HEMATITE

Algonquian
Delaware.

use.

POLISHED STONE ARTIFACTS

Paint Stone
In the summer of 1948 the writer found on the surface of the BellPhilhower Site a thin rectangular piece of hematite with concave
surfaces on each side exhibiting the marks of abrasion
(Plate 1, No.
4). The obvious conclusion is that this object was used as a
source
of pigment, probably for personal adornment. While its
occurrence
on the surface gives rise to a certain element of doubt
concerning
its cultural affiliation, it is almost certainly of Minsi
origin
(Leslie 1951:13).
Caddoan
Pawnee. use.
SCENARIO ON BUCKSKIN
Fig. 46. The Skidi star chart and pole with buffalo scalp attached
(Chamberlain 1982:186).
Polarized light microscopy was used to identify all of the pigment
samples. The black samples were all composed of a dark brown to
black
lignite (brown coal), a color similar to Van Dyke Brown. The red
pigments were made from hematite (Fe2O3), a natural ironearth. The
yellow material was found to be composed of one or more
hydrated iron
oxides, a yellow iron earth, like yellow ochre (Chamberlain
1982:188).
MATERIAL CULTURE/WORK IN STONE
FIGURE 9.Incised tablets ("molds") of stone from the Hill site (Hill
collection). They vary in length from 2 to 5 inches, in width from
1
1 /2 to 3
inches, and are oval in cross section. The width is greatest
at the blade and
tends to taper toward the opposite end; the butt is generally
rounded and in
several instances appears to have been used as a pecking
stone. Black
diorite or other porphyritic materials were used for this type
of celt, and
invariably they have been well ground down and polished.
A few small
hematite celts have been found at the Linwood site,
whence have come
most of the polished celts as well (Wedel 1936:78).
The apparent concentration of this type of tool at the eastern edge of the
Pawnee area, and in the early sites particularly, suggests that the

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tribe was
formerly in much closer and more direct contact with tribes
east of the
Missouri and farther to the southeast. Save as paint,
hematite occurs very
rarely in Nebraska as a working material for
primitive man, and to the
historic Pawnee at least was apparently
almost unknown (Wedel 1936:78).
Iroquoian
Iroquois.

social category, use

ORIGIN LEGENDS
The Seneca stripe their sacred religious paraphernalia with a rare red
pigment. He-strikes-the-rushes mentioned it, but only Snorer had
any
knowledge of its provenience. Snorer has heard that it was derived
from a
rock (possibly hematite) which was found in a certain face-paint
mine. It
was a powdered rock which they used extensively, as late
as a generation
ago, at Cattaraugus for striping fan handles, the
signal pole, and the
striking stick (Fenton 1953:133-134).
Red paint, usually hematite, occurs in old Iroquois graves (Parker, 1922,
vol. 1, pp. 424-427).
Rites of Community Status
False Face wearers approach a house on the Cattaraugus Reservation
during the spring or fall circuit of the community to prevent illness
and
renew the powers of the False Faces. Each masker carries a rattle
(turtle
rattles and one bark rattle); 2 Husk Faces accompany them; one
person
wearing a pig mask crawls in the foreground; 2 leaders carry
hickory
canes, striped with hematite and with miniature False
Faces, Husk Faces,
and tobacco bags attached (Tooker 1978:461).
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chamberlain, Von Del
1982 When Stars Came Down to Earth: Cosmology of the Skidi Pawnee
Indians of North America. Ballena Press, Los Altos ; Center for
Archaeoastronomy, University of Maryland, College Park.
This is a study of Pawnee ethnoastronomy. The work attempts to describe the objects and
phenomena of the sky as they were perceived by the Nebraska Skidi (Skiri) Pawnee, and
the effect that they had on religious beliefs and practices. In general the book attempts to
consolidate materials written about Pawnee ethnoastronomy scattered through various
sources , many of which were written around the beginning of the twentieth century.
Other ethnographic topics deal with native concepts relating to sky phenomena, an
annotated list of sky objects referred to in the records, the Skidi earth lodge as a model of

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Pawnee cosmology, the Skidi observational system, and the unique star chart inscribed on
buckskin used by the Pawnee over the ages in their study of the heavens.
Fenton, William N.
1953 The Iroquois Eagle Dance: An Offshoot of the Calumet Dance. Bureau
of American Ethnology Bulletin 156, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington.
This monograph is a reworking of Fenton's doctoral dissertation at Yale. This work
describes and analyzes the variations of the Eagle Dance at different Iroquois
communities between 1933 and 1950 in New York State and Canada. These data are
marshaled in such a way as to show their bearing on the ethnological problem of
individual variation in behavior. Sections of the monograph discuss the Seneca Eagle
Dance at Allegany and Tonawanda Reservations, the Onondaga Condor Dance, and the
Eagle Dance and Six Nations Reserve, Grand River, Ontario. The Iroquois Eagle Dance
is then discussed as a cultural phenomenon, including data on origin legends, sacrifices,
dream experiences, ritual equipment, organization, and pattern. The monograph
concludes with a long section on the documentary history of the Eagle Dance including a
survey of the literature and a distribution and comparative study.
Leslie, Vernon
1951 A Tentative Catalogue of Minsi Material Culture. Pennsylvania
Archaeologist. 21(1-2):9-20.
This is a descriptive listing of the various elements comprising Minsi material culture,
that the author feels will be of value and interest to the amateur as well as a professional
archaeologist digging in the Minsi area of Upper Delaware Valley, northeastern
Pennsylvania and adjacent New York. The author believes that by using these listings the
archaeologist could get as tentative idea of which artifacts could be assigned to the Minsi
horizon and which to an earlier time period. Prior to the above artifact description, the
author discusses the concept of the Minsi culture horizon, as derived form his own
fieldwork and the works of other authors.
Tooker, Elisabeth
1978 Iroquois since 1820. In Handbook of North American Indians:
Northeast, v.15, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, pp. 449-465.
Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the various social, economic, and
political consequences of the Iroquois defeat by the Americans in the Revolution, were
apparent. Many Iroquois, especially the Seneca, including a large number who had been
loyal to the British, moved to reserves in Canada, while others remained in their old
homelands which were now part of the United States of America, such as the of
Cattaraugus Reservation in New York. By 1820 it was clear to the Iroquois that in order
to deal with whites as neighbors they would have to change their whole economic base of
existence (e.g., from a hunting-gathering society to one based essentially on sedendary

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agriculture). This article traces the various changes that took place in the society from the
early nineteenth to the late twentieth century (ca. 1970s). Tooker describes the loss of
Indian lands, the establishment of reservations, missionization, changes in political,
economic, and religious structures, medicine societies, curing practices, and modern (ca.
1970s) reservation life.
Wedel, Waldo R.
1936 An Introduction to Pawnee Archaeology. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 112. U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington.
This 1930 monograph is a study of the Skidi (Skiri), Chawi, and Kitkahahki bands of
Pawnee in northern Kansas and Nebraska from protohistoric archaeological sites, history,
and ethnography. Artifacts come from the Hill Collection at the Hastings Museum in
Nebraska that were excavated from the thirteen archaeological sites. Sites are described
and interpreted from the journals and records of early explorers and adventurers to the
region. Although new archaeological fieldwork makes the archaeological data described
in this monograph outdated, the historical information and analysis of material culture
make this document a useful addition to an understanding of the Pawnee. The monograph
is divided into four major parts, the first of which is introductory, the second, dealing in
detail with the historical background of the Pawnee, the third with Pawnee archaeology
as viewed through the various bits of evidence obtained from the excavation of
prehistoric, and early historic sites, and the fourth, the material culture of the early
Pawnees as derived from a study of the artifacts themselves. Pages 94-102 contain a
summary of all data presented in the monograph.

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