Plains Native Americans

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Introduction• The largest group of Native American that

lived in America were the Plains Nations. • (Europeans called them tribes but they call

themselves Nations) • The largest Nation called themselves the

Lakota although the white people called them Sioux (pronounced ‘soo’).

• Until the mid-nineteenth century they were nomads which means that the plains Native Americans never stayed in one place but moved around following the bison that they hunted.

• In today’s lesson we are going to see what it was like to live in a Plains Nation camp.

• This means their homes, their possessions and how these were made and acquired

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The Plains ….• are in the centre of North America on

the huge, hilly grasslands.• Although the Lakota was the largest

Nation, there were others including the Comanche, the Blackfoot, the Cheyenne and the Dakota

• They relied on what was around them to live on.

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Introduction

• The Plains Native Americans were people who did not like to live in one place.

• They liked to travel around and moved camps at least three times a year.

• For this reason they lived in tepees, these were like big tents and were easy to put up and take down.

• These tipis were transported by horses

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Bison• The Plains Native Americans largely depended

on the bison (or buffalo as the European mis-named them).

• These great creatures lived in their thousands on the grassy plains.

• The Lakota hunted them for many reasons. • The bison was their main source of food but

they also relied on it to provide their clothing which was made from the skins or hides of the animal.

• The Native Americans wasted nothing using the bones for tools, the muscle and sinew for bowstrings and for thread, the hair for rope and even the dung was used for fuel.

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The Bison Herds

• The bison herds were always on the move looking for fresh grass.

• As the herds moved around so did the Nations of Native Americans.

• Because of this they owned few possessions and they needed homes that were quick and easy to put up and take down.

• This is why the tipi was so useful

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Who used tipis? • Every tepee was personal to the family

that lived in it. • You could tell who lived in the tepee by

the decoration on the outside. • This required that they be able to

unpack and move to another location quickly.

• They needed a shelter that was portable, durable and water resistant.

• The tipi was perfect for that.

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Inside a Tipi• The tipi was the family

home to the Plains Native Americans and the Lakota were no different and they lived inside their tipi.

• The things that happened in a tipi was like what happens in any home - people slept, cooked, ate and entertained.

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Inside the tipi – the walls

• The Lakota would decorate the insides with pictures, store their weapons and food.

• They used to put bison skins on the floor to use as carpets.

• bison furs served as rugs. • The tipi was lined in the winter for

warmth and privacy.

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Inside a Tipi – the fire• One of the main features of the tipi was that

the fire was always in the centre. • This was for cooking and for keeping warm in

cold weather. The reason that the fire was in the middle made it easier to get rid of the smoke.

• At the top of the tipi was the smoke flaps that were opened to let the smoke out and could be closed when it was raining.

• This was a practical feature that really made the tipi very comfortable to live in, the smoke was drawn straight up and out the top.

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Inside the tipi – the couches• The beds that were around the

outside also acted as couches during the day or when entertaining.

• It was important for any visitor to a tipi not to walk in front of these couches but around the back because it was considered very bad manners to walk between people and the fire.

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Inside the tipi – other things

• The picture on the right shows the inside of a tipi and the couch/bed and some of the possessions.

• You can see the feathered head-dress and how crowded the tipi could be.

• You can also see that the bed was not just a mat on the floor

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Inside the tipi – other things• There was room to

store food, supplies or other possessions which they did.

• Another great storage area the poles that were the frame and items like weapons, bullets and guns and food were hung on these.

• The items that were hung on the tipi poles were things that the inhabitants might need in a hurry or were of immediate use.

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Cool tipis!• The tipi also had a form of air conditioning. • If it was hot inside the tipi during summer

then the sides of the tipi could be rolled up to allow fresh air to flow through.

• This made the tipi very comfortable to live in. The smoke flap also helped to cool the tipi in the warmer weather.

• The smoke flaps were used to control the draft depending on the direction of the wind outside.

• In the summer, adjusting the smoke flaps could aid in catching the wind for a down draft.

• This made the tipi much cooler in hot weather

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How were the tipis moved?•The outstanding characteristic of the tipi was its portability.

•It took women only minutes to disassemble the tipi and transport it by horse.

•Tipi hides, poles, and household articles were placed on a device known as a travois* and dragged behind a horse.

•Tra -voy - to rhyme with toy

• Before they had horses, they used to make smaller tipis, because the tipis had to be carried by or dragged behind in a small travois a dog.

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What was a travois?

• Once the cover was taken off the tipi, the support poles were removed and made into a travois.

• A travois is a frame that is placed on a horse or a dog. • The travois was placed with the poles crossed and

joined together at the animals shoulders, with the other ends dragging behind on the ground.

• The other tipi pole was then tied to the other two poles to form a triangle, a handmade net was then placed in the middle of this triangle to carry the families possessions or sometimes babies or young children.

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What else did they take??

• The Lakota carried – supplies of meat, – clothes and – utensils were lashed onto the frame,

• while other belongings were put into saddlebags or the large rawhide envelopes called "par fleches" and strapped to the sides of the horses.

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When was the best time to get hides for a tipi?

• June was the best time to procure hides for the tipi cover.

• The summer bison cow hide was the best because it was fairly large, did not have any heavy fat layers, and its hair could be removed quite easily.

• Approximately thirteen hides were used in the average size tipi cover.

• Nearly 400m stitching was required to fasten the hides together.

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Who made the tipis?• The structure lasted an average of 10 years. • When the tipi was replaced, the old one was

made into clothing or patching material for other tipis.

• Only certain women performed particular duties in making a tipi cover, and only a few did the cutting and matching of the skins.

• This knowledge was passed on within the family, or was conditionally sold to someone else.

• In some Nations, this was a right possessed by only one woman in the village.

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How were the hides prepared?

• Preparing hides was heavy manual labour.

• First, the hides were fleshed by carefully scraping the inside layers away.

• Next, they were dehaired either by scraping with an elkhorn scraper or by causing the hair to slip.

• This slipping was accomplished by soaking the hide in water or burying it in damp soil for several days.

• This procedure loosened the hair making it easy to remove.

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How were the hides prepared?

• Next, the skin was washed thoroughly, and a mash made of brains (and sometimes the liver) of the animal was completely worked through the hide over a period of several days.

• While the hide was drying, it was carefully worked to retain the softness of the tanning process.

• This softening of the hide continued until it was completely dry.

• The hide was now ready for assembly into the tipi cover

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How long did a tipi last?• A skin tipi might last two to three years,

depending upon the amount of travelling done, and the weather during its use.

• New covers were very light in colour. • As time went on, the top portions became

darkened with smoke from the fires inside, even though the fires were kept small.

• After replacing the cover, the old one was cut up for moccasin soles and other useful items.

• Leather of this kind was nearly indestructible and permanently waterproofed because it had been so thoroughly smoked.

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Horses and the Spanish• The horse was first brought to the

Americas by the Spanish in 1540. • The Spaniard travelled from what is

modern day Mexico to the plains of America in search of the "Seven Cities of Gold".

• These cities that were thought to be built of gold ended up being mud and stone that glowed in the early morning and late afternoon sun.

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Horses• Horses escaped from this expedition and

flourished on the American plains. • There would have been a delay between

the horses escaping and them becoming a common sight to the Lakota.

• When the Native American People first saw the horse they were scared of them.

• The only other creature that they knew that looked like a horse was a dog, so the horse was called "Spirit Dog" or "Medicine Dog" because the horse was much larger, stronger and faster than real dogs.

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Horses• The Native Americans valued

their horses and the task of caring for them was given to boys and young men.

• Great pride was taken in horsemanship.

• In just a short time, Plains Native American warriors became great horseback riders.

• Every warrior had his own war-horse, which he prized more than anything else he owned.

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The Lakota people used pictures to mark the

passage of time. • The Lakota people of the Great Plains did not

have a written language until the late 1800s. • Nor did they think of years as numbers, like

1800 or 1905. • But they felt the importance of keeping track

of history and found ways to mark the passage of time.

• For the Lakota, a year began with the first snowfall of one winter and ended with the first snowfall of the next winter.

• At the end of a year, elders chose an unusual event to represent the whole year.

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The Lakota people used pictures to mark the

passage of time. • One man was responsible for keeping track of

the years on a “winter count,” a calendar made up of pictures.

• This man, the winter count “keeper,” added a picture to the calendar for each year that passed.

• He was also expected to remember the details of all the years included on the calendar, in the proper order.

• The winter count images jogged his memory when he retold the stories of his people’s history on special occasions.

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Winter Count

• The horse stands for 1801–2, the year this group of Lakota got their first horse.

• People spoke about that year as “the time people had no horses.”

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Horses• A warrior did not use his horse everyday,

usually only on special occasions, such as going into battle or during a bison hunt.

• The horse revolutionised the lifestyle of the Lakota by allowing to roam freely and quickly over the whole plain.

• They could now track the bison and hunt them easier.

• The Lakota could move camp faster and easier by using a horse with a travois frame make out of the poles from the tipi

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MEAT • The bison was the main source of food

for the Native Americans of the Plains. • The people ate not only the meat, but

the tongue and many other internal organs (brain, liver) as well.

• The blood was used in soup and puddings.

• The meat was eaten fresh from the hunt or preserved. Fresh meat was often cooked in a stew.

• Meat that could not be eaten right away was made into jerky, pemmican, or sausages.

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Part of the bison

• Jerky: Meat cut into strips and dried in the sun or cured by exposing to smoke.

• Suet: The hard fatty tissues around the kidneys of cattle and sheep, used in cooking and for making tallow

• Tallow: Hard fat obtained from parts of the bodies of cattle, sheep, or horses, and used in foodstuffs or to make candles, leather dressing, soap, and lubricants.

• Gristle: Cartilage, especially when present in meat.

• Cartilage: A tough, elastic, fibrous connective tissue found in various parts of the body.

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What a bison parts were used for

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MEAT • This woman is making pemmican. • Pemmican was a very popular food to take on hunting

trips because it was light to carry and very nutritious. • Pemmican stored in airtight containers would keep for

several years.• To make pemmican, she grinds up jerky with a coarse

stone, which she then mixes with melted suet and dried berries.

• Then she forms this mixture into strips and stores them in a container such as a bison stomach.

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Clothing• The Native Americans of the Plains

made most of their clothing out of tanned animal hides.

• They made their finest clothes from the skins of antelope or mountain sheep, their everyday clothes of deer or elk skins.

• Very often they decorated them with special designs of porcupine quills, and later, with trade beads.

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Clothing• During the hot summer days on the

plains they seldom wore much clothing. • But in the cold season a very important

piece of clothing was a warm bison robe.

• It was made of a large piece of skin with the fur left on.

• The side without fur was usually decorated with designs that were painted or decorated with porcupine quills sewn in place.

• The painting often recorded the family history, or war or hunting exploits.

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Examples• Moccasins, shoes made of

animal hides and often decorated with quills or beads, came in different patterns depending on the region.

• Traditional Plains clothing consisted of a skin dress for women, a shirt, breechclout, and leggings for men.

• The clothing was embellished with quillwork, elk teeth, beadwork, fringes, and sometimes, hair.

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What were the bison like?•Bull bison (males) weighed more than

one tonne and stood over 1.5 metres tall at the shoulders.

•The cows (females) were smaller but they had better meat.

•Bison ran very fast and had a good sense of smell but bad eyesight.

•Bison move an average of 2 miles per day to graze.

•When necessary bison can run 55 km per hour and keep that pace for half an hour.

•Both male and female bison have horns.

•The average bison horn is 60cm long, and the span between two bison horns can be more than 60cm.

•The calf is born without horns or hump.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!

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Sioux and the bison• The Sioux Native Americans followed the

herds of bison. • Historians estimate that in 1800 there

were about 60 million bison. • The Native Americans used to hunt the

bison first on foot and then using horses. • They never killed more than they

needed. • They used every part of the bison,

nothing was wasted. • “Bison Nation, the People depend on you,

so we pray you will be healthy“ was a Lakota Song

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Sioux and the BisonHow the Lakota see it

• For thousands of years, before the coming of the white man, the native people of the great American Nations, the bison Nation, and the wildlife of North America lived in harmony.

• The bison provided the native people with food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.

• The people lived a healthy, happy, and spiritual life on Mother Earth.

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Homework• The white man has only recently come to

America. They are just settling in in the NE of America on the coast.

• But you are an explorer. You have set off, crossed the Appalachian Mountains and come to the Plains, where you have met some Sioux.

• You are keeping a diary, which you later hope to turn into a book to tell people on the East coast of America and in Europe too what the Native Americans are really like.

• So I want an diary entry about one aspect of Sioux life that we have talked about today that really interests you.