|
Woodlands |
Southwest |
Far North |
Northwest |
Plains | |
| What it was like | Lands were covered by great forrest. In winter snow shoes and toboggins were used. | Bare dry country that was often very hot. Very little rain. | Icy treeless plains or tundra. | Great forrest with rich lands that could feed many. | |
| Homes | Lived together in villages. In summer moved by lakes or streams.Homes were covered with bark or mud called wigwams or wickiups. Long houses where families lived together. | Simple shelters made of thin post or logs covered with brush or clay. Others built towns of high piled houses made of stone or sun dried brick. Usually a town was built into a cliff or on the side of one for protection. | Made houses from snow or chunks of earth rounded at the top over rafters of whale bone. | People lived in large villages and had summer homes on the coast. | Camps were setup close to the rivers. Tepee's and earth lodges |
| Food | corn, beans, squash, fruits, nuts, grasses, bulbs, rabbit, beaver, opossum, squirrel, fish, turtles and shellfish. | Corn, beans and squash. | Whale, seal and fish. | Shell fish, berries, fruit. | Buffalo |
| Customs/Activities | Made mounds of earth shaped like snakes, eagles, wildcats and other animals of respect. Use wampum to buy things. Made decorations from shell beads. | Long walks to water crops and tend sheep. Used a medicine man for healing. | On land they traveled in sleds pulled by husksy dogs. They went to sea in skin boats. | In the summer they hunted gray whales. Carved canoe's and totem poles from cedar trees. Had gift giving parties called potlatches. Each nation had its own special dance. | Boys worked from moccasin-bearer or servant to a warrior. |
| Men & Boys | Hunters and fishermen. | As they dance they seemed to have become the spirit of that dance. | Men and boys carved tools and decorations from stone, ivory and bone. | Hunted wild buffalo. Made tools from buffalo teeth. Boys wanted to be good hunters. | |
| Women & Girls | Played house with toy tepee's and carried puppies on their back instead of dolls. Women made baskets out of grass and bark. | Worked on softening hide for clothing by chewing on it. | Could setup tepee's quickly |