| Winter counts are pictographic histories, some later copied in written form, maintained by a few Great Plains Indian tribes. The largest number of winter counts were kept by the Tetons, a group of tribes also known as the Lakota or Sioux. These chronicles provide lists of the most significant events of a series of years and are primary sources for ethnohistorical research. Here brought together for the first time are all Teton winter counts presently known, whether published or unpublished, both pictographic and written, that chronicle events through the eighteenth century. The counts are correlated with one another. The author points out that the actual number of winter count traditions, as opposed to copies of winter counts and variants of traditions, is quite limited for the period under review. The author establishes the families or groups to which these winter counts belong and concludes that they are a significant source for relating the history of the Tetons from their own point of view. |
