During the nineteenth century, biographic art was used to depict events representing a warrior's most prominent accomplishments. These compositions were narrative in form, designed to be read by anyone familiar with the conventions embedded within their animated scenes. Accordingly, these artifacts are genuine historical documents, which – as part of a chronological sequence – record true a history that unfolds over decades. Here, using an established multivariate seriation method (PCo), we examine patterns of stylistic change and diversity in mobiliary biographic artworks of the Blackfoot (Niitsítapi). We are able to further demonstrate the power of this method, correctly placing three previously unanalyzed works within the chronological sequence, as well as dating two previously undated artworks. This sequence also sheds light on the biographic rock art of the region. Moreover, specific stylistic patterns and trends of change can demonstrably be tied to broader socio-economic features documented in the historical and ethnohistorical records of Blackfoot peoples.

在 19 世纪，传记艺术被用来描绘代表战士最杰出成就的事件。这些作品是叙事形式，旨在供熟悉其动画场景中嵌入的惯例的任何人阅读。因此，这些文物是真正的历史文献，作为时间序列的一部分，真实地记录了几十年的历史。在这里，我们使用已建立的多元序列化方法 (PCo)，研究了黑脚 (Niitsítapi) 的移动传记艺术作品的风格变化和多样性模式。我们能够进一步证明这种方法的威力，正确地将三件以前未分析的作品按时间顺序排列，并确定两件以前未注明日期的艺术品的年代。这个序列也揭示了该地区的传记岩画。此外，特定的风格模式和变化趋势可以明显地与黑脚人的历史和民族历史记录中记录的更广泛的社会经济特征联系在一起。