The eastern Miami Indians have been involved in an intense, dynamic process of cultural definition during the past fifteen years. Adding to the nucleus of retained culture, the Miami are selecting particular aspects from both their traditional ideological and material pasts while they are simultaneously incorporating new ideas and practices in order to define Miami identity. The eastern Miami process of cultural revitalization, currently characteristic of many Indian tribes, has manifested itself in various ways. There are many variables involved in determining the cultural revitalization process specific to the Miami. Of particular interest are the manifestations of cultural revitalization and its relationship to political processes. / Department of Anthropology

This thesis involves the study of editorials published in Indiana newspapers from 1804 – 1838 concerning the subject of Indiana Indians. Approximately 120 newspapers were examined in order to determine the general editorial policy of the Indiana frontier press toward Indians who occupied the state at that time. The research covered the time period beginning in 1804, when the first newspaper originated in Indiana Territory, until 1838, when the last significant Indian emigration out of the state occurred. It was discovered these editorials about Indiana Indians were published infrequently, usually regarded the Indians in their relationship to white settlers and followed the general government policies toward the Indians.

The Newport Army Ammunition Plant archaeological survey showed the existence of a more complex settlement pattern than could be explained by the simple dispersed hunting model used in organizing the survey. This reexamination of the survey data in light of a more complex model of subsistence and settlement drawn from ethnographic data indicates the existence of a system of three classes of sites including camps, intelligence gathering stations, and resource extraction locations, that can be distinguished in part by the number of artifacts per site. It is further shown that the subsistence activities of prehistoric Indians did not differ significantly between unwatered forest sites and prairie sites. Finally, it is suggested that a relatively high density of sites in the prairie and the high intensity of their occupation is related to the presence of nearby water sources.

Segments of the Delaware Nation began migrating into the present state of Indiana about 1770 and in 1800 the majority of the tribe, including its principal chiefs, was established along the upper course of the west fork of bite River. The Delawares remained in Indiana until 1820 whereupon they were removed to Missouri Territory and thence to Kansas in 1830. The tribe ceded its Kansas land to the United States in 1867 and merged with the Cherokee Nation. The White River band was the core of the Delaware Nation throughout its Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas phases and this study is an ethnohistoric synthesis of the White River Indiana Delawares. The study focuses upon the tribe's continuum of dispersal, disunity, and cultural and social disintegration and, it analyzes the chieftaincy of William Anderson (1806-1830) with regard to his attempts to revitalize the Delawares into a viable tribe.The Delawares in 1800 mirrored the effects of over two centuries of contact with and resistance to Anglo-American settlement. The wars and the resultant depopulation and dispersal had created a disorganized and dejected society. The tribe's White River residence did however unite a major portion of its divergent groups and, it produced a capable chief in William Anderson.The decade preceding the Delawares' removal from Indiana to their settlement in Kansas in 1830 was a difficult period for the tribe and it was only through the efforts of William Anderson that the White River Delawares remained a cohesive band. This period was highlighted by Anderson's attempts to create a unified and viable nation free from white influences. His goals were revitalistic and predicated upon a past which had not existed for the tribe and they were thus only partially fulfilled. By emphasizing a hunting subsistence Anderson established his nation's right to exist west of the Mississippi River. His consolidation of the tribe's political structure gave the White River Delawares a strong native leadership during a crucial phase of their tribal existence. Anderson's death in 1830 created a leadership vacuum which was filled by the tribe's council and that body thereafter consistently refused to continue Anderson's goals and policies.The Delawares' thirty-seven year residence in Kansas was marked by continued cultural and social decay, tribal dispersal, disunity, and an almost complete alteration of its subsistence base from a hunting and simple-gardening economy to that of an agricultural existence. The tribe was powerless to halt these events and, despite its friendship and service to the United States, was incapable of stopping the ever encroaching tide of white settlers. It was apparent to theDelaware council in 1863 that another removal farther to the west was advisable. The decision was reached in July, 1866 and the resultant treaty and land cession terminated the entity known as the Delaware Nation.

In order to determine if there is a shared biological lineage among four east central Indiana skeletal populations, the remains have been subjected to nonmetric trait analysis. This technique examines the directly observable manifestations of the genome on the skeleton in order to determine if two or more groups have a shared genetic background beyond the genes that all humans share. This information supplements the archaeological information already available from the cultural remains of these groups, in addition to the metrical data. / Department of Anthropology

This study is an assessment of the archaeological resources the Strawtown Site area in northeastern Hamilton County, _ndiana. Strawtown was an intensively occupied village during the Late woodland Period (Householder, personal communication, 1986) and appears closely related to the Bowen site (Dorwin, 1971:209).This thesis documents the Strawtown Site and associated :materials through background research and collection analysis; other sites in the immediate vicinity were identified through a systematic reconnaissance of a 555.24 acre sample area. This information was combined to test both Dorwin"s (1971) Oliver Phase settlement pattern and the Woodland settlement model proposed by Stephenson (1984).In light of the information that is available, Dorwin"s and Stephenson's models of a seasonal occupation of the river valley by Late Woodland groups was argued against in favor of a model which assumes permanent Late Woodland occupation of the river valley.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

Recent archaeological surveys of portions of Fox Island County Park near Fort Wayne, Indiana, revealed the locations of 16 archaeological sites. This study was undertaken to explore the factors affecting site selection and to analyze the artifacts and investigate lithic procurement and reduction strategies as reflected by them. Further, an attempt was made to understand Fox Island's role in the prehistoric subsistence-settlement system. The sites appear to have been selected because of the environmental setting of Fox Island, a wooded sand dune complex surrounded by wet prairie and marsh with upland decidious forests within a mile. The variety of habitats concentraved a wealth of food resources within an easily exploitable area. Analysis of the artifacts from the sites revealed a primary reliance on lithic raw material from near Huntington and an occupational sequence spanning approximately 8,000 years from the Early Archaic through historic aboriginal occupation of the area. Cultural affiliation of the Late Woodland occupation was with the southeastern Michigan Younge Tradition. Although somewhat contradictory, subsistence-settlement pattern models from surrounding areas suggested that Fox Island should have been primarily occupied during spring and summer in conjunction with the seasons of' greatest carrying capacity of the wet prairie and marsh. This was consistent with the few food remains encountered.

Fire-cracked rock is often overlooked in archaeology. This study attempted to determine whether or not fire-cracked rock from the surface of an archaeological site located in a cultivated field can be differentiated from other cracked rocks. A study sample of 67 rocks from the surface of a prehistoric site located in a cultivated field and another study sample of 58 rocks from an adjacent area that was sterile of prehistoric human activities was collected. A third sample of 70 fire-cracked rocks excavated from features below the plowzone in a prehistoric site served as a control sample. The fracture surface morphologies of the control sample were examined for distinguishing characteristics, which were then compared to the study samples. Those cracked rocks from the study samples which exhibited similar characteristics were identified as fire-cracked rock. Ten fire-cracked rocks were thus observed within the on-site sample and the offsite sample included only one. / Department of Anthropology

The Meshingomesia Reserve was in existence for a little over thirty years, from 1840-1873. During that time it served as a buffer between the Miami in Indiana and the encroaching white settlers. The survey of the reserve was undertaken to establish what remained in the archaeological evidence of this historic area. From the results of the survey and the background research into the history and archaeological site surveys and excavations previously conducted within the reserve’s boundaries, an assessment of the archaeological resources and a management plan were developed. / Department of Anthropology

The mixture of Late Woodland and Fort Ancient ceramics found on sites in central Indiana has presented a problem for archaeologists for over fifty years. This unique combination of ceramic traits has become known as the Oliver Phase. Materials recovered from the Bowen Site, (Dorwin 1971) have in the past been used to define this phase. Originally, the Bowen Site was believed to represent the excavation of an entire synchronically occupied prehistoric site. A reanalysis of the distribution of diagnostic ceramic attributes from the Bowen Site suggests multicomponent occupations resulting from diachronic settlement. Therefore, the full range of ceramic variation originally attributed to this phase needs to be reexamined in the light of this new information, and it's usefulness as a diagnostic assemblage should be carefully evaluated. / Department of Anthropology