This is going to be a note post, which might be kind of boring. However, I thought I might post them in order to get rid of some stereotypes that people often have. I should note that the textbook I'm getting these from appears to be liberally biased, but everything is biased in this field, so it's only noted for those who actually care. I'm also doing this for school though, so if you don't like it, skip it. Anyways, I'll get started.
These notes are being taken on Indians in American History: An Introduction, 2nd ed. edited
Ch. 1: America Before Columbus by James A. Brown
Eastern Woodlands Indians-Wigwams
Plains Indians-tepees, nomadic
NW Coast Indians-wooden-plank house
Pueblo Indians-SW-stone-walled apartment buildings (p. 15)
2 gen. povs have influenced our understanding of Native American cultures. Products of 19th c. European thought, these ideas have each led to false impressions and a naive understanding of Pre-contact Native American life. The 1st pov held that N. America before European colonization was inhabited by peoples without civilization. For some this condition has amounted to a shortcoming that has justified applying the pejorative label "primitive" to Native American cultures, thereby denying them the respect their cultural achievements deserve. (p. 15-16, see what I mean by liberally biased?)
The 2nd pov stressed that the absence of "civilization" denoted a noble human condition in which Natives were unspoiled by the corrupting influences of Euro-American urban life. Unfortunately, these views are derived more from the virtues and prejudices of European thought than from a careful measure of Indian cultural attainments. Current investigations into of early cultures of N. America reveal a very diff. picture. Present history and anthropological research has generated a data base that forces us to reject the naive notion that Americans before Columbus were either "primitive" or noble savages. Instead, this research has revealed a rich diversity of Native lifeways, each far more complex than was believed a century ago. (p. 16-17)
Current (this was written in 1998) anthropological research suggests that, in gen., with the passage of each century Native American lifeways became increasingly complex and more diverse. However, with the colonization of the New World, this diversity became reduced by the influences of Europeans, first by their initial trading and exploration contacts and, second, by programs of colonization...changes in cultural diversity cannot be attributed solely to European contact. Archaeological research indicates that changes in cultural diversity among Native Americans had begun prior to Euro-American contact. (p. 17)
3 examples of other processes that could have resulted in the changes we see in the cultural diversity of Native Americans at the time of contact:
Increased population
Increased inter-and intraregional communication
Changes in technology
E.g. in our century the effects of industrialization have made almost everyone dependent upon wage labor or a salary of some sort. Since everyone now participates in a single econ. system, the lifeways of all Americans (Native Americans included) have become progressively more similar and homogeneous.
The cultural diversity of Native Americans prior to European contact is best understood by studying the human populations that inhabited the distinct geographic regions of North America.
These include:
The Arctic
The Subarctic
The NW Coast
The Far West
The SW
The Plains
The Eastern Woodlands
These regions of the North American continent have only recently been inhabited by human beings. The earliest occupation of the New World began with the movement of people from Western Asia into present day Alaska and NW Canada. (p. 18)
When did man first venture into N. America? We don't know with any certainty. Although, it's widely believed the migration is archaic. The best estimate from various lines of indirect evidence places this event approximately 16,000 years ago; however, the oldest cultural remains with completely accepted dates occur toward the close of the last Ice Age, about 14,000 years ago.
The land bridge hypothesis? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? (p. 19)
The earth's climate began to warm significantly approximately 10,000 years ago, with the result that the huge ice sheets that covered most of Canada gradually shrank. Out of these far-reaching changes the modern geographic regions of the continent arose. By 7,000 years ago, the roving big-game hunter way of life had begun to change. Populations began to exploit specific regional resources, producing a series of distinct social, cultural, and economic lifeways characteristic of each of the various regions. (p. 20)
Major N. American House Types:
1. Snow Houses (igloos, central Arctic)
2. Subarctic Log, Skin or Earth Houses (lean-tos, wigwams)
3. Earth, Turf, and Sand Covered Houses
4. Rectangular Plank Houses
5. Bark and Mat Covered Structures (long houses)
6. Plains (tepees)
7. Plateau Style Pit Houses
8. California Houses (Cali-large variety of house types: large plank houses, pit houses, domical lodges, et al.)
9. SW and Great Basin Brush, Hide, and Earth Houses
10. Multistoried Stone and Adobe Residence Complexes
11. Wattle and Daub Buildings
Ch. 2: The Indians' Old World: Native Americans and the Coming of Europeans
In the Mississippi Valley and the SE, the sudden primacy of maize horticulture is marked archaeologically in a variety of ways--food remains, pollen profiles, studies of human bone (showing that maize accounted for 50% of people's diets), and in material culture by proliferation of hoes made of chert (a type of quartz), shell-tempered pottery for storing and cooking, and pits for storing surplus crops. (p. 42)
Kivas=underground ceremonial areas
talwas=villages
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