ARCHEQLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN ]VnSSOURI 263 



work of Strong (1935) that some of the relationsliips of this material 

 are dimly seen. 



The scarcity of culturally identified skeletal data from this key 

 area is a great handicap in explaining the prehistory of the Plains 

 peoples. As Hrdlicka (1927) first pointed out and I (1940b) have 

 since emphasized, the historic Plains tribes, especially Siouan and 

 Caddoan, are characterized primarily by an extremely low vault 

 (mean height index of 108 Sioux is 79.5; of 154 Arikara, 82.3), a 

 feature not reported from east of the Mississippi. Thus far the 

 origin and history of this physical type has not been worked out, 

 but this can be accomplished only through archeological means. 



When we inspect the data on the "prehistoric" skeletal remains 

 mentioned above, we find that, unlike those for the historic tribes of 

 this region, they show high-headedness. Using the mean height 

 index as a gauge, we have the following figures : 



Lansing skull— Kansas (Hrdli«?a, 1907, p. 50) 85.4 



"Loess man" — Gilder mound skull 1 (HrdUcka, 1007, p. 77) 83.5 



(Skulls 6 ar.d 8 are said to be of medium height.) 



Fowke No. 19— Missouri (Hrdlidka, 1910, p. 105) 90.7 



Fowke No. 128— Missouri (Hrdliclia, 1910, p. 108) 83.8 



Average of 26 Wallace mound crania — Nebraska (Poynter, 1915, p. 512) 89. 5 



Average of 25 Plattsmouth Group crania — Nebraska (Poynter, 1915, p. 513) 89. 7 



Average of 6 Fort Lisa crania — Nebraska (Poynter, 1915, p. 514) 80. 1 



Average of IS Long's Hill crania— Nebraska (Poynter, 1915, p. 519) 86. 



U. S. N. M. No. 305102 — Iowa (HrdliCka, 1927, p. 39) 89. 



Average 87. 1 



Since these early highheads, together with those that form the basis 

 of the present report, include representatives of at least the Wood- 

 land, Hopewellian, and Middle Mississippi cultures, it is difficult to 

 believe that any of these groups gave rise to the low-headed peoples 

 that occupied this region in historic times. 



On the other hand, this distribution of early highheads may bear 

 out the long-standing hypothesis that the ancestors of the historic 

 Plains tribes reached the Plains by a more northern route. Whether 

 they came from the East or Northwest cannot be determined by evi- 

 dence now available. However, I may mention that Hrdlicka's meas- 

 urements of crania from North Dakota and South Dakota mounds 

 (1927, pp. 68-71), which Strong (1940, p. 386) has characterized as 

 "an attenuated eastern 'mound-building' culture decidedly exotic in 

 the northern prairies," show them to be low-headed (mean height index 

 of 20 is 81.6) . As already pointed out, such low-headedness has not 

 been reported from the mound area of the East. 



In comparing the stature of the prehistoric population with that 

 for the historic tribes of this region we are confronted with two dif- 

 ficulties: (1) that of accurately reconstructing stature from long-bone 

 length and (2) that of securing a true average from small samples. 

 Assuming that 166-167 cm. represents the true mean reconstructed 



