Dr. Thompson,

In reply to your request for information posted by Philip Levy on the
"HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY" listserve, you might consider the possibility
that the burial was of a Euro-American child who had been adopted or
acquired in a raid by one of the Native American groups of your region. I
believe there are abundant literature accounts that Euro-American (as well
as Native American) children were occasionally taken captive by native
groups and adopted into those groups.


al

Allen Dart, RPA, Executive Director
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
PO Box 40577
Tucson AZ  85717-0577   USA
    520-798-1201 office, 520-798-1966 fax
    Email: [log in to unmask]
    URL: www.oldpueblo.org
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On Fri, March 23, 2012 4:28 pm, Levy, Philip wrote:
Hello all--I am passing this query on from a colleague

I am analyzing the coffin burial of a child that was disturbed by an
bulldozer in 1950 on a north side terrace of the Clark Fork River, in
Missoula.  Lines of evidence regarding ethnicity are conflicting, with
biological evidence indicating Euro-American and funerary objects
appearing more typical of a Native American burial (rawhide pouch, tanned
hide remnants) along with a leather coin purse that held some beads (no
longer in the collection) and a leather shoe.  Contextual evidence
suggests the burial took place between 1864 (founding of Missoula) and
1873, when a hospital was built next door to the location of the burial.

My feeling is that it would be unlikely to find a tanned hide and a
leather pouch, traditional to the local tribes, in a Euro-American burial.
 My best guess is that the child is of mixed ancestry.  I would like to
check my feelings about this with some better evidence.  What did
Euro-Americans in the West bury their children with in the mid-to-late
19th century?  Did they tend to include objects, or not?  Was this
specific to different ethnic groups?

In addition to burial goods, typical clothing for white children of the
day would be helpful to know, and what kind of blankets they used.  I
found one quote from Granville Stuart in 1862 talking about how
civilization had arrived and one of the repercussions, along with shaving,
was that blue flannel shirts replaced buckskins.  It's not much, but it
gives a picture of the trends introduced with the expansion of commerce
along the new Bozeman and Mullan roads.

Thanks for your help,
Sally

Sally Thompson, Ph.D.
Acting Curator of Collections & NAGPRA Specialist
Department of Anthropology
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT  59812
406-243-5525 or 542-8795 (home)
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