Some Native Americans grew corn, potatoes. pumpkins, yams, and lima beans for their food. Most of our crops today came from the Indians. They also used plants to make medicine.
In the Southeast they ate corn, squash, and beans as part of their food. These three foods were called "The Three Sisters."
The Indians mixed these three vegetables together. It was called succotash.
The main source of food for the Iroquois came from their farming. Women were in charge of doing the farming. Each year the Iroquois had six ceremonies. Four of them had to do with the corn because of how corn was very important to them. Another interesting thing they would do was to tap the
Goshute and Shoshone Indians in the Nevada and Utah deserts gathered some of their food. Roots and nuts were important because food was scarce. They also did not have very many horses because they would eat them. The Goshutes were known as good runners. Without horses they had to get around on foot. When pioneers started arriving the Goshutes would steal their animals. Prized pioneer animals became the Goshute’s next meal.
Hunting and fishing were important in the lives of Native Americans. They hunted deer, elk, antelope, and sometimes even bear. Smaller animals they hunted were: rabbits, turkeys, snakes, and even lizards.
The types of animals they hunted would sometimes change when they moved to the next place. They were careful to shoot or catch just what they needed. At times they fought other tribes over hunting grounds.
How could meat they caught be kept good or preserved? Taking care of their meat was a big job. During the summer and fall the Shoshones would dry their meat. First they would cut it into strips. Then they dried it half way. Next, they pounded it to make it tender. Then they finished drying it. And finally, they would put their dried meat into sacks for storing it until it was needed.
Plains Indians would follow the herds of buffalo from place to place because they were a big source of their food.
The Native Americans also used the bufallo for many other things. Tepees, for example, were used by Plains Indians as homes.
The sides of these tents were made from bufallo skins. Tepees made the moving around that they did easier. They could be taken down and set up when needed. When moving, the tepee poles were used to carry their things. They were covered with the tent skins and pulled by the animals. The unit they made to do this was called a travois.
What tribes would hunt and fish might be different. Take the tribes in the north for example. What the Inuit hunted was not the same as in other parts of the country. Inuits hunted seals, whales, polar bears, caribou, and birds. The kayak is something they invented. They created it to help them do their hunting.
Text Credits:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/1.asp;
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/tcrr-interview/ (Buffalo and Native Americans);
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-cultures/videos/the-buffalo-and-native-americans;
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/myths_arctic.html (Inuit)
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/index.shtml;
The White Indian Boy, Elijah Nicholas Wilson and Howard R. Driggs
- Painted faces to look fierce- p. 91
- Killing of buffalo with spear- p. 22
- Preparing meat- Drying and storing in bags
- Goshutes were run off out of other tribes.
- Shoshone tribes met all together once every three years.
- Shoshone region- Salt Lake to Montana, Southern California to Wyoming
- Goshutes found roots and nuts and even ate horses. Food was scarce for them. They became known as good runners because they ate some of their horses.
Nick Wilson describes the Shoshone clothes he wore when he returned from living with the Indians for two years.- p. 119
Tribes fought over hunting grounds- - p. 89
Travels; Washakie- peaceful minded; Catching white-tailed deer, p. 35; Duties of squaws; Sweat houses, pp. 69-78; Weapons, p. 105; Arrows, bows, and spears; Shoshone guides for Lewis and Clark Expedition; Quote to avoid roads where white men travel; How to make bow, arrow, and spear