Native Texans

Southeastern, Gulf, Pueblo and Plains Cultures

Plains Tribes

ComancheApacheKiowa

The Hunters – Kiowas, Apaches, and Comanches

I. Location• A. West Texas – from the northern border to New Mexico and Mexico• B. Followed the great buffalo herds across• the plains• C. Once all enemies; eventually shared hunting• territories

• II. Homes• A. Teepees• 1. New each spring• 2. Made of buffalo hides over poles • to form a cone• 3. Sewn together, painted with

• designs• 4. Sides rolled up to let in breezes • in summer

• III. Appearance • A. Clothes• 1. Summer – breechcloth and hide leggings• 2. Winter – shirts of animal hides, long leggings, buffalo robes•• B. Hair• 1. Comanches –men plaited their long hair into• two braids and painted the middle part• red, yellow, or white. Feathers • attached to sides of their heads.

2. Women wore one braid down the back3. Kiowa and Lipan Apache – cut hair on

• left side to top of ear to show off • ear decorations; right side was never • cut and grew almost to the ground•• • C. Paint • 1. Men – painted faces red with favorite designs• 2. Women – painted red and yellow lines above and• below their eyes, and orange triangles on their• cheeks.

IV. Foods-Buffalo was the main source of food. Made into

jerkey, boiled, broiled or eaten raw.

They ate nuts, berries and drank

warm animals blood

V. Customs-

Men did hunting and raiding! Women did everything else. Horses were key to

the hunting and raiding.

Leadership- men of the tribe made decisions. To become a man, boys went on vision quests

SOUTHEASTERN CULTURES

Southeastern Farmers• Caddo s • Wichitas

Gulf Cultures Hunter gatherers

• Karankawa• Coahuitecan

Geographic location

• Piney Woods of East Texas

Use of land and water

• Great farmers in the rich soils of East Texas• Used trot lines to catch fish in rivers.• Used Trees to build permanent homes.

Caddo clothes

• Wore deerskin and fur capes when cold.• Tattooed their bodies and wore shells for

jewelry and had nose rings.• Used a black dye for the deer skin.

Foods

• Successful Farmers who grew corn, beans, melons, pumpkins and squash.

• Used animal traps for same game and trotlines to catch fish.

• Hunted buffalo (rare) and javelina.

Caddo Homes Large usually 2 families per hut. Domed shaped made of mud, poles, and straw.Often looked like beehives. Used the large pines trees in the area.Homes were permanent and built as part of a village.

Axe for cutting trees

Customs

The Caddo were mound builders. They created and built mounds of dirt for their gods. Great traders of pots, bowls, bows and vegetables.Government was vey organized. Women could be leaders. Had Confederacies that made up villages with religious and political leaders.

Caddo Pottery

THE PLANT GATHERERS – SCAVENGERS OF THE DESERT

COAHUILTECANS

I. Location-South Texas from the Rio Grande to San Antonio

II Never a “tribe,“ but traveled in nomadic “bands” of 100+, protecting their area against outside attackersAfter Europeans bands were small and very poor

III. Dwellings – simple circular, brush lean-tos made of willow saplings to form a domed shape. Covered with brush or hides.

Coahuiltecan Clothing

• Breechcloth made of animal skins (rabbit) and decorated with animal teeth

• Worn earrings of shell and feathers• Very small in size

IV. Food- very scarceA. Main foods – pecans, acorns, mesquite beansB. Hunted rabbits, turtles, snakes, rats, and dogsC. Special treat- dried fish and insectsD. Also ate lizards, spiders, ant eggs, and rotten wood

V. Hunting CustomsA. “Surrounds” – people formed a circle around animals and slowly walked toward a corral made of timbers to catch deer and small animals

B. Weapons – bows, arrows and tomahawks

VI. Customs A. Death – boys and men mourned for 3 months

Mourners could not even leave to find food.They sometimes starved.

B. Children 1. Not named until several years old3. Seldom punished – water thrown on offender

VII. End of the Culture-Became the “mission Indians” of San Antonio and some moved to Mexico as slaves, others died from disease.

THE MYSTERY TRIBES – JUMANOS AND TIGUAS

I. Location A. Big Bend area and lands west of the Pecos,

near the Rio GrandeB. Five major pueblo settlements

II. AppearanceA. Noted for cleanliness and neatnessB. Hair

1. Men - worn short, cut like a small cap2. Women – long and loose

C. Decorations – feathers worn in hair, jewelry of copper, coral, and turquoise

III. Dwellings – pueblo housesA. Made of adobe (mud and grass bricks)B. Low and squareC. Some were two or more storiesD. Flat roofs strong enough to hold entire

family

IV. FoodA. Farmed by Irrigated fields with river water

1. Raised crops of beans, squash, corn, andcotton

2.Cooked-Stone boiled food in gourds and pottery

B. Hunting 1.Traveled across the mountains to hunt deer and buffalo

2.Made jerky to keep meat from spoiling

VII. End of the Culture – “The Mystery Indians” Most “vanished” into thin air. Some Tiguas live on a reservation near El Paso

Karankawas

• Geographic Location-Along the Gulf coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi.

• Use of land and water-• 1.fished in the bays and coastal waters• 2. Hunted in the coastal plains

Karankawas Clothes

• Women wore shawls of Spanish moss and skirts of rabbit or deerskin

• Wore breechcloth and canes pierced thru lips and chest

KarankawasFisher-hunter gatherers

• In spring and summer, the Karankawas would camp near the forests where they could gather nuts and berries and hunt deer, bears, and stray buffalo.

• In fall and winter they lived near the coast where they would catch fish, turtles, shellfish, and gather sea plants. Their dugout canoes were their most prized possessions.

Karankawas Homes

Karankawa homes were long poles tied together with a skin to cover the side from which the wind came. Thenthe hut was covered over withmarsh reeds and grasses. These dwellingswere called wickiups. Because they moved