece of
soft-tanned buckskin sewn up the sides with sin-
ew. The back is longer and forms a fold-over flap
at the top. Paired, fringe-like strips of soft buck-
skin are sewn on the flap and on the front just
below the flap. Those on the flap are ornamented
with large translucent green beads at the point
where they are attached to the bag. There are
broad bands of lazy-stitched white, light blue,
dark blue, translucent yellow, and translucent red
pony beads sewn across the seams on each side.
A similar band of beads of the same colors is
sewn around the edge of the flap. Two ear-like
projections of soft buckskin are attached on either
side at the bottom (60174; Fig. 6b).
The second rectangular, pouch-like bag is made
of buffalo hide with the hair left on. It shows signs
of considerable use; much of the hair is worn off.
It is made from a single piece sewn up the sides
with sinew. There is a narrow flap at the back and
a rectangular piece sewn on the front. The seams
are covered with lazy-stitched green, clear, red,
light blue, and dark blue pony beads. A single row
of beads is sewn around the rectangular piece of
hide fastened to the front of the bag. At either
comer at the top are fastened a pair of metal
cones, from the lower ends of which protrude yel-
low-dyed horsehair (60192; Fig. 6a).
The third bag is oval in shape and made from
a single piece of soft-tanned buckskin sewn up the
sides with sinew. A band of lazy-stitched white,
green, dark blue, red, and translucent yellow pony
beads covers the seams, and a double row of
edged beads in the same colors is sewn around
the opening. On the front and back just below the
opening is a thread-sewn beaded design in white,
red, and dark blue beads. Fringed flaps of soft
buckskin are attached on either side at the bottom
(60207; Fig. 6f).
A single object in the collection, identified as a
spoon in the catalog, was probably used as a ladle
or dipper ; it is on exhibit. Made of buffalo horn,
it has a wide, deep bowl with a pointed, upturned
handle and is approximately 27 cm long (60204;
Fig. 7). A similar Assiniboine buffalo horn ladle
or dipper, identified as a spoon, is illustrated by
Denig (1930, p. 414, PI. 65). Their method of
manufacture is described by Dusenberry (1960,
pp. 58-59). Ladles or dippers similar to these, al-
though usually ornately carved, were frequently
used during feasts and thus could be considered
ceremonial objects.
Pigments for painting the face and body were
stored in small paint bags of soft-tanned buck-
skin, of which there are two in the collection.
One, painted with red pigment, resembles a pipe
bag in having flaps at the mouth and a fringe
across the bottom. There are beaded panels of red
and white pony beads on each side, and the flaps
are edged with white beads. Four large beads, one
of them metallic, are strung on fringe elements
(60176; Fig. 6e). Similar bags for the Blackfoot
are described and illustrated by Wissler (1910, pp.
72-73, Fig. 36) and VanStone (1992, p. 21, Figs.
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
7e, 50d,g), and for the Sioux by Wissler (1904,
pp. 251-252, PI. LI -4). A similar bag in the Read
collection is attached to a bandolier (Markoe, ed.,
1986, p. 155).
The second bag is much larger. It is rectangular
and made from a single piece of soft-tanned buck-
skin painted with brown pigment. At the top the
edges are gathered and tied with a strip of buck-
skin. There are feather and box (Kroeber, 1908,
p. 152) designs in light blue, dark blue, pink, red,
and yellow pony beads on both sides. Triangular
buckskin flaps are sewn on the bottom corners
(60171; Fig. 6c). This bag contains a sizable
amount of fine-grained brown pigment. A third
paint bag is attached to a mirror case and will be
described in the section on ceremonial clothing
and accessories.
Clothing
The collection contains three belts, two of
which are described in the catalog as having been
worn by children. The first has a narrow strap
made of commercially tanned leather, undecorat-
ed, with a small metal buckle. Attached to this
belt is a small deerskin knife sheath, on the front
of which are two beaded panels spot-stitched to
the sheath with thread. The designs are geometric
in white, yellow, dark green, light green, pink, and
dark blue beads. Between the panels is a row of
metal cones attached with string. At the lower
edge of the sheath are two strips of rolled cloth
wrapped with dark green, light green, and blue
beads (16262; Fig. 8c). This is most hkely a boy's
belt because it supports a single knife sheath.
The second child's belt is much more elaborate,
having four attachments. The strap is of commer-
cially tanned leather decorated with brass tacks
and with a heavy metal buckle. Attached to this
belt are a knife sheath, navel cord case, match
pouch, and awl case. The knife sheath, attached
with a narrow strip of hide, is decorated on both
sides with dark blue, yellow, red, and light blue
beads sewn with a modified spot-stitch. On one
side below the opening is a fringe of hide with
metal cones with large red beads. At the lower
end are a pair of hide strips wrapped with light
blue, dark blue, and yellow beads with metal
cones at the ends. The navel cord case, attached
to the belt with a strip of cloth, is diamond-shaped
and ornamented on both sides with light blue, red,
dark blue, and translucent yellow beads sewn with
a lazy stitch. Extending from the case in four plac-
es are strips of hide ornamented with large metal
beads. The deerskin match pouch, attached with
a hide strip, is rectangular with a short flap. It is
ornamented on the front with light blue, dark blue,
yellow, red, white, and green beads. At the lower
end is a hide fringe and on either side are paired
strips of hide wrapped with dark blue, red, and
green beads. The awl case, attached with a strip
of hide, is a narrow tube of rawhide that tapers to
a point at one end. There is a rawhide cap that
fits over the opening. The tube and cap are or-
namented with light blue, dark blue, red, white,
and yellow beads sewn with a lazy stitch. Ex-
tending from the distal end is a pair of hide strips
wrapped with beads of the same colors and ter-
minating in metal cones. This belt, probably a
girl's, as indicated by the awl case, may at one
time have had additional attachments as there are
strips of cloth extending from the strap in two
places. Beaded design elements on the attach-
ments include diagonal checker rows, triangles,
boxes or bags, feathers, and crosses, designs de-
scribed by Kroeber (1908, p. 152) and Lyford
(1940, pp. 73-74) for tribes of the northern and
western Plains (16251; Fig. 8b).
The third belt, a style worn by men, has a com-
mercially tanned leather strap 5 cm wide with a
small metal buckle. This belt has a very long trail-
er consisting of four narrow strips of leather dec-
orated with brass tacks. The strap has a border of
white beads attached with a spot stitch. The de-
sign elements, which include triangles and square
crosses (Kroeber, 1908, p. 152; Lyford, 1940, p.
73), are included in rectangular panels of white,
light blue, dark blue, red, and yellow beads. The
horizontal bead rows comprising the panels are
crow-stitched (Wildschut and Ewers, 1959, p. 40,
Fig. 41c), the elements pulling tight when the belt
is worn (16253; Fig. 8a).
The collection contains four pairs of men 's leg-
gings that reached to the hips and were attached
to a belt. All are sewn essentially from a single
piece of deer (Odocoileus sp.) or antelope {Antil-
ocapra americana) skin, sewn up one side with a
fringe, although additional pieces were sometimes
added, especially to widen the area in the vicinity
of the hip. Three pairs have ties for attachment to
a belt.
The first pair is sewn with thread, and the fringe
elements are narrow and long; the bottom edges
are serrated. Paired strips of ermine skin are sewn
into the seam just below the knee, and the ties are
long strips of drilling. The entire surface of these
leggings has been covered with a whitish clay. On
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
one legging, additional ornamentation consists of
angular horseshoe designs, which indicate partic-
ipation in a horse raid (Lowie, 1909, p. 67), and
X's, which represent wounds, in light blue and
dark blue beads on one side; there are four par-
allel sets of horseshoe designs in dark blue on the
other side. The areas inside the horseshoes and
around the X's are painted with yellow pigment.
The other legging has three X's with yellow pig-
ment on one side below the knee, and the other
side is undecorated. On both leggings the whitish
clay covering appears to have been applied over
the beaded designs and the yellow pigment added
later (60184; Figs. 9, 10).
On the second pair of leggings the fringe is a
separate piece sewn into the seam. The bottom
edges are cut into a short, wide fringe, and there
are no ties. A separate triangular gusset has been
sewn in near the top. Decoration on this pair of
leggings consists of six narrow parallel bands of
red and white beads and a single row of white
beads connected by a vertical band of white beads
extending around both sides from below the knee.
In between two of the bands on both sides of each
legging is a pair of beaded horseshoe designs,
four in yellow and four in green beads. Blotches
of red pigment also occur between the beaded
bands (16254; Fig. 11).
The third pair of leggings is fringed along both
edges, which are fastened together at intervals
with fringe elements. The bottoms are fringed and
lined with green cloth. A pair of skin ties is at-
tached at the proximal end. There is no beaded
decoration on this pair of leggings, but the entire
surface is covered with brown pigment (60219;
Fig. 12).
The fringed sides on the fourth pair are fastened
together at intervals with fringe elements, and the
bottom edges are fringed. There is a pair of cloth
ties for fastening to the belt. This pair of leggings
is ornamented with eight parallel bands of red-,
purple-, and white-dyed porcupine quills running
around each legging in the area below the knee.
Wide bands alternate with narrow bands, and each
wide band is divided into three rectangular sec-
tions. The center section, a box design, is purple
with a white center, while the outside sections are
red. In applying the quillwork bands, the spot
stitch has been used, and the quills are held in
place by two rows of stitches, the sinew being
inserted through the hide between each fold of the
quills (Orchard, 1971, pp. 19-21, Fig. 8). On the
red portions of the wide bands, stitches have been
made along the center of the rows of quillwork.
Much of the surface of these leggings is covered
with whitish clay, which was applied after the
quillwork was in place (60202; Fig. 13).
These buckskin leggings were probably worn
in the Grass Dance, which, according to Rodnick
(1938), was introduced to the Assiniboine by the
Sioux in 1872 and was held by members of the
Grass Dance Society at irregular intervals:
The reason for giving the dance was that such a perfor-
mance gave the Assiniboine whatever wishes they had
concerning warfare, hunting, or good health. The danc-
ing was done by members dressed in grass costumes,
and the steps were usually impromptu, in time with the
beating of the drum. (Rodnick, 1938, p. 40)
Lowie (1909, pp. 66-70) and especially Long
(Kennedy, ed., 1961, pp. 125-150) described the
Grass Dance in considerable detail. Long noted
that it was the principal Assiniboine dance and
was composed of many "social parts," always
concluding with a religious dance. Although orig-
inally the dancers wore costumes of long slough
grass, in more recent years there was no rule re-
garding the wearing of a costume. The Grass
Dance spread to many Plains tribes in the 1870s
and has been described in detail for the Hidatsa
(Oilman and Schneider, 1987, pp. 159-164).
The Assiniboine collection contains 13 pairs of
moccasins, 7 of which are identified in the catalog
as having been worn by men; the others are not
identified to sex of the wearer. At the time of Wis-
sler's fieldwork among the Blackfoot in the early
years of the 20th century, he observed no differ-
ence between men's and women's moccasins
(Wissler, 1910, p. 130). However, Long (Kennedy,
ed., 1961, p. 90) reported that women always
wore high-top moccasins, whereas men's were
low-cut.
All the moccasins described here are made of
buckskin and have flat rawhide soles and upper
pieces with vertical heel seams. The opening for
the instep piece, or tongue, is cut to a T and the
tongue sewn to the transverse part of the cut. This
pattern conforms to Hatt's series XIV (Hatt, 1916,
pp. 185-187) and Webber's series 4Ab (Webber,
1989, p. 52). Most Plains hard-soled moccasins
belong to these series. Lowie 's (1909, p. 17) in-
formants remembered an older type of "unsoled
moccasin," presumably one piece and side sewn
(Hatt, 1916, pp. 179-183), as described for the
Blackfoot by Wissler (1910, p. 128, Fig. 78) and
VanStone (1992, pp. 13-14, Figs. 35a,c).
Three pairs of moccasins in the Field Museum's
Assiniboine collection have separate wraparound
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
top pieces. Eleven pairs are decorated with beads,
one pair with porcupine quills, and one pair with
both beads and quills. Most sewing appears to be
with thread, and beads are either spot- or lazy-
stitched. Because each pair of moccasins has in-
dividual characteristics, they will be described
separately.
60164-1,2 — These moccasins have ankle flaps
of red and black wool stroud edged with white
beads, two-piece wraparound cloth tops, and
wraparound thong ties. Decoration on the uppers
consists of curved vertical and horizontal rows of
yellow, blue, white, and red beads, from which
extend on each side two pairs of arrowhead-
shaped designs in light blue, green, yellow, dark
blue, and pink beads. Extending from the tip of
the upper decoration is a pair of irregularly shaped
designs in light and dark blue beads edged with
white beads (Fig. 14b).
60166-1,2 — The top pieces on this pair are
formed from a single piece of cloth with wrap-
around ties of the same material. The tongues on
these moccasins are part of the uppers. Decoration
on the uppers consists of a keyhole design in light
blue, dark blue, pink, yellow, red, green, and
white beads. Extending from the edges of the key-
hole design toward the toes are pairs of feather
designs in light blue and dark blue beads. There
are blotches of brown pigment on the undecorated
portion of these moccasins (Fig. 14a).
60195-1,2 — Cloth wraparound top pieces occur
on these moccasins, which have wraparound
thong ties. A pair of short strips of hide are sewn
as trailers into the heel seam. Beadwork covers
most of the uppers. The basic colors are white and
light blue, and the design elements are in light
blue, dark blue, red, yellow, and pink beads. De-
signs include a diagonal checker row across the
upper, a box in front of the tongue, and triangles
as border decorations (Fig. 15a). Assiniboine in-
fant's moccasins with a somewhat similar com-
bination of beaded designs are described and il-
lustrated by Hail (1980, Fig. 38, p. 103).
60165-1,2 — On these moccasins, short buck-
skin ties are inserted through the uppers just be-
low the edge. Beadwork covers the entire uppers.
The basic color is light blue, with design elements
in dark blue, red, and white beads. Designs in-
clude a diagonal checker row across the uppers,
from which extends a pair of feather designs. A
vertical row of white beads extends around the
moccasins at the level of the seam joining the soles
and uppers. At intervals in this border are triangle
designs in dark blue and red beads. On the sides
of the uppers toward the back are boxes and tri-
angles in red, dark blue, and white beads (Fig.
15b).
60170-1,2 — The tongues on these moccasins
are cut to a pair of flaps decorated on the front
with vertical rows of blue and white beads and
with a pair of metal cones at the ends, from which
extend red-dyed horsehair. Short ties of buckskin
are attached on either side of the uppers at the
front. Elaborate buckskin trailers are sewn into the
full length of each heel seam. The uppers are fully
beaded, with the basic color being light blue.
Three vertical rows of white beads circle each
moccasin above the seam joining the sole and the
uppers. Design elements in the blue areas include
feathers in red, yellow, and green beads and boxes
in blue and white beads. At intervals within the
white area are tipis (Kroeber, 1908, p. 152; Ly-
ford, 1940, p. 74) in green, red, and yellow beads
(Fig. 16b).
60173-1,2 — The uppers of this pair are edged
with yellow cloth, and buckskin ties are attached
on either side at the front. The entire uppers as
well as the soles are beaded. The basic color on
the uppers is white with floral designs in a great
variety of colors. A band of green beads extends
around the seam joining the sole and uppers. On
it there are triangles at intervals in dark blue
beads. On the soles the basic color is white with
triangles, feathers, and box designs in red, dark
blue, and light blue beads (Fig. 16a).
60178-1,2 — This pair of moccasins has buck-
skin ties at the front of the uppers and a pair of
hide trailers sewn at the base of the heel seam.
The entire uppers are covered with blue beads. A
band of green and translucent yellow beads circles
the uppers just below the edge. In front of the
instep is a V-shaped design in green, yellow, and
dark blue beads, from which extend a pair of
feather designs in black and white beads. Box de-
signs in dark blue and yellow beads occur at in-
tervals around the side and back of the uppers,
and there is a pair of triangle designs in green,
yellow, and dark blue beads on each side just
above the seam joining the sole to the uppers (Fig.
17a).
60180-1,2 — The most distinctive features of
these moccasins are the elaborate buckskin trailers
sewn into the heel seam and a buckskin fringe
sewn into a seam that runs down the center of the
uppers. There is a rectangular tongue and ties that
are inserted through holes at the front and back
of the edges. The entire uppers are beaded with
white beads. Box designs in green, yellow, and
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
dark blue beads occur in front of the instep,
around the edges, and just above the seam joining
the soles to the uppers. On either side toward the
back is a feather design in red and light blue
beads, from which extend V-shaped lines at each
end (Fig. 18a).
60183-1,2 — The tongues on these moccasins
are cut to a pair of flaps, and the buckskin ties
run through a pair of holes at the back and front
of the opening; there are buckskin trailers at the
base of the heel seam. Beaded decoration consists
of a rectangular design down the front of the up-
pers, mainly of light blue beads, with stripe de-
signs (Kroeber, 1908, p. 152) in red, dark blue,
and green beads. At one end of this rectangle is
a modified box design in dark blue and green
beads. A band of light blue beads, with stripe de-
signs in red beads, runs around the moccasins at
the level of the seam joining soles and uppers
(Fig. 17b).
60187-1,2 — The uppers of this pair are edged
with patterned cotton cloth, and buckskin ties are
attached on either side at the front. Beaded dec-
oration is confined to a solid semicircular design
in yellow, red, and several shades of blue beads
in front of the instep. Extending from this design
on either side near the base of the tongue are what
appear to be stylized flowers in light blue and red
beads. Also extending from the solid design near
the toe are three bars, two of red beads, with a
bar of pale blue beads in the center (Fig. 18b).
60220-1,2 — The uppers are edged with cotton
cloth, and ties of the same material run through a
pair of holes at the front and back of the opening;
buckskin trailers are sewn into the heel seam. The
dominant colors of the beadwork are pink and
green. Designs are triangles in dark blue and red
beads, edged with white beads, and crosses in
dark blue beads (Fig. 19a).
60203-1,2 — These moccasins have tongues cut
to a pair of flaps and buckskin ties that run
through holes at the back and in front of the open-
ing; there are long hide trailers sewn into the base
of the heel seam. This is one of two pairs of moc-
casins ornamented with porcupine quills. The dec-
oration is simple, consisting of a band of orange-
dyed quills at the level of the seam that joins soles
and uppers, a band running across the instep, and
two parallel bands that extend from the tongue to
the toe. The quills are folded so as to produce an
interlocking sawtooth pattern and are held in
place by two rows of stitches, the sinew being
caught into the surface of the hide between the
folds (Orchard, 1971, p. 25, Fig. 12, p. 28) (Fig.
19b).
60223-1,2 — The uppers are edged with pat-
terned cotton cloth, and the hide ties, stitched to
the back with thread, run through holes at the
front of the opening. Decoration involves both
beads and porcupine quills. A band of light blue
beads runs around the base of the uppers. At in-
tervals along this band are triangle designs in dark
blue and white beads. Parallel bands of orange-
and purple-dyed quills are applied across the up-
pers in a path or trail design (Lyford, 1940, Fig.
21, p. 80) running from the instep to the toes. The
quills are held in place by two rows of stitches,
the thread being caught into the surface of the
hide between each parallel fold of the quills (Or-
chard, 1971, pp. 19, 21, Fig. 8) (Fig. 19c). Sioux
moccasins with a similar combination of beaded
and quilled designs are illustrated by Wissler
(1904, PI. XXXVIII, 1).
Lowie (1909, pp. 20-22, Figs. 5, 6) demon-
strated the diversity of Assiniboine moccasin dec-
oration in a series of illustrations. He observed
that "practically every type of design found in the
Northern Plains ... is represented on their moc-
casins."
Ceremonial Equipment
Pipes and Accessories — Writing with specific
reference to the Blackfoot, Ewers (1963, pp. 33-
34) noted that the smoking of tobacco played an
important part in their religious, political, and so-
cial life. Pipes were smoked as part of the ritual
of opening sacred bundles and when making
peace with enemies. During the years of the fur
trade, Blackfoot chiefs smoked with traders before
goods were exchanged, and etiquette required the
offering of a pipe to the owner of a tipi and to a
visitor. Both men and women also smoked for
pleasure. These observations apply equally to the
Assiniboine and other tribes of the central and
northern Plains.
Prince Maximilian (1843, p. 196) described the
pipes of the Assiniboine as usually made of a
blackish stone or dark clay in which they smoked
kinnikinick, a species of bearberry {Arctostaphy-
los uva-ursi) mixed with tobacco. According to
Ewers (1963, p. 53), the Assiniboine at Fort Peck
made pipes of a locally obtained gray stone "in
the form of the typical Siouan calumet." One of
his informants stated that the stem and the bowl
holes were bored with an old knife "ground down
VANSTONE. ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
slim," and the exterior was also shaped with a
knife. After shaping was completed, the bowl was
rubbed with tallow and placed over a brush fire
to make it black. It was then polished with buck-
skin.
Denig (1930, pp. 446-448) noted that the
smoking of pipes was the most important element
in all ceremonies, and its use was accompanied
by motions that varied with the occasion. Among
the most important ceremonies were councils be-
tween two tribes for the purpose of making peace
that were lengthy and very solemn. On these oc-
casions the "real calumet" was used, and Denig
provided a sketch and description of such a pipe.
The pipe he illustrated (Denig, 1930, PI. 68) has
a stem of ash wood decorated with porcupine
quills, eagle feathers, beads, and strips of otter
skin; the bowl is of catlinite. The head of a male
mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is mounted
near the proximal end; the head of a red-headed
woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is
sometimes used. Denig, who described in detail
the movements of the pipe during peacemaking
ceremonies, maintained that "the 'real calumet' is
never opened [unwrapped] except in dealings with
strangers." According to West (1934, pt. 1, p.
128), the stem rather than the bowl was consid-
ered the sacred part of the Siouan calumet.
The Field Museum's Assiniboine collection
contains eight pipes, all considerably less elabo-
rate than the one described and illustrated by De-
nig, and a single pipe bowl. The pipes range in
length from 39 cm to 57 cm and have bowls of
blackish calcareous shale. Six have round stems,
recessed at both ends, four of which are plain
(60162, 60218, 60222, 60190, 60194, 60215;
Figs. 20b-e, 21a,c), one ornamented with five sets
of parallel circular incisions once filled with red
pigment (Fig. 21a), and one with three sets of par-
allel bands in relief (Fig. 21c). The bowls of four
of these have plain, block-like bases (Figs. 20b,d-
e, 21c), whereas on one there are bands in relief
at the proximal end around the opening (Fig. 21a).
On one pipe, with a round stem, the base of the
barrel-shaped bowl is ornamented with drilled
holes and reinforced with lead at the proximal end
(Fig. 20c).
Two pipes have flattened stems recessed at both
ends. On one the bowl is round, and the recessed
area at the distal end of the stem is wrapped with
a strip of cloth to maintain a firmer attachment to
the bowl. At the proximal end of the stem the
projection is covered with a copper or brass ferule
(60198; Fig. 20a). On the other the bowl is round-
ed and tapers toward the opening. The projection
at the distal end of the stem was wrapped with
cloth (60163; Fig. 21b), which now protrudes
from the bowl.
The single pipe bowl in the collection is similar
in shape to those on the complete pipes but is light
brown in color. It likely has not been rubbed with
tallow, exposed to fire, and polished in the manner
previously described (60185; Fig. 2 Id).
Tobacco, a pipe, tampers, and lighting equip-
ment were kept in a bag, with the pipe stem usu-
ally projecting from the proximal end. The col-
lection contains a single pipe bag with a fringe at
the bottom and cut so as to form four ear-like flaps
at the top. There is a buckskin thong attached at
one side to tie the opening. This bag has a beaded
panel on both sides. On the side shown in the
photograph (60167; Fig. 21e), the panel has a bor-
der of light green and a background of dark green
and light blue beads. In the center is a triangular
step or checker pattern in yellow and translucent
red beads. There is a pair of cross patterns in
translucent red beads on either side of the checker
pattern. On the edges separating the two panels
are parallel rows of yellow and light blue beads,
and a series of short lines of dark green beads are
set at an angle across the top. On the reverse panel
the border is of light blue beads and the back-
ground of dark green beads, with checker and
cross patterns in light blue, translucent red, and
yellow beads. At the upper end of each fringe
element is a rectangular, faceted, translucent green
bead. The flaps at the proximal end are edged with
light green beads.
Clothing and Accessories — Ceremonial
clothing is represented in the Field Museum's As-
siniboine collection by three headdresses. The first
of these is a roach headdress, described in the
catalog as consisting of a "deer's tuft." According
to the accession list, it is made of porcupine guard
hair, and the shorter, outside elements are made
of orange-dyed deer tail hair. The entire base of
the roach is covered with narrow strips of hide
wrapped with orange- and white-dyed porcupine
quills. Extending from the rear of the roach is a
pair of trailers of ermine (Mustela sp.) skin
wrapped at the proximal end with strips of red
wool Stroud (15037; Fig. 22). The accession list
indicates that it was attached to the scalp lock and
worn in the Grass Dance.
A dance cap is made from a billed cloth cap,
the outside of which is covered with red cotton
cloth. At the top of this cap is a roach, also de-
scribed in the catalog as a "deer's tuft," consist-
10
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
ing of soft and coarse hairs dyed red and black.
The coarse black hair is actually from a turkey's
(Meleagris gallopavo) "beard," the bristle-like
feathers on the bird's breast. The roach is loosely
attached in such a manner as to move when the
wearer is in motion. At the top of the roach a flat
bone spreader is attached with strips of rawhide.
Standing upright on it is a short bone tube, from
which extends a single golden eagle {Aquila chry-
saetos) feather (16265; Fig. 23). Both of these
roaches would have been worn in the Grass Dance
(Lowie, 1909, p. 67; Kennedy, ed., 1961, pp. 127-
128).
A buffalo headdress is made from a single,
rectangular strip of buffalo hide approximately 45
cm long, backed with cotton cloth, that covers the
head and extends over the shoulders. On either
side at the front, shaved buffalo horns are attached
with strips of hide. Extending from the base of
each horn are bunches of golden eagle feathers
and down, some of which are dyed green. There
are ties of hide for fastening the headdress under
the wearer's chin (602 1 1 ; Fig. 24).
An object described in the catalog as a dancing
head ornament is a dancing fan handle. It consists
of a rolled strip of commercial leather sewn up
one side with string and decorated with parallel
rows of blue, white, and green beads. At either
end are metallic beads strung on cord. Extending
from the upper end of the rolled hide are three
strands of heavy wire of equal length with loops
at the distal ends. These wire strands are wrapped
with purple- and white-dyed porcupine quills tied
with a cord and thread in the manner described
by Orchard (1971, p. 51, Fig. 30). At the distal
ends of the wire strands, short strips of beaver fur
are attached. Similar but longer strips of beaver
fur are attached at either end of the rolled hide
(16252; Fig. 25d). Presumably paper, or possibly
feathers, was fastened in some manner to the wire
strands.
A fan of golden eagle feathers may also have
been associated with dancing. It consists of a
complete wing wrapped at the proximal end with
a strip of patterned cloth (60169; Fig. 25e). Ac-
cording to the catalog, this type of fan was used
only by old men, probably not only for cooling
themselves but for incensing during ceremonies.
Among all Plains tribes a newborn baby's navel
cord was cut, dried, and preserved in a beaded
case to protect the child from illness. According
to Ewers (1958, p. 101), among the Blackfoot,
boys' navel cord cases were usually in the form
of a snake, while those of girls were lizard-
shaped. The Assiniboine collection contains a di-
amond-shaped buckskin navel cord case, possibly
representing a stylized lizard. Both surfaces are
covered with parallel rows of lazy-stitched beads.
The design, a large cross, is the same on both
sides. The colors on one side are yellow, light
blue, and light green; on the other side they are
yellow, light blue, and tan. Extending from each
side and at the bottom are strands of buckskin
strung with triangular, faceted, light blue beads
(60175; Fig. 25c). An Assiniboine navel cord case
with similar cross designs is illustrated by Lowie
(1909, Fig. 9a, p. 25). Among the Sioux, the part
of the navel cord that was sewn into these amulets
was the bit that dried and fell off the child's body;
the umbilical cord cut at birth was disposed of
with the afterbirth (Raymond DeMallie, pers.
comm.).
Also presumably associated with ceremonies is
a heavily beaded mirror case with an attached
beaded strap. The strap is not long enough to
serve as a belt, and the case may have been held
in the hand during dances. The case is made from
a single piece of buckskin sewn up both sides
with thread. There is a long, separately attached
fringe at the bottom. The decoration, identical on
both sides, includes a pair of modified hourglass
designs (Lyford, 1940, p. 74) in the center and
triangle designs along each vertical edge. On one
side the background color is white, with design
elements in dark red and light blue beads edged
with dark blue and green beads. On the reverse,
not shown in the photograph, the identical designs
are in yellow and green beads edged with dark
blue beads. The vertical edges of the case are cov-
ered with parallel rows of light blue, dark blue,
and red beads. Attached with thongs at the top of
the case is a broad beaded strap of buckskin bi-
furcated at each end. Design elements, which in-
clude triangles and diamonds similar to those on
the front and back of the case, are in white, green,
dark blue, and red beads (60224; Fig. 25a).
The collection contains a mirror case with two
attached bags that also appears to have been in-
tended for ceremonial use. The heavily beaded
case is rectangular, with a long, separately at-
tached fringe at the bottom. On one side the back-
ground color is pink, with a modified hourglass
design in the center in light blue, green, dark blue,
and red beads. On both vertical edges is a step
pattern of triangles in light blue and dark blue
beads. On the reverse, not shown in the photo-
graph, the background is blue, and the center de-
sign is identical except that the colors are dark
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
11
green, dark blue, and red. Along the edges are
triangle designs in yellow and red, outlined in
dark blue beads. The vertical edges are covered
with parallel rows of light blue, dark blue, green,
and pink beads.
Two small bags or pouches are attached to the
mirror case on either side with thongs. One of
these is a paint bag of soft tanned skin constructed
of two pieces with a separate attached fringe.
There is a pair of bifurcated flaps at the top and
a beaded panel on each side. On one side the
background color is blue, and there is a large tri-
angle design in green and yellow beads edged
with dark blue beads. At the top of this panel are
three feather designs in dark blue and yellow
beads. The decoration on the reverse, not shown
in the photograph, is similar except for a modified
hourglass design in red edged with dark blue
beads, and the three feather designs are in light
blue and dark blue beads. The flaps at the top are
edged with light blue and dark blue beads.
The other small bag is rectangular and contains
a pair of circular brass earrings, attached through
pierced ears, which project from the bag. This bag
has a separate fringe and is heavily beaded on
both sides. On one side the background color is
dark blue, with a pair of triangle designs in green,
dark blue, and red beads. Between these triangles
is a diamond design in yellow edged with dark
blue beads. The central design on the opposite
side is in pink, dark blue, and yellow beads, and
the border on both sides is decorated with yellow,
pink, and dark blue beads.
A broad, beaded carrying strap of red wool
Stroud backed with buckskin is attached with
thongs at the top of the mirror case. The basic
ornamentation is in white beads, and designs are
created by leaving open areas of the red wool
Stroud. At either end is a rectangular design in
pink and dark blue beads (16261; Fig. 25b).
Musical Instruments — According to Denig
(1930, p. 618), "Songs for dancing, medicine
(that is, the practice of healing), and on other as-
semblies are generally accompanied with drums,
bells, rattles, flutes, and whistles, of all of which
the drum is the principal instrument, ..." The As-
siniboine collection contains two tambourine
drums, which were also used in the hand game,
introduced long after Denig's time.
The frame of the first drum is made from a
rectangular strip of wood 6.5 cm wide that has
been steamed to form a hoop; the overlapping
ends are held together by the lashing that binds
the head to the frame. The drumhead of scraped
skin is stretched over the frame and lashed to it
through holes approximately 5 cm apart. Rawhide
thongs extend across the open side and cross in
the center, where knotted rawhide forms a hand-
hold. The frame and both sides of the drumhead
are covered with brown pigment but are otherwise
undecorated. The drumstick is covered at the dis-
tal end with cotton batting contained in a cloth
bag wrapped and tied with a strip of red cloth
(60181; Fig. 26c).
The frame of the second drum is 5.5 cm wide
and the ends are lap-spliced. The drumhead of
scraped skin is lashed to the outside of the frame
with thongs that pass along the inside and outside.
These thongs also hold the lap-splice in place. On
the back, three thongs wrapped in the center with
rawhide form the handhold. The drumhead is cov-
ered with brown pigment. The drumstick is
wrapped at the distal end with cloth (60182; Fig.
26b).
An Assiniboine tambourine drum similar to
those in the Field Museum's collection is de-
scribed and illustrated by Denig (1930, p. 619, PI.
80, 1-2). Blackfoot drums described^ and illus-
trated by VanStone (1992, p. 20, Figs. 46a, b, 47-
49) are almost identical in construction.
The collection also contains a drumstick that is
much longer and more elaborate than those ac-
companying the drums. The stick is wrapped with
purple-, white-, and red-dyed porcupine quills that
are folded over a single sinew thread running the
length of the stick. At the distal end is a buckskin
bag filled with some soft material and lashed to
the stick. A single golden eagle feather extends
from the tip of this bag. The proximal end of the
drumstick is covered with a fringed sleeve of
buckskin, from which extends a triangular flap of
the same material, covered on one side with quill-
work. The quills are held in place by two rows of
stitches with the thread caught into the surface
between each fold of quills (Orchard, 1971, p. 19,
Fig. 8). The background is red-dyed quills, with
three cross designs in white- and blue-dyed quills.
Extending from the end of this flap is a buckskin
fringe cut to long and short lengths. Metal cones
are attached to the short lengths (60186; Fig. 26a).
This drumstick was not for ordinary use with a
drum but was part of the regalia of the Grass
Dance Society and served as a badge of office.
Long (Kennedy, ed., 1961, p. 132) mentioned four
decorated drumsticks and described their use.
Writing with reference to the Blackfoot, Wissler
(1910, p. 85, Fig. 53) noted that rattles varied in
size according to the ceremonies in which they
12
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
were used. He described the most common type
as having a bulb shaped from wet skin which was
filled with sand. When dry, the sand was re-
moved, and pebbles and a wood handle were in-
serted. The Assiniboine collection contains four
such bulb-shaped rattles. On all four the skin
bulbs consist of two pieces sewn together with
sinew. Both pieces extend to cover wooden han-
dles, which are wrapped with strips of cloth. Two
are undecorated (60196, 60206; Figs. 27b-c), and
two, described as medicine rattles, have small per-
forations that are described in the catalog as rep-
resenting eyes and a mouth (60221, 60189; Figs.
27a,e). Similar Assiniboine instruments, described
as doctor's rattles, are illustrated by Denig (1930,
p. 619, PI. 80, nos. 5, 6). A rattle in the Read
collection made from a buffalo scrotum is de-
scribed and illustrated in Markoe, ed. (1986, pp.
109, 123).
The collection also contains a single ring-
shaped rattle, described in the catalog as a med-
icine man's rattle. It is round, flat, and covered
front and back with two pieces of scraped skin
stitched together with sinew around the rim. A
wood handle wrapped with skin extends from one
side, at the end of which is a strip of fur and metal
cones attached to a hide fringe. On one side of
the ring there are crude designs in white pigment.
On the reverse, which does not show in the pho-
tograph, are splotches of red-brown pigment,
daubs of white pigment around the rim, and a
large circle of white pigment in the center (16256;
Fig. 27d). According to Mason (1938, pp. 179-
1 82), this is a drumstick rattle, serving both func-
tions.
Personal Adornment
The collection contains two necklaces, identi-
fied in the catalog as having been worn by chil-
dren. The first consists of a length of cord
wrapped with pink, green, yellow, and red beads
strung on thread and with a thong tie at each end.
This necklace is in very poor condition (16257).
The second is a choker necklace made from two
parallel strips of hide wrapped with beads to hold
them together. The basic bead color is pink, with
design elements in white, yellow, light blue, dark
blue, and red beads. There is a separately attached
thong tie at each end (60172; Fig. 28c).
A wooden hair parter, described in the catalog
as having been used by women for parting the
hair, is pointed at one end and has a large, flat.
rectangular knob at the other (60213; Fig. 28d).
Actually, men used them as well, and as cere-
monial "scratchers" they were used in the Sun
Dance, during which dancers were prohibited
from touching themselves with their hands
(DeLoria, 1929, pp. 410-411). Ewers (1986, Fig.
189, p. 195) reproduces a watercolor by Charles
M. Rosewell that illustrates the Plains Indians'
use of the hair parter.
A pair of brass earrings in a bag attached to a
mirror case has already been described (16261;
Fig. 25b).
A small mirror case is made from commer-
cially tanned hide and has a short, bifurcated flap;
the mirror is missing. There is a beaded decora-
tion on both sides and on the flap. On the front
the background is of pink beads, with design el-
ements in yellow outlined with dark blue beads.
Along the sides are parallel rows of light blue,
dark blue, and yellow beads. On the back, which
does not show in the photograph, the background
color is light blue, in the center of which is a box
design of dark blue beads with pink beads in the
center. Four inverted triangles extend from this
design. Along the sides on the back are triangles
in yellow and dark blue beads. The flap is orna-
mented with light blue beads and parallel rows of
dark blue beads. A separate hide fringe extends
from the bottom of the case, and there are thongs
to secure the flap in place (60177; Fig. 28f).
Games
One of the most widely distributed North
American Indian games was the ring and pin
game, so named by Culin (1907, p. 527) at the
suggestion of Dorsey. The two games of this type
in the collection, however, are designated as "pin
and cup" games in the catalog. The two games
are virtually identical, each consisting of seven
deer phalangeal bones, perforated and strung on
a thong with a wire needle at one end and a tri-
angular piece of buckskin perforated with holes
at the other (60205, 60263; Fig. 28b). One of
these Assiniboine games is illustrated by Culin
(1907, Fig. 737, p. 555).
Dorsey 's description of the ring and pin game,
an account no longer in the museum's accession
records, is quoted by Culin:
A game formerly much played by young men and wom-
en, and known as the courting or matrimonial game. The
cups [phalangeal bones] are swung forward and upward.
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
13
the buckskin being held by the thumb and forefinger. As
the cups descend the attempt is made to catch one or
more of them on the end of the bodkin or to thrust the
bodkin into one of the perforations in the triangular
piece of buckskin attached to the end of the cord beyond
the last cup. (Culin, 1907, p. 555)
Dorsey goes on to assign numerical values to the
various cups and the perforations in the buckskin.
He further notes that at the time of his fieldwork,
the game was played solely for pleasure, but he
suggests that it had "deep significance" in the
past. Denig makes no reference to the ring and
pin game, but it is described and illustrated by
Lowie (1909, pp. 18-19, Fig. 3), who noted that
if a player caught the lowest bone on his pin, he
won the game regardless of his opponent's score.
James Owen Dorsey (1891, pp. 344-345) de-
scribed this game among the Teton Dakota as pri-
marily a gambling game, and this was probably
true of the Assiniboine as well.
The only other game in the collection is a set
of dice consisting of eight crow (Corvus brachyr-
hynchos) claws, eight heads of brass tacks, one
rectangular piece of copper with a hole in the cen-
ter, and eight plum stones with burns on one side
(60161; Fig. 28e). Culin (1907, p. 177, Fig. 226)
described this set of dice, but his description and
illustration depict only five claws, five brass tacks,
the piece of copper, and four plum stones. Dorsey
provided Culin with the values of the various dice
and noted that "As in other dice games, these ob-
jects are tossed in a wooden bowl, the score being
kept by counting sticks and 100 constituting a
game" (Culin, 1907, p. 177). Denig (1930, pp.
567-569, PI. 72) described in considerable detail
and illustrated a dice game virtually identical to
the one in the collection. He noted that the game
was usually played by "soldiers and warriors"
and "is often kept up for two or three days and
nights without any intermission, except to eat, un-
til one of the parties is ruined" (Denig, 1930, p.
568). Lowie (1909, p. 18) briefly described a sim-
ilar dice game.
Miscellaneous
The so-called "pad saddle," consisting simply
of hide bags stuffed with buffalo or deer hair and
placed so that a pad fell over each side of the
horse, was the type used by the Assiniboine and
their neighbors (Ewers, 1955b, pp. 82-85). The
collection contains a single pad saddle, approxi-
mately 50 by 32 cm, of soft tanned buckskin with
modified cross designs in white and dark blue
beads at each comer. The edge seam joining the
top and bottom skins is covered with red wool
Stroud. Suspended from one corner is a strip of
buckskin wrapped with light blue, dark blue, and
red beads, from which extends the remains of a
single feather From the center of each side of the
pad extend rectangular flaps of soft buckskin used
for fastening the girth to the saddle. Lying across
the saddle and extending down the sides so as to
cover these flaps is a badger {Taxidea taxus) skin
backed with drilling and edged with red wool
Stroud. The girth is a strip of commercially tanned
hide 3 cm wide with a large metal buckle. The
rawhide straps from which the stirrups are sus-
pended are 6 cm wide. The wooden stirrups are
covered with rawhide that was applied wet and
lashed across the bottom with rawhide thongs.
The entire saddle, including stirrup straps and stir-
rups, is covered with grayish white pigment
(60210; Fig. 29). Referring to the Blackfoot pad
saddle. Ewers (1955b, p. 83) noted that a fully
rigged saddle, including girth and stirrups,
weighed less than 3 pounds and was no heavier
than an American racing saddle. He believed that
the pad saddle was the oldest form and "may
have been virtually Plains-wide in its distribution
in the 18th century" (Ewers, 1955b, p. 85).
A single gunstock war club, so called because
of its resemblance to a musket stock, is a type
common on the Plains. Made of hardwood, it is
rectangular in cross section, with a hole for a met-
al blade on the outer edge at the convex bend.
This club has a perforation running about three
quarters of its length, and there is a hole at the
proximal end for a hand strap. Currently on ex-
hibit, it is approximately 85 cm long. Ornamen-
tation consists of daubs of red paint and incised
lines and cross hatching near the distal end
(16258; Fig. 30).
The collection also contains two slungshot
clubs. The first has a stone head wrapped with
fringed tanned buckskin; there are metal cones at-
tached to three fringe elements. The head is at-
tached to the handle with a pliable length of hide
wrapped with tanned buckskin. The wooden han-
dle is square in cross section and recessed at ei-
ther end, the recessed areas being covered with
sleeves of tanned buckskin (16264; Fig. 28g).
This form of club permitted the head to swing
freely so that it could be applied to the target with
a greater force than a fixed-head club.
The second slungshot club is elaborately dec-
orated and may be a dance club carried by partic-
14
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
ipants as a badge of office. In construction it is
very similar to the previously described club. The
buckskin-wrapped stone has a fringe, some ele-
ments of which have attached metal cones. The
covering is ornamented with yellow, red, and
green pigment as well as vertical rows of black
thread stitches. The pliable hide connecting the
head and wood handle is decorated with red pig-
ment and a pair of fur bands. The handle, rect-
angular in cross section, is decorated with bands
of red, black, and green pigment and brass tacks.
The recessed areas at either end are covered with
soft buckskin sleeves, and bands of fur with buck-
skin fringes are attached at both ends of these ar-
eas. The band at the proximal end of the handle
includes fringe elements of red wool stroud
(16263; Fig. 28h). According to Long (Kennedy,
ed., 1961, p. 130), stone clubs with decorated han-
dles were carried in the hand during the Grass
Dance.
Both men and women carried sharp, heavy
bladed knives in rawhide sheaths that were worn
at the belt. The collection contains one such knife
sheath made from a single piece of heavy rawhide
folded with a second piece across the top; there
is a horizontal eye for the belt. This sheath is dec-
orated on one side with multiple rows of brass
tacks that also serve to hold the folded edges of
the rawhide together (16259; Fig. 28a).
III. The Yanktonai Collection
Introduction
On his extensive expedition in the summer of
1900, Dorsey also collected among the Yanktonai
at Fort Peck and their close relatives on the De-
vil's Lake Reservation in central North Dakota.
The Yanktonai share this reservation with the
Santee and Sisseton. Very little published infor-
mation is available for the Yanktonai, and there
are no comprehensive accounts of their material
culture. Mention should be made, however, of the
watercolors of John Saul, a lower Yanktonai from
the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota,
which are largely of material culture items (How-
ard, 1971; Brokenleg and Hoover, 1993).
The Collection
Dorsey collected Yanktonai objects represented
by 39 catalog numbers at Fort Peck (accession
689) and 52 at Devil's Lake (accession 691),
where he also collected two Santee and eight Sis-
seton objects (described in Appendix 5). Of the
total of 101 objects from the two reservations, 7
could not be located for this study. Like the As-
siniboine collection, the Yanktonai material is
largely undocumented except for provenience.
The accession lists (Appendices 3 and 4), how-
ever, include useful information. The collection is
described here under the following five use cate-
gories: household equipment, toys and games,
ceremonial objects, clothing and personal adorn-
ment, and miscellaneous (see Appendix 2 for cat-
alog numbers and proveniences).
Household Equipment
The Yanktonai collection contains two bags
made from whole antelope skins; they were prob-
ably women's work bags. On the first of these
bags most of the hair has been removed. The
openings for the back feet are closed with fringed
strips of hide ornamented with vertical rows of
yellow, light blue, and dark blue beads sewn with
a lazy stitch. The front feet are closed with similar
fringed strips of hide wrapped at the proximal
ends with pink, blue, and yellow beads. An ad-
ditional opening is covered with a small rosette
of light blue, dark blue, and tan beads sewn on a
piece of red wool stroud. From the center of this
rosette extend three narrow strips of hide wrapped
with red-dyed porcupine quills. At the neck a gus-
set of hide, slit for most of its length, has been
added. Also added at the neck is a separate rect-
angular strip of hide edged with red wool stroud.
This separate strip is almost completely covered
with lazy-stitched beads. The background color is
yellow, and there are box designs in dark blue,
red, and yellow beads. Sewing throughout is with
coarse thread (60226; Fig. 31a).
On the second bag the hair is virtually intact.
The back legs are wrapped with hide thongs cov-
ered with red- and green-dyed quills placed over
strips of fringed blue wool cloth. The front legs
are similarly wrapped with hide thongs, which in
turn are wrapped with red- and white-dyed quills
over strips of drilling. Two other openings are
covered with small rosettes, one not shown in the
photograph, of blue and white beads sewn on
pieces of hide with a lazy-stitch. Extending from
the center of these rosettes are pairs of hide
thongs wrapped with red-dyed quills. A tear on
the underside between the back legs has been re-
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
15
paired with an inset patch of patterned cotton
cloth. At the neck a wide, rectangular piece of
hide edged with cotton cloth has been added.
Around its lower edge is a notched flap of red
cotton cloth. The neck strip itself is ornamented
with five parallel bands of red-dyed quills. The
quills are held in place by two rows of stitches in
the manner described and illustrated by Orchard
(1971, p. 19, Fig. 8). Sewing throughout is with
thread (60227; Fig. 31b). Similar bags have been
previously described in this study for the Assini-
boine, for the Plains Cree (VanStone, 1983, pp.
16-17, Fig. 24a), and the Blackfoot (VanStone,
1992, p. 9, Fig. 18d).
Described in the catalog as a berry bag is a
rectangular cowhide pouch, with the hair left on,
made from a single piece sewn up the sides with
thread. It is more likely to have been a woman's
bag for sewing materials. At the back is a small
flap and a thong to serve as a tie. This pouch is
ornamented along the sides with parallel rows of
red, white, and blue beads that cover the seams.
At the four comers are paired hide thongs, cov-
ered in part with metal cones, from which extend
red-dyed horsehair. Small loops of thread-sewn
red and white beads formerly ornamented the
edge of the flap, but most of these are missing
(60231; Fig. 32b).
A rectangular rawhide bag, described in the cat-
alog as a girl's food bag, is made from an old
parfleche. The front and back are a single piece
sewn up one side with sinew. A separate hide
fringe has been sewn into the upper third of the
seam. The bottom is a separate piece with a fringe
of soft-tanned hide sewn into the seam. The open-
ing was edged with a fringed strip of the same
material, but most of this is missing. The painted
ornamentation on one side shows a framed rect-
angle bisected by an hourglass-and-triangle de-
sign with opposed triangles on each side in the
center inside the frame. On the other side of the
bag, not shown in the photograph, the rectangular
frame has lines extending from the comers toward
the center, with an hourglass design where they
intersect. The painting was done with yellow,
blue, black, and red pigments (60417; Fig. 32c).
An irregularly shaped cowhide fragment, ap-
proximately 40 by 60 cm, with the hair left on
and dried so as to form a deep, bowl-like con-
tainer, was probably used as a mortar. There are
holes at intervals around the edges (60390; Fig.
32a). According to the accession list, "In this is
placed a flat circular [stone] on which meat, ber-
ries, etc. are pounded."
Toys and Gaines
Like the Assiniboine, the Yanktonai played a
variant of the widely distributed dice game. The
collection contains a dice game consisting of six
plum stones and an oval, maple wood dice bowl
with a short upturned handle at one end. A ver-
tical projection on the inside of the handle is
carved to represent a human face (60421; Fig.
33b). This game is described by Culin (1907, pp.
185-186, Fig. 240), who illustrated 14 rather than
six stones. Of the six stones remaining in the col-
lection, four are bumed on both sides and two on
one side (60369; Fig. 33c). According to Dorsey,
who provided Culin with information conceming
the game, "the plum stones are seared on one side
with various devices, which occur in pairs with
one odd stone." It is this odd stone that is appar-
ently missing from the collection. Dorsey further
noted that
to play, the bowl is grasped with two hands and brought
down sharply on the ground, so as to cause the dice to
jump about. The counts are determined by the character
of the upper sides of the dice. . .. This game is played
exclusively by women and invariably for stakes. (Culin,
1907, pp. 185-186)
According to the catalog, this dice bowl was
"used in feasts of the medicine lodge." Thus it
was probably a feast bowl before being used for
gaming. However, there are no remnants of grease
on the inside.
Also widely distributed, the hand game is rep-
resented in the collection by two complete games,
each consisting of a pair of short, square-cut
sticks, one with a pair of notches and the other
with four notches. For each game there are also
eight counting sticks, two with three notches and
six plain (60254; Fig. 33d). Culin (1907, pp. 317-
318, Figs. 415, 416) described and illustrated a
similar game from Fort Peck and noted that the
game is sometimes called the moccasin game be-
cause the short sticks are concealed under moc-
casins.
Culin (1907, p. 399) described the snow snake
game as "all that class of games in which darts
or javelins are hurled along the snow or ice or
free in the air in a competition to see whose dart
will go the farthest." The collection contains two
types of snow snake games. The first, more ac-
curately termed ice gliders, consists of a pair of
cow rib fragments, pointed at one end, from
which extend two peeled willow twigs with red-
tailed hawk {Buteo jamaicensis) feathers attached
16
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
at one end. The proximal ends of the twigs are
fitted into the vanes of the feathers (60249; Fig.
33e). The feathers are missing from one bone
fragment. In playing the game, the feathered
bones are made to slide along the surface of the
ice. According to the catalog, this game was
played by young people. A similar game from
Fort Peck is described and illustrated by Culin
(1907, p. 418, Fig. 541). Walker (1906, p. 31) also
described the game, and it is illustrated by John
Saul (Brokenleg and Hoover, 1993, PI. 7).
The second type of snow snake game consists
of six peeled willow twigs, each approximately
120 cm in length. There are different burned
markings on each stick, presumably indicating
ownership (60253; Fig. 35a). According to the
catalog, these sticks were used in contests of skill
and strength among young men and boys in win-
ter. The sticks were hurled over the ice or on a
level stretch of frozen ground. Walker (1906, p.
32) described this game, and John Saul illustrated
the sticks and their use (Howard, 1971, vol. 19,
no. 3, pp. 27-28; Brokenleg and Hoover, 1993,
PI. 7).
According to Culin (1907, p. 420), the hoop
and pole game "consists essentially in throwing a
spear, or shooting or throwing an arrow at a hoop
or ring, the counts being determined by the way
the darts fall in reference to the target." The col-
lection contains two forms of the hoop and pole
game. The first, which includes two identical
games, consists of a hoop and two pairs of sticks.
The hoop is a peeled sapling wrapped at the splice
with strips of cloth. There are four incised marks
at equal distances on both sides of its circumfer-
ence, as follows: a cross painted with blue pig-
ment, a rectangular band painted black, another
rectangular black band with a transverse cut paint-
ed red, and four parallel notches filled with black
pigment. All eight sticks are wrapped in two plac-
es with strips of patterned cloth. Two pairs are
painted red, with a piece of red cloth attached near
one end. The other two pairs are painted blue,
with a piece of black cloth near one end. The
sticks are secured in pairs by a strip of patterned
cloth fastened in the middle (60240; Fig. 33a).
Culin (1907, pp. 508-509, Figs. 673, 674) de-
scribed and illustrated a virtually identical game
collected on the Fort Peck Reservation. Walker
(1905, pp. 279-283) also described the game and
its associated lore.
The second type of hoop and pole game is also
represented by two complete games that are iden-
tical in design and decoration. Each game consists
of a pair of sticks wrapped with cloth; at the prox-
imal end, one stick is painted red and the other
blue. A small square of red cloth is affixed to the
distal end of one stick and a similar square of
black cloth to the other. A cloth-wrapped curved
stick is attached at the distal end and held in place
by cloth-wrapped thongs extending from the
curved piece to the stick. Two pieces of wood are
lashed across the stick, each with a smaller piece
of curved wood fastened so as to extend outward
to form a finger rest. On one stick there are bands
of red pigment near each end of the crosspieces
and similar bands of black pigment on the cross-
pieces of the second stick. Accompanying the
sticks are rings of wood wrapped with cloth
(60241; Fig. 34). Culin (1907, pp. 504-505, Figs.
667, 668) described a similar game of the Oglala
Sioux, collected on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
According to his informant, the game was played
by tossing the ring in the air and attempting to
catch it on the end of the stick or one of its pro-
jections. The game was called the elk game and
played to bring success in the elk hunt. Howard
(1976, p. 10) noted that the hoop and pole game
was played to attract large game. The elk game is
described by Walker (1905, pp. 286-288), and
John Saul illustrated it in play (Howard, 1971,
vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 3-5; Brokenleg and Hoover,
1993, PI. 3).
The collection contains a racket or lacrosse
stick consisting of a long wooden handle curved
and lashed at the distal end to form a hoop netted
with thongs of deerskin (60362; Fig. 35c). Ac-
companying this stick is a racket or lacrosse ball
of soft deerskin filled with deer hair (60395; Fig.
36b). This ball may not have been used with the
stick just described because it is much larger than
the stick's netted ring; it may be a shinny ball.
Culin (1907, p. 614) described this racket and ball
collected by Dorsey on the Devil's Lake Reser-
vation.
According to Culin (1907, p. 616), shinny is
usually a women's game but is played by men
among the Assiniboine and Yanktonai. Like rack-
et ball, in the shinny game the ball should not be
touched with the hands but is batted and kicked
with the foot. The collection contains a single
shinny stick that is flat, carefully finished, slightly
spoon- shaped at the distal end, and painted with
red pigment (60262; Fig. 35b). Culin (1907, pp.
640-641, Fig. 831) described and illustrated an
identical stick collected at Fort Peck, and Walker
(1905, pp. 283-285, 288) described both men's
and women's shinny.
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
17
The collection contains a rib bone sled made of
six bones lashed together at each end with strips
of patterned cloth; it lacks the hide seat. On all
the ribs are markings in black pigment, which are
described in the catalog as owner's marks (60248;
Fig. 36a). The catalog also notes that this sled was
used by boys for coasting downhill in winter. Cu-
lin (1907, p. 716, Fig. 935) described and illus-
trated a similar sled from Fort Peck. Ewers
(1944b, pp. 180-187) described Blackfoot rib
bone sleds and illustrated their use.
A game played by women on ice is described
by Culin (1907, p. 728) as being similar to shuf-
fleboard. The collection contains a shuffleboard
game consisting of a flat stone with a human face
painted on one side with black pigment and two
wooden cylinders painted with red pigment on
one end (60251; Fig. 36c). Culin (1907, pp. 728-
729, Fig. 955) described and illustrated a virtually
identical game from Fort Peck that he collected
in 1900. The cylinders were set up on the ice and
struck with the stone, which was shoved along the
ice.
The whipping top is one of the most widely
distributed children's toys, usually played in win-
ter on ice (Culin, 1907, p. 733). The collection
contains four whipping tops, two of wood and two
of horn. The wooden tops are peg-shaped. One is
painted with black pigment on a flat surface
(60236; Fig. 36g) and the other with red on a
convex surface (60235; Fig. 36f). The two horn
tops are made from the tip of the horn. One is
hollowed out (60238; Fig. 36d), and the other is
solid (60237; Fig. 36e). A whip is a peeled length
of wood with two strands of hide suspended from
the distal end (60250; Fig. 36h). Culin (1907, pp.
446-447, Figs. 996-997) described and illustrated
a similar top and whip from Fort Peck. He de-
scribed the game of tops as played by the Teton
Dakota. An area about 120 cm square is laid out
with an open side. The players spin their tops out-
side the square and attempt to direct them through
the open side of the square while they are spin-
ning. John Saul illustrated tops and depicted them
in play (Howard, 1971, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 11-12;
Brokenleg and Hoover, 1993, PI. 9). Ewers
(1944b, pp. 180-187) described Blackfoot whip-
ping tops and illustrated their use.
Ceremonial Equipment
Pipes — Smoking was no less important to the
Yanktonai than to the Assiniboine and other
Plains tribes. The collection contains four com-
plete pipes, a pipe stem, and a pipe bowl. The
complete pipes range in length from 20 cm to 64
cm, with wooden stems and catlinite bowls. The
first and longest has a straight stem, probably of
cherry wood with the bark left on, recessed at
both ends. The bowl is rounded and plain except
for a projection at the distal end of the base
(60366; Fig. 37a). The second complete pipe has
a round stem recessed at both ends. Decoration
consists of two sets of five circles in relief, one
set at each end of the stem. Intervals between the
circles are filled with red pigment. The bowl has
two sets of six circles in relief, one around the
opening and the others where the bowl joins the
stem. A projection at the distal end of the base of
the bowl has a series of incisions along its length
and an incised X at each end. The recessed distal
end of the stem was wrapped with cloth, now pro-
truding from the bowl opening, in order to pro-
vide a tighter fit into the bowl (60214; Fig. 37b).
The stem of the third pipe has a projection at the
distal end, is round for slightly less than half its
length, and is deeply recessed toward the proxi-
mal end. The bowl is V-shaped, with a pro-
nounced lip at the proximal end (60370; Fig. 37f).
The fourth pipe, described in the catalog as a
"girl's pipe," has a short, unrecessed stem and a
plain bowl (60375; Fig. 37d). It resembles a
Blackfoot woman's pipe illustrated by Wissler
(1910, Fig. 49, p. 83). John Ewers (pers. comm.)
observed Assiniboine women smoking small el-
bow pipes of catlinite in 1953. They smoked for
pleasure and not in any ceremonial context.
The single pipe stem in the collection is round
and deeply recessed at both ends; the correspond-
ing bowl is missing (60418; Fig. 37c). The pipe
bowl is round with a projection at the distal end
of the base, and a strip of cloth extends from the
proximal end to aid in seating the stem (60365;
Fig. 37e).
Musical Instruments — The collection con-
tains a single drum and stick that is constructed
differently from the tambourine drums described
for the Assiniboine. The frame is a rectangular
strip of wood, approximately 5.5 cm wide,
steamed to form a hoop and lap-spliced. The over-
lapping ends are held together with wire. The
frame is covered on both sides with two pieces of
scraped skin lashed together around the center of
the frame. The lashing was accomplished by
weaving a heavy thong through closely spaced
holes in each piece of scraped skin and securing
them around a single thong circling the frame. A
18
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
bundle of twisted thongs is attached along the side
of the drum to form a handle.
Because the drumhead is split near the frame
on one side, it is possible to determine that a small
brass bell was suspended on the inside of the
frame below the handle to produce a noise when
the drum was shaken or struck. A circle of red
pigment, only half of which is still visible, was
placed in the center of the drumhead on one side.
The drumstick is actually a bulb-shaped rattle
consisting of two pieces of deerskin, one with
vestiges of hair still remaining, sewn together
with sinew and extending to cover a wooden han-
dle, which is wrapped with string. The bulb is
filled with pebbles or shot (60423; Fig. 38). Dor-
sey's accession list indicates that this is a healer's
rattle rather than a drumstick. Perhaps it filled
both functions. According to the catalog, this
drum was "used in medicine when something is
removed from the body by magic in curing the
sick." Howard (1976, p. 9) believed that the dou-
ble-headed drum was associated with the Grass
Dance.
In addition to the drumstick just described, the
collection contains six bulb rattles. Two of these
are constructed like the drumstick. The smaller
has no handle wrapping (60420; Fig. 40d), where-
as the larger is wrapped with a knotted strip of
cloth at the proximal end of the handle. The ac-
cession list mentions "traces of zig-zag line in red
paint" on this rattle, but it is no longer visible
(60368; Fig. 39a). The third rattle is similar in
construction and has a handle wrapped with strips
of cloth. Strips of soft-tanned deerskin are sewn
into the seam near the distal end of the bulb
(60391; Fig. 39b). According to the catalog, this
rattle was used in the Bear Dance. Catlin (1848,
vol. 1, pp. 244-245, PI. 102) noted that among
the Teton Dakota, the Bear Dance occurred on
several successive days before a party set out on
a bear hunt. The chief medicine man wore an en-
tire bear's skin, and the dancers wore bear masks
while imitating the animal's actions. Among the
Assiniboine the killing of a bear required the per-
formance of a ceremony to placate its spirit (Rod-
nick, 1938, p. 25).
A more elaborate bulb rattle is painted with red
pigment and has a handle wrapped with green
cloth. Strands of red-dyed horse hair are attached
at the distal end of the bulb. Extending from the
proximal end of the handle are a pair of oval ap-
pendages covered with parallel rows of dark blue,
green, and yellow beads. Also attached in this
area are narrow strips of tanned deerskin, wrapped
at intervals with purple- and red-dyed porcupine
quills with orange-dyed feathers fastened at the
ends (60394; Fig. 39d).
A completely different bulb rattle is made from
a gourd and has a carefully worked wooden han-
dle wrapped with strips of cloth. A wooden peg
has been inserted into the distal end of the bulb,
and at one time strips of cloth and red string were
attached to it (60374; Fig. 39c). According to
Howard (1976, p. 9), gourd rattles were rare, and
their use was restricted to shamans and members
of the Holy Dance Society. The Holy Dance was
the Dakota equivalent of the Algonquian Midew-
iwin.
A rattle of rawhide is painted with red pigment,
which covers the wooden handle (60260; Fig.
40c).
A short stick with bark on the lower half and
1 1 deer hoof fragments attached with thongs at
the distal end is identified in the catalog as a
"medicine" rattle (60228; Fig. 40f).
Tied to a bird bone whistle is a piece of cotton
cloth knotted around a glass marble. A red-dyed
feather extends from the wrapping (60385; Fig.
40e). Missing from this assemblage, according to
the catalog, is a small brass bell. A cryptic state-
ment in the catalog with reference to this whistle
simply states "spirit blows."
Clothing and Accessories — The Yanktonai
collection contains eight objects that are described
in the catalog as being specifically associated with
the Grass Dance. A shirt of cotton cloth is essen-
tially constructed of three pieces. The front, back,
and shoulders are a single piece sewn up the sides
with thread. Each sleeve is also a single piece.
The lower edge, the cuffs, and the sleeves at the
shoulder seams are cut to a rough fringe. A sep-
arate narrow piece is sewn around the neck open-
ing, and there is a thong drawstring. Red pigment
has been applied, apparently indiscriminately,
around the neck and shoulders, above the bottom
edge, and around the cuffs. Each cuff has a rect-
angular band of badger skin attached in two plac-
es above the fringe (60255; Fig. 41).
The primary decoration on this shirt is on the
back. Along one side and extending from the
shoulder to near the bottom fringe are two parallel
bands of red and black pigment. Four horses are
depicted, one in the center toward the shoulders,
the second on the left side near the seam, the third
in the center above the bottom edge, and the
fourth on the left side overlapping the painted
bands. The horse near the shoulder is painted red
with a black head, mane, tail, and feet. The animal
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
19
toward the bottom edge has a yellow body, blue
mane, and gray tail, and the one near the left seam
has a blue body, yellow mane, and blue/yellow
tail. The fourth horse, which overlaps the painted
bands, is all black with a red mane. These horses
have slightly elongated necks, and their bodies are
somewhat distorted by horizontal elongation.
Just below the left shoulder, two women with
long black hair and red dresses are depicted from
the back. Although parts of these representations
appear to be unfinished, the women seem to be
wearing webbed hoops with a single attached
feather in their hair, and one woman is holding a
large hoop (60255; Fig. 42). Hoops, large and
small, had many ceremonial uses. According to
Ewers (1958, p. 114), Blackfoot men painted hu-
man and animal forms on robes and other items
while women were the creators of geometric de-
signs.
Although this form of shirt is associated with
the Ghost Dance, it is probable that this one was
worn in the Horse Dance rather than the Grass
Dance as noted in the catalog. This is indicated
by the four horses colored to represent the four
directions. Standing Bear's drawing of the women
participants in Black Elk's (Oglala Sioux) Horse
Dance shows one holding a large hoop (Neihardt,
1961, opp. p. 170).
A webbed hoop consists of a lap-spliced bent
wood twig covered with rawhide webbing; the
twig and webbing are painted with brown pig-
ment. Attached to the center of the webbing with
rawhide and sinew is a single golden eagle feather
pendant (60243; Fig. 43d). According to the cat-
alog, the feather is worn only by someone who
has killed an enemy. Dorsey's accession list noted
that it was worn on the head. According to Lowie
(1909, p. 67), during the Assiniboine Grass Dance
eagle feathers were worn by men who had slain
enemies. The women in the painting on the shirt
are wearing eagle feathers as regalia in a sacred
ceremony.
A hair ornament worn during the Grass Dance
consists of a length of braided horsehair in the
center of which are attached five red-dyed prairie
falcon {Falco mexicanus) feathers. The proximal
ends of the feather spines are wrapped with sinew
and attached to the horsehair with string (60246;
Fig. 43a).
A single red-dyed golden eagle feather is
wrapped at the proximal end with sinew. Attached
are four short lengths of soft deerskin, presumably
for attachment to a headdress or to the wearer's
hair. Strands of blue-dyed horsehair are glued to
the tip of the feather. According to the catalog,
this feather could only be worn by someone who
had been wounded (60247; Fig. 43c).
Identified in the catalog as a necklace is a sin-
gle eagle feather wrapped at the proximal end
with sinew. Attached to this feather at the proxi-
mal end is a small ringed bag containing red pig-
ment. Extending from this bag is a loop of two-
strand deerskin covered with red pigment and a
spiral-carved bone pendant (60245; Fig. 43f)-
A more obvious necklace is identified in the
catalog as a ''dance necklace/ring." Its major el-
ement is a band approximately 6 cm wide edged
with cotton cloth and consisting of parallel rows
of hide, each of which is wrapped with red-, yel-
low-, and blue-dyed porcupine quills. The design
includes three triangles on each side. The triangles
are yellow edged with blue, and the background
is of red-dyed quills. At intervals along the out-
side of this band are white-dyed feathers. In the
lower center between the two sides of the band is
a wooden ring, approximately 7 cm in diameter,
lap-spliced at the ends and covered with rawhide
webbing. Fastened in the center of the webbing
with a strip of tanned deerskin is a bunch of long
feathers dyed white (60244; Fig. 44). This neck-
lace is exhibited on a manikin, and thus the back
of the band of quillwork is not visible and could
not be shown in the illustration. Quilled collars
were a popular item of the Grass Dance costume.
An object identified only as a buckskin ring is
a strip of hide wrapped with light blue and dark
blue beads. A single deerskin thong is attached to
this beaded ring (60384; Fig. 43e). Dorsey's ac-
cession list identified this ring as a "symbol of
deer." Deer represented women's power and sex-
uality.
The final object associated with the Grass
Dance is a shield, consisting of a heavy metal rod
bent to a ring, over which is stretched a piece of
rawhide. On the back at frequent intervals there
are holes in the rawhide through which is laced a
rawhide thong, with similar thongs extending at
right angles across the back serving as a handhold
(60256; Fig. 45). The rawhide cover, applied wet
to the metal ring, stretched tight as the thongs
dried. The cover is painted with yellow pigment,
and at the top near the edge a cluster of seven
prairie falcon feathers is attached with strips of
soft deerskin. The strips are attached to the feath-
ers with thread wrapped around the proximal ends
of the spines. Short strips of deerskin are sus-
pended from the rim in three places, suggesting
that at one time there may have been additional
20
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
appendages, probably feathers, hanging from this
shield (Fig. 46).
The collection contains two golden eagle feath-
er/an^. On the first the proximal end of the wing
is bent back to form a grip (60386; Fig. 47c).
According to the catalog, this fan was used by old
men. The second fan is wrapped with brown cloth
at the proximal end and has a loop of the same
material to go around the user's wrist (60407; Fig.
47b). Though traditionally used by old men, these
fans became a popular Grass Dance accessory
(Raymond DeMallie, pers. comm.).
A buffalo dance headdress, so described in the
catalog, consists of a buffalo scalp to which a pair
of horns is attached with rawhide. A single golden
eagle feather is fastened to one horn, and there
are thongs, presumably for attachment of a similar
feather to the other horn. A single white down
feather is attached with string in the center of the
scalp. Extending from the back are two rectan-
gular trailers of buffalo skin backed with brown
cotton cloth (60419; Fig. 48). Lowie (1909, pp.
73-74) provided a brief description of the Assin-
iboine Buffalo Dance, which he believed was in-
troduced by a Plains tribe that he was unable to
identify. Densmore (1918, p. 285) described the
Teton Dakota Buffalo Dance.
A dance feather is described in the catalog as
having been "worn in war and sacred dance." It
consists of a single golden eagle feather wrapped
with cloth and thongs at the proximal end. Four
strips of cloth, two white and two purple, have
been inserted in the wrapping. The thongs extend
to provide for attachment to a headdress or to the
wearer's hair (60416; Fig. 43b).
Miscellaneous Ceremonial Equipment —
Three bowls and five spoons included under this
heading are described in the catalog as having
been "used in feasts of the Medicine Lodge." Al-
though it has been impossible to obtain informa-
tion about this organization among the Yanktonai,
Long (Kennedy, ed., 1961, pp. 150-156), writing
about the Assiniboine, described a "Medicine
Lodge Dance," an important religious ceremony
held annually about the middle of June. Prayers
and offerings were made to Thunder Bird, the god
of rain, each day of the ceremony. Some families
offered sacrifices to the god for a safe journey
through the summer and winter, promising a re-
newal of sacrifices at the next annual dance. Oth-
ers promised to entertain leaders of the "Medicine
Lodge Circle" with a feast if they achieved suc-
cess in war. According to Long, the Medicine
Lodge Dance lasted 2 days and IVi nights, with a
rest period beginning at midnight. Because people
fasted during the ceremony, the utensils described
here were presumably used in the feasts that fol-
lowed.
The first of the three wooden bowls used in
Medicine Lodge feasts is large, deep, and oval,
with projections at both ends. The slight projec-
tion at one end is decorated with three brass nails.
The projection at the opposite end is more pro-
nounced and includes a pair of opposed notches.
On the inside just below this projection, an animal
face, identified on Dorsey's accession list as rep-
resenting a rattlesnake, has been carved in relief.
Two large brass nails form the eyes, and a pair of
smaller ones represent the mouth. A long crack in
one side has been repaired with molten lead and
tacks (60373; Fig. 50c). This bowl is described in
the catalog as "very old." Ewers (1986, pp. 166-
173, Figs. 163-168) described and illustrated a
number of Plains carved wooden effigy bowls.
Another bowl described as "old" is deep,
round, and made of burled hardwood. A projec-
tion along the edge contains a single notch
(60388; Fig. 50b).
The third bowl is oval, with a rounded projec-
tion at one end that has an ear-like knob on each
side (60409; Fig. 50i).
Of the five spoons specifically associated with
Medicine Lodge feasts, one is made of wood and
has an ovoid bowl. The handle is rectangular and
slightly curved, with a rectangular panel at the
proximal end on which a snake-like creature is
carved in relief (60372; Fig. 51b). This spoon,
currently on exhibit and thus not available for
photography, is approximately 30 cm long.
The other four spoons are made of buffalo horn
with deep, ovoid bowls. The first has a straight
handle, carved at the end to represent a rattlesnake
(60412; Fig. 51a). This spoon, also on exhibit, is
approximately 25 cm long. Two spoons have
curved handles that terminate in carved heads,
with the mouth and eyes indicated. According to
the catalog, a cormorant (Phalacrocorax sp.) is
represented on the handle of one (60411; Fig.
50e) and a snake on the other (60393; Fig. 50g).
The fourth, a child's spoon, has an upright handle
with a knob at the proximal end (60379; Fig.
50h). The catalog notes that it was used by a
"very young member of the Medicine Lodge."
The collection contains three additional horn
spoons with ovoid bowls that are not associated
with any particular ceremonial or religious activ-
ity. One has a long, thin bowl and a handle with
a knob that curves abruptly at the proximal end
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
21
to represent a snake's head (60380; Fig. 50d). The
second is larger with a plain, curved handle
(60413; Fig. 50a), and the third has an upright
handle that broadens and then narrows to a point
at the proximal end (60392; Fig. 50f).
A medicine bag in very deteriorated condition
is made, according to the catalog, of mink (Mu-
setela vison) skin. Although its poor condition
makes accurate description impossible, the skin
appears to have been slit, the contents of the neck
and skull removed and filled with an unknown
object wrapped in patterned cotton cloth, and the
slit sewed up with sinew (60415; Figs. 52, 53).
Attached in the area of the tail is a rectangular
strip of buckskin, decorated on one side with pur-
ple- and white-dyed porcupine quills, worked by
the plaiting method using a pair of quills as de-
scribed by Orchard (1971, pp. 32, 35, Fig. 18, PI.
IX). Two buckskin panels with quills worked in
the same manner and in the same colors are at-
tached on either side of the rectangular strip at the
point where it is attached to the mink skin. The
panels and the rectangular strip are edged with
metal cones, which at one time had tufts of red
yam extending from them.
A fox {Vulpes fulva) skin necklace in poor con-
dition is slit down the center and sewn up with
sinew for approximately half its length. According
to Dorsey's accession list, it was worn over the
head. The back legs and tail are covered with nar-
row strips of tanned skin wrapped with yellow-
and red-dyed porcupine quills. Fringes of skin
wrapped with quills of the same colors extend
from the back feet. The top of the head in front
of the ears is covered with a fringed buckskin
panel decorated with red-dyed quills. These quills
are held in place by two rows of stitches, the
thread being caught into the surface of the buck-
skin panel between each fold of the quills (Or-
chard, 1971, pp. 19, 21, Fig. 8). At the front of
the panel is a fringe consisting of five narrow
strips of buckskin wrapped for half their length
with red-dyed quills. On one surface toward the
center of the skin, a single eagle feather is at-
tached along each edge (60371; Fig. 47d).
Four heavy poles, identified in the catalog as
''Ghost Dance sticks," are each approximately
1 13 cm long and 4.5 cm in diameter. Their entire
surfaces are painted with red pigment (60261).
Identified as a dance wand is a staff approxi-
mately 2 m long wrapped with alternating parallel
bands of small white, yellow, and green beads.
The staff tapers at the proximal end and the lower
14 cm is unwrapped. This dance wand is on ex-
hibit and is displayed with a marten skin medicine
bag, not Yanktonai, looped over the proximal end
(60422; Fig. 49). In the catalog this object is iden-
tified as a "woman's scalp wand."
Another object described in the catalog as a
dance wand is a stick painted for most of its
length with black pigment and ornamented in
three places with the scalps of mallard ducks
lashed on with sinew, five golden eagle feathers,
and a strand of white beads. Included in the lash-
ing for each duck scalp are strands of red-dyed
horsehair. Similar strands are lashed to the distal
end of one golden eagle feather, and a single
white down feather is attached with sinew to the
distal end of the strand of white beads (60259;
Fig. 47a). Densmore (1918, opp. p. 72) illustrated
a similar wand from the Teton Dakota.
This dance wand was used in the Hunka (Hun-
kaduanwpi) ceremony and is so identified in Dor-
sey's accession list (see Densmore, 1918, pp. 68-
77). Associated with it are two sticks with short
rods attached, support sticks whose sharp ends
would have been inserted into the ground, and a
rod with blunt ends that was laid across them to
form a rack against which two ceremonial wands
were rested (60257; Fig. 40b). One is the rod with
an ear of corn attached (60258; Fig. 40a) and the
other the decorated wand just described (Fig.
47a). All of these sticks are painted with blue pig-
ment. According to the accession list, a previously
described rattle (60260; Fig. 40c) was also asso-
ciated with this ceremonial assemblage.
Clothing and Personal Adornment
The collection contains two girl's robes, both
made of cowhide tanned with the hair left on. The
first of these is decorated with 20 bands of quill-
work, each band 0.03 cm wide, sewn on two par-
allel rows of loop stitches (Orchard, 1971, pp. 24-
25). The primary color of these bands is red, with
short lengths of green-dyed quills at either end
and at three equidistant intervals on each band.
There is a pair of buckskin ties on one side for
fastening the robe around the wearer's body
(60232; Fig. 54).
The second girl's robe is smaller, being approx-
imately 125 cm in length. Because this robe is on
exhibit, the illustration and the following descrip-
tion are incomplete. The primary decoration on
this robe is multiple rows of red-dyed quillwork
applied in the same manner as on the previously
described robe. There are tufts of red yarn at one
22
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
end of each row and at two locations toward the
center of the decoration. Running through the cen-
ter of these bands and parallel to them is a wide
band of white-, red-, and yellow-dyed plaited
quills (Orchard, 1971, p. 32, Fig. 17). A single
row of similarly plaited white-dyed quills is sewn
on each of the front legs. Attached in three places
on one side of the rows of parallel decorative
bands are pairs of thongs, wrapped with red-dyed
quills terminating in deer hoof segments. A single
pair of thongs, similarly decorated, is attached on
the other side. A pair of deer ears is sewn in the
head area of the robe with strips of soft-tanned
deerskin. Between these ears and the primary dec-
orative bands and on either side of the wide, plait-
ed central band are looping bands of white-dyed
quills sewn on parallel rows of loop stitches
(60230; Fig. 55).
The collection contains a single pair of wom-
an 's leggings, the upper section of which is made
of drilling hemmed with black thread. A panel of
tanned skin at the bottom is edged with cotton
cloth and decorated with 13 horizontal rows of
lazy-stitched light blue, yellow, green, dark blue,
white, and pink beads. Design elements include
crosses and triangles. The overlapping edges are
closed with five two-strand laces to draw the leg-
gings snug around the ankle (60367; Fig. 56).
The single pair of men 's leggings in the collec-
tion conforms to the usual northern Plains style
that reached to the hip and attached to a belt.
These leggings are installed on a manikin in an
exhibit case, and the following description is lim-
ited because the upper area and back are obscured
by other garments. They flare toward the bottom;
they are made of a single piece of tanned deer or
antelope skin fringed along both edges, which are
fastened together at intervals with single-strand
hide ties. The three upper ties are ornamented
with large blue and yellow beads. Along the bot-
tom and up the outer edge, extending to the vi-
cinity of the knees, is a strip of white beads. At
intervals along this strip are parallel rows of red
beads. Additional ornamentation on this pair of
leggings includes four horseshoe designs, two of
dark blue beads and two in red and white beads.
Between these horseshoes and the fringe are
crosses and partial crosses made of white beads
with dark blue beads in the center. Near the bot-
tom edge is a rectangular design in red and white
beads as well as three triangular ornaments, one
over the instep, another at the base of the inner
fringe, and a third in the extreme comer of the
flare. All of these design elements are worked di-
rectly on the garment (60382; Fig. 57). The sym-
bolism of the beaded designs on these leggings is
noted on Dorsey's accession list.
The Yanktonai collection contains five pairs of
moccasins, one pair identified in the catalog as
having been worn by men; the others lack a gen-
der identification. All of these moccasins resemble
those previously described for the Assiniboine in
being made of buckskin and having flat buckskin
soles and upper pieces with vertical heel seams.
The openings for the feet are cut to a T, and the
tongues are sewn directly to the transverse part of
the cut. This pattern conforms to Hatt's series XV
(Hatt, 1916, pp. 185-187) and Webber's series
4Ab (Webber, 1989, p. 52). Three pairs are dec-
orated with beads and one with beads and por-
cupine quills. Most sewing appears to have been
done with thread, and the beads are lazy-stitched.
Each pair of moccasins will be described sepa-
rately. All show considerable signs of wear.
60363, 1-2 — The uppers of these moccasins are
edged with cotton cloth, and a buckskin tie is in-
serted through the uppers just below the edge. A
band of vertical rows of yellow, light blue, dark
blue, and brown beads is sewn around the foot
just above the seam that joins the upper to the
sole. The rest of the upper is decorated with pur-
ple-, orange-, yellow-, and red-dyed quills. Par-
allel bands of quills are applied across the upper
in a continuous design that somewhat resembles
the path or trail design illustrated by Lyford
(1940, Fig. 21, p. 80). The quills are held in place
by two rows of stitches, the thread being caught
into the surface of the hide between each parallel
fold of the quills (Orchard, 1971, pp. 19, 21, Fig.
8). On the sides and around the back are vertical
rows of red- and yellow-dyed quills sewn in the
same manner (Fig. 58b).
60239, 1-2 — These moccasins, described as be-
ing worn by men, have uppers edged with cotton
cloth and buckskin ties inserted through the up-
pers just below the edge. Long hide trailers are
sewn into the heel seam. Most of the uppers are
covered with beads sewn with a lazy-stitch. The
background color is light blue. Design elements
include stepped triangles in dark blue, red, and
yellow beads at intervals around the lower edge
of the uppers and a pair of boxes in dark blue and
yellow beads on either side just below the buck-
skin ties (Fig. 58a).
60376, 1-2 — The uppers have no edging, and
buckskin ties run through a pair of holes at the
front and back. Decoration on these moccasins
consists of a band of lazy-stitched white beads
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
23
across the instep, converging lines extending from
this band to the toes, and a band around the moc-
casins just above the sole. Box designs in black
beads occur at intervals in these bands. On one
side near the opening and on the heel are square
crosses in black and white beads. On the other
side is a double cross extending vertically from a
circle. A similar circle is sewn on one side below
the instep. All of these design elements are in
black and white beads. Metal cones are attached
down the center between the two converging rows
of beads. According to the catalog, the double
cross extending from a circle is the symbol for a
leader in war, while the circles symbolize deer,
stealers of women (Fig. 59a). The use of a central
row of fringe or metal cones to delineate the front
decorative panel is characteristic of Cheyenne
moccasins (Markoe, ed., 1986, pp. 91, 93).
60377, 1-2 — These moccasins have uppers
edged with broad strips of patterned cotton cloth;
there are no ties. The single design element on the
instep is a large cross in blue, white, and yellow
beads. According to the catalog, this design sym-
bolizes "man killed another in blockhouse" (Fig.
59b).
60387, 1-2 — ^The fifth pair of moccasins is on
a manikin in an exhibit hall and is partially ob-
scured (Fig. 57). The visible part of these moc-
casins is fiilly beaded, the primary color being
light blue. Design elements are in red, white, dark
blue, and yellow beads. They include a diagonal
checker row and rabbit ears (Lyford, 1940, p. 77).
The collection contains a child's belt, also on
exhibit, that consists of a broad decorative buck-
skin band from which extends a pair of navel cord
pouches of the same material. The band is orna-
mented with vertical rows of lazy-stitched dark
blue, light blue, yellow, and green beads arranged
to form a series of boxes. On the pouches the
primary color is pink, with design elements in
translucent yellow, dark blue, and light blue
beads. The drawstrings are strung with translucent
white beads. Extending from each pouch is a
fringe of buckskin, on each element of which
seeds are strung. At the end of each fringe ele-
ment is a metal cone, from which extends a tuft
of red yam (60414; Fig. 60). The catalog notes
that such a belt was given when the child was 1
year old.
A wooden hair parter is similar to the one pre-
viously described for the Assiniboine. It is a
peeled twig worked to a point at one end (60229;
Fig. 61c).
A pair of shell earrings, triangular in shape, are
notched along the lower edges and attached to the
ears with wire loops (60233; Fig. 61b).
Miscellaneous
A hide scraper of the elk antler elbow type is
flattened at the distal end to receive a metal blade.
This scraper is decorated with incised lines and
dots. According to the catalog, the dots represent
the number of tanned hides, the crosses represent
tipis, and the triangles are buffalo spears (60378;
Fig. 61a).
The collection contains a hammer, the head of
which is of stone flattened at the distal end. Al-
though most of the head and handle has a firm
covering of rawhide, it seems likely that the
wooden handle was doubled and passed around a
groove in the stone head. There is a loop of deer-
skin at the proximal end of the handle (60389;
Fig. 61e). A similar stone hammer from the Teton
Dakota is illustrated in Markoe, ed. (1986, p.
166).
A bird bone war whistle has black-dyed feath-
ers and strands of red-dyed horsehair attached
with rawhide at one end (60252; Fig. 6 Id).
IV. Conclusions
Studies of Assiniboine and Yanktonai material
culture are virtually nonexistent even though there
are collections in many American and Canadian
museums. These collections are thus not well
known even to ethnographers with a special in-
terest in Plains cultures. The collections described
here are neither large nor especially varied, and
they certainly fail to encompass the range of ma-
terial culture items made and used by these peo-
ples. Nevertheless, it has seemed worthwhile to
place on record collections that, although having
limited documentation, were acquired by the Field
Museum under controlled circumstances at a rel-
atively early date, when traditional or modified
traditional material culture was still available to
collectors.
There are a significant number of gaps in both
collections. Items relating to subsistence are ab-
sent, and most other material culture categories
are poorly represented. Exceptions include an in-
teresting assemblage of games in the Yanktonai
collection and a sizable number of objects in both
24
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
collections that have been identified as relating to
ceremonial activities.
Dorsey, who collected the bulk of the material
described in this study, seems for the most part to
have been without a specific collecting plan other
than to fill exhibit cases in the newly established
museum. Given the shortness of his stay on the
reservations, he probably purchased whatever was
brought to him for sale. Whether he collected with
the assistance of a local trader or other person
familiar with the reservation scene, as he did
among the Blood in 1897 (VanStone, 1992, p. 23),
is not known.
Clearly, games were an important collecting
area for Dorsey, so in this one area, at least, he
had a plan. Culin (1907, pp. 29-30) explicitly ac-
knowledged Dorsey's insistence on the systematic
collection of gaming implements for the Field
Museum. His willingness to share this information
obtained by his own fieldwork and that of his
Field Museum colleagues contributed greatly to
Culin's monumental study of the subject.
When this study was begun, it was hoped that
meaningful comparisons could be made between
the Assiniboine and Yanktonai collections, but be-
cause of the idiosyncratic nature of both collec-
tions this does not seem to be possible. One aspect
of Plains material culture that has received con-
siderable attention by ethnographers is decorative
art, especially designs in beads and porcupine
quills. In the earlier descriptions of Assiniboine
moccasins, Lowie's (1909, pp. 20-22) observa-
tions concerning the diversity of moccasin deco-
ration were noted. Both Kroeber (1908, pp. 153,
155, 158, 160-61) and Lowie (1909, pp. 19-20)
noted the close relationship between the decora-
tive art of the Sioux and the Assiniboine. They
observed that although both employed many de-
signs shared with other tribes, both made more
frequent use of the box, cross, and feather de-
signs. It is certainly true that in the collections
described here, these designs are among those
most frequently used by both the Assiniboine and
Yanktonai, along with triangles and checker rows.
However, the number of beaded and quillwork-
decorated items in both collections is small. Be-
cause Kroeber, Lowie, and others have not been
successful in determining the meaning of individ-
ual designs, it is not possible to know how much
significance to attach to such resemblances. It is
difficult to escape Wissler's (1927, p. 23) conclu-
sion that "the beaded art of the Plains is an affair
of the entire area, rather than of the tribe."
As noted in the Introduction, Dorsey's first ex-
pedition for the museum, in 1897, when he visited
the Blackfoot (Blood) in southern Alberta
(VanStone, 1992), was to collect for exhibition
purposes. It seems likely that his second expedi-
tion in 1900 was similarly oriented. His desire to
visit as many reservations as possible during a
restricted period of time suggests that he hoped to
fill as many exhibit cases as he could with as wide
a variety of Indian manufactures as possible. Be-
cause of this interest in collecting broadly, the fact
that he had already obtained elaborately decorated
shirts, dresses, robes, and pipe pouches from the
Blood many account for the absence of these
items from the Assiniboine and Yanktonai collec-
tions.
Given the materials that Dorsey and others did
collect among the Assiniboine and Yanktonai and
that are described in this study, it is necessary to
consider whether they were in use at the time the
collections were made. Writing about the neigh-
boring Blackfoot, Ewers (1958, pp. 301-308) not-
ed that by the early 1880s traditional crafts were
beginning to disappear. Most skin clothing was
replaced with items of cloth in the 1890s, but
moccasins, because they were more comfortable
than shoes, continued to be worn long after other
items of traditional clothing had been replaced.
The relatively large number of objects in both col-
lections associated with ceremonies may perhaps
be explained by the fact that many ceremonies
had lost their meaning and were no longer per-
formed. It is also likely that items of traditional
material culture, long out of use, were preserved
as heirlooms, their sentimental value eventually
outweighed by the need for cash. Dorsey, like oth-
er late 19th and early 20th century collectors, pre-
ferred to avoid objects showing European influ-
ences. His colleague, Stephen C. Simms, for ex-
ample, made a conscious effort to avoid what he
referred to as "Hudson's Bay things" when col-
lecting for the Field Museum among the Plains
Cree in the summer of 1903. Inevitably, therefore,
the collections described here are highly selective
of what people were actually using in their daily
lives in 1900 and are more reflective of Assini-
boine and Yanktonai material culture in the mid-
19th century.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Raymond J. DeMallie, Depart-
ment of Anthropology, Indiana University, who
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
25
encouraged me to undertake this study and pro-
vided valuable assistance during every stage of its
preparation. David E. Willard of the Field Mu-
seum's Department of Zoology identified feathers
used in the manufacture of artifacts in the collec-
tions. The drawings were made by Lori Grove,
and the photographs are the work of Diane Al-
exander White, a museum photographer. James D.
Foerster and Loran H. Recchia typed several
drafts of the manuscript. Finally, I express my ap-
preciation for the efforts of three reviewers, two
of whom, Raymond J. DeMallie and John C. Ew-
ers, identified themselves.
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VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
27
Appendix 1
The Dorsey (Accession 689), Wilson (Accession 23), and
Ayer (Accession 112) Assiniboine Collections
Following is a list of the Dorsey Assiniboine collection described in this study, together with a few
items collected by E. F. Wilson and E. Ayer. Artifact identifications are, with a few exceptions, those
provided by the collectors. Numbers in the 16000s are items collected by Wilson and Ayer.
Tools
Ceremonial Equipment
60199 hide scraper (Fig. 2c), Fort Peck
60188 hide scraper (Fig. 2e), Fort Belknap
60201 hide dresser (Fig. 2f), Fort Peck
60216 twisted sinew (Fig. 6d), Fort Peck
60197 hammer (Fig. 2b), Fort Peck
60191 hammerhead (Fig. 2g), Fort Peck
60193 hand hammer (Fig. 2a), Fort Peck
60200 whetstone (Fig. 2h), Fort Peck
60212 quill smooother (Fig. 2d), Fort Peck
Household Equipment
60209 bag (Fig. 3b), Fort Peck
60179 bag (Fig. 3a), Fort Belknap
60217 berry bag (Fig. 4), Fort Peck
60208 berry bag (Fig. 5), Fort Peck
60174 bag (Fig. 6b), Fort Belknap
60192 bag (Fig. 6a), Fort Peck
60207 bag (Fig. 6f), Fort Peck
60204 dipper or ladle (Fig. 7), Fort Peck
60176 paint bag (Fig. 6e), Fort Belknap
60171 paint bag (Fig. 6c), Fort Belknap
Clothing
Pipes and Accessories
60190-1,2
60194-1,2
60222-1,2
60218-1,2
60215-1,2
60162-1,2
60163-1,2
60198-1,2
60185
60167
pipe (Fig. 20e),
pipe (Fig. 21a),
pipe (Fig. 20d),
pipe (Fig. 20c),
pipe (Fig. 21c),
pipe (Fig. 20b),
pipe (Fig. 21b),
pipe (Fig. 20a),
pipe bowl (Fig.
pipe bag (Fig. 2
Fort Peck
Fort Peck
Fort Peck
Fort Peck
Fort Peck
Fort Belknap
Fort Belknap
Fort Peck
2 Id), Fort Belknap
le). Fort Belknap
Clothing and Accessories
15037 roach headdress (Fig. 22), Fort Peck
16265 dance cap (Fig. 23), Fort Peck
6021 1 buffalo headdress (Fig. 24), Fort Peck
16252 dancing fan handle (Fig. 25d), Fort Peck
60169 fan (Fig. 25e), Fort Belknap
60175 charm containing navel cord (Fig. 25c),
Fort Belknap
60224 mirror case (Fig. 25a), Fort Belknap
16261 mirror case with two attached bags (Fig.
25b), Fort Peck
16262 child's belt with attached knife sheath
(Fig. 8c), Fort Peck
16251 child's beh with attached knife sheath,
amulet, bag, and awl case (Fig. 8b),
Fort Peck
16253 belt (Fig. 8a), Fort Peck
60184-1,2 man's leggings (Figs. 9, 10), Fort
Belknap
16254-1,2 man's leggings (Fig. 11), Fort Peck
60219-1,2 man's leggings (Fig. 12), Fort Peck
60202-1,2 man's leggings (Fig. 13), Fort Peck
60164-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 14b), Fort Belknap
60166-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 14a), Fort Belknap
60195-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 15a), Fort Peck
60165-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 15b), Fort Belknap
60170-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 16b), Fort Belknap
60173-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 16a), Fort Belknap
60178-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 17a), Fort Belknap
60180-1,2 man's moccasins (Fig. 18a), Fort Belknap
60183-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 17b), Fort Belknap
60187-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 18b), Fort Belknap
60220-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 19a), Fort Peck
60203-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 19b), Fort Peck
60223-1,2 moccasins (Fig. 19c), Fort Peck
Musical Instruments
60181-1,2
60182-1,2
60186
60206
60196
60221
60189
16256
drum and drumstick (Fig. 26c), Fort
Belknap
drum and drumstick (Fig. 26b), Fort
Belknap
drumstick (Fig. 26a), Fort Belknap
rattle (Fig. 27c), Fort Peck
rattle (Fig. 27b), Fort Peck
medicine rattle (Fig. 27a), Fort Peck
medicine rattle (Fig. 27e), Fort Belknap
medicine rattle (Fig. 27d), Fort Peck
Personal Adornment
16257
60172
60213
60177
Games
child's necklace. Fort Peck
child's necklace (Fig. 28c), Fort Belknap
hair parter (Fig. 28d), Fort Peck
mirror case (Fig. 28f), Fort Belknap
60205 ring and pin game. Fort Peck
60263 ring and pin game (Fig. 28b), Fort Peck
60161-1-26 dice game (Fig. 28e), Fort Belknap
28
RELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
60210
woman's (?) pad saddle (Fig. 29), Fort
16255
Peck
16260
16258
war club (Fig. 30), Fort Peck
60168
16264
club (Fig. 28g), Fort Peck
16263
club (Fig. 28h), Fort Peck
16259
knife sheath (Fig. 28a), Fort Peck
Missing from the Collection
tobacco pouch (sold)
hunting outfit (sold)
armbands (unaccounted for)
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX 29
Appendix 2
The Dorsey Yanktonai Collections (Accessions 689, 691)
Following is a list of the Dorsey Yanktonai collections described in this study. Artifact descriptions
are, with a few exceptions, those provided by the collector.
Household Equipment
60226 bag (Fig. 31a), Fort Peck
60227 bag (Fig. 31b), Fort Peck
6023 1 pouch (Fig. 32b), Fort Peck
60417 girl's food pouch (Fig. 32c), Devil's Lake
60390 mortar (Fig. 32a), Devil's Lake
Toys and Games
1-4,
60421
60369,
6-7
60254 (10)
60254, 1-10
60249, 1-2
60253, 1-6
60240, 1-5,
5 no subs
60241, 1-3
60362
60395
60262
60248
60251,
60236
60235
60238
60237
60250
1-3
dice bowl (Fig. 33b), Devil's Lake
dice (Fig. 33c), Devil's Lake
hand game. Fort Peck
hand game (Fig. 33d), Fort Peck
snow snake game, type 1 (Fig. 33e), Fort
Peck
snow snake game, type 2 (Fig. 35a), Fort
Peck
hoop and pole games (2), type 1, (Fig.
33a), Fort Peck
hoop and pole games (2), type 2 (Fig.
33a), Fort Peck
racket and lacrosse stick (Fig. 35c),
Devil's Lake
racket and lacrosse ball (Fig. 36b),
Devil's Lake
shinny stick (Fig. 35b), Fort Peck
sled (Fig. 36a), Fort Peck
shuffleboard game (Fig. 36c), Fort Peck
whipping top (Fig. 36g), Fort Peck
whipping top (Fig. 36f), Fort Peck
whipping top (Fig. 36d), Fort Peck
whipping top (Fig. 36e), Fort Peck
whip (Fig. 36h), Fort Peck
Ceremonial Equipment
Pipes
60366, 1-2 pipe (Fig. 37a), Devil's Lake
60214, 1-2 pipe (Fig. 37b), Fort Peck
60370, 1-2 pipe (Fig. 37p, Devil's Lake
60375, 1-2 girl's pipe (Fig. 37d), Devil's Lake
60418, 1 pipe stem (Fig. 37c), Devil's Lake
60365 pipe bowl (Fig. 37e), Devil's Lake
Musical Instruments
60423, 1-2 drum and drumstick (Fig. 38), Devil's
Lake
60420 rattle (Fig. 40d), Devil's Lake
60368 rattle (Fig. 39a), Devil's Lake
60391 rattle (Fig. 39b), Devil's Lake
60394 rattle (Fig. 39d), Devil's Lake
60374 rattle (Fig. 39c), Devil's Lake
60260 rattle (Fig. 40c), Fort Peck
60228 rattle (Fig. 40f), Fort Peck
60385 whistle (Fig. 40e), Devil's Lake
Clothing and Accessories
60255 cotton shirt (Figs. 41, 42), Fort Peck
60243 webbed hoop (Fig. 43d), Fort Peck
60246 hair ornament (Fig. 43a), Fort Peck
60247 feather (Fig. 43c), Fort Peck
60245 necklace (Fig. 43f), Fort Peck
60244 dance necklace/ring (Fig. 44), Fort Peck
60384 buckskin ring (Fig. 43e), Devil's Lake
60256 shield (Figs. 45, 46), Fort Peck
60407 eagle wing fan (Fig. 47b), Devil's Lake
60386 eagle wing fan (Fig. 47c), Devil's Lake
60419 buffalo dance headdress (Fig. 48), Devil's
Lake
60416 dance feather (Fig. 43b), Devil's Lake
Miscellaneous Ceremonial Equipment
60373
60388
60409
60372
60412
60393
60411
60379
60413
60392
60380
60415
60371
6026
60422
60259
60258
60257
1, 1-4
bowl (Fig. 50c), Devil's Lake
bowl (Fig. 50b), Devil's Lake
bowl (Fig. 50i), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 51b), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 51a), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 50g), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 50e), Devil's Lake
child's spoon (Fig. 50h), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 50a), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 50f), Devil's Lake
spoon (Fig. 50d), Devil's Lake
medicine bag (Figs. 52, 53), Devil's Lake
necklace (Fig. 47d), Devil's Lake
Ghost Dance sticks (4), Fort Peck
dance wand (Fig. 49), Devil's Lake
dance wand (Fig. 47a), Fort Peck
stick with ear of corn (Fig. 40a), Fort
Peck
sticks (Fig. 40b), Fort Peck
Clothing and Personal Adornment
60232 girl's robe (Fig. 54), Fort Peck
60230 girl's robe (Fig. 55), Fort Peck
60367, 1-2 woman's leggings (Fig. 56), Devil's Lake
60382, 1-2 man's leggings (Fig. 57), Devil's Lake
60363, 1-2 moccasins (Fig. 58b), Devil's Lake
60239, 1-2 man's moccasins (Fig. 58a), Fort Peck
60376, 1-2 moccasins (Fig. 59a), Devil's Lake
60377, 1-2 moccasins (Fig. 59b), Devil's Lake
60387, 1-2 moccasins (Fig. 57), Devil's Lake
60414 child's belt (Fig. 60), Devil's Lake
30
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
60229 hair parter (Fig. 61c), Fort Peck Missing from the Collection
60233, 1-2 earrings (Fig. 59b), Fort Peck
60225 whistle (unaccounted for)
Miscellaneous 60234 hammer (unaccounted for)
60242 dice (unaccounted for)
60378 hide scraper (Fig. 61a), Devil's Lake 60361 pipe (unaccounted for)
60389 hammer (Fig. 61e), Devil's Lake 60383 feather (unaccounted for)
60252 war whistle (Fig. 6 Id), Fort Peck 60408 charm (disposed)
VANSTONE: ASSINffiOINE AND YANKTON AI SIOUX 31
Appendix 3
Accession 689 — Handwritten list by George A. Dorsey
Note. — In transcribing the inventory lists reproduced in Appendices 3 and 4, several editorial changes
have been made to the original manuscript. Bracketed five-digit numbers at the left are the Field Museum
catalog numbers; the four-digit numbers are those assigned by Dorsey in the field. Writing hurriedly,
Dorsey frequently used abbreviations and ditto marks; here the words are written out. For consistency
and ease of reading, capitalization and punctuation have been regularized and the order of material in
entries has occasionally been altered. In cases where Dorsey gave exactly the same form of an Indian
word more than once, repetitions are omitted. Information in parentheses is taken from later typewritten
inventories, presumably made or reviewed by Dorsey. Phonemic Dakota and Assiniboine forms in square
brackets were provided by Raymond J. DeMallie and follow the orthography of Boas and Deloria (1941).
Dorsey's sketches have been redrawn for clarity.
Assinabc
nn — Fort Belknap, Montana
[60187]
1667
Moccasins
1.50
[60263]
1640
Pin and cups — ta-se-hu [t'asihu
.75
[60188]
1668
Hide scraper
.60
'deer foot bones']
Assinaboine tribe — Fort Peck Reservation. Montana
40 counters — any play
1st cup = 1
2nd cup = 2
3rd cup = 3
4th cup = 4
Last cup = 40 = imbosat
[?]
[60189]
[60190]
1761
1762
Medicine rattle — wakmuha
[wakmiiha 'squash shell']
Pipe — chandupa [c'adiipa
2.00
1.00
[60191]
1763
(Yanktonais form)]
Stone pestle — rcas kekita [?]
.25
[60192]
1764
Bag (buffalo) — wojuha [wozuha]
.50
holes in buckskin = 4
[60193]
1765
Hammer
.25
large hole in buckskin = 9
[60194]
1766
Pipe
1.00
= quoqh [?]
[60195]
1767
Moccasins
1.00
[60161]
1641
Dice game [crossed out: (see
[ ]
[60196]
1768
Rattle
.50
notebook)]
[60197]
1769
Stone hammer
.25
[60162]
1642
Pipe — chanupe [c'gnupa] —
1.00
[60198]
1770
Pipe
2.00
unbumt
[60199]
1771
Hide scraper
.50
[60163]
1643
Pipe
1.00
[60200]
1772
Sharpener
.10
[60164]
1644
Moccasins — hamp [h4pa]
1.00
[60201]
1773
Hide dresser
.05
[60165]
1645
Moccasins
1.00
[60202]
1774
Leggings — hunska [huskd]
4.00
[60166]
1646
Moccasins
1.00
[60203]
1775
Moccasins
.75
[60167]
1647
Pipe bag — i-yush-kap [iyiiskapi
1.00
[60204]
1776
Buffalo horn spoon
.50
'tobacco bundle']
[60205]
1777
Pin & cup — tasit-hu [t'asihu]
1.50
[60168]
1648
Arm bands — hant-gawasha
[ftQtkQhu iyiiskice (?)]
.75
each cup counts 2, except first
= 5
[60169]
1649
Fan — ingadt [ycdnu (?)]
.50
holes in skin - 4;
[60170]
1650
Moccasins
1.25
big hole = 5 = game =
[60171]
1651
Paint bag — waseha [waseha]
.50
chante [c'gte] - heart
[60172]
1652
Necklace — wanump [wandp '(]
.75
[60206]
1778
Rattle
.50
[60173]
1653
Moccasins
2.00
[60207]
1779
Bag buffalo
.50
[60174]
1654
Bag
Amulet — checkpa [c'ekpd
'navel']
Paint bag
Pouch — opiop [wop'iye]
Moccasins
1.00
[60208]
1780
Fawn bag
.75
[60175]
[60176]
[60177]
[60178]
1655
1656
.40
.25
[60209]
[60210]
1781
1782
Bag (dried meat) — wokpan
[wokpq]
Saddle (squaw) — a waqeu [ak'\\
1.00
3.00
1657
1658
.50
1.50
[60211]
[60212]
1783
1784
Buffalo headdress — tatanquapa
[t'at'Qka p'd 'buffalo head']
Bone — used for creasing and
2.00
.50
[60179]
1659
Foetus berry bag — wozeu
[wozuha]
Moccasins
1.50
smoothing porcupine work —
[60180]
1660
2.00
[60213]
1785
wipamnai [wipamnaye]
Stick used by women for parting
.50
[60181]
1661
Drum — kamop [kamiipi]
1.25
hair and coloring red — ap aso
[60182]
1662
Drum
1.75
[\pazQ (?)]
[60183]
1663
Moccasins
1.00
[60214]
1786
Pipe — Yankton Sioux
1.00
[60184]
1664
Leggings
4.00
[60215]
1787
Pipe
1.00
[60185]
1665
Pipe
2.50
[60216]
1788
Braided sinew — used in
.25
[60186]
1666
Drumstick
1.50
tanning — tak-an [t'ak'g]
32
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
[60217] 1789 Berry bag
1.50
[60244]
1821
[60218] 1790 Pipe
2.00
[60219] 1791 Leggings
2.00
[60245]
1822
[60220] 1792 Moccasins
.75
[60221] 1793 Medicine rattle
1.00
[60222] 1794 Pipe
.75
[60246]
1823
[60223] 1795 Moccasins
1.00
[60224] 1742 Beaded glass case etc.
3.00
[60247]
1824
Yankton[ais] Sioux — Fort Peck,
Montana
[60225] 1801
[60226] 1802
[60227]
[60228]
[60229]
[60230]
[60231]
[60232]
[60233]
[60234]
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
[60235] 1811
.25
[60236]
[60237]
[60238]
[60239]
[60240]
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
Whistle — whohu coyatanka
[huhii c'oyat'gka 'bone
whistle']
Fawn skin bag — tactsa wozua
[t'dhca wozuha 'deer bag']
Fawn skin bag
Medicine rattle — wakumu
[wakmii 'squash']
Hair parter — paiozipaga
[p 'eyozgipazg]
Painted robe — sinapoapi [sind
owdpi 'painted robe']
Bag — tachinca [t'acica 'fawn']
Robe — sinapahtapi [sind ipdt'api
'quilled robe']
Earrings — oni [o'j]
Stone hammer — ihoichata
[ihiinicata]
Top — chan-ka wachipi
[c'gkawac'ipi 'wood caused
to dance']
Top
Top
Top
Moccasins — hampa [hgpa]
Ring game — the 4 sticks or
shooting arrows = echutai
[ic'iite 'something to shoot
with']
r^ = paienkai \paiygkapi 'hoop and
pole game']
X — okechaiti {ok'iiata 'fork']
•Ml = bahope [pagopi 'grooved']
■^ = sabiapi [sabydpi 'blackened']
= black
1.00 [60248] 1825
.50
[60249]
1826
1.50
[60250]
1827
.25
[60251]
1828
.25
3.00
[60252]
[60253]
1829
1830
.50
2.50
[60254]
1831
.25
.50
.25
.50
.50
1.00
2.00
[60255]
1832
[60256]
1833
..A
[60257]
1834
[60258] 1835
[60259]
[60260]
•f* - ska [skaydpi 'whitened'] =
white
[60241] 1817 Wheel and arrow— haka [hakd\ 2.00
[1818 —not used]
[60242] 1819 Dice— kasu kuto [k'gsiik'ute 'to .50
play (plum stone) dice'] —
pairs win
[60243] 1820 Ring— chan [c'gkdeska .50
'hoop'] — used in grass
dance — feather worn only
when enemy killed; worn on [60261]
head — larger hole called koha [60262]
[?1
1836
1837
1.00
.50
.50
2.00
1.00
.25
.50
1.00
1.00
.25
1838
[ ]
Charm and ring — grass dance — 1 .00
chankadeshka [c 'gkdeska]
Necklace — grass dance —
waminomini [wamniomni
'whirlwind']
Headdress — grass dance — wapa
kanaka [wap'egnaka]
Red feather — wakadute [wakd
diita 'red split/stripped
feather'] — have been wounded
before can be worn
Ice sled — huhukazonta
[huhiikazifta] — marks are
owner's
Ice darts — huchinachute
[hutinac 'ute]
Whip for top — icasthinta
[icdpsUe 'whip']
Ice game — 2 women — OQpapi
[upapi 'they are placed'] —
stones = ea [(yg]
Flute — chiotanka [c'oyat'gka]
Snow darts — pasadoniati
[pasdohgpi]
Handgame — humpa pachopi
[hgpaap'e ec'fipi] 'moccasin
game'
counters — chawiawa
[c 'gwiyawa]
bones — hapin uchkami
[hgpinahma 'moccasin hider']
I „ „ I = napapahopi [nfipa
gopi] — 2 notches
C^IZ^ZI - topapahopi [topa
gopi] — 4 notches
Shirt — grass dance —
minihuogadeti ['mnihuha okde
'cloth shirt']
Shield — wahatchanka
[wahdc 'gka]
Hunkaduanpi [hffkd dowgpi
'adoption sing']: 2 upright
sticks
Hunkaduanpi: stick with com
ear
Hunkaduanpi: wand with feather
Hunkaduanpi: rattle
The four pieces form sort of
altar. When chief gives great
feast to show love for his fa-
vorite son — altar is put —
boy is known as chief child,
etc. — father is known as
hunkd. He distinguishes
himself by painting two
rows of dots down his face
= aduanpi [adowgpi 'sing-
ing for someone']. Com —
prayer for big crop — used
for seed com.
4 Ghost sticks
Shinney stick [comment by
Dorsey: not received]
pa-
pa-
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
.50
.50
VANSTONE: ASSINfflOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
33
Appendix 4
Accession 691 — Handwritten list by George A. Dorsey
Note. — See note on page 32.
Devils Lake Reservation, North Dakota
Cut Head Sioux
[60377]
[60361]
1839
Pipe — chandupa [c'adiipa]
.50
[60378]
(squarish catlinite bowl; short.
thick, round wooden stem.
8%" long)
[60362]
1840
Shinny stick — chiantamkapi
[c 'Qt 'dbkapsica]
.25
[60363]
1841
Moccasins — hanpaipatapi [hgpa
ipdt'api 'quilled moccasins']
1.00
[60379]
[60364]
1841
Pipe — chandupi [c'adiipa]
.50
[60380]
[60365]
1842
Pipe
.50
[60366]
1843
Pipe
.50
[60381]
[60367]
1844
(Woman's) leggings —
wiatahouska [wiyg t'ah^ska
'women's leggings']
1.50
[60382]
[60368]
1845
Rattle — wahamuha [wahmuha
'squash shell']
1.00
[60369]
1846
Dice — kansu [k'gsu 'plum pits']
.50
xi. echeana = alone [eceena 'only']
n'
y^ ikcheka = common [ikceka] and
.;!. ikcheka = common [ikceka]
.jF=& okeha = next [ok' the]
all up = sabyabese [sabydpi s 'e] = black
= game = 10 points
all down = skayapese [skaydpi s'e] =
white = game = 10 points
all white except "alone" = 4 points
all white except "common" = 1 point
all black except 2 = 0 points
all white except any 1 black = 1 point
[60370]
1847
Pipe
.50
[60371]
1848
Fox skin — soh hinahawanapi
[sygina ha wandp'l 'fox skin
necklace']
1.50
[60372]
1849
Serpent spoon — wabad usha
kishka [wabdiiska k'ijkd
'snake spoon']
1.00
[60373]
1850
Bowl — wakawozuti [wak'g
woyute 'sacred food'] — very
old — rattlesnake — used in
spirit feast
5.00
[60374]
1851
Rattle — wahamo hasha
[wahmuha sd 'red squash
shell']
2.00
[60375]
1852
Girl's pipe
.25
[60376]
1853
Moccasins — worn by man who
has killed enemy
[.75]
+
leader in war
deer = a stealer of women
1854 Moccasins — man killed another
in block house
1855 Hide scraper — tanned as many
hides as dots
>< = teepee
A = buffalo spear
1856 (Child's) spoon
1857 Spoon — wabadusha [wabdiiska
'snake']
1858 Pipe bag — chaukosuha
[c'gk'ozuha 'tobacco pouch,'
literally 'fire-steel bag']
1859 Leggings — wiatahonska [wic'd
t'ahy.ska 'man's leggings']
.50
1.00
[ ]
.75
2.00
2.75
person wounded and
dragged out by wearer
gives away ponies on com-
ing to maturity — can paint
in a peculiar way
^^^ = throws away three blankets
^^ = should be in Q
O = big ring — hide thrown away
^^ = brave man in war
= otter skin
W = steal horses — 1 = horse
^^ = pipe thrown away
[60383] 1860 Feather— worn by hunka [hykd
'ritual adopter/adoptee'] in
hair (red and white spiral
striped quill and red feather)
[60384] 1861 Ring (buckskin beaded)—
chankadeska [c 'gkdeska
'hoop'] (symbol oO deer —
(used in) grass dance
[60385] 1862 Whistle— spirit blows—
huhuchoyatauka [huhii
c'oyatgka 'bone whistle']
(attached to it is a small
bundle containing a marble
and red feather and a small
brass bell attached 7" long)
[60386] 1863 Fan used by old men — ichadu
[icadu]
.50
.50
.50
.25
34
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
[60387] 1864 Moccasins — hanpaipatapi [hgpa 1.00
wipat'api 'quilled m(x:casins']
[60388] 1865 Bowl— tsawaksicha [c'aH'dA:i/ca 1.50
'wood bowl']
[60389] 1866 Hammer— ihuichate {wi'cat'e .25
'instrument to kill with']
(stone head partly covered
with greenish colored hide —
hide covered handle — loop at
end — used for pounding meat
and berries)
[60390] 1867 Par flesh— owakapa [oH'ditap'e] .50
(of cow hide with hair — bowl-
like with meal-like particles
adhering. Raw hide receptacles.
In this is placed a flat circular
[stone] upon which meat,
berries, etc. are pounded.)
[60391] 1868 Rattle— hutatahomuke [utdta 1.00
hmyke (?) 'sound of shooting'
(?)] — used in the bear dance
[60392]
1869
Spoon — wabadusha [wabduska
'snake']
.50
[60393]
1870
Spoon — wabadusha [wabduska
'snake']
.50
[60394]
1881
Rattle
.50
[60395]
1882
Shinny ball — tah pa [t'dpa]
.25
Santee Sioux
[60396]
1883
Pipe
.25
[60397]
1884
Rattle
.25
Sisseton Sioux
[60398]
1885
Leggings
2.00
[60399]
1886
Headdress — tahe watchehe
[t'ahe wdc'ihe 'deer antler
feather head ornament'] —
grass dance
1.00
[60400]
1887
Armbands — hidkanhuja [hgtkyza
(?)]
.50
[60401]
1888
Headdress — shonkakaha wapaha
[s^ka ha wap'dha 'dog
(horse) skin headdress']
1.50
[60402]
1889
Child's hammer — unfinished
.10
[60403]
1890
Armbands
.15
[60404]
1891
[not used for this accession]
[60405]
1892
Hair parter — paozaipaza
\p'ey6zgipaza] used by
women for parting the hair
and for painting the scalp red)
.10
[60406]
1893
Fork — tzanwiuze [c 'gwiyuze]
2.00
Cut Head Sioux, Continued
[60407]
1894
Fan — ichadu [icadu]
.25
[60408]
1895
Charm — hunka tawachihay
1.00
[hukd t'awdcihe 'hunka's
feather head ornament'] —
(representing) a sea monster —
unkatewhe [uktehi 'underwater
monster'] (hair-covered stick —
round stoen [stone] — feather
attachments) [Note: specimen
was consigned to waste]
[60409] 1896 Bowl for medicine
[60410] 1897 Bowl— hehan [hihg 'owl']
[60411] 1898 Spoon— bird— cormorant—
bedoza [bdoza]
[60412] 1899 Spoon — rattlesnake — setehhada
[sijehda]
Used in waka wachipi [wak'g
wac'ipi 'sacred dance'] — a
sacred dance — to join this
society 100 or more feasts
must be given 1 week or so
apart — feast called wakan
wohanpi [wak'g wohgpi
'sacred feast'] — holy
cooking — feast given
whenever deer or buffalo is
killed, etc. — feast is given to
learn songs.
Medicine bowl (no. 1897) made
by priests — I got it from
Machpiye ohetika. Powerful
Cloud [Mahpiya Ohitika
'Brave Cloud']; he got it from
Tiowaste [T'iowaste], Good in
House, and he got it from
Oksana [Oksana 'Around'
(?)], a great medicine man
dead 30 years ago.
[60413] 1900 Spoon
[60414] 1901 Baby belt and navel sack-
given when 1 year old — chek
pozuha [c'ekpozuha 'naval
pouch']
[60415] 1902 Medicine bag — chaukozua
[c'gk'ozuha 'tobacco pouch']
[60416] 1903 Feather— watchehe [wdc'ihe
'feather head ornament']
[60417] 1904 Girls food bag— wozuha
[wozuha 'food pouch']
[60418] 1905 Pipe
[60419] 1906 Buffalo dance headdress—
tatunkawapaha [t'at'dka
wap 'aha 'buffalo bull
headdress']
[60420] 1907 Rattle
[60421] 1908 Dice bowl
[60422] 1909 Women's scalp dance wand —
wachshe wapaha [wac'i
wdpaha 'dance staff] — glad
sign
[60423] 1910 Drum — hiwaipiyet tachan
[iwdp'iye t'ac'gc'ega 'curer's
drum'] — whatever have
something it is within —
stick — iwapiye wahumuha
[iwdp'iye wahmiiha 'curing
rattle'] — used in "medicine"
when something is removed
from body by magic in curing
the sick
2.00
1.00
2.00
2.00
1.00
.25
4.50
.50
.25
1.00
3.00
.50
[ ]
[ ]
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
35
Appendix 5
Dorsey's collection from the Devil's Lake Reservation (Accession 691) includes two objects
identified in his accession list (see Appendix 4) as Santee and eight as Sisseton. These people lived
so long with the Yanktonai that there can hardly have been any difference in their material culture.
These objects are described here.
Santee
60396
60397
A small pipe used by women and girls. It is no
longer in the collection and is unaccounted for.
A bulb-shaped rattle made from two pieces of
rawhide sewn together with sinew. Both pieces
extend to cover the handle, which is wrapped
with cordage (Fig. 62e). According to Dorsey's
accession list, there was a "globular charm" near
the end of the handle, but this is now missing.
Sisseton
60398 A man's leggings of green-dyed buckskin sewn
from single pieces of deer or antelope hide with 60402
fringes of the same material around the top, bot-
tom, and along the sides. Rawhide loops along
both sides are wrapped with orange-dyed quills.
Beaded decoration consists of vertical rows of 60403
triangle and feather designs in white, yellow,
blue, and red beads along the sides near the
fringe, two vertical rows of "horse tracks" in
blue beads, and three modified cross designs in
blue, black, and white beads. Extending from
the upper edge is a pair of hide strips wrapped
with blue and white beads. These strips termi-
nate in metal cones, from which extend red yam
and red-dyed feathers (Fig. 63).
60399 A small headdress consists of a section of an-
telope antler studded with brass tacks which fits
across the forehead. A rectangular strip of fox 60405
fur holds the headdress around the head. White
feathers are suspended from the antler in two
places. The accession list indicates that this
headdress was worn in the Grass Dance. It is
displayed on a manikin in an exhibit case, so
the description and illustration (Fig. 64) are in-
complete. 60406
60400 A pair of armbands with rawhide ties is made
from the lower legs of deer with the hair and
hoofs intact. One armband is decorated with a
cloth flower-like attachment. The hoofs have
been drilled with small circular depressions that
are filled with yellow pigment (Fig. 62b). An
almost identical pair of Blackfoot (Blood) arm-
bands was described and illustrated by Van-
Stone (1992, p. 13, Fig. 34b).
60401 A headdress made from the skin of a horse's
head and neck, including a long, narrow section
of the mane, part of which is dyed with red
pigment. The horse's ears, one of which is held
open with a strip of wood and the other with a
piece of wire, are painted blue on the inside. A
pair of small buffalo horns with red-tailed hawk
feathers at their base are attached to the fore-
head in front of the ears. The inside of the head-
dress is lined with cloth fragments. The edges
are lined with cotton cloth, and strips of ermine
fur fastened together are cut to form a fringe.
Across the front are cut crow feathers wrapped
with sinew and attached with short buckskin
thongs. Single golden eagle feathers are fas-
tened with buckskin thongs to the mane in two
places; a third feather is missing. At the end of
the mane is a single black-dyed feather attached
with string to a buckskin thong (Fig. 65).
An oval piece of sandstone, roughly pecked on
all surfaces, has a transverse groove around the
center (Fig. 62c). It is described in the accession
list as an unfinished child's hammer
A pair of buckskin armbands is heavily beaded
with a lazy stitch. The background color is dark
blue, and in the center on one side is a box
design in white, yellow, and red beads. Sus-
pended from one side are three rawhide strips
wrapped with red- and green-dyed quills, ter-
minating in metal cones, from which extend
white feathers. A piece of patterned cloth at-
tached just above the quill-wrapped strips pos-
sibly contains tobacco (Fig. 66). Because these
armbands are in an exhibit case, the description
and illustration are incomplete.
A peeled twig worked to a point at one end and
painted with red pigment was used as a hair
parter (Fig. 62d). According to the accession
list, it was also used for painting the scalp, ac-
tually the part, down the center of the head from
the forehead to the back of the head, red with
Vermillion.
A forked stick pointed at one end is wrapped
for about three-quarters of its length with strips
of porcupine quill plaiting dyed red, yellow, and
blue; the plaiting is done over and under a par-
allel pair of threads (Lyford, 1940, pp. 46-47,
Fig. 5). Strands of yellow-dyed horse hair are
lashed to the ends of the prongs with sinew. At
the opposite end of the plaited area, the stick is
wrapped with cotton cloth and a piece of
fringed buckskin to serve as a hand grip (Fig.
62a). This stick, actually a spit, was a badge of
office held by servers who, with the aid of the
spit, served dog meat to participants in the
Grass Dance (Kennedy, ed., 1961, pp. 131,
145-146).
36
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
* h
w
e
9
Fig. 2. a, hand hammer (60193); b, hammer (60197); c, scraper (60199); d, quill smoother (60212); e, scraper
(60188); f, hide dresser (60201); g, hammerhead (60191); h, whetstone (60200) (fmnh neg. no. 112560).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
37
°T^>
Fig. 3. a, bag (60179); b, bag (60209) (fmnh neg. no. 112562).
38
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 4. Berry bag (60217) (fmnh neg. no. 112563).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
39
Fig. 5. Berry bag (60208) (fmnh neg. no. 112564).
40
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 6. a, bag (60192); b, bag (60174); c, paint bag (60171); d, twisted sinew (60216); e, paint bag (60176); f,
bag (60207) (fmnh neg. no. 112561).
Fig. 7. Dipper or ladle (60204).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
41
(0
42
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
\ -lam^
H^
I'
^ir
V',
r
^4-
->i^ 'i '
mi
w
■:'4A
1^
Mi r-^ /"%
f?
'i
:^
Fig. 9. Man's leggings (60184) (fmnh neg. no. 112569).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
43
Fig. 10. Man's leggings (60184) (fmnh neg. no. 112570).
44
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
1^ ~
If
if
Fig. 11. Man's leggings (16254) (fmnh neg. no. 112565).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
45
Fig. 12. Man's leggings (60219) (fmnh neg. no. 112566).
46
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
luXAu—
Fig. 13. Man's leggings (60202) (fmnh neg. no. 112568).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
47
Fig. 14. a, man's moccasins (60166); b, man's moccasins (60164) (fmnh neg. no. 112754).
Fig. 15. a, moccasins (60195); b, man's moccasins (60165) (fmnh neg. no. 112558).
48
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 16. a, man's mcKcasins (60173); b, man's moccasins (60170) (fmnh neg. no. 112752).
Fig. 17. a, man's moccasins (60178); b, moccasins (60183) (fmnh neg. no. 112555).
VANSTONE: ASSESflBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
49
^>"^'
Fig. 18. a, man's moccasins (60180); b, moccasins (60187) (fmnh neg. no. 112557).
Fig. 19. a, moccasins (60220); b, moccasins (60203); c, moccasins (60223) (fmnh neg. no. 112554).
50
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 20. a, pipe (60198); b, pipe (60162); c, pipe (60218); d, pipe (60222); e, pipe (60190) (fmnh neg. no.
112571).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
51
Fig. 21. a, pipe (60194); b, pipe (60163); c, pipe (60215); d, pipe bowl (60185); e, pipe bag (60167) (fmnh neg.
no. 112572).
52
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
53
Fig. 23. Dance cap (16265) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12576).
54
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 24. Buffalo headdress (6021 1).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
55
Fig. 25. a, mirror case (60224); b, mirror case with two attached bags (16261); c, charm containing navel cord
(60175); d, dancing fan handle (16252); e, fan (60169) (fmnh neg. no. 112577).
56
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 26. a, drumstick (60186); b, drum and drumstick (60182); c, drum and drumstick (60181) (fmnh neg. no.
112573).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
57
Fig. 27. a, medicine rattle (60221); b, rattle (60196); c, rattle (60206); d, medicine rattle (16256); e, medicine
rattle (60189) (fmnh neg. no. 112578).
58
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 28. a, knife sheath (16259); b, ring and pin game (60263); c, child's necklace (60172); d, hair parter (60213);
e, dice game (60161); f, mirror case (60177); g, club (16264); h, club (16263) (fmnh neg. no. 112579).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
59
Fig. 29. Woman's (?) pad saddle (60210).
60
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 30. War club (16258).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
61
/■
Fig. 31. a, bag (60226); b, bag (60227) (fmnh neg. no. 112594).
62
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 32. a, mortar (60390); b, pouch (60231); c, girl's food pouch (60417) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12593).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
63
Fig. 33. a, hoop and pole game, type 1 (60240); b, dice bowl (60421); c, dice (60369); d, hand game (60254);
e, snow snake game, type 1 (60249) (fmnh neg. no. 112592).
64
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 34. Hoop and pole game, type 2 (60241) (fmnh neg. no. 112590).
Fig. 35. a, snow snake game, type 2 (60253); b, shinny stick (60262); c, racket and lacrosse stick (60362) (fmnh
neg. no. 112591).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
65
%%
If f ??
Fig. 36. a, sled (60248); b, racket and lacrosse ball (60395); c, shuffleboard game (60251); d, whipping top
(60238); e, whipping top (60237); f, whipping top (60235); g, whipping top (60236); h, whip (60250) (fmnh neg.
no. 112589).
66
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 37. a, pipe (60366); b, pipe (60214); c, pipe stem (60418); d, girl's pipe (60375); e, pipe bowl (60365); f,
pipe (60370) (fmnh neg. no. 112598).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
67
Fig. 38. Drum and drumstick (60423) (fmnh neg. no. 112596).
68
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 39. a, rattle (60368); b, rattle (60391); c, rattle (60374); d, rattle (60394) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12595).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
69
e~^ jT
Fig. 40. a, stick with ear of corn (60258); b, sticks (60257); c, rattle (60260); d, rattle (60420); e, whistle (60385);
f, rattle (60228) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12609).
70
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
\
Fig. 41. Cotton shirt, front (60255) (fmnh neg. no. 112600).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
71
"s
Fig. 42. Cotton shirt, back (60255) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12601).
72
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 43. a, hair ornament (60246); b, dance feather (60416); c, feather (60247); d, webbed hoop (60243); e,
buckskin ring (60384); f, necklace (60245) (fmnh neg. no. 112603).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
73
Fig. 44. Dance necklace/ring (60244).
74
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 45. Shield, back (60256) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12751).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
75
Fig. 46. Shield, front (60256) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12597).
76
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 47. a, dance wand (60259); b, eagle wing fan (60407); c, eagle wing fan (60386); d, necklace (6037 1 ) (fmnh
neg. no. 112599).
Fig. 48. Buffalo dance headdress (60419) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12608).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
77
Fig. 49. Dance wand (60422).
78
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 50. a, spoon (60413); b, bowl (60388); c, bowl (60373); d, spoon (60380); e, spoon (60411); f, spoon
(60392); g, spoon (60393); h, child's spoon (60379); i, bowl (60409) (fmnh neg. no. 112602).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
79
Fig. 51. a, spoon (60412); b, spoon (60372).
Fig. 52. Medicine bag (60415) (fmnh neg. no.
112753).
Fig. 53. Medicine bag, detail (60415).
80
nELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
o
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
81
J2
82
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 56. Woman's leggings (60367) (fmnh neg. no. 112606).
VANSTONE: ASSINffiOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
83
Fig. 57. Man's leggings and moccasins (60382,
60387).
84
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 58. a, man's moccasins (60239); b, moccasins (60363) (fmnh neg. no. 112607).
Fig. 59. a, moccasins (60376); b, moccasins (60377) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12610).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
85
Fig. 60. Child's belt (60414).
86
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
'^^^
Fig. 61. a, hide scraper (60378); b, earrings (60233); c, hair parter (60229); d, war whistle (60252); e, hammer
(60389) (FMNH neg. no. 112605).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
87
Fig. 62. a, spit (60406); b, armbands (60400); c, unfinished child's hammer (60402); d, hair parter (60405); e,
rattle (60397) (fmnh neg. no. 112772).
Fig. 63. Man's leggings (60398) (fmnh neg. no. 1 12771).
88
HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
Fig. 64. Headdress (60399).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
89
90
FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY
-■:■■■■.;. ^;-.■,:,>.^;3
•.:-■•.■•...■.. E.-»,-*-.«i*..:U.,v.*as.*j
Fig. 66. Armband (60403).
VANSTONE: ASSINIBOINE AND YANKTONAI SIOUX
91
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