While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Bowlder outlines. Certain outline surface figures,
probably of Siouan origin, usually formed of bowlders a foot or less in
diameter, though a few consisted of buffalo bones. The name "bowlder mosaics"
was first applied to them by Todd. According to Lewis, structures of this type
have been found from w. Iowa and Nebraska to Manitoba, and from w. Minnesota
through North and South Dakota to Montana; but they appear to be, or rather to
have been, more frequent in South Dakota than in any other section. These
animal, human, and remains consist of other figures out lined upon the surface
of the ground, usually on elevated sites, the human, turtle, and serpent figures
being by far the most numerous. In Dakota the out lines are generally
accompanied with small stone circles, known to be old tipi sites. In some
instances long lines of bowlders or buffalo bones and small stone cairns have
been found associated with them or occurring in their immediate neighborhood.
Like the bowlder circles these are more or less embedded in the ground, but this
does not necessarily indicate great antiquity; indeed, their frequent
association with tipi circles seems to denote that they are comparatively
recent. The accompanying turtle figure illustrates the type. Among the Crows of
Montana a bowlder outline figure is made in the form of a woman to commemorate
the unfaithfulness of a wife.
Consult Lewis in Am. Anthrop., n, Apr., 1889, in, July, 1890; Simms,
ibid., n. s., v,374, 1903; Thomas in 12th Rep. B. A. E., 534, 1894;
Todd in Am. Naturalist, Jan., 1884. (C. T.)
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906
