Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 281 



age-group status when displayed on important social and ceremonial 

 occasions. Since no two individuals participated equally in recog- 

 nized status-building activities, rarely was the social personality of 

 two males identical. In a tribe actively engaged in both offensive 

 and defensive warfare, and in a region where social values were 

 primarily determined by military accomplishments, it is somewhat 

 surprising to discover that other values played an important part in 

 the makeup of the social personality and status of many Hidatsas 

 whose military contributions were not significant. In spite of the 

 military "veneer," there existed a central core of societal values 

 based on other significant aspects of their culture. In this respect, 

 it appears that the Hidatsa and their neighbors, the Mandan and 

 Arikara, differed from the nomadic groups of the Plains who, in the 

 years preceding the Reservation Period, measured social status largely 

 on military records. 



