lican sites in southwestern Nebraska. Our examination 
of charred cobs in the Peabody Museum Collection from 
Nebraska Culture sites in eastern Nebraska revealed a 
very strong Maiz de Ocho component with eight-rowed 
cobs present from about half of the sites. 
Although the development from Upper Republican or 
Nebraska Culture through Lower Loup into Pawnee and 
Arikara, as suggested by Strong (1940, 382), has not been 
definitely established, it is generally thought probable; 
and no other equally plausible fate for the Upper Repub- 
lican people or origin for the Pawnee and Arikara people 
has been advanced. In earliest historical times, Pawnee, 
along with the very closely related Arikara to the north 
and Wichita and Caddo to the south, formed a nearly 
solid Caddoan-speaking bloc extending from Texas into 
South Dakota. Much about the culture of these tribes 
relates them closely to the southeast. Thus, it seems 
probable that the Caddo Tribe of Texas remained near 
the Proto-Caddoan homeland, while the Wichita, Paw- 
nee and Arikara moved north. 
When these various lines of evidence are considered 
together, they suggest that the spread of maize in the 
Plains probably paralleled the spread of maize in central 
and northern Utah. The introduction of Maiz de Ocho 
into the part of the Southeast contiguous to the South- 
ern Plains may have triggered a population expansion 
that resulted in a movement of people into the Central 
Plains, which had not been suited to the growing of the 
kinds of maize previously available. Furthermore, it 
seerms very likely that Maiz de Ocho and the Central 
Plains tradition which it made possible were both carried 
by speakers of Caddoan languages. Because the western 
part of the Plains, especially, was environmentally pre- 
carious for the growing of maize, decreased rainfall in 
the 1400’s probably caused a withdrawal of these prehis- 
toric farmers to the northeast. 
[ 135 ] 
