Patricia J O’brien
Biographic Data
| ID | 3993734 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Patricia J O’brien |
| GIVEN NAMES | Patricia J |
| FAMILY NAME | O’brien |
| SIGNATURE | O’BRIEN P J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Kansas State University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1968 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Early State Economics: Cahokia, Capital of the Ramey State
This chapter shows that Cahokia is the capital of the "Ramey" state, and as an example of a very early state its economic system is important. Subsistence at Cahokia and sites in the American Bottom, its basic economy, was built upon agricultural production stressing corn and squash cultivars. The unskilled workers without doubt built the hundreds of earthen mounds found throughout the American Bottom as well as the ceremonial structures and the …
A Human Effigy Pipe of the Smoky Hill Phase
A human effigy pipe was recovered from 14RY8, a Smoky Hill phase site located on a tributary of Fancy Creek in Tuttle Creek Lake in Kansas. Two radiocarbon dates from the site average 1050 ± 145 B.P. The pipe‘s human face has finely incised lines that may represent face painting, tattooing or scarification. Such pipes are rare in the Central Plains Tradition and this one increases our database on them
Journal of the Plains Anthropological Society Cumulative Index, 1993
"Journal of the Plains Anthropological Society Cumulative Index, 1993." Plains Anthropologist, 38(144), p. i
Evidence for the Antiquity of Women’s Roles In Pawnee Society
The C. C. Witt lodge and burial mound complex provide evidence for a probable Sacrifice to Mommg Star at about A.D. 1300, and show the continuity through time of the concepts of Morning Star and Evening Star as male and female models for Pawnee behavior. If the utilization of space in historic lodges can be projected backwards, it is believed that the Witt lodge was the home of a priest. The archaeological investigation suggests that at least one…
Cahokia: The Political Capital of the “Ramey” State
Cahokia, a prehistoric site in the American Midwest, had massive human sacrifice which shows that a small elite had control over the legitimate use of force, probably had political and economic classes, had a hierarchical bureaucracy, and had a settlement system of at least four decision-making levels. As such it was probably the capital of a society organized at a “state” level
Evidence for the Antiquity of Gender Roles in the Central Plains Tradition
Using the Direct-Historical-Approach Pawnee gender roles are traced back to 1300 A.D. in the Central Plains tradition. The roles' ideological foundation, the deities Morning Star and Evening Star, are documented using lodge layout and solar alignment, tool distribution and faunal remains. Also, information from a gardening, meat processing and hide cleaning area (historic female activities) has tools associated with those actions, especially kniv…
Mississippian Solstice Shrines and a Cahokian Calendar: An Hypothesis Based on Ethnohistory and Archaeology
This article examines the hypothesis that early Middle Mississippians had a calendric system which tied agriculture and religious ritual together. It also suggests that to that end they built solstice shrines as a means of recording the passage of time through the behavior of the sun and the moon. Using data from structures having possible astronomical alignments, from historic-ethnographic-linguistic sources, and from agricultural planting cycle…
Uses for Highly descriptive Crm Reports: An example from the Central Plains
This paper assesses one use of descriptive CRM reports by showing that data in them can indicate the utilization of environmental settings in specific localities over a 12,000 year period and local population densities through time. This utilization of CRM reports will be illustrated by using data from Smithville Lake in northwest Missouri and Fall River and Council Grove lakes in eastern Kansas
Morning Star Sacrifices: Contradiction or Dualism
Early historical references like Wetmore’s on the Pawnee Morning Star sacrifices mention both females and males being offered. This short essay attempts to examine the implications of that data, and suggests alternating sacrificial dualism might have been present
An Ancient Maya Measurement System
In this report we attempt to answer the question: which measurement system did the Late Classic Maya use to build their buildings? Measurements were collected from ten buildings at three Puuc style archaeological sites: Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, which date about A.D. 750-1000. The tentative results of the study suggest the Maya employed a measurement system involving what we are calling a zapal, which was 147 ± 5 cm long. A zapal was divided…
Prehistoric Evidence for Pawnee Cosmology
The Tim Adrian Site (14NT604): A Hell Gap Quarry Site In Norton County, Kansas
14NT604 is a single-component Hell Gap Paleo-Indian site located near Norton in western Kansas. The site is interesting because it is associated with a quarry, and the study of its lithics is presented. The site would appear to be a limited-activity type in which quarrying and lithic tool manufacture occurred as did some wood and bone working. The site was probably a summer temporary campsite
The Yeo Site (23CL 199): A Kansas City Hopewell Limited Activity Site In Northwestern Missouri,And Some Theories
In 1976 Alfred E. Johnson proposed a subsistencesettlement model for Kansas City Hopewell. The model consisted of a subsistence territory encompassirig a drainage upon which a large permanent village settlement was located near its mouth with a series of smaller specialized ancillary sites located up from the village. Limited corn and squash horticulture would be present in the latter half of the occupation too. A test of such a model would be ac…
The Ashland Bottoms Site (14RY603): A Kansas City Hopewell Site in North-Central Kansas
The Ashland Bottoms site (14RY603) is a multi-component habitation consisting of a turn of the 20th century American corncrib superimposed upon a Kansas City Hopewell occupation. The ceramics sugge
Steed–Kisker: A Western Mississippian Settlement System
The Elliott Site (14Ge303): A Preliminary Report
Initial work at the Elliott site, Geary County, Kansas, reveals three cultural components: Archaic (Munkers Creek?), Woodland, and Smoky Hill, spatially distributed over the site in five clusters. The Woodland cluster (14GE312) was tested and is reported here. The data suggest a tentative Schultz focus affiliation
The Sweet Potato: Its Origin and Dispersal1
The sweet potato originated in northwestern South America, arising possibly as a hybrid cross or through karyotypic alterations from an unknown plant of the genus Ipomoea. This domestication is associated with the development of Tropical Forest agricultural villages by ca. 2500 B.C. The Spanish introduced it to Europe and spread it to China and Japan and Malaysia and the Moluccas region. The Portuguese carried it to India, Indonesia, and Africa. …
The Chronological Position of the Cambered Jar at Cahokia and Its Implications
The cambered rim jar is stylistically unique and should be especially useful as a time indicator if its place in Cahokia's ceramic history can be ascertained. On the basis of the broken-down interlocking scroll motif, a parallel line motif, and the scalloped rim found on some of these vessels, it is suggested that this vessel form occurs in periods III and IV of the basic ceramic sequence established for the Powell Tract section of the Cahokia si…
Doctrinaire Diffusionism and Acts of Faith
Some anthropologists have suggested prehistoric Old and New world contacts. Meggers, Evans, and Estrada are the most recent advocates, and their hypothesis of a landfall by Japanese fishermen on the coast of Ecuador seems to have been the causa belli of the attack by John Rowe on 'doctrinaire diffusionism.' In a response to Rowe, Jett and Carter (1966) suggest his level of absolute proof is the best, but not the only, proof. Rowe's absolute proof…
The Sweet Potato: Its Origin and Dispersal1
The sweet potato originated in northwestern South America, arising possibly as a hybrid cross or through karyotypic alterations from an unknown plant of the genus Ipomoea. This domestication is associated with the development of Tropical Forest agricultural villages by ca. 2500 B.C. The Spanish introduced it to Europe and spread it to China and Japan and Malaysia and the Moluccas region. The Portuguese carried it to India, Indonesia, and Africa. …
Cahokia: The Political Capital of the “Ramey” State
Cahokia, a prehistoric site in the American Midwest, had massive human sacrifice which shows that a small elite had control over the legitimate use of force, probably had political and economic classes, had a hierarchical bureaucracy, and had a settlement system of at least four decision-making levels. As such it was probably the capital of a society organized at a “state” level
An Ancient Maya Measurement System
In this report we attempt to answer the question: which measurement system did the Late Classic Maya use to build their buildings? Measurements were collected from ten buildings at three Puuc style archaeological sites: Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, which date about A.D. 750-1000. The tentative results of the study suggest the Maya employed a measurement system involving what we are calling a zapal, which was 147 ± 5 cm long. A zapal was divided…
Prehistoric Evidence for Pawnee Cosmology
Mississippian Solstice Shrines and a Cahokian Calendar: An Hypothesis Based on Ethnohistory and Archaeology
This article examines the hypothesis that early Middle Mississippians had a calendric system which tied agriculture and religious ritual together. It also suggests that to that end they built solstice shrines as a means of recording the passage of time through the behavior of the sun and the moon. Using data from structures having possible astronomical alignments, from historic-ethnographic-linguistic sources, and from agricultural planting cycle…
Evidence for the Antiquity of Gender Roles in the Central Plains Tradition
Using the Direct-Historical-Approach Pawnee gender roles are traced back to 1300 A.D. in the Central Plains tradition. The roles' ideological foundation, the deities Morning Star and Evening Star, are documented using lodge layout and solar alignment, tool distribution and faunal remains. Also, information from a gardening, meat processing and hide cleaning area (historic female activities) has tools associated with those actions, especially kniv…
The Tim Adrian Site (14NT604): A Hell Gap Quarry Site In Norton County, Kansas
14NT604 is a single-component Hell Gap Paleo-Indian site located near Norton in western Kansas. The site is interesting because it is associated with a quarry, and the study of its lithics is presented. The site would appear to be a limited-activity type in which quarrying and lithic tool manufacture occurred as did some wood and bone working. The site was probably a summer temporary campsite
Evidence for the Antiquity of Women’s Roles In Pawnee Society
The C. C. Witt lodge and burial mound complex provide evidence for a probable Sacrifice to Mommg Star at about A.D. 1300, and show the continuity through time of the concepts of Morning Star and Evening Star as male and female models for Pawnee behavior. If the utilization of space in historic lodges can be projected backwards, it is believed that the Witt lodge was the home of a priest. The archaeological investigation suggests that at least one…
Morning Star Sacrifices: Contradiction or Dualism
Early historical references like Wetmore’s on the Pawnee Morning Star sacrifices mention both females and males being offered. This short essay attempts to examine the implications of that data, and suggests alternating sacrificial dualism might have been present
The Yeo Site (23CL 199): A Kansas City Hopewell Limited Activity Site In Northwestern Missouri,And Some Theories
In 1976 Alfred E. Johnson proposed a subsistencesettlement model for Kansas City Hopewell. The model consisted of a subsistence territory encompassirig a drainage upon which a large permanent village settlement was located near its mouth with a series of smaller specialized ancillary sites located up from the village. Limited corn and squash horticulture would be present in the latter half of the occupation too. A test of such a model would be ac…
Doctrinaire Diffusionism and Acts of Faith
Some anthropologists have suggested prehistoric Old and New world contacts. Meggers, Evans, and Estrada are the most recent advocates, and their hypothesis of a landfall by Japanese fishermen on the coast of Ecuador seems to have been the causa belli of the attack by John Rowe on 'doctrinaire diffusionism.' In a response to Rowe, Jett and Carter (1966) suggest his level of absolute proof is the best, but not the only, proof. Rowe's absolute proof…
The Chronological Position of the Cambered Jar at Cahokia and Its Implications
The cambered rim jar is stylistically unique and should be especially useful as a time indicator if its place in Cahokia's ceramic history can be ascertained. On the basis of the broken-down interlocking scroll motif, a parallel line motif, and the scalloped rim found on some of these vessels, it is suggested that this vessel form occurs in periods III and IV of the basic ceramic sequence established for the Powell Tract section of the Cahokia si…
The Sweet Potato: Its Origin and Dispersal1
The sweet potato originated in northwestern South America, arising possibly as a hybrid cross or through karyotypic alterations from an unknown plant of the genus Ipomoea. This domestication is associated with the development of Tropical Forest agricultural villages by ca. 2500 B.C. The Spanish introduced it to Europe and spread it to China and Japan and Malaysia and the Moluccas region. The Portuguese carried it to India, Indonesia, and Africa. …
The Elliott Site (14Ge303): A Preliminary Report
Initial work at the Elliott site, Geary County, Kansas, reveals three cultural components: Archaic (Munkers Creek?), Woodland, and Smoky Hill, spatially distributed over the site in five clusters. The Woodland cluster (14GE312) was tested and is reported here. The data suggest a tentative Schultz focus affiliation
Steed–Kisker: A Western Mississippian Settlement System
The Ashland Bottoms Site (14RY603): A Kansas City Hopewell Site in North-Central Kansas
The Ashland Bottoms site (14RY603) is a multi-component habitation consisting of a turn of the 20th century American corncrib superimposed upon a Kansas City Hopewell occupation. The ceramics sugge
The Yeo Site (23CL 199): A Kansas City Hopewell Limited Activity Site In Northwestern Missouri,And Some Theories
In 1976 Alfred E. Johnson proposed a subsistencesettlement model for Kansas City Hopewell. The model consisted of a subsistence territory encompassirig a drainage upon which a large permanent village settlement was located near its mouth with a series of smaller specialized ancillary sites located up from the village. Limited corn and squash horticulture would be present in the latter half of the occupation too. A test of such a model would be ac…
The Tim Adrian Site (14NT604): A Hell Gap Quarry Site In Norton County, Kansas
14NT604 is a single-component Hell Gap Paleo-Indian site located near Norton in western Kansas. The site is interesting because it is associated with a quarry, and the study of its lithics is presented. The site would appear to be a limited-activity type in which quarrying and lithic tool manufacture occurred as did some wood and bone working. The site was probably a summer temporary campsite
An Ancient Maya Measurement System
In this report we attempt to answer the question: which measurement system did the Late Classic Maya use to build their buildings? Measurements were collected from ten buildings at three Puuc style archaeological sites: Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, which date about A.D. 750-1000. The tentative results of the study suggest the Maya employed a measurement system involving what we are calling a zapal, which was 147 ± 5 cm long. A zapal was divided…
Prehistoric Evidence for Pawnee Cosmology
Morning Star Sacrifices: Contradiction or Dualism
Early historical references like Wetmore’s on the Pawnee Morning Star sacrifices mention both females and males being offered. This short essay attempts to examine the implications of that data, and suggests alternating sacrificial dualism might have been present
Mississippian Solstice Shrines and a Cahokian Calendar: An Hypothesis Based on Ethnohistory and Archaeology
This article examines the hypothesis that early Middle Mississippians had a calendric system which tied agriculture and religious ritual together. It also suggests that to that end they built solstice shrines as a means of recording the passage of time through the behavior of the sun and the moon. Using data from structures having possible astronomical alignments, from historic-ethnographic-linguistic sources, and from agricultural planting cycle…
Uses for Highly descriptive Crm Reports: An example from the Central Plains
This paper assesses one use of descriptive CRM reports by showing that data in them can indicate the utilization of environmental settings in specific localities over a 12,000 year period and local population densities through time. This utilization of CRM reports will be illustrated by using data from Smithville Lake in northwest Missouri and Fall River and Council Grove lakes in eastern Kansas
Cahokia: The Political Capital of the “Ramey” State
Cahokia, a prehistoric site in the American Midwest, had massive human sacrifice which shows that a small elite had control over the legitimate use of force, probably had political and economic classes, had a hierarchical bureaucracy, and had a settlement system of at least four decision-making levels. As such it was probably the capital of a society organized at a “state” level
Evidence for the Antiquity of Gender Roles in the Central Plains Tradition
Using the Direct-Historical-Approach Pawnee gender roles are traced back to 1300 A.D. in the Central Plains tradition. The roles' ideological foundation, the deities Morning Star and Evening Star, are documented using lodge layout and solar alignment, tool distribution and faunal remains. Also, information from a gardening, meat processing and hide cleaning area (historic female activities) has tools associated with those actions, especially kniv…
Evidence for the Antiquity of Women’s Roles In Pawnee Society
The C. C. Witt lodge and burial mound complex provide evidence for a probable Sacrifice to Mommg Star at about A.D. 1300, and show the continuity through time of the concepts of Morning Star and Evening Star as male and female models for Pawnee behavior. If the utilization of space in historic lodges can be projected backwards, it is believed that the Witt lodge was the home of a priest. The archaeological investigation suggests that at least one…
Journal of the Plains Anthropological Society Cumulative Index, 1993
"Journal of the Plains Anthropological Society Cumulative Index, 1993." Plains Anthropologist, 38(144), p. i
A Human Effigy Pipe of the Smoky Hill Phase
A human effigy pipe was recovered from 14RY8, a Smoky Hill phase site located on a tributary of Fancy Creek in Tuttle Creek Lake in Kansas. Two radiocarbon dates from the site average 1050 ± 145 B.P. The pipe‘s human face has finely incised lines that may represent face painting, tattooing or scarification. Such pipes are rare in the Central Plains Tradition and this one increases our database on them
Early State Economics: Cahokia, Capital of the Ramey State
This chapter shows that Cahokia is the capital of the "Ramey" state, and as an example of a very early state its economic system is important. Subsistence at Cahokia and sites in the American Bottom, its basic economy, was built upon agricultural production stressing corn and squash cultivars. The unskilled workers without doubt built the hundreds of earthen mounds found throughout the American Bottom as well as the ceremonial structures and the …
Archaeology (18 works) · Geography (17 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (10 works) · History (10 works) · History (7 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Archaeology and Natural History (4 works) · Biology (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works)