Native Americans

1. Native Americans Inuit Kwakiutl Pueblo Lakota Iroquois

2. First Americans Arrive on the Continent • For many years, archaeologists thought that people arrived approximately 11,500 years ago. They believed that the first Americans came from Asia over a strip of land called Beringia that once connected Asia and North America.

3. Cactus Hill Archaeologists have recently found artifacts at Cactus Hill, a site which is about 45 miles south of Richmond, Virginia, on the Nottoway River in southeast Virginia. These artifacts are about 18,000 years old. Now some scientists believe that the first people who reached North America came by boat from Europe, perhaps following a route from Iceland to Greenland to Canada, perhaps coming to the Caribbean first.

4. Recent excavations at a number of sites have provided new evidence and raised new questions about when people first came to the Americas. Stone artifacts, charcoal, and soil, plant and animal remains point to human habitation at Cactus Hill at least 18,000 years ago, during the late Ice Age. It may be that there was no single "First American". The Americas might have been populated as far back as 30,000-40,000 years ago by diverse people from several continents. Scientists continue to study and argue these points. They don’t agree.

5. http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/video/iceagenewev_700kW.htmlVideo: First people in the Americas & Cactus Hill

6. Many Native American Nations • Many Native American cultures grew, developed and even disappeared in the 12,000 years from the last Ice Age until the present. By the year 1400 AD more than 300 different nations were living in North America. They spoke different languages, lived in different types of homes and had different cultures. • Each tribe or clan adapted to their environment and used the available resources for survival.

7. Inuit • The Inuit inhabited present-day Alaska, Greenland, and northern Canada • They lived in Arctic areas where the temperature is below freezing most of the time. • There were few plants and some areas were very dry as well as cold.

8. Inuit tribes of Canada The Inuit live primarily along the far northern seacoasts of Russia, the United States, Canada, and Greenland. There are more than 100,000 Inuit, most of whom live south of the Arctic Circle. The majority, about 46,000, live in Greenland. There are approximately 30,000 on the Aleutian Islands and in Alaska, 25,000 in Canada, and 1,500 in Siberia.

10. The Inuit homeland is in one of the world’s regions least hospitable to human habitation. Most of the land is flat, barren tundra where only the top few inches of the frozen earth thaw out during the summer months. The majority of Inuit have always lived near the sea, hunting aquatic mammals such as seals, walrus, and whales.

11. Inuit Hunting Inuit people met nearly all their basic needs with materials they obtained through hunting and fishing. That is how they got their food, their clothing and much of their shelter.

12. Inuit Food • The Inuit live in a very harsh environment, one in which survival is quite challenging. Few plants grow where they live so most of their food comes from the sea or from hunting. • Food taken from the sea include seal, fish, whale, and walrus. • The Inuit hunt polar bear, caribou, musk ox and small game like the Arctic hare

15. Inuit Clothing • Seal, polar bear, caribou skin and fur • Inner and outer clothing • Jackets, mittens, trousers, boots

17. Inuit Shelter (Housing) • Sod huts, often partly underground or with underground rooms • Skin Tents • Igloo

18. In the winter many Inuit lived in sod homes. They would dig a hole in the ground and pile rocks and sod all around the outside to make walls. Pieces of wood or whalebone were used as a frame for the roof, which the Inuit then covered with sod. In both the tents and the sod houses the Inuit built raised platforms at the back for sleeping.

19. Inuit Sod Hut

20. Inuit Sod Hut

21. The Inuit are famous for their igloos. An igloo is built of blocks of snow shaped into a dome. They were mostly used as temporary shelter during winter hunting trips. The igloo is the one of the Inuit's best inventions. It is warm and easy to construct. A skilled worker can build an igloo in only an hour or two.

24. Inuit Transportation • Transportaion on land was accomplished on foot with sled dogs carrying loads. • Transportation on the water was done by kayak and umiak.

25. Traditional Umiaks were paddle craft. The open umiak is significantly larger than the enclosed kayak which was built to carry one or two men while hunting. A large umiak is 6 to 10 meters long and can hold more than 20 people. About seven skins are needed for the cover on a boat of 30 foot (9.1 meter). It has traditionally been used in summer to move people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds and for hunting whales and walrus.

27. Men race in a umiak in Nome, Alaska.

30. Roles of Men and Women • Men hunted, fished, and made tools and houses. • Women cooked, prepared food, sewed animal skins into clothes and shoes and raised children.

31. Art and Music • The Inuit made beautiful carvings of ivory, soapstone and bone. • Scrimshaw is a special type of carving on ivory that has darkened crevices.

32. These pieces were often small and easily portable. Why?

34. 1949 Inuit Hunting Inuit Video How to build an igloo - A Boy Among Polar Bears - BBC Following his father's footsteps - A Boy Among Polar Bears - BBC At the snow edge - A Boy Among Polar Bears – BBC Catching Fish for the Winter Inuit Tribe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_eyB8ZbIsU

35. Most Inuit today have settled in villages and live in houses. Many have access to modern technology, however many continue to keep some of the old customs and are proud of the culture of their people.

36. Kwakiutl • Homeland is along the Pacific Northwest coast • Rainy, mild climate

37. The Kwakiutl is a group of Indian tribes living along the Pacific Northwest coast in an area where Kwakiutl have lived for 8,000 years. Food is plentiful in their mild, rainy homeland. They are hunter/ gatherers and get most of their food from the oceans and rivers. Their culture is recognized for their artistic totem poles and ritualistic masks.

38. Kwakiutl Food Food is plentiful in the area where the Kwakiutl live. They are hunters and gatherers. Salmon Caribou Shellfish Fish Deer & Elk Bear Roots Berries Nuts Trade

39. Traditional Kwakiutl Clothing • Woven Cedar Bark • Animal Skins

40. Potlatch 1

41. Kwakiutl Shelter (Housing) Plank Houses are made of cedar.

42. Kwakiutl Transportation • Dugout canoes made of Cedar

45. War Canoes • Kwakiutl men used large trunks of cedar trees, burned and dug out the center and made canoes. Some canoes were used by a few people, but the Kwakiutl also built large canoes to follow the path of migrating fish and animals during different seasons of the year. These large canoes, sometimes up to 60 feet long, were used to go far into the ocean. They were callled “war” canoes

47. Potlatch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gYjQw9Bf4 • Throughout native North America, gift giving is a central feature of social life. In the Pacific Northwest, this tradition is known as the potlatch. Within the tribal groups of these areas, individuals hosting a potlatch give away much, if not all, of their wealth and material goods to show goodwill to the rest of the tribal members and to maintain their social status. Later they go to another potlatch and receive gifts. Participation shows status.

48. Kwakiutl Role of Man and Woman • Men hunted, fished, traded, built houses and canoes. Men became incredible carvers and artists. • Women gathered food, wove cedar, and raised children.