Transcript Museum Entrance - Christy Keeler

The
Hunters
The
Farmers
Welcome to the
Press
For
Curator
Native American Food Museum
Museum Entrance
The
Gatherers
The Hunters
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The Hunters
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The Gatherers
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The Gatherers
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The Farmers
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The Farmers
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Preserving Meat
To preserve their meat, Native Americans would
usually cut it into strips and then hang the strips onto
racks over a smoky fire. This picture shows a group
of Native Americans smoking their meat. They
might even have a smokehouse where the meat could
smoke for longer periods of time. After the food was
dried it would be stored in the ground where it would
be safe until it was ready to be eaten.
Image acquired at:
www.bluesandhash.com/scbbqhistory.php
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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.
Image acquired at:
meatpaper.com/articles/2007/1217_oden.html
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The Three Sisters
Corn, 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.
Image acquired at:
www.crowcanyon.org/.../basketmaker_III_food.asp
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The Hunter-Gatherers
At one point all humans were hunter-gatherers
until the introduction of agriculture. The huntergatherers 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.
Image acquired at:
www.karlloren.com/diet/p81.htm
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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.
Image acquired at:
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/21/buffalo-jumpnative-americans-way-to-kill-herds-of-buffalos/
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/277071...
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.archives.gov/.../select-list-057.html
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/277071...
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.floridahistory.com/indiana.html
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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.
Image acquired at:
http://geologyonline.museum.state.il.us/tools/lesson
s/4.6/lesson.html
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.palouseprairie.org/display/
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer_plains.html
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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.
Image acquired at:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/afte
r1500/economy/index.htm
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Maize
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.
Image acquired at:
www2.kenyon.edu/.../history/native.htm
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Desert 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.
Image acquired at:
www.lacity.org/elp/elphis7.htm
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It 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 have looked like.
Image acquired at:
www.newberry.org/smith/slidesets/ss18.html
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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.
Image acquired at:
www.nativewayonline.com/
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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: [email protected]
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