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The Hunters

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Museum Entrance

The Gatherers

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The Farmers

The Farmers

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Preserving Meat

To preserve their meat, Native To preserve their meat, Native Americans would usually cut it into Americans would usually cut it into strips and then hang the strips onto strips and then hang the strips onto racks over a smoky fire. This picture racks over a smoky fire. This picture shows a group of Native Americans shows a group of Native Americans smoking their meat. They might even smoking their meat. They might even have a smokehouse where the meat have a smokehouse where the meat could smoke for longer periods of time. could smoke for longer periods of time. After the food was dried it would be After the food was dried it would be stored in the ground where it would be stored in the ground where it would be safe until it was ready to be eaten.safe until it was ready to be eaten.

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Image acquired at:

www.bluesandhash.com/scbbqhistory.php

The All Important Buffalo

Buffalo was not just an important source of food for the Native Americans of the Great Plains, they would use the WHOLE buffalo to make many things. The hide was used to make homes, clothing, and shoes. They used the bones to make tools, and the muscle (sinew) to make thread for sewing and for bows. The horns were made into spoons and cups. They used the tongue for religious ceremonies. Even the stomach was used as a pot.

Here a group of Native Americans are surrounding a Buffalo after the kill.

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Image acquired at:

meatpaper.com/articles/2007/1217_oden.html

The Three SistersThe Three SistersCorn, beans, and squash were known as the Three Sisters to the Native Americans. Not only were these three vegetables important to the people but they also had an important relationship with each other since all three were planted and grown together. The beans would use the corn stalks as a trellis, and squash would shade the ground keeping weeds from spreading and prohibiting the growth of the corn. These plants also added nutrients to the soil in which they grew.

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Image acquired at:

www.crowcanyon.org/.../basketmaker_III_food.asp

The Hunter-Gatherers

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Image acquired at:

www.karlloren.com/diet/p81.htm

At one point all humans were hunter-gatherers until the introduction of agriculture. The hunter-gatherers survived off of foraging for seasonal plants, hunting a variety of game, and fishing. Therefore they never settled and always traveled to wherever the food was.

Native American hunter-gatherers were spiritually sound with their environment, meaning, they never over-hunted or took more from the land then they needed for their families.

Pictured here are some Native Americans gathering what looks to be like berries or

acorns.

Buffalo Jumps

Before horses and guns were introduced by the Europeans, buffalo jumps were a common method of hunting for many Native Americans. These hunts were strategically planned. The leader of the hunt would disguise himself in a buffalo skin, and lead a herd of buffalo near the edge of a cliff. The rest of the hunting party would then make noise to make the buffalo stampede. The frightened buffalo would run over the cliff and fall to their death, as pictured in this photograph.

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Image acquired at:

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/21/buffalo-jump-native-americans-way-to-kill-herds-of-buffalos/

Deer Drives

Native American families participated in animal drives such as the one illustrated here. Here is a family driving deer toward an enclosed space where the hunters wait to attack them. Two brush fences, about a mile long, would be built and placed in the shape of a V. The families would line up along the wider end of the fences and walk towards the deer making a lot of noise. The frightened deer would therefore run away from them towards the narrow end of the V and become trapped. Then the deer could easily be shot down by the hunters

with their bows and arrows. Return to Room

Image acquired at:

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/277071...

Fishermen

Native Americans were skilled fishermen as well as hunters. They would most likely use fish hooks made of bone to catch trout or catfish. Box traps made out of canes were also used. The Native Americans, illustrated in this picture, are using a dam to catch fish along with their spears and canoe.

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Image acquired at:

www.archives.gov/.../select-list-057.html

Disguises

One hunting technique Native Americans used was to cover themselves with the whole skin of the animal they were hunting. Since they hunted on foot, before the introduction of the horse, this technique helped them to move in closer on their prey undetected.

Here a Native American is using a deer hide as a disguise.

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Image acquired at:

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/277071...

Baskets & Cooking pots

Native American women and girls were very skilled pottery and basket makers. They used these baskets to collect and serve the food they gathered. They would even store their dried meats in baskets underground. Some groups crafted ceramic baskets while others may have weaved. Either way they would use their surrounding environment to create them. The weaved baskets may have been made out of corn husks, hemp, bark from certain trees, and grasses. Clay was used to make the cooking pots. Beautiful designs would be

incorporated into these clay pots.

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Image acquired at:

www.floridahistory.com/indiana.html

Hunter Gatherers

Even after agriculture was introduced to the Native Americans, they still hunted and gathered wild plants. As a hunter-gatherer you may eat wild potatoes, berries, wild greens, or mushrooms.

The Hopi and other southwestern tribes ate pinon pine nuts, and they ate very little meat besides rabbit.

Here are a pair of Native Americans gathering a few plants to take home to their families.

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Image acquired at:

http://geologyonline.museum.state.il.us/tools/lessons/4.6/lesson.html

Camas

The hunter-gatherers often foraged for wild plants in their surrounding environment. Photographed here is a Palouse woman tending to the harvest of Camas. The Camas plant, or Camassia, looks like a lily and was part of the diet of the Palouse people and other western Native American groups.

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Image acquired at:

www.palouseprairie.org/display/

Nomads

Unlike the farmers, hunter-gatherers were always on the move. They had to move as the resources in one area became depleted or when the seasons changed. Some groups may have moved in regular cycles with the changing seasons by spending winters in coastal lands and then moving inland for the summer. Since a hunter-gatherer never settled they had limited possessions.

This picture shows a group of Plains Indians moving their camp. This shows that the Europeans already were settled in American by this time since the Indians are using horses.

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Image acquired at:

www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer_plains.html

Who farmed?Who farmed?

The women were the farmers. They took care of the fields along with the help of the children. They would hoe the soil, plant and hill the seeds, dig out the weeds, fertilize the soil, and harvest the crops. Besides the Three Sisters, Native Americans would also grow potatoes, tomatoes, and sunflowers. These vegetables were unheard of by the Europeans until they invaded the Americas.

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Image acquired at:

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/economy/index.htm

MaizeMaize

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Image acquired at:

www2.kenyon.edu/.../history/native.htm

Even though corn, or maize, is one of the Three Sisters it was the main crop for most Native American groups. Many different types of corn were grown, especially in the southwest- white, blue, red, purple, gray and yellow. Not only were there countless ways to incorporate corn into foods, but it was also used for many different things. Corn husks could be made into mats, moccasins, baskets, dolls, and more. The dried kernels were turned into beads for decoration. The silk was used in medicines, and the eaves could be used as bandages.

This drawing shows a group of Native

Americans harvesting their maize.

Desert CornDesert Corn

This picture most likely illustrates Native Americans from the southwest region. This woman is grinding corn into cornmeal. The women did all the cooking and spent many hours a day grinding the corn into cornmeal. The cornmeal could then be used to make different types of breads, soups, and dumplings.

The Hopi were still able to grow “desert corn” in the southwest because they would plant the seeds into deep holes. “Desert corn” also had long roots and could reach the moisture deep in the ground. These long roots also situated the plants from being blown away by the wind. This “desert corn” would have to be planted near washes ;so, that when it rained the washes would overflow onto the fields.

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Image acquired at:

www.lacity.org/elp/elphis7.htm

It Takes a VillageIt Takes a Village

Within villages, certain fields may have been used for different things. Some were used to grow crops for ceremonial or festival purposes. Each family may have had a designated field too, but everyone in the villages pitched in and shared the work for each field.

This sketch shows what a Southeastern Indian village may

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Image acquired at:

www.newberry.org/smith/slidesets/ss18.html

Weapons and Tools

Before Europeans arrived weapons and tools were made of stones and bones. Arrowheads were chipped off of larger stones by the use of a deer antler tip. Bones and bent sticks were used as fishhooks and needles. Sharp stones were used to cut cane stalks. A flat stone could be tied to the end of a stick with a strip of leather to create a hoe for the garden.

When the Europeans settled they introduced steel to the Native Americans. The Native Americans would then trade furs for steel axes, hoes, needles, fishhooks, and iron pots.

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Image acquired at:

www.nativewayonline.com/

Kristin Karyczak

I am originally from Buffalo, New York, and moved to Las Vegas three years ago with my husband because there were no available teaching positions back in Western New York. I earned my bachelors in 1999 through the SUNY Buffalo in Theater Production of all things, but that degree didn’t help me to get anywhere. I come from a family of teachers and decided to go for my masters in education after 5 years of countless & meaningless office positions. I have happily been teaching 4th grade at Marion Earl E.S. ever since. I am currently on maternity leave since we had our first baby, Augustus Leo Karyczak on July 31, 2008.

Contact Information: kmkaryczak@interact.ccsd.netReturn to Room

Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Dr. Christy Keeler based on one of the sample virtual museums provided by the Keith Valley staff at ISTE’s NECC 2005. Contact Dr. Keeler for more information on using this template.