Differing patterns of material culture intergroup variation on the high plains: Quantitative analyses of parfleche characteristics vs. moccasin decoration

Native American communities occupying the western Great Plains during the postcontact period exemplify the highly contingent relationships between artifactual data and cultural processes. Here, cultural evolutionary theory and quantitative analyses are used to approach this challenge. Two sets of artifactual products were examined: parfleche attributes and moccasin decorative features, both products of female craftswomen. A model of "isolation by distance" drawn from population genetics is used as a baseline expectation. This model predicts that, all else being equal, between-group geographic relationships will correlate with intergroup patterns of artifactual variation. Linguistic affinity and known patterns of intertribe alliance and hostility were also examined. The analyses reveal the operation of differing degrees of social transmission and differing patterns of selective bias in each artifactual case. In the case of parfleches, their potential to act as visible signals led to a patterned distribution reflecting intertribe alliance and hostility. The analyses reiterate the necessity of a cultural evolutionary approach to material culture, not only because this method facilitates the requisite flexibility toward particular historical trajectories of artifactual lineages, but also because evolutionary principles provide a range of theoretical models and practical tools of analysis, which facilitate an empirical and quantitatively analytical approach to this problem.