158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBnU. 179 



and Kroeber. The idea and reasoning behind such a classification are 

 relatively simple. They stem from what might be called an American 

 revolt against the older methods of collecting. In the old days a 

 museum would exhibit collections of bows, canoes, or arrowheads, e.g., 

 and emphasize the type of artifact but tend to neglect its associations. 

 The teachings of Franz Boas regarding the importance of context 

 were heeded by his students. Ethnological collections began to be 

 made according to areas, and associated artifacts were exhibited 

 together. 



Among those most responsible for the Culture Area concept was 

 Clark Wissler (1922), and it was his classification that set up a Plateau 

 Area in addition to a Northwest Coast Area and a Plains Area. 



At the onset we called attention to the need for classification in dealing with 

 ethnological and archaeological material. No one has ever gone far without 

 feeling the necessity for this, ... In setting up the areas for culture we 

 grouped tribes or communities according to more or less common traits. This 

 is classification by similarities. It so happened that tribes having many traits 

 in common tended to cluster, . . . the habitat of a cluster could be defined in 

 geographical terms. Culture Area is a name for such a cluster of communities. 

 [Wissler, 1922, p. 297.] 



Wissler stressed environment in delineating culture areas and stated : 



Environment does not produce a culture but stabilizes it. Once adapted to 

 an environment, a culture tends to hold fast, to spread in area of adaption 

 rather than move to a new area. [Ibid., p. 372.] 



In setting up culture areas, he could have divided North America into 

 hundreds of areas, or only three or four; but he compromised on a 

 reasonable and workable number. 



A perusal of the literature of our subject shows it to be customary to divide 

 the two continents into fifteen regions or areas. If desired, most of these can 

 be subdivided, but it will best serve our purpose to deal with a smaller number. 

 Each area designated has natural features peculiar to it and the tribes living 

 in one of these areas have many cultural traits in common. [Ibid., p. 220.] 



In making these classifications, he agreed with Kroeber that a Culture 

 Area should involve: 



Reasonably uniform culture and some degree of environmental uniformity. 

 [Kroeber, 1939, p. 3.] 



With so little to go on, it is remarkable that Wissler could desig- 

 nate the Plateau as a separate area. At the time the classification 

 was made, few data were available. Kroeber did not wholly agree 

 with Wissler as to the character of Plateau Culture, and designated 

 the area as one of mixed influences (Kroeber, 1939, p. 55). He was 

 impressed by an apparent strong influence from the Northwest Coast 

 on the one hand, and from the Plains on the other. Since that time. 



