296 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



Nebraska culture represents a semisedentary and fairly well ad- 

 vanced mode of life is no argument against this possibility when the 

 rapid change in Plains culture after the acquisition of the horse 

 is fully realized. 



It is the firm belief of the author that the ix)ssibilities of his- 

 toric archeology in North America are not fully realized by the ma- 

 jority of anthropologists at the present time. Wherever the approach 

 has been from the known historic into the unknown prehistoric, the 

 results have more than justified the method, as the present superior 

 status of archeology in the Iroquoian and Pueblo areas amply demon- 

 strates. It seems surprising, therefore, that even today there are 

 archeologists more interested in segregating obscure early cultures 

 of unknown periods and alTfiliations than they are in determining 

 the historic cultures and sequences represented in the regions to be 

 worked. Obviously, in such work the historic cultures need not be 

 an end in themselves, but they do seem to represent the threads 

 that give most promise of untangling the complex skein of pre- 

 history. The prehistoric past comes remarkably close to the historic 

 present in the New World, and it is this fact that especially favors 

 the ethnological and historical ap]iroach to archeology on both 

 continents. 



Returning to the Nebraska region, it appears that the central and 

 even the extreme western part of the State were occupied by slightly 

 differentiated groups, here designated as the Upper Republican cul- 

 ture, more or less contemporaneously with the Nebraska culture 

 occupation in the east. From its ap]:)arent relationship to the proto- 

 historic and historic Pawnee it has been suggested that the Upper 

 Republican culture was ancestral to the Pawnee and probably to the 

 Arikara as well. It is still too early to tell how strong the proposed 

 correlations between the Sterns Creek, Nebraska, and Upper Re- 

 publican cultures res|)ectively. and the historic tribes of the Algon- 

 kian, Siouan, and Caddoan linguistic stocks may be, but the latter 

 of these at least is very strongly suggested by the evidence at hand. 

 Both the Nebraska and Upper Republican cultures were semihorti- 

 cultural and in general exhibit attenuated characteristics of the south- 

 eastern woodland culture area. This connection with the southeast is 

 suggested by the presence in both areas of both square and round 

 earth lodges, the general type of ceramics employed, the occurrence 

 of certain types of artifacts and symbolic designs, and the use of 

 ossuaries in disposing of the dead. Unfortunately, too little is yet 

 on record concerning the regions immediately to the south of Ne- 

 braska to permit any definite correlation with known southeastern 



