Joseph A Tiffany
Biographic Data
| ID | 107602 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joseph A Tiffany |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joseph A |
| FAMILY NAME | Tiffany |
| SIGNATURE | TIFFANY J A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 147 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Plains Anthropological Society 2024 distinguished service award recipient L. Adrien Hannus
L. Adrien Hannus received the Plains Anthropological Society Distinguished Service Award at the 81st Plains Anthropological Conference held in Lethbridge, Alberta. Adrien has been a member of the P
A Mississippian Hooded Bottle and the Genesis of Iowa Archaeology
A Mississippian hooded bottle from the Henry Aicher Mound Group in eastern Iowa is significant to the study of Mississippian interactions with non-Mississippian groups in the upper Mississippi Valley. The mound excavations by M. W. Davis in 1863–1864 were the first research-oriented archaeological projects in Iowa, and the mounds were among the first mapped in the state. The excavation methods, analysis, reporting, and outreach by Davis and later…
Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from northwest Iowa
A ceramic vessel found at a Mill Creek culture (eastern Initial Middle Missouri variant) site in northwest Iowa exhibits features characteristic of both the Southern Caddo Holly Fine Engraved type and the Fine Engraved Carving type of the American Bottom Fine Grog series. Knowing the vessel’s likely manufacturing locale is important in understanding relationships between Middle Missouri tradition people and distant groups to the south. To determi…
Dam projects and the growth of American archaeology
Dam projects and the growth of American archaeology: the river basin surveys and the interagency archaeological salvage program." Southeastern Archaeology, 37(3), pp. 253–254
Using LiDAR data to locate a Middle Woodland enclosure and associated mounds, Louisa County, Iowa
Mississippian Connections with Mill Creek and Cambria
This paper reviews the evidence for Mill Creek-Cambria interaction in the western Prairie Peninsula with various regional Mississippian polities. Limited evidence in the form of Cambria trade pottery has been reported from at least five Mill Creek sites. Of interest is the extensive presence of Mississippian-inspired pottery and decorative styles at both the Cambria site and many Mill Creek, Initial variant Middle Missouri sites, which suggests t…
The Reliability of Surface Assemblages
Gillett Grove (13CY2) is a protohistoric Oneota settlement that overlooks the Little Sioux River in Clay County, northwestern Iowa. Work there since 1995 has revealed protohistoric and perhaps late prehistoric Oneota occupations similar to the nearby Milford site. Here, we compare systematic surface collections made in 1998 and 1999 for their similarity in the assemblage properties of size, composition and distribution. Repeated collection in 199…
Late Woodland Societies
Archaeologists across the Midwest have pooled their data and perspectives to produce this indispensable volume on the Native cultures of the Woodland period (approximately A.D. 300-1000). Sandwiched between the well-known Hopewellian and Mississippian eras of monumental mound construction, the Woodland period has received insufficient attention from archaeologists, who have frequently characterized it as consisting of relatively drab artifact ass…
Weighing and Counting Shell
Glassow discusses several "problems" with the use of minimum number of individuals (MNI) in archaeological shellfish analysis, including the difficulty of identifying non-repetitive elements (NRE) to species level for several taxa. However, these problems, especially fragmentation, are more critical for the weight method than for MNI estimates. We have successfully identified thousands of NRE for all species common in southern California coastal …
Weighing vs. Counting
The California School of Midden Analysis represents a long-standing tradition of using weight, rather than minimum number of individuals (MNI), to analyze shell recovered from archaeological sites in California. This method originated at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early twentieth century and continues to the present, in spite of the advent of counting measures such as MNI and NISP (number of identified specimens) in faunal stu…
Current Research Rides Again
Ceramics from the Kelley Site
The Kelley phase is a Middle period Oneota manifestation, dating to the fifteenth century. It is one of three phases comprising a local sequence in the Kingston locality in southeast Iowa. From early to late these are the Burlington, Kelley, and Bailey Farm phases--all defined on the basis of ceramics. Similar ceramic variation occurs coevally with other southeast Iowa localities as well. The definingfoatures of Kelley phase pottery include shoul…
Student Awards
The Milford Site (13DK1)
The paleoenvironment and subsistence activities at the postcontact Milford Oneota site suggest a broad-spectrum utilization of local resources with emphasis on bison hunting and horticulture which is typical of prehistoric Oneota groups regionally. Although European trade goods are present, there is no evidence of direct contact during the site occupation
Council for Museum Anthropology
Reply To Benn’s Comments On The Hanging Valley Site (13hr28)
Reply To Benn’s Comments On The Hanging Valley Site (13hr28)." Plains Anthropologist, 34(125), pp. 271–272
The Hanging Valley Site (13HR28)
The Hanging Valley site (13HR28) is a stratified Woodland burial locale in Harrison County, Iowa. This study reports on the excavation and analyses of floral and faunal remains, artifacts and features identified from salvage work conducted in 1983. The conclusions are: (1) Holocene alluvium in the site valley coelates with the Hatcher and Camp Creek members of the De Forest Fonnation; (2) the site is situated in a “hanging valley” and is buried i…
A Caddoan Trade Vessel from Northwestern Iowa
Nature and Provenance of Red Pipestone from the Wittrock Site (130B4), Northwest Iowa
Five pipestone specimens from the Wittrock Mill Creek culture site were evaluated by x-ray powder diffraction analysis. While their mineral compositions were very similar to one another, they are not among the varieties of “catlinite” pipestone types occurring at Pipestone National Monument, a commonly assumed source of all pipestone. Pipestone types like the Wittrock specimens were found in outcrop and cores from south central Minnesota. Because…
Curating the Charles R. Keyes Archaeological Collection
Recent Research on Obsidian from Iowa Archaeological Sites
In this paper we summarize the results of six years of passive obsidian collecting in Iowa during which time 31 samples were obtained and subjected to trace element analysis. We find that: (1) 74% of the obsidian originated at the Obsidian Cliff Quarry in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; and (2) in contrast with earlier midwestern studies where obsidian was found in ritual contexts on Middle Woodland sites, the Iowa material is associated with…
Turin
The following study is the first detailed report on the Turin site (13MN2). When the site was discovered in 1955, it received considerable notoriety because the human skeletal remains were thought to be of Late Wisconsinan age. Analysis of the depositional contexts of the finds, however, shows the burials to be of Holocene age. This interpretation is supported by floral and faunal evidence from the site as well as radiocarbon dates and the presen…
Site-Catchment Analysis
The on-going archaeological evaluation of federally funded projects in Iowa requires a comprehensive research program if the results obtained are to be of value. Site-catchment analysis is seen as a useful way to integrate these diversified projects and systematically to study the archaeological findings from them. Site-catchment principles are applied to Iowa archaeology by establishing an environmental diversity index for site catchments that m…
A Compendium of Radiocarbon Dates for Iowa Archaeological Sites
This report represents a compendium of radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites in the state of Iowa. The compendium is in tabular form and contains the following information: (1) the site name and number; (2) the radiocarbon date in both BP and BC/AS; (3) the laboratory sample number; (4) the type of sample or material dated; (5) cultural affiliation; and (6) published and unpublished references pertaining to the date and to the site or cultur…
Middle Woodland Pottery Typology From Southwest Iowa
This paper presents a typology for Middle Woodland pottery from the vicinity of Glenwood, southwest Iowa. It shows that the Glenwood materials have their closest Plains affiliation with Valley Cord Roughened and their closest Eastern Woodland affiliation with Havana tradition pottery of the Illinois River Valley. The main source of influence for the Valley Focus seems to have come from the Eastern Woodlands and not from the Hopewellian instrusion…
Late Woodland Societies
Archaeologists across the Midwest have pooled their data and perspectives to produce this indispensable volume on the Native cultures of the Woodland period (approximately A.D. 300-1000). Sandwiched between the well-known Hopewellian and Mississippian eras of monumental mound construction, the Woodland period has received insufficient attention from archaeologists, who have frequently characterized it as consisting of relatively drab artifact ass…
Weighing vs. Counting
The California School of Midden Analysis represents a long-standing tradition of using weight, rather than minimum number of individuals (MNI), to analyze shell recovered from archaeological sites in California. This method originated at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early twentieth century and continues to the present, in spite of the advent of counting measures such as MNI and NISP (number of identified specimens) in faunal stu…
Nature and Provenance of Red Pipestone from the Wittrock Site (130B4), Northwest Iowa
Five pipestone specimens from the Wittrock Mill Creek culture site were evaluated by x-ray powder diffraction analysis. While their mineral compositions were very similar to one another, they are not among the varieties of “catlinite” pipestone types occurring at Pipestone National Monument, a commonly assumed source of all pipestone. Pipestone types like the Wittrock specimens were found in outcrop and cores from south central Minnesota. Because…
Using LiDAR data to locate a Middle Woodland enclosure and associated mounds, Louisa County, Iowa
Weighing and Counting Shell
Glassow discusses several "problems" with the use of minimum number of individuals (MNI) in archaeological shellfish analysis, including the difficulty of identifying non-repetitive elements (NRE) to species level for several taxa. However, these problems, especially fragmentation, are more critical for the weight method than for MNI estimates. We have successfully identified thousands of NRE for all species common in southern California coastal …
The Reliability of Surface Assemblages
Gillett Grove (13CY2) is a protohistoric Oneota settlement that overlooks the Little Sioux River in Clay County, northwestern Iowa. Work there since 1995 has revealed protohistoric and perhaps late prehistoric Oneota occupations similar to the nearby Milford site. Here, we compare systematic surface collections made in 1998 and 1999 for their similarity in the assemblage properties of size, composition and distribution. Repeated collection in 199…
Mississippian Connections with Mill Creek and Cambria
This paper reviews the evidence for Mill Creek-Cambria interaction in the western Prairie Peninsula with various regional Mississippian polities. Limited evidence in the form of Cambria trade pottery has been reported from at least five Mill Creek sites. Of interest is the extensive presence of Mississippian-inspired pottery and decorative styles at both the Cambria site and many Mill Creek, Initial variant Middle Missouri sites, which suggests t…
Recent Research on Obsidian from Iowa Archaeological Sites
In this paper we summarize the results of six years of passive obsidian collecting in Iowa during which time 31 samples were obtained and subjected to trace element analysis. We find that: (1) 74% of the obsidian originated at the Obsidian Cliff Quarry in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; and (2) in contrast with earlier midwestern studies where obsidian was found in ritual contexts on Middle Woodland sites, the Iowa material is associated with…
Rummells-Maske
The first controlled excavation of a Clovis site in Iowa revealed a concentration of complete and fragmentary Clovis Fluted projectile points. The site, in eastern Iowa, is interpreted as a projectile point cache destroyed by agricultural implements. Measurements and photographs are provided to facilitate the comparison of the collection with assemblages from other states
Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from northwest Iowa
A ceramic vessel found at a Mill Creek culture (eastern Initial Middle Missouri variant) site in northwest Iowa exhibits features characteristic of both the Southern Caddo Holly Fine Engraved type and the Fine Engraved Carving type of the American Bottom Fine Grog series. Knowing the vessel’s likely manufacturing locale is important in understanding relationships between Middle Missouri tradition people and distant groups to the south. To determi…
Site-Catchment Analysis
The on-going archaeological evaluation of federally funded projects in Iowa requires a comprehensive research program if the results obtained are to be of value. Site-catchment analysis is seen as a useful way to integrate these diversified projects and systematically to study the archaeological findings from them. Site-catchment principles are applied to Iowa archaeology by establishing an environmental diversity index for site catchments that m…
The Milford Site (13DK1)
The paleoenvironment and subsistence activities at the postcontact Milford Oneota site suggest a broad-spectrum utilization of local resources with emphasis on bison hunting and horticulture which is typical of prehistoric Oneota groups regionally. Although European trade goods are present, there is no evidence of direct contact during the site occupation
Turin
The following study is the first detailed report on the Turin site (13MN2). When the site was discovered in 1955, it received considerable notoriety because the human skeletal remains were thought to be of Late Wisconsinan age. Analysis of the depositional contexts of the finds, however, shows the burials to be of Holocene age. This interpretation is supported by floral and faunal evidence from the site as well as radiocarbon dates and the presen…
A Compendium of Radiocarbon Dates for Iowa Archaeological Sites
This report represents a compendium of radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites in the state of Iowa. The compendium is in tabular form and contains the following information: (1) the site name and number; (2) the radiocarbon date in both BP and BC/AS; (3) the laboratory sample number; (4) the type of sample or material dated; (5) cultural affiliation; and (6) published and unpublished references pertaining to the date and to the site or cultur…
A Caddoan Trade Vessel from Northwestern Iowa
Middle Woodland Pottery Typology From Southwest Iowa
This paper presents a typology for Middle Woodland pottery from the vicinity of Glenwood, southwest Iowa. It shows that the Glenwood materials have their closest Plains affiliation with Valley Cord Roughened and their closest Eastern Woodland affiliation with Havana tradition pottery of the Illinois River Valley. The main source of influence for the Valley Focus seems to have come from the Eastern Woodlands and not from the Hopewellian instrusion…
A Mississippian Hooded Bottle and the Genesis of Iowa Archaeology
A Mississippian hooded bottle from the Henry Aicher Mound Group in eastern Iowa is significant to the study of Mississippian interactions with non-Mississippian groups in the upper Mississippi Valley. The mound excavations by M. W. Davis in 1863–1864 were the first research-oriented archaeological projects in Iowa, and the mounds were among the first mapped in the state. The excavation methods, analysis, reporting, and outreach by Davis and later…
Ceramics from the Kelley Site
The Kelley phase is a Middle period Oneota manifestation, dating to the fifteenth century. It is one of three phases comprising a local sequence in the Kingston locality in southeast Iowa. From early to late these are the Burlington, Kelley, and Bailey Farm phases--all defined on the basis of ceramics. Similar ceramic variation occurs coevally with other southeast Iowa localities as well. The definingfoatures of Kelley phase pottery include shoul…
Curating the Charles R. Keyes Archaeological Collection
Rummells-Maske
The first controlled excavation of a Clovis site in Iowa revealed a concentration of complete and fragmentary Clovis Fluted projectile points. The site, in eastern Iowa, is interpreted as a projectile point cache destroyed by agricultural implements. Measurements and photographs are provided to facilitate the comparison of the collection with assemblages from other states
Middle Woodland Pottery Typology From Southwest Iowa
This paper presents a typology for Middle Woodland pottery from the vicinity of Glenwood, southwest Iowa. It shows that the Glenwood materials have their closest Plains affiliation with Valley Cord Roughened and their closest Eastern Woodland affiliation with Havana tradition pottery of the Illinois River Valley. The main source of influence for the Valley Focus seems to have come from the Eastern Woodlands and not from the Hopewellian instrusion…
A Compendium of Radiocarbon Dates for Iowa Archaeological Sites
This report represents a compendium of radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites in the state of Iowa. The compendium is in tabular form and contains the following information: (1) the site name and number; (2) the radiocarbon date in both BP and BC/AS; (3) the laboratory sample number; (4) the type of sample or material dated; (5) cultural affiliation; and (6) published and unpublished references pertaining to the date and to the site or cultur…
Site-Catchment Analysis
The on-going archaeological evaluation of federally funded projects in Iowa requires a comprehensive research program if the results obtained are to be of value. Site-catchment analysis is seen as a useful way to integrate these diversified projects and systematically to study the archaeological findings from them. Site-catchment principles are applied to Iowa archaeology by establishing an environmental diversity index for site catchments that m…
Turin
The following study is the first detailed report on the Turin site (13MN2). When the site was discovered in 1955, it received considerable notoriety because the human skeletal remains were thought to be of Late Wisconsinan age. Analysis of the depositional contexts of the finds, however, shows the burials to be of Holocene age. This interpretation is supported by floral and faunal evidence from the site as well as radiocarbon dates and the presen…
Nature and Provenance of Red Pipestone from the Wittrock Site (130B4), Northwest Iowa
Five pipestone specimens from the Wittrock Mill Creek culture site were evaluated by x-ray powder diffraction analysis. While their mineral compositions were very similar to one another, they are not among the varieties of “catlinite” pipestone types occurring at Pipestone National Monument, a commonly assumed source of all pipestone. Pipestone types like the Wittrock specimens were found in outcrop and cores from south central Minnesota. Because…
Curating the Charles R. Keyes Archaeological Collection
Recent Research on Obsidian from Iowa Archaeological Sites
In this paper we summarize the results of six years of passive obsidian collecting in Iowa during which time 31 samples were obtained and subjected to trace element analysis. We find that: (1) 74% of the obsidian originated at the Obsidian Cliff Quarry in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; and (2) in contrast with earlier midwestern studies where obsidian was found in ritual contexts on Middle Woodland sites, the Iowa material is associated with…
A Caddoan Trade Vessel from Northwestern Iowa
The Hanging Valley Site (13HR28)
The Hanging Valley site (13HR28) is a stratified Woodland burial locale in Harrison County, Iowa. This study reports on the excavation and analyses of floral and faunal remains, artifacts and features identified from salvage work conducted in 1983. The conclusions are: (1) Holocene alluvium in the site valley coelates with the Hatcher and Camp Creek members of the De Forest Fonnation; (2) the site is situated in a “hanging valley” and is buried i…
Reply To Benn’s Comments On The Hanging Valley Site (13hr28)
Reply To Benn’s Comments On The Hanging Valley Site (13hr28)." Plains Anthropologist, 34(125), pp. 271–272
The Milford Site (13DK1)
The paleoenvironment and subsistence activities at the postcontact Milford Oneota site suggest a broad-spectrum utilization of local resources with emphasis on bison hunting and horticulture which is typical of prehistoric Oneota groups regionally. Although European trade goods are present, there is no evidence of direct contact during the site occupation
Council for Museum Anthropology
Student Awards
Current Research Rides Again
Ceramics from the Kelley Site
The Kelley phase is a Middle period Oneota manifestation, dating to the fifteenth century. It is one of three phases comprising a local sequence in the Kingston locality in southeast Iowa. From early to late these are the Burlington, Kelley, and Bailey Farm phases--all defined on the basis of ceramics. Similar ceramic variation occurs coevally with other southeast Iowa localities as well. The definingfoatures of Kelley phase pottery include shoul…
Weighing vs. Counting
The California School of Midden Analysis represents a long-standing tradition of using weight, rather than minimum number of individuals (MNI), to analyze shell recovered from archaeological sites in California. This method originated at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early twentieth century and continues to the present, in spite of the advent of counting measures such as MNI and NISP (number of identified specimens) in faunal stu…
Weighing and Counting Shell
Glassow discusses several "problems" with the use of minimum number of individuals (MNI) in archaeological shellfish analysis, including the difficulty of identifying non-repetitive elements (NRE) to species level for several taxa. However, these problems, especially fragmentation, are more critical for the weight method than for MNI estimates. We have successfully identified thousands of NRE for all species common in southern California coastal …
Late Woodland Societies
Archaeologists across the Midwest have pooled their data and perspectives to produce this indispensable volume on the Native cultures of the Woodland period (approximately A.D. 300-1000). Sandwiched between the well-known Hopewellian and Mississippian eras of monumental mound construction, the Woodland period has received insufficient attention from archaeologists, who have frequently characterized it as consisting of relatively drab artifact ass…
The Reliability of Surface Assemblages
Gillett Grove (13CY2) is a protohistoric Oneota settlement that overlooks the Little Sioux River in Clay County, northwestern Iowa. Work there since 1995 has revealed protohistoric and perhaps late prehistoric Oneota occupations similar to the nearby Milford site. Here, we compare systematic surface collections made in 1998 and 1999 for their similarity in the assemblage properties of size, composition and distribution. Repeated collection in 199…
Mississippian Connections with Mill Creek and Cambria
This paper reviews the evidence for Mill Creek-Cambria interaction in the western Prairie Peninsula with various regional Mississippian polities. Limited evidence in the form of Cambria trade pottery has been reported from at least five Mill Creek sites. Of interest is the extensive presence of Mississippian-inspired pottery and decorative styles at both the Cambria site and many Mill Creek, Initial variant Middle Missouri sites, which suggests t…
Using LiDAR data to locate a Middle Woodland enclosure and associated mounds, Louisa County, Iowa
Dam projects and the growth of American archaeology
Dam projects and the growth of American archaeology: the river basin surveys and the interagency archaeological salvage program." Southeastern Archaeology, 37(3), pp. 253–254
A Mississippian Hooded Bottle and the Genesis of Iowa Archaeology
A Mississippian hooded bottle from the Henry Aicher Mound Group in eastern Iowa is significant to the study of Mississippian interactions with non-Mississippian groups in the upper Mississippi Valley. The mound excavations by M. W. Davis in 1863–1864 were the first research-oriented archaeological projects in Iowa, and the mounds were among the first mapped in the state. The excavation methods, analysis, reporting, and outreach by Davis and later…
Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from northwest Iowa
A ceramic vessel found at a Mill Creek culture (eastern Initial Middle Missouri variant) site in northwest Iowa exhibits features characteristic of both the Southern Caddo Holly Fine Engraved type and the Fine Engraved Carving type of the American Bottom Fine Grog series. Knowing the vessel’s likely manufacturing locale is important in understanding relationships between Middle Missouri tradition people and distant groups to the south. To determi…
Archaeology (25 works) · Geography (24 works) · Geology (15 works) · Archaeology and Natural History (14 works) · History (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (12 works) · Geology (12 works) · Art (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Ecology (6 works)