indian art
Acting Out History ... Let's Imagine ...
COBB COUNTY YOUTH MUSEUM
A PARTICIPATORY MUSEUM
649 Cheatham Hill Drive
Marietta, Georgia 30064
(770) 427-2563

Introduction Programs Museum Staff Schedule Links

 
PRE-TRIP STUDY SHEET FOR EXHIBIT

THE FIRST PEOPLE:
OUR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE

Our image of the Native American is most often that associated with events following the discovery and settlement of America. Yet these people -- The First People -- had developed thriving settlements thousands of years before the Europeans settled the Americas. In this exhibit, we focus our attention on the lifestyle and culture of Native American tribes in the Southwest, Northwest, and Southeast and how these people and their cultures were shaped by the environment in which they lived.

AREA 1: THE SOUTHWEST

The grasslands and hills and the mesas and canyons of the Southwestern U.S. influenced where people lived, how they lived and what they valued. In this exhibit we see that the people of this region developed crops, various tools for cooking and hunting, and skills such as weaving. Large settlements were formed and trade between the many tribes in this region was frequent.
Vocabulary: Artifacts, archeology, anthropology, nomadic,
hunter-gatherers, kiva, travois

AREA 2: THE NORTHWEST

The sea to the west and the forest to the east defined the world of the Northwest Native Americans. Birds, fish and other animals common to the sea and forests of Washington, Oregon and Canada are represented in the art, crafts and family or clan names of these tribes. In this exhibit we see how the sea served as a source of food, materials for making clothes, and heating and cooking oil and how the forest provided wood for their shelters and other necessary materials.
Vocabulary: potlatch, raven, mica, totem poles, obsidian

AREA 3: THE SOUTHEAST

The rivers and forests of the Southeastern U.S. provided rich soil for agriculture, animals for food and clothing, and materials for building the earthen mounds for which the Southeastern Native Americans were known. In this exhibit, we see how agriculture was central to the life of these people. Trade and development of trading centers, various ceremonies and the development of a calendar were closely tied to planting and harvesting crops.
Vocabulary: middens, borrow pits, palisades, chiefdoms

For further study and research on the topics related to this exhibit, please visit the following Internet web sites:

National Museum of the American Indian
Collection of Native American Links

We invite you and your students to share with us stories, artwork, projects, or letters that are created after visiting the museum. Please send them to:

Cobb County Youth Museum
P.O. Box 78, Marietta, GA 30061

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Introduction Programs Museum Staff Schedule Top
COBB COUNTY YOUTH MUSEUM
649 Cheatham Hill Drive
Marietta, Georgia 30064
(770) 427-2563

This web site is created by Ken Liang.
Cobb County Youth Museum is a non-profit education center.
Copyright © 1997-2001 Cobb County Youth Museum