436 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS OF THE PLAINS 



By De. CLARK WISSLER 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



ANTHROPOLOGY is one of the newer sciences. Its development 

 during the past ten years makes clear that regardless of the orig- 

 inal meaning of the term anthropology, and, in spite of any one's opin- 

 ion on the subject, it is primarily a culture study. Culture is here used 

 in a technical sense to designate the complex of social and intellectual 

 activities constituting the life of a native tribe or a group of people. 

 One of the most engaging problems of our time is the origin and mode 

 of development of this culture, which is, after all, the distinctly human 

 character that differentiates man from the animals. Modern anthro- 

 pology has made this its chief problem and has thus set itself over in 

 contrast to biology which concerns itself with man only in so far as he 

 has animal characters. The theory of evolution was devised as a work- 

 ing scheme for the study of animal characters and has therefore little 

 direct bearing upon anthropological problems, notwithstanding the fact 

 that formerly many anthropologists tried to make it their method also. 

 When it became clear to all that the study of man must concern itself 

 with the distinctly human characters, and delegate his distinctly biolog- 

 ical problems to biologists, anthropologists began to formulate their cul- 

 tural conceptions, which is now their working scheme in just the same 

 way that evolution is the method of biologists. Unfortunately, the cul- 

 ture problem appears peculiarly difficult and complex and has, like evo- 

 lution, become the battle ground for several incompatible theories of 

 origin and growth. Yet, in the course of its labors anthropology has 

 accumulated an unusually large collection of data and has so systema- 

 tized its results that whole continents may now be divided into culture 

 areas. For some of these areas our information is now so complete that 

 one may form some idea of what went on within their borders in definite 

 periods of time. The anthropological method in such cases is decidedly 

 empirical, for everywhere interpretations are regarded as permissible by 

 historical analysis only. 



As an illustration of what has already been accomplished in anthro- 

 pology, we may attempt a brief resume of the Plains Indian culture in 

 North America. In North America, as a whole, anthropologists 

 usually recognize from ten to eleven more or less clearly defined 

 culture areas, the approximate borders of which are indicated on 

 the accompanying map. Yet, in most cases these divisions are not abso- 

 lute, but relative, for rarely can a group of Indians be found anywhere, 



