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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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