Introduction to the Cultures of North American Aboriginal Peoples

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Introduction to the Cultures ofNorth American
Aboriginal Peoples

• Eastern Woodlands

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Regional Characteristics

• Eastern third dominated by Appalachian Mountains
• Characterized by steep-sided valleys, with
  relatively small valley floors and high-energy
  streams
• Flat broad plain reaching the Atlantic
• Mississippi-Ohio-Tennessee Basins and rivers
  flowing directly into the Gulf of Mexico
• Broad, low-energy streams
• Broad floodplain
• Mississippi River Valley is very broad in its
  southern reaches (dozens of miles wide)

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Flora

• Eastern Woodlands
• Hardwood Mixed-oak forest
• Southern and western regions dominated by broad,
  low energy rivers and wide flood plains
• Northern and central regions (Appalachia)
  dominated by steep-sided valleys

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Fauna

• Deer, rabbits
• Raccoons, opossums
• Wolf, mountain lion
• Reptiles
• Turtles, tortoises, snakes
• Birds

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Northeastern Woodlands

• Horticulturalists
• Lived in settled villages made up of a number of
  longhouses
• Each longhouse was occupied by members of a
  matrilineage
• Female relatives, their husbands, daughters,
  daughters husbands, unmarried sons
• The status of women was quite high
• Well-known tribes include the Iroquois, Huron,
  Mohicans and, Delaware

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Iroquois Village
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Division of Labor

• Men
• Hunting
• Warfare
• Ceremonies and Games
• Lacrosse (NE), Chunkey (SE)
• Clearing land
• Women
• Processing food
• Collecting wood and water
• Planting and harvesting

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Southeastern Woodlands

• Horticulturalists
• Lived in political units made up of a central
  large town (Cahokia-40,000 people) surrounded by
  a network of smaller towns and villages
• Central towns are marked by large, flat-topped
  mounds
• On top of these mounds were the homes of chiefs
  and religious leaders
• These peoples are the direct ancestors of the
  modern Five Civilized Tribes Cherokee, Creek,
  Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole

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Moundville (AL)
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Cahokia (IL)