Native American Cultural Regions

A Closer Look

Region Food Housing ClothingNorthwest Coast

Fish Rectangular houses made of wood

Animal hide, fur, plants materials

California Balance of wild Plants, animals, fish.

Dome (Northern) or cone shaped (Southern) made of leaves, mats, hides etc.

(See Northwest)

Southwest Balance of wild plants and animals

Cone/dome shaped homes made of bark, leaves, hides

Animal Hide

Map Exercise

Region Food Housing ClothingPlateau Fish Pit Houses

built partially underground

Animal hide, fur, Plant Material

Great Basin Animals & Wild Plants

Cone-shaped teepees

(See Plateau)

Great Plains Animals and cultivated plants

Teepees of animal hide

Animal Hide and Fur

Southeast Cultivated plants, fish by the coast,

Rectangular/Barrel shaped

Animal hide/fur

Eastern Woodlands

Animals, cultivated plants, fish along coast

Cone/barrel roofed houses

Hide/fur/some plant

Map Exercise Cont.

Location Food Extras More Extras- Extends from southern Oregon into Canada

- Physical Characteristics: Thick forests of fir, spruce, and cedar trees; Mountains;

-Climate: Winters along the coast are cold but not icy; Summers are cool; heavy rainfall

-The Sea was the main food source; clams, shellfish, seaweed, seals, sea lions, whales.

-The forests provided deer, moose, bear, elk, beaver, and mountain goat.

-** Salmon in the Summer!!

-Weapons: Harpoons and spears to catch seals & fences to catch salmon

-Tools: Wedges, stone-headed sledgehammers, bone drills, stone chisels, stone knives,

-They used these sledgehammers to cut long thin boards for houses

-Used bark to make baskets, mats, and rope

-Crafts: Decorative shell buttons, animal masks, wooden bowls

Northwest Coast

Northwest Pics.

Location Food Houses/

ClothingExtras

- Stretches from Southern Oregon to Baja California (lower)

- Winter rain; hot/dry summers

-Coasts, valleys, & deserts

-Coastal: SALMON

-Southern: Shellfish

-Inland: Deer, Rabbit, Ducks

-Gatherers: Berries, roots, pine nuts, acorns*

-Clothing: Grass skirts/aprons; animal hides,

-Housing: Simple homes made out of deer antlers, and bark, shaped into a large cone.

-In marshy areas they wove mats of reeds to drape over a cone shaped framework of poles.

- Crafts: Made baskets, sifters, & fish traps out of woven plant materials. They decorated their work with clamshells and bird feathers.

Tools: Used deer antlers & elk

California

Location Food Extras-East of the California Basin between Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains

- Arid (dry) Desert

- Low grasses, sagebrush, rabbits, lizards

- Experienced extreme heat & cold temperatures

- Followed food source.- Spring: Camped by

Valley Lakes and streams for duck and plants.

- Summer: The lakes and valley dried up so they enjoyed snakes/grasshoppers

- Mostly Plant Eaters!!

- Would store food in preparation for winter!

- People of the Great Basin mostly traveled in search of food.

- Lived in cone-shaped homes made of reeds and willow poles.

- In cold temperatures they would make robes out of rabbit hides (100 hides/robe!)

- Used Seed Beaters to knock seeds loose from plants.

Great Basin

Location Food Houses/Clothing

-North of the Great Basin

-Mountains/Dense Forests

- Central area consists of flat land and grasses

- Long/cold winters- 2 River Systems:

Columbia & Fraser

-Hunted/gathered with the seasons.

-Plentiful Food-people could live in villages year-round.

-Homes were built partially underground

- Deer/Antelope in Winter

-Built villages along major rivers

-Rivers provided fish, drinking water, driftwood for houses

- Created baskets/hats with their weaving skills.

- Women used skinds from the hunt for dresses/leggings/ shirts that they decorated with seeds and shells

Plateau (“Fashionistas”)

Plateau Style

Location Food Mesa People (high

flat areas)-Present-day AZ, NM, S. UT, CO, & parts of TX

- Multiple environments: canyons, mountains, deserts, flat-topped mesas

- Rivers: Colorado, Rio Grande

- Dry, arid land

- Grew Corn, beans, squash

- Farmers would plans near natural flood areas.

- Some were Nomadic- Some hunter-gatherers- Mesa people were

more agricultural- Homes were made of

Adobe (sun baked clay)- A single village could

house 100 people- * grew, spun and wove

cotton for clothes and would use plants and minerals to dye them

Southwest

Locations Food Extras- Stretches 2,000 miles

from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico

- Eastern portion has more water and softer water

- Western portion is drier with short, dense grasses perfect for BUFFALO

-Eastern Portion people mostly farmed land

- Western Plains People followed the buffalo herds year round.

- In the Spring/Summer Plains people traveled in small groups to hunt

- During the Fall they traveled in larger groups to hunt the bigger herds

-Used arrows arrayed with feathers for better accuracy to kill buffalo

- Plains People used every part of the buffalo. Hides were used as shields, containers, robes/bedding etc.

- Buffalo tendons were used as thread. Plains people would sew the skins together and drape them over poles to form a tipi or dwelling.

Great Plains (Buffalo)

Plains People

Eastern

Woodlands(Iroquois)Location Food Extra

-Stretches from Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean & from Canada to North Carolina- Plentiful Forests, Lakes, streams

-Deer/Bears/Beavers/Birds/Fish

- Gathered greens/nuts/berries

- Made syrup from sap

- 2 language groups: Algonquin & Iroquois

- Used canoes to travel along the rivers

- Sturdy log-framed houses

- Women did all the farming!

- Used deerskin for capes, skirts, moccasins

- Stored their harvest in bark bins

- Crops: sunflowers, tobacco, vegies.

Log-Framed Structures

Locations Food Mounds-Stretches from the Southern part of the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico & from TX to the Atlantic Ocean.

-Fertile coastal plains, river valleys, mountains, and swamps

-

- Grew two crops of corn a year

- -Squash pumpkins, sunflowers, & other edible plants.

- Used blowguns to hunt squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and bows and arrows for deer, turkey etc.

-Towns of large earthen mounds

- The first mounds were burial sites and eventually temples

- Building mounds took several months/years because they would move dirt one basket at a time

- 2-12 mounds/town and people would build rectangular homes around them

South East (Mounds)