Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:44:06.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Sickle in Aboriginal Western North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Robert F. Heizer*
Affiliation:
University of California Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, California

Extract

It is generally accepted that the specialized agricultural implements and techniques, and domesticated plants (with a few possible exceptions) of the Old and New Worlds are unrelated and independently developed. Parallel developments in agricultural accessories have occurred; the hoe and irrigation are obvious exemplars. The hand sickle, used to harvest cereal crops in the Old World, and to cut wild grasses in the New World, may now be pointed out as occurring in both hemispheres. The forms, materials, and function of the Old World sickle distinguish it from that of the New World, and it would appear that there is no specific connection between the Afro-Asian sickle used in farming and its North American counterpart used predominantly by incipient or non-agricultural native groups.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1951

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burkitt, M. 1926. Our Early Ancestors. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Collins, H. B. 1937. “Archaeology of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.” Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 96, No. 1. Washington.Google Scholar
Collins, H. B. 1943. “Eskimo Archaeology and Its Bearing on the Problem of Man's Antiquity in America.” Proceedings American Philosophical Society, Vol. 86, pp. 220–235. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Gressman, L. S. 1942. “Archaeological Researches in the Northern Great Basin.” Carnegie Institution, Publication, No. 538. Washington.Google Scholar
Gressman, L. S. 1943. “Results of Recent Archaeological Research in the Northern Great Basin Region of South Central Oregon.” Proceedings American Philosophical Society, Vol. 86, pp. 236–246. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Ebert, M. 1928. Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte, Vol. 12, “Sichel, pp. 71–74. Berlin.Google Scholar
Garrod, D. S. 1932. “A New Mesolithic Industry: the Natufian of Palestine.” Journal Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 62, pp. 257–269. London.Google Scholar
Garrod, D. S. and Bate, D. M. A. 1937. The Stone Age of Mount Carmel, Vol. 1. Oxford.Google Scholar
Guernsey, S. J. and Kidder, A. V. 1921. “Basket-Maker Caves of Northeastern Arizona. Report on the Explorations, 1916–1917.” Papers of the Peahody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 7, No. 2. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1938. “An Inquiry Into the Status of the Santa Barbara Spearthrower.” American Antiquity, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 137–141. Menasha.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1942. “Ancient Grooved Clubs and Modern Rabbit-Sticks.” American Antiquity, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 41–56. Menasha.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1943. “Aconite Poison Whaling in Asia and America: an Aleutian Transfer to the New World.” Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin, No. 133; Anthropological Papers, No. 24. Washington.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. and Krieger, A. D. n.d. Archaeology of Humboldt Cave, Churchill County, Nevada, (ms.).Google Scholar
Kidder, A. V. and Guernsey, S. J. 1919. “Archaeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona.” Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 65. Washington.Google Scholar
Krashenninikov, S. P. 1764. The History of Kamtschatka and the Kurilski Islands, with the Countries Adjacent. Gloucester.Google Scholar
De Lacuna, F. 1934. The Archaeology of Cook Inlet, Alaska. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
De Lacuna, F. 1940. “Eskimo Lamps and Pots.” Journal Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 70, pp. 53–76. London.Google Scholar
L. L., Loud and Harrington, M. R. 1929. “Lovelock Cave.” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 25, No. 1. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Nusbaum, J. L. 1922. “A Basket-Maker Cave in Kane County, Utah.” Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian Notes and Monographs. New York.Google Scholar
Pallas, P. S. 1781. Neue Nordische Beitrage. St. Petersburg and Leipzig.Google Scholar
Petrie, W. M. F. 1917. “Tools and Weapons.” British School of Archaeology in Egypt, Publication No. 30. London.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1940. “Native Cultures of the Intermontane (Great Basin) Area.” Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 100, pp. 445–502. Washington.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1941. “Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southern Utah.” Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 128, Anthropological Papers, No. 18. Washington.Google Scholar
Stewart, O. C. 1941. “Culture Element Distributions: XIV, Northern Paiute.” University of California, Anthropological Records, Vol. 4, No. 3. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Swanton, J. R. 1942. “Source Material on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians.” Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 132. Washington.Google Scholar