American Studies Commons^™

Book Review: Archaeological Landscapes On The High Plains Edited By Laura L. Scheiber And Bonnie J. Clark, Marcel Kornfeld

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In 1962 Lewis Binford (American Antiquity, 28 [2]:217-25) classified archaeological objects into technomic, sociotechnic, and ideotechnic categories. In the following decades the New Archaeologists, largely concerned with societies at the Domestic Mode of Production, emphasized the technomic objects. Prehistorians of state societies were much more frequently faced with socio- and ideotechnic objects, ritual and state symbols; the significance of these to all societies eventually crawled back into the thinking of prehistorians of band and tribal systems.

Thence come landscapes into the archaeological discourse. As with manufactured objects, landscapes can be categorized into technomic, sociotechnic, and ideotechnic classes. And …

Book Review: Collaborating At The Trowel’S Edge: Teaching And Learning In Indigenous Archaeology Edited By Stephen W. Silliman, Joe Watkins

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This book is an outgrowth of a symposium presented at the 2005 Society for American Archaeology annual meeting and judged by the Amerind Foundation as the conference’s outstanding symposium. The original symposium papers, further refined during an Amerind Foundation-sponsored seminar held in October of the same year, form the book’s chapters. The volume’s rather lofty goal, as set out in Silliman’s introductory chapter, is to “redirect contemporary archaeology in many ways that are more methodologically rich, theoretically interesting, culturally sensitive, community responsive, ethically aware, and socially just.”

The chapters in part 1 focus on field schools and workshops conducted in …

A Taxonomic Study Of Populations Of Tiger Beetles In The Cicindela Longilabris Complex From The Black Hills Of South Dakota, Stephen M. Spomer

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Three phenotypes within the Cicindela longilabris complex are present in the vicinity of the Black Hills in South Dakota: Laurent’s boreal long-lipped tiger beetle, Cicindela longilabris laurentii; the prairie long-lipped tiger beetle, Cicindela nebraskana; and a third phenotype that shares characteristics of both species. By comparing morphological and ecological characteristics between these three phenotypes, I was able to separate C. longilabris and C. nebraskana using ventral and proepisternal color, presence or absence of a middle band on the elytra, elytral luster, labral width:length ratio, and hind tarsal length. Somewhat less useful characters were labral color and total …

Abundance And Distribution Of Lesser Snow And Ross’S Geese In The Rainwater Basin And Central Platte River Valley Of Nebraska, Mark P. Vrtiska, Susan Sullivan

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The number of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens) and Ross’s geese (C. rossii), hereinafter called “light geese,” staging during spring in the Rainwater Basin and Central Platte River Valley of south-central Nebraska has dramatically increased since the late 1980s. However, there has been no documentation of the abundance or distribution of light geese across the Rainwater Basin and Central Platte River Valley and the relationship of distribution to conservation-order activities. We used aerial transect surveys and distance sampling methodology to estimate abundance and distribution of light geese in the Rainwater Basin and Central Platte River Valley …

The Grasshoppers Arphia Xanthoptera And Dichromorpha Viridis Prefer Introduced Smooth Brome Over Other Grasses, Sean D. Whipple, Mathew L. Brust, Wyatt Hoback, Kerri M. Farnsworth-Hoback

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

A study of feeding preference was conducted on two tallgrass prairie grasshopper species, the autumn yellow-winged grasshopper Arphia xanthoptera (Burmeister) and the short-winged green grasshopper Dichromorpha viridis (Scudder), to determine if they would feed upon introduced grass species. Both grasshoppers were offered two non-native cool-season grasses, smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), and two native warm-season grasses, big bluestem (Adropogon gerardii Vitman) and sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula Michx.). Live biomass of the plants was weighed before and after feeding to quantify the amount of each plant species consumed by the grasshoppers. …

Book Review: Moving Toward Justice: Legal Traditions And Aboriginal Justice Edited By John D. Whyte, Kelly Larocca

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Moving toward justice for Aboriginal peoples requires a narrowing of the gap between the theory of Aboriginal rights and practice. The increase in political resolve required to promote the priority of justice for Aboriginal peoples will be achieved only through a reinforcement of mutual obligations that form the core of Aboriginal rights.

While this collection is substantially grounded in discussions of social development through law, Constitutionalism, and public administration, it is unclear that the concept of priority within the larger intersocietal relationship is ever directly engaged. Though the essays represent an impressive and promising diversity of views, there is a …