Chapter VIII. 

 ORIGINS. 



THIS brief sketch of the anthropology of the 

 Plain- naturally raises a few quite fundamental 

 questions: How did these tribes come to be here? 

 How long have they been here? What was the origin of 

 their cultures? While final answers cannot be given for 

 these, some progress toward their solution has been 

 made. Taking the cultural classification as our point 

 of view, we see that Plains Indian- are not peculiar in 

 stature or head form, yel seem to fall into a group dis- 

 tinct from other parts of the continent. These differ- 

 ence- are, however, slight and give us no insight into 

 the origins of the tribal groups. lor example, the 

 shorter western tribes ranging from 165 to 17(> cm. fall 

 into a large group of low statures including most of the 

 California!!, Plateau. North Pacific Coast, and South- 

 eastern areas. The Comanche, who speak a language of 

 Shoshonean stock widely distributed over the Plateau 

 area, are also relatively short. The greater pari of the 

 typical and Milage tribes, however, range from 170 to 

 17o cm., including the Yuma. Mohave, and Pima of the 

 Southwest, the Iroquois and most Algonkin ^i the 

 Woodland area. As to head form, the moderately long 

 head of the Plains does not hold for the Osage and 

 Wichita of the south and the Nez Perce of the north- 

 west, bul extends over the Plateau area on the west and 

 into the Woodland area of the east. Hence, in a general 

 way, the tall, somewhat long-headed, typical tribes seem 



