An Investigation of Ethnographic and Archaeological Specimens of Mescalbeans (Sophora secundiflora) in American Museums

182 Pages·10.504 MB·English

by  by William L. Merrill

AN INVESTIGATION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS OF
MESCALBEANS (SOPHORA SECUNDlFLORA) IN AMERICAN MUSEUMS

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TECHNICAL REPORTS
Number 6
RESEARCH REPORTS IN ETHNOBOTANY
Contribution 1
AN INVESTIGATION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS OF
MESCALBEANS(SOPHORA SECUND/FLORA) IN AMERICAN MUSEUMS
by
William L. Merrill
ANN ARBOR
1977
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TheMu seuomf A nhtropology
Allri ghtrses erved
ISBN 978-0-932206-15-2 (paper)
ISB 9N78-19-51538-41-5 (ebook)
Printiend t he
UniteSdt atoefsAm erica
CONTENTS
Page
List of Illustrations. vii
List of Tables . viii
Preface. . . . . ix
Acknowledgements xi
I. Introduction 1
Botany, Chemistry, and Pharmacology of Mescalbeans . 1
The Use of Mescalbeans in Aboriginal North America . 5
II. Mescalbeans in North American Indian Material Culture. 16
Some Qualifications ......•. 17
Mescalbeans and Material Culture 19
III. Some Ethnographic Problems 27
The Distribution of the Use of Mescalbeans Among
Historic North American Indian Groups. 28
Mescalbeans and Coralbeans . . . . . . 35
Cross-Cultural Variation in the Use of Mescalbeans 43
Mescalbeans and Peyote . 51
IV. Description of Specimens 63
Archaeological Specimens . 65
Prehistoric Southwestern Texas 68
Ethnographic Specimens 70
Apache . 70
Arapaho. . 73
Arikara. . 81
Blackfoot. 81
Caddo ... 81
Cheyenne . 82
Coahuilteco. 93
Comanche 94
Crow .. 99
Delaware 99
Hidatsa. 100
Iowa .. 100
Kansa. . 104
Kickapoo 105
Kiowa .. 105
Kiowa-Apache 118
Page
Mandan . 118
Missouri 118
Ojibwa 119
Omaha •. 119
Osage. 122
Oto. . 123
Pawnee 126
Ponca. 129
Prairie Potawatomi . 131
Pueblos. . . 134
Sac and Fox. 134
Shawnee. 138
Shoshone and Northern Ute. 138
Sioux. . 144
Tonkawa. 150
Wichita. 152
Winnebago. 154
Unidentified 155
Appendix I. Index of Specimens by Museum 157
Literature Cited . ... 159
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
I. A-se-permy or John White Man, a Comanche. ii
2. Comparison of Sophora secundiflora and
Erythrina flabelliformis ......•. 2
3. The natural ranges of Sophora secundiflora
and Erythrina flabelliformis. . . . . . 3
4. Approximate locations of Indian groups
discussed in text . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Sa. Prehistoric loincloth bearing mescalbeans 66
5b. Enlarged view of the same specimen. . . . . 67
6. Prehistoric "medicine bundle" containing mescalbeans. 69
7a. Arapaho leggings. . . 74
7b. Enlarged view of the same specimen. 75
8. Mescalbeans and coralbeans on an Arapaho shirt. . 76
9. Cheyenne hair ornament. . 84
10. Northern Cheyenne rawhide bag . 90
II. Northern Cheyenne mescalbean necklace or bandoleer .. 91
12. Northern Cheyenne woman's "sack of medicine" 92
13. Iowa Red Bean medicine bundle 103
14. Two Kiowa individuals wearing mescalbeans . 107
15. Kiowa mescalbean necklace 112
16. Kiowa "male warrior doll" 114
17. Setlinteklin or War Bonnet, a Kiowa-Apache .. 117
18. Omaha girl's hair ornament. 120
19. Pawnee snapping turtle paw bag. . i28
20. Mescalbeans at Taos Pueblo ... 132
2la. Shoshone shirt. • . 139
2lb. Enlarged view of the same specimen. . 140
22. Brule man wearing a mescalbean hair ornament. • . . • . • 143
146
23a. Sioux bearclaw necklace .
147
23b. Enlarged view of the same specimen. • .
151
24. Wichita leggings. • . . .
vii
TABLES
Pages
1. Categories of items associated with mescalbeans
by group. • . • . . • • . . . . . • . . 32-33
2. The association of Sophora secundiflora and Erythrina
flabelliformis on particular items of material culture
by group. . • • . . • . • . . . . . . 38-40
3. Age and sex of mescalbean users by group. . 45-46
viii
PREFACE
Mescalbeans have attracted the attention of the academic community
primarily because several North American Indian groups consumed these
seeds for their psychotropic effects. The exploitation of the psycho
tropic properties of mescalbeans was the most dramatic use of mescal
beans by North American Indian groups, and the most elaborate symbolism
and ceremonialism associated with the use of mescalbeans was developed
by those American Indian groups who employed them in this fashion. Yet,
of the more than thirty North American Indian groups who were familiar
with mescalbeans, less than half are known ever to have consumed them.
Without question, the most widespread and continuous purpose for which
North American Indian groups have employed mescalbeans is as seed beads
attached to a wide variety of articles such as shirts, leggings, dresses,
and pouches or strung into bandoleers, necklaces, and bracelets. Most
if not all ethnographically documented North American Indian groups who
had access to mescalbeans utilized them as seed beads, and many of these
groups employed mescalbeans for no other purposes. In addition, archae
ological evidence indicates that at least some of the Archaic inhabitants
of southwestern Texas attached mescalbeans to their clothing during
prehistoric times.
In this report, I do not intend to disparage the importance of
mescalbeans as a psychotropic substance. Mescalbeans were one of very
few plant materials whose psychotropic properties were exploited by the
ix