222 BULLETIN 18 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



probably becoming increasingly attenuated, and reaching southward 

 and southwest from Kansas City perhaps as far as northeastern Okla- 

 homa (see Baerreis, 1939). That affiliated village sites will be found 

 much farther west, however, that is beyond the Central Lowland- 

 Great Plains boundary, seems quite unlikely. 



The full extent of Middle Mississippi influences in the eastern Plains 

 is not now apparent, but it is already abundantly clear that such in- 

 fluences reached well up the Missouri and its tributaries in southeastern 

 Nebraska. In terms of Plains horizons it was the prehistoric Nebraska 

 Culture that came most closely into contact with peoples of Middle 

 Mississippi affiliation. The cultural similarities have been pointed out 

 previously. Unfortunately, despite the considerable amount of work 

 done to date in Nebraska Culture sites, it has not yet been possible to 

 inject time perspective into this complex. Once the earlier and later 

 phases have been clearly defined the determination of origins and au- 

 thorship may be greatly simplified. It is my impression, however, that 

 the Nebraska Culture remains may represent a comparatively short- 

 lived occupancy (Wedel, 1940a, p. 313). Provisionally, I am inclined 

 to view this manifestation as due in part to a blending of Middle Mis- 

 sissippi elements with traits derived from an earlier Woodland horizon. 



Strong (1935, p. 295) was inclined to attribute the Nebraska Cul- 

 ture to a Siouan movement through the region. Unfortunately, the 

 scant data on historic Siouan archeology throw little light on this 

 question. It is most regrettable, on the one hand, that our skeletal col- 

 lections from Steed-Kisker include so few measurable remains and, 

 on the other hand, that human bones unquestionably referable to the 

 Nebraska Culture are so very scarce. If the Wallace mound near 

 Bellovue, Nebr., is correctly assigned to the Nebraska Culture (Strong, 

 1935, p. 208) it is noteworthy that the crania taken therefrom do not 

 support the theory of a Siouan connection. Poynter (1915, pp. 510- 

 612) describes these remains as brachy cephalic and occipitally de- 

 formed, in which respects they parallel the Steed-Kisker material. But 

 the Wallace mound crania are high-headed in contrast to the dis- 

 tinctly low-headed Siouan type; and Stewart (infra, p. 257) has indi- 

 cated that the single measurable Steed-Kisker skull, despite a fairly 

 low index, is still within the range of non-Siouan high heads. In other 

 words, it appears that both the Nebraska Culture and the Middle 

 Mississippi peoples in this portion of the Missouri Valley have their 

 closest somatological connections in the east and southeast rather than 

 with known historic tribal groups in the Plains. Here again we know 

 so little of the physical type of the various peoples involved that it is 

 impossible to judge whether the Nebraska Culture groups were actual 

 migrants or culturally modified indigenes in the middle Missouri 

 Valley. 



Until additional skeletal and archeological materials from the east- 



