Trail Trees: Living Artifacts (Vivifacts) of Eastern North America

  • Nicholas C. Kawa Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.
  • Bradley Painter Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.
  • Cailín E. Murray Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.
Keywords: Culturally modified trees (CMTs), Trail trees, Living artifacts, Vivifacts

Abstract

Living trees historically modified by human populations, oftentimes referred to as “culturally modified trees” (CMTs), are found throughout the North American landscape. In eastern North America specifically, indigenous populations bent thousands of trees to mark trails, and some of these still exist in the region today. In this article, we present a synthesis of current knowledge on trail trees, including their speculated functions, formation, and selection. We also examine the theoretical implications of these living artifacts (or vivifacts) and how they may open new avenues for investigation by archaeologists, environmental historians, and ethnobiologists. To conclude, we make a call for expanded public recognition and documentation of trail trees, discussing the need for their incorporation into forest and park management plans.

Author Biographies

Nicholas C. Kawa, Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.

Nicholas C. Kawa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University. His research centers on human relationships to plants and soils in both Brazilian Amazonia and the American Midwest.

Bradley Painter, Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.

Bradley Painter completed his M.S. in anthropology with an archaeological focus at Ball State University in 2015. His primary research interest is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for archaeological prospection.

Cailín E. Murray, Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Burkhardt Building 315, Muncie, IN 47306.

Cailín E. Murray is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University. She specializes in environmental ethnohistory, Native American Studies, landscape studies, and the impact of settler colonialism on indigenous belief systems about place. She has also done work on the historic impact of hydroelectric development on marine resources in the Pacific Northwest.

References

Allison, R. B. 2005. Every Root an Anchor: Wisconsin’s Famous and Historic Trees, 2nd edition. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, WI.

Andersson, R. 2005. Historical Land-Use Information from Culturally Modified Trees. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Amerson, A. D. 1999. The Cherokee Trail Trees. North Georgia Journal Summer:52-57.

Arno, S. F., L. Östlund and R. E. Keane. 2008. Living Artifacts: The Ancient Ponderosa Pines of the West. Montana: The Magazine of the Western History Spring:55-67.

Barr, J. 2011. Geographies of Power: Mapping Indian Borders in the “Borderlands” of the Early Southwest. The William and Mary Quarterly 68(1):5-46.

Carver, G. 2001. An Examination of Indigenous Australian Culturally Modified Trees in South Australia. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.

Dean, W. 1987. Brazil and the Struggle for Rubber: A Study in Environmental History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

Deu, D., A. Dick, K. Recalma-Clutesi and N. J. Turner. 2015. Kwakwaka’wakw “Clam Gardens”: Motive and Agency in Traditional Northwest Coast Mariculture. Human Ecology 43(2):201-212.

DeVoto, B., ed. 1953. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Downes, D. 2001. This Classic Oak Tree is One of Two Trail Marker Trees on Private Property Near the Town of Monterey, TN. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trail_marker_tree_one _of_two_classic_oak_trees_on_private_property_near_the_town_of_Monterey,_TN.jpg. Accessed on May 20, 2015.

Downes, D. and N. Samors. 2011. Native American Trail Marker Trees: Marking Paths Through The Wilderness. Chicago Books Press, Chicago, IL.

Dreslerova, D. and R. Mikulas. 2010. An Early Medieval Symbol Carved on a Tree Trunk: Pathfinder or Territorial Marker? Antiquity 84:1067-1075.

Elias, T.S. and C. Sargent. 1980. The Complete Trees of North America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, NY.

Elliott, D. R. 1993. Thong Trees: Living Indian Relics. Central States Archaeological Journal 40(1):16-19.

Grover, F. R. 1901. Our Indian Predecessors—The First Evanstonians. Evanston Historical Society, Evanston, IL.

Janssen, R. E. 1941. Living Guide-Posts of the Past. The Scientific Monthly 53(1):22-29.

Jett, S. C. 2005. Navajo-Modified Living Trees and Cradleboard Manufacture. Material Culture 37:131-142.

Jordan, E. 1997. Indian Trail Trees. Jordan Ink Publishing, Ellijay, GA.

Josefsson, T., E. K. Sutherland, S. F. Arno and L. Östlund. 2012. Ancient Barkpeeled Trees in the Bitterroot Mountains, Montana: Legacies of Native Land Use and Implications for Their Protection. Natural Areas Journal 32(1):54-64.

Liang, A. 2005. The Living Art of Bonsai: Principles and Techniques of Cultivation and Propagation. Sterling Publishing Company, New York, NY.

Mallea-Olaetxe, J. 2001. Carving Out History: The Basque Aspens. Forest History Today Spring/Fall:44-50.

McClain, W. 2006. Mysteries of the Trail-Marker Trees. Illinois Steward Magazine Summer 15(2). Available at: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/illinoissteward/openarticle.cfm?ArticleID=26&Page=1. Accessed on February 10, 2014.

McNeil, K. 2003. Culturally Modified Trees, Indian Reserves and the Crown’s Fiduciary Obligations. Supreme Court Law Review 21(2d):105-138.

Mobley, C. M. and M. Eldridge. 1992. Culturally Modified Trees in the Pacific Northwest. Arctic Anthropology 29(2):91-110.

Myer, W. E. 1928. Indian Trails of the Southeast. 42nd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1924-1925, pp. 727-857. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Neustupný, E. 1993. Archaeological Method. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

Östlund, L., T. S. Ericsson, O. Zackrisson and R. Andersson. 2003. Traces of Past Sami Forest Use: An Ecological Study of Culturally Modified Trees and Earlier Land Use within a Boreal Forest Reserve. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 18(1):78-89.

OED Online. 2015. Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/11133?redirectedFrom=artifact. Accessed on May 25, 2015.

Parker, A. C. 1912. Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols. American Anthropologist 14(4):608-620.

Petrides, G. A. and J. Wehr. 1998. A Field Guide to Eastern Trees: Eastern United States and Canada, Including the Midwest. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Ritzenhaler, R. E. 1965. Trail Marker Trees. The Wisconsin Archeologist 46(3):183–189.

Sander, P. 1965. A “Trail Marker Tree” at Twin Lakes. The Wisconsin Archeologist 46(3):189-190.

Stryd, A. H. 2001. Culturally Modified Trees of British Columbia: A Handbook for the Identification and Recording of Culturally Modified Trees. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Stryd, A. H. and M. Eldridge. 1993. CMT Archaeology in British Columbia: The Meares Island Studies. BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly 99:184-234.

Sundberg, J. and B. Kaserman. 2007. Cactus Carvings and Desert Defecations: Embodying Representations of Border Crossings in Protected Areas on the Mexico-US Border. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25(4):727-744.

Swanton, J. R. 1928a. Social Organization and Social Usages of the Creek Confederacy. 42nd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1924-1925, pp. 23-472. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Swanton, J. R. 1928b. Aboriginal Culture of the Southeast. 42nd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1924-1925, pp. 673-726. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Turner, N. J., Y. A. F. Berkes, I. Davidson-Hunt, Z. F. Ertug and A. Miller. 2009. Cultural Management of Living Trees: An International Perspective. Journal of Ethnobiology 29(2):237-270.

Weeks, S. S., H. P. Weeks, Jr. and G. R. Parker. 2005. Native Trees of the Midwest: Identification, Wildlife Values, and Landscaping Use. Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, IN.

Wells, D. and D. Wells. 2011. Mystery of the Trees: Native American Markers of a Cultural Way of Life that May Soon Be Gone. Mountain Stewards Publishing, Jasper, GA.

Published
2015-09-17
How to Cite
Kawa, N. C., Painter, B., & Murray, C. E. (2015). Trail Trees: Living Artifacts (Vivifacts) of Eastern North America. Ethnobiology Letters, 6(1), 183-188. https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.6.1.2015.410
Section
Perspectives