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| Hi - My name is Alec and I'm 12 yrs. old. I would
like to ask you some questions. 1.) What would the Native Americans make
from deer organs? 2.) What would they make from deer hair? 3.) What would
they make from deer tendons and bones? And 4.) what would they make from
deer hooves? Thank you very much - Alec Hae Alec, Almost all cultures have what are called 'rites of passage'. These are the things that tell when a person is ready to move from childhood to adulthood. Bringing in a deer was one of the things a 12 year old might, in our culture in earlier times, be expected to do. Things are not the same today, but back in the early days a young man would be expected to help feed his family. To go over all the ways that the deer would help his family would take a long time, so I will give you just a very few examples. Some organs were used for food. The stomach might be used as a container for liquids (after cleaning and preserving, of course). Deer hide was used for clothes, blankets, etc. The hide was tanned with the hair off for warmer weather. It was left with the hair on for cold weather. Each individual hair is hollow and traps air inside itself. The hair side worn next to the skin was like adding an extra layer of insulation (like the most expensive thermal window glass in your world). This worked for foot and head gear, as well. And you'd be warm as toast at night with this as a blanket. Bones would be used for lots of things - from needles and awls to food (bone marrow) to knives and handles for things to musical instruments. And deer leg tendons (sinew) were the wonder of the native's world. It was used for anything that needed thread to things large enough to need rope. It stitched everything together from clothes to shelter. Used wet, it was very flexible and you could get it into small holes and narrow places with no difficulty and when it dried, it was almost impossible to get apart. White people called it 'Indian iron'. As it dried, it shrank and made a bond stronger and tighter than nails ever could have. Ah, deer toes, one of my favorite sounds. Traditionally worn by warriors in the form of rattles. They were boiled to clean them out, then strung together and worn as leg bands, arm bands and on sticks. If you go to a powwow and hear a strange rattling, clacking sound, that is what you're hearing. From Terry: While hiking in Kentucky and Tennessee I have on occassion found small pieces of flint in rock shelters. I even found a large arrowhead in my parents garden. My question is, after having been told that flint does not occur naturally in the region, where did the local Indians find flint. Hae Terry, Yes, signs of our people are everywhere. The mistake your people often make about us is that we didn't travel. Long before europeans came we had trade routes established that would get us whatever we needed or wanted. We're talking thousands of years here. Here where we are (Eastern Shore) we could get dentalium form California and obsidian from the northwest. A little flint from a neighboring 'state' was not even an exercise. In fact, long trips were why the Creator made winter and feet. Close to here in the Pokomoke Forest in Maryland, there were found two children buried for many hundreds of years. A lot of things in the graves were preserved because of the chemical action of thousands of copper beads. Tests were done on the beads. Their exact point of manufacture in Michigan can be told by their mineral makeup. We even traded for hundreds of miles just for different colors of clay for pipes and pots. Here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we have almost no rock at all. That would have put us at a real disadvantage, but our trade routes got us what we needed. By the water's edges here, we find projectile points of all different kinds of stone. People ask us what we could possibly have to trade for these things. I tell them that oysters, clams and sea trout would do it for me. From Tina: I found an arrowhead that was 4 inches across, I was wanting to know what was this type of arrowhead used for? I was wanting to know how did Indians make the arrowheads? How did they get them so perfect? Did they use other flints to make them? Any Info would be helpful. Thank You, Tina To Tina - Hae, Good for you. There is a story in our culture about the stone people tribe. When the earth was first created the stone people were one of the first to inhabit the earth. To make a long story short, they are important to us because stones contain all the knowledge of the earth. The Great Creator instilled and charged them to go forth and spread their wisdom. If a stone person comes to you in any form it has sought you out to give you knowledge. I truly believe the old myths have credit and are useful in today's society. It was meant for you to find and learn. Unfortunately, I need to see a picture of your point. I need to know what area you live in. It seems from your description, your point was used to hunt larger animals or it is probably a knife. Knives look a lot like points. See, also if you can identify the type of material it is made from. Anyway, congratulations on having a stone person coming to live with you. The Ancestors seem to have something they want to share with you. The making of points and tools was a necessary function that took a lot of practice. Usually, there was one person among the the tribal members that perfected flint knapping. The extensive trade routes provided new and different sources of material. An example, our area has almost no natural stone, so trading in stones was an important trade item for us. We used a lot of bone points and fire hardened wood until we could trade for stone. Different stones are softer and easier to work with than others. This was again, knowledge gained by experience. Both men and women knew how to make weapons for basic survival. There were many points made that were just ceremonial in use. These points would be given as an honored gifts or just to be used at times of celebration, birth, planting of crops, solstice, and even to send loved ones who were taking their final journey to the stars. Size was another factor to consider. What type of game you were hunting influenced the size of point or knife you made. Tiny points for birds, medium points for raccoon or turkeys, and large points for deer, bear or buffalo. Tools were also very important. Constant improvements were sought to make tools sharper or more effective. I hope this has answered some of your questions. There are many simple books on the art of flint knapping. Maybe you would like to try some of the rocks from your area. Learning helps you realize how much we take daily life for granted today. Waneshi,
Grandmother Storm From Chloe: Their homeland what was it like, I mean How did they live, like if you were to steal something how would you be punished? To Chloe - Hae, My ancestor's homeland was much like it is today where I live. Lots of ocean and bay and woods. They had more woods then open land. Their agriculture was less invasive then it is today. And, of course, they had less of it. As a result, they also had less deer then we have today. Our ancestors lived more simply then we do today. We planted and hunted. We had to make clothes or trade something to someone to make them for us. Nothing there to steal. That problem was not here like it is today. People were raised from birth to depend on the tribal group for their existance and to become a person that the group could depend on like all the people around them. This was the only way they knew and it worked fine for them. The ultimate punishment for doing something that jeopardized the welfare of their group was banishment. This was horrendous. It struck at the heart of all that you thought you were. In that day and age, it was the worst possible thing that could happen. You lost your whole sense of identity, not to mention you were in danger of starving. From Judith: How did they ornament themselves? Beads, jewelry? How about their clothing, did they decorate it? To Judith - Hae, Oh Please, you'd get better results asking natives not to eat, then not decorate ourselves. We are decorating junkies. And our ancestors were, too. Let's do the basics first. The mid-Atlantic natives were heavy into tattooing. These tattoos formed the outward proofs of various rites of passage, puberty, marriage, so forth. Men and women both did this. Any clothing, leather or fiber could be dyed with the natural plant dyes available to us. And, of course, we painted ourselves. We even popped corn and ate some and strung some for wearing. Feathers were readily available. We have seen examples of unbelievably intricate feather work. In addition to the locally available skins, dyes, bones, clay and shells, we had the rest of the Continental US to decorate ourselves. Centuries prior to first European contact, we had established trade routes that spread in all directions. You can still today find projectile points and scrappers of obsidian from the western states. We adorned ourselves with copper from Michigan and Dentalium shell from California's Coast. (All documented) We imported the redder clay from south of us and quills from the north of us, although we never even came close to gaining the quilling skill of our northern cousins. Just didn't take to it, I guess. They do absolutely gorgeous, incredible quillwork. During times when things slowed down, we repaired things and made new things, clothes, musical instruments and home furnishings (mats, bedding, etc.) and decorated them. We dressed up and sang, danced and told stories. We pierced ears and noses. And wore things in them. Just to wind this up on an unusual note: we have stories of times of celebration when some of our ancestors would thread small garter snakes through the holes in their ears for decoration. Now is this the hit of the party or what!! From Marie: What kind of houses did the Assateagues live in and what were they made of? Hae Marie, Easy one. Bent sapling frame, adult height, roughly 9 or 10 feet long. Length was no problem, family grew - added more sapling framing for more length. Covered with woven mats made of whatever material was most plentiful in individual area, most often the cattail, sea grass and phragmite type grasses that are so abundant here. These mats could be arranged or removed to catch the breeze. They could also be replaced with little effort as needed. Lodge would be rounded on top for water shedding with a strategic hole for letting out smoke with a flap for wind direction. Realize that for the greater part of the year we cooked outside. Only truly inclement weather would force us to cook inside. Inside would be ledges along the sides for sitting, sleeping and/or storage. Many, many things were arranged by hanging them from the inside roof and sides. Smaller ledges were higher up on the sides for things that could not easily be hung up. We invented small apartment living. The eastern shore has tons of ticks, biting flies, greenheads and horse flies. What did the Assateagues do to protect themselves from all these insects? Oh Marie, this is my favorite question of all of yours. It gives me a chance to point out what sorts of things civilization has brought along with televisions and computers. I don't know for sure just what insects were here before contact and what kinds the colonists brought with them. But I can tell you this. All the little biting beasts you mention were not here in anywhere near the massive numbers we have today. Did I hear you say "Why"? Because we didn't raise cattle in the barns and pastures next door. We hunted animals that sensibly stayed as far away from us as they could, along with their attendant ticks and flies. And incidentally, we feel sure, by listening to ancestors words passed down to us, that they were aware of things like deer ticks that carried disease. We know it today as Lyme Disease. During certain seasons they avoided hunting deer at all. We did not live directly on the marshland and so avoided those insects. The onslaught of the Europeans destroyed many of the natural enemies of the various insects. Their plowed land effectively upset the balance of predator versus victim. Lizards, spiders and snakes were swept away as just so much unnecessary trash and the insects thrived. The insects then came after us. Marie, if you learn nothing else from all these words, learn this lesson. When human civilization over runs nature by destroying any form of life, no matter how small, the balance of things changes and we often wind up suffering more than if we had just left it alone and learned to live with whatever it was that we didn't like. Lizards, by the way, were welcome in our camps and homes. They helped take care of insects for us. We also encouraged bats and birds. Gourds make great birdhouses. And birds eat insects. When things did bite us, we had herbs to take of the itches and pains. Approximately how long have the Assateagues been around? Hae Marie, Hard to put into words. The Assateagues have our roots in the Algonquin language group stock in the North of this continent. We are talking in terms of centuries before recorded history. As they moved down the coast and moved into all the many inlets (look at a map of the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia coastline) of the coastline, they formed family and extended family groups. In some places these grew into tribes and, in some cases, into nations. The names of the larger tribes you can find in the history books. What were the job differences between the boys/girls and men/women? First let's address the difference between children and adults. The children were shamelessly indulged. Nothing much was expected of them for about the first six years. They ran about unhindered and free to grab food and naps wherever and whenever they choose. They were watched over by all members of the tribe and kept reasonably safe from harm. At about six years of age, strangely enough, the kids themselves changed. They became more interested in the adult behavior going on around them, and began to copy it. At this time they were taken in hand by the kinswoman or kinsman expected to further their training. As all children belonged to the clan of their mother, that's where the training came from. The teaching of the girls fell to their mothers or to a sister or aunt, whoever was best suited. The responsibility of the boys fell to their mother's brothers or uncles. A child would be taken casually in hand and guided in the appropriate behavior. Each particular task would be handled by the most skilled, proper adult in the clan. As for the distribution of tasks between male and female, it followed the line of reason. The continued existence and growth of the people was the most important thing to be considered. Women produced children. Therefore, the most dangerous jobs fell to the men. Our people were hunter/planters. Because planting was like producing children, it usually fell to the women. Heavy work, like clearing ground was done by the men. Fishing on the Bay and the sea then, as now, was dangerous and heavy fishing was the job of the men. But all, including women and children, enjoyed the safer fishing in fresh water areas. A hunt was often an affair of a week or more and, in those days often dangerous. A family group might be able to afford the loss of a man, the loss of a woman was the loss of future generations and diminished the whole group. And in the years to come, might mean the difference between the existence of or the dying off of the clan. And it should be noted that our people were not stupid. If the only person available who could plant when necessary was a man, the man planted. If the only available person to feed the family was a woman, a woman hunted. And it must also be noted, our women were very skilled at handling knives, traps and canoes. From Paula: Can you give us some information on a native american naming ceremony for our new Grandchild? Hae Paula, You didn't say if you are native. Or what tribe. If you are, you need to get with your chief and/or your senior clan mother and check on your own or a local tribal ceremony for naming. This an important first step in a child's life. Our eastern tribal customs call for a period of planning that sometimes lasts for months. First a respected elder, a spiritual person, must be be approached with gifts (gifts need not be big or expensive, just well thought out - tobacco should always be included) and asked for a name. One of the reasons that this takes months is that sometimes it takes that long for this person to come up with a proper name. It takes prayers and sometimes dreams will help. The name is not even finalized until after the child is actually here. Then a day must be chosen for the actual ceremony. Family and friends must be invited. Now we come to another reason for the whole thing taking months. Everyone invited receives gifts. And they really should be handmade (possible exceptions being tobacco and blankets) and thought out. The Native way is exactly opposite to the white way. Part of our ceremony includes the placing of the fallen off umbilical cord in a special beaded medicine pouch. Who makes this depends on the particular culture. For us it is made by a close friend of the family. And usually he or she speaks up and volunteers. The pouch usually takes the form of a turtle or a lizard. This bag accompanies the child throughout her or his lifetime, a constant reminder of their, and their family's inclusion in the circle of life and of one of the most powerful 'medicines' in their life (birth). We hope this helps. And believe me, this is the short version. Let us know if you need more information. From Robin: How did the Native American men and women wear their hair? Was it different for kids and adults? Hae Robin, Good question. A lot has been lost in the years since first contact. Hair style is something that might not show up in burial sites or be remembered for hundreds of years. We do observe that the Natives of this coastal area have been wearing their hair longer than the national custom for many years. When the 'thing' for teens to do to aggravate their parents was let their hair grow long, most of the folks around here didn't shout and holler about it. Maybe that says something. But that's not really scientific, is it? We know of a couple of burial sites in the Pocomoke Forest where a couple of children were found and their hair was fairly long. Every thing in the sites was preserved by the metallic action of an extreme number of copper beads. It would seem logical to assume that small children who did not work could wear their hair longer than adults. And we have artwork that shows adults with hair held out of the way. It certainly would be easier to work that way. There are also pictures that indicate that some men shaved off part of their hair so as not to get in the way while bow hunting. Some of the women also shaved their heads while in mourning. And some of the men in the Coastal area wore their hair roached. Hair style seemed to consist of a blending of what one saw and liked (as today), tradition and utilitarian purpose. We hope that this has helped some. From Wynne: What spirits/gods did they worship and what did these spirits represent? To Wynne - Hae, Glad you asked. As with most American Natives, the east coast Algonquin Indians recognized and honored one supreme Creator of all things. We also recognize that everything, animate and inanimate, (even rocks, and we have very few of these - they are special) has life, being -a spirit if you will. I realize that some one who lives in a city might find it difficult to understand. But people who live in the country and are connected to the land understand this very well. Our ancestors were very aware that their lives and well-being, their very existence depended on the weather, the rise and fall of the waves, if the corn decided to grow well and if the fish ran. We realize that everything on and of the earth depends on everything else. When the spirit of even one small tree was abused, all things around suffered accordingly. This doesn't mean that we don't eat meat and vegetables, it means that we don't abuse this gift from the Creator. It means that whenever we kill a deer (and we only do this to feed our families) or pick corn, we thank Creator for the gifts and we thank the deer and the corn for giving themselves so that the balance of earth can be kept. So that we could also live. What did they eat? Let's start with the veggies. We had corn (yes, even popcorn), a type of bean and squash, together these are revered as 'the three sisters'. We had types of wild potatoes, tomatoes and pumpkin. We had the basic vegetables that are known today. Yes, you are very welcome. We also ate well on the wild things that we still eat today, but you probably do not. We had cattails and several types of wild greens and seaweed. We dined well on the bread family, too. We pounded all sorts of things for flour - cattails, nuts (also acorns strained for poisons) and corn. And we had a large range of herbs for flavoring meats, breads and vegetables. Our meals were not blah! And, as we traded with people for hundreds of miles, I must think that we traded with our cousins to the North for their rice and maple sugar. We also had a variety of marsh grass for our own rice and we also had a smaller variety of sugar maple in a limited amount. We had varieties of plum and pawpaw and wild grapes and berries to take care of our fruit needs. And seafood in abundance, of course. Fish, crabs, clams and oysters to name a few. As for meat, we ate deer, of course, but there were not anywhere near as many of them as today. So we hunted them in a limited amount. All sorts of small game made a meal also, up to and including lizards. And here on the Shore there was, to us, an unlimited supply of water fowl like ducks and geese. And there were wild turkeys in abundance. This not a complete inventory, but it's a start. Needless to say, our ancestors were healthy and well fed. We were a well formed people of slim build and often (women and men) topping 7 feet tall. What utensils did they use? How did they cook their food? We had forks (to stick food with) of wood, spoons (to eat with) of wood, shell, horn and gourds and knives of bone and shell. We served on platters and in bowls made of wood, gourd and pottery. We cooked our food basically the same way you do today. As a matter of fact, we taught you guys how to charcoal broil and grill. Yes, you're welcome again. We also stewed a lot. Soups, stews and chowders were big with us. For this, we used meats, fish, fowl and all the vegetables done in liquid in pots and skins with white hot stones. We also spitted meats, fish, fowl and veggies over open flame. We also buried veggies and meats wrapped in wet seaweed in a pit with charcoal. I hope this has helped you. From Damien:Where did (Eastern Shore) people find the stones to make arrowheads? To Damien - Aho, As you know, there is very little rock and stone found native on the Shore. Bird points would have been made from shell and bone and fire hardened, sharpened wood arrows. Materials for larger game points would have come by trade route. There has been a burial site found in the Pocomoke Forest with two children in it, about 12 years old. Contained therein were cedar bark bags and a multitude of copper beads. These beads have been dated at 700 BC. The make up of the copper has been analyzed and found to have come from Michigan. Can you just imagine? We had established trade routes as early as 700 BC. Our people could get anything we wanted that we didn't make ourselves. And we would have traded the things that the other people couldn't get. We would traded different herbs back and forth for medicines and plants for dyes for clothes and skin. How about smoked oysters as a trade item. It would work for me. |
| From Elizabeth:What kinds of clothes did little Native American girls wear(here on the Shore)? What were people named after? |
| To Elizabeth - Aho,
Clothes would have been made from local plants - woven leaves and fibers, and from trade goods. They would have been made from skins; deer, rabbit, fox and raccoon. The season of the year made the deciding difference. We didn't use as much deer hide as the other things because there were far fewer deer 400 years ago. Modern farming has increased the availability of food and the deer population has grown accordingly. The plant fiber clothes would have been worn in the warm months. In the hottest weather, a brief apron would have been worn alone - by both women and men. Small children would have been quite comfortable - in nothing at all. Hunters would have worn more - trees scratch. In the winter, skins with the hair on and against the skin would have gone a long way toward keeping off cold. Moccasins, too - hair toward the skin. Also know that our people were much tougher 400 years ago. We bathed every morning of our lives in the open water. The first thing a newborn baby felt, after a warm mother, was a dip in the creek. This had the effect of making very cold resistant people. Ah, names. Different Indians, different customs. I could go on for a long time. There are so many variations. Names mean something. Most times the parents didn't name their own child. Many times a name would be chosen even before a child was born. A special relative or Medicine person was asked to name the baby and a bundle of items was given to show respect and a name was given. A name might be given in hopes of influencing the child's life, after a respected person who has died or after something that the birth of the child marked(Many Deer, Warms Cold Day, and so forth).. Like today, many names, many reasons. Names also mark times of passage in a child's life. As today, you will have rites of passage in your lives - first shoes, first dance, first car and so on - so do we and we are often renamed accordingly. |
| From Jason: Who put the tattoos on people? How old were people when they got married? |
| To Jason - Aho,
How clever to choose two questions that go together. I know that it doesn't seem like they do. Tattooing for women and men did not happen until they had reached their first stage of adulthood. For woman, this was after they had their first moon (first menstrual cycle)(about 12 years old). Women tended to be more heavily tattooed. For men, this after they had brought in their first large game to feed their extended family group(about 12 years old). Tattooing was started off in a small way and added to for different reasons, like marriage, childbirth, influence in the tribe - so forth. The person who tattooed was experienced and knowledgeable in the art. The process was done with bone needles and dye from plants. Herbal tea was given to make the whole thing less painful. This was a thing of honor and ceremony, and again - a rite of passage. Our young people married only after the woman had had her first moon and had proved herself capable of doing all the many things involved in running a household and the men only after they had proved themselves capable of handling the responsibility of feeding a large family(he was expected to help feed his in-laws)and protecting the same. Some times marriage was arranged by families for political purposes, much as it is in some countries today. Each person belonged to one of several clans. What clan each was was dictated by the clan of their mother. They could marry anyone in another clan, but not their own. |
| From Robby: What kinds of drums did Native Americans on the Eastern Shore make? How many people lived in Accomack? |
| To Robby - Aho,
Drums were made of logs. Some small, some quite large. Some were water tight and held varying amounts of water to change the tone of the sound. Some were just plain logs. Some had one end or both ends opened with one or both ends covered with animal skin scraped almost clear. I am going to assume that because you used the 'k' in Accomack that you meant the county. Hard to say. First of all, we did not do the county thing. What was a 'county' to us? It meant nothing. Before contact with the Europeans, there was no counting done. And one family might go and stay with relatives ten miles away ( whether this was toward the Eastville area or toward Pokomoke, we didn't do the State thing, either)for several years and come back to this area for several years. Populations were not static. What the Europeans know as 'tribes' on the Eastern Shore were, in fact, greatly extended family groups. It is fairly safe to say we were in the several hundreds. We do know that the first colonists underestimated our numbers on purpose in communication with their King so that the King would give them an OK to claim the land. At any rate, it's hard to figure numbers for your purposes. I hope this helps you. |
| From Patrick: Did all of the Native Americans on the Eastern Shore speak the same language? When did they first come to the Shore? |
| To Patrick - Aho,
Our language was mainly Algonquin. As your language is made up of words from other languages besides 'English'(for instance - Spanish, French and German)so did ours contain many words and phrases from the many Indians with whom we came in contact on a regular basis. We had many friends and relatives among the Nanicoke, the Delaware and so on, just as we do today. We may even have spoken our language with an emphasis toward the Iroquois. Today we tend to think of ourselves on the Shore as isolated, cut off from the rest of Virginia by the Bay and from the North by the State line. 400 years age, we traveled by canoe as a matter of course and the State line meant nothing to us. We were cut off from no one and our language grew accordingly. According to the 'experts' our people have been here for many thousands of years. This is determined by carbon dating the artifacts found. |
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