Native American Encyclopedia Abalone Shells To Bone Artifacts
6 Achomawi Achomawi also known as Pit River Indians are Native Americans who lived in the river basin of the Pit River in north central California They spoke a Palaihnihan branch of the Hokan family of languages They lived in bark lodges and partially underground homes in the winter They ate fish wildfowl and vegetables They were known to be expert basket weavers Spanish settlers built this mission church in the Acoma Pueblo in the 1600s Acoma Pueblo is a 70 acre village in New Mexico It was built on top of a mesa that is almost 400 feet high Another name for this pueblo is Sky City It is believed to have been built in the 1100s Its high location and steep sides protected the Acoma people from raiders The Acoma Pueblo is said to be the oldest continually inhabited community in the United States Today less than 50 people live in Sky City About 3 000 Acomans live in nearby villages These people continue the traditions of their ancestors Many of them are farmers Some practice their traditional religion and others observe the Catholic religion which was brought by Spanish settlers in the 1500s On special feast days all the Acomans gather together on the ancient mesa for cultural celebrations The Achomawi crafted baskets using grasses and willow which they colored with vegetable dyes WORDS TO KNOW Latin alphabet lah TIN al FAH bet the alphabet used by most people in North America and in many other places it is also called the Roman alphabet mesa MAY suh a flat topped hill with cliff like sides many mesas can be found in the southwestern United States river basin RIH vur BAY sin the area of land that is drained by a certain river as well as the creeks and streams that flow into that river needed Seeds were stored inside this Acoman seed pot The pots were broken as
Ahtena 7 Adena culture refers to Native American societies that existed from 1000 B C to 100 B C The Adena lived in Ohio Indiana West Virginia Kentucky and parts of Pennsylvania and New York They are known for the mounds of earth that they built These mounds were 20 to 300 feet 6 to 91 meters across and were used for burials This adobe brick was dried and hardened in the sun Adz is a tool similar to an ax Originally the blade was made from stone shell bone or copper Later Native Americans learned from Europeans to make the blades with iron An adz was used to hollow out a tree log so it could be made into a canoe Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville West Virginia is the largest conical type burial mound in the United States Adobe is the name for a kind of building material and for the buildings that are made with it Native Americans of the Southwest built adobe homes and apartments Adobe bricks are made of clay water straw and burned twigs and grass Once the bricks are shaped they are dried in the sun Adobe homes were often built together as apartments Many families lived in each apartment As families grew rooms were added to the tops of the buildings Several of these apartments were considered a village This kind of village is called an adobe pueblo Ahtena also known as Ahtna and Atnatuna meaning Ice People is the name of a tribe of Native Americans who live in south central Alaska The Ahtena live in the basin of the Copper River Their language is also called Ahtena and it is written in the Latin alphabet CANADA Alaska UNITED STATES
8 Akimel o'odham Akimel o'odham also known as Pima Akimel O otam and Akimel Au Authm is a tribe that lives in central and southern Arizona and in Sonora Mexico They speak the O odham language They got their name meaning River People because they lived in ranchería villages built along riverbanks They became known for the canals that they built as part of an irrigation system for watering crops New York and southern Canada The original goal of Akwesasne Notes was to tell the experiences of the Mohawk community living on Akwesasne where pollution became a problem The journal now includes stories about all native peoples Alabama tribe lived in southern Alabama in the early 1700s It was a member of the Creek Confederacy The Alabama hunted fished and grew corn beans squash and sunflowers The men often wore scalp locks During the 1800s the tribe moved to Louisiana and Texas Today many of the Alabama share a Texas reservation with the Coushatta tribe WELCOME This is a photograph of a Pima woman taken in 1907 ON TI CHUKA Akwesasne Notes was an important source of information about Native people founded during the Indian civil rights movement The name Akwesasne means Land Where the Partridge Drums This refers to Mohawk Nation land in northern The welcome sign at the Alabama Coushatta Reservation is east of Livingston Texas The reservation is home to the Alabama and Koasati also known as Coushatta Indians which was formed after they were forced southward from present day Alabama by the United States century around the turn of the 17th
na Alexie Sherman 9 Alcatraz island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California Alexie Sherman 1966 Alexie is an award winning author screenplay writer and comedian He is a Spokane Coeur d Alene Native American He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington As a baby Alexie needed surgery to drain water from his brain and was expected to suffer mentally However by the age of five he was reading adult novels Later he became the first member of his tribe to earn a university degree Today Alexie is married and has two sons He has written many books short stories and poems about Native American experiences He has earned many awards for his work including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven his first collection of short stories His book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian won the 2007 National Book Award in the category of Young People's Literature Alcatraz is a small island in California's San Francisco Bay Alcatraz was first used by the United States as a military fort and later as a prison In 1969 hundreds of Native Americans took occupation of the island to protest the treaties broken by the U S government After 19 months Federal Marshals forced them off the island However their efforts improved U S policy toward Native Americans Today many people visit Alcatraz to learn about its history WORDS TO KNOW Aleut also known as Unangan originally lived in what is now Alaska's Aleutian Island chain They wore waterproof clothing made from sealskin to protect them from rain In 1867 their land became part of the United States Today the Aleut live in small communities within and near their original land irrigation ear ah GAY shun the use of man made ditches pipes or streams to carry water to dry land occupation ah cue PAY shun the taking possession of and control over a place ranchería ran CHEER ee ah a village of separate homes unlike the apartment style pueblos reservation reh ser VAY shun land that is set aside for the use of Native Americans scalp locks SKALP LOCKS sections of hair left at the top of the head after the rest of the hair has been shaved See also barabara
