Northeast Technology
I am studying technology. Technology is a subject that consists of machines, weapons, clothing, shelter, and, culture. Technology turned from rock caves, to wigwams, to buildings today. In this paper you will learn about how Native Americans made weapons, houses, and, canoes. I am studying the Native Americans of the northeast woodlands. They had plenty of food such as deer and bear. The tribes you will learn about are the Iroquois and Lenapes. I am telling you about time before European contact.
How Native Americans made houses.
Native Americans made wigwams, small circle like houses, and big oval like houses called longhouses. They made their houses this way because they lived in big families and didn’t move that much. The Iroquois made wigwams out of upright logs and cross poles covered in elm bark. Next they made a frame for the walls out of pieces of elm bark by pushing the saplings into an arch. To cover the house frame, women peeled sheets of elm bark. The Lenape used elm bark chestnut or reeds to cover the house frame. Canoes were made out of the same material as wigwams and longhouses.
How Native Americans made canoes
Native Americans made a lot of different types of canoes, for different reasons like war, traveling, and hunting. The birchbark canoe was made from cedar saplings set close together and tied together with tough fibers or roots. Then they sewed pieces of birch bark together and sewed them to the frame. The birch bark canoe was used for fishing. The dugout canoe could carry twenty to forty people. It was good for sea battles, fishing, whaling, and carrying families. The dugout canoe was made of one big tree trunk. After removing the branches and bark they burned the dugout canoe out by using many fires. Then they scraped, and hollowed it into shape. The dugout canoe and others were very good for war because of their massive size. The weapons were also very useful for fishing hunting and war.
How Native Americans made their weapons.
Native Americans made all weapons by hand because they didn’t have any machines. They needed weapons for fishing, hunting, and war. Sharp stones such as flint and quartz were made into knives, drills, and scrapers. The Native Americans made bows from slender sticks. They heated polished and oiled the bow over and over it would bend into shape. At each end of the bow they cut notches for the bowstrings. The strings were made of many twists of sinew or tendons. Men decorated their bows. When finished the bow stood 6 to 5 feet tall! Arrows had to be straight otherwise they wobbled when shot. Native Americans made arrows from hickory, ash, and viberum branches. To one end of the arrow shaft (the body of the arrow) they bound split feathers. Some used hawk feathers. At the other head of the arrow shaft they put a flint arrowhead bound by sinew. As you can see the Native Americans made all weapons out of their natural environment and by hand.
Just so you know, Native Americans are not like the ones in Peter Pan. If you happen to know something interesting about clothing tell me. My favorite part is the third paragraph in which I teach you about weapons because I wanted my topic to be War and Warfare. If you are wondering why I don’t have any clothing in this research the reason is because I didn’t want to.
