What materials did the Northwest Coast use?

What materials did the Northwest Coast use?

Traditional carving implements included adzes, mauls, wedges, chisels, drills, and curved knives, all made of stone; sharkskin was used for sanding or polishing wooden items.

What was the most important food for the Northwest Coast tribes?

Salmon was a major source of food, along with other fish such as trout, halibut and herring, followed by acorns, hundreds of different plants, marine mammals (whales, otters, seals), bears, beavers, lynx, deer, and small game like rabbits and hares.

Which resource was most widely used by the Northwest coastal culture?

The earliest settlement of the Northwest Coast occurred probably around 14,000 years ago following the last ice age. (See also Prehistory.) Societies were established around hunting and gathering, with the most valuable resources being salmon (for food) and cedar (for construction, technology and artwork).

What were the natural resources used by the Northwest coastal tribes to make their art?

Before European contact, the most common media were wood (often Western red cedar), stone, and copper; since European contact, paper, canvas, glass, and precious metals have also been used.

What did the people in the northwest eat?

Native Americans in the Northwest region got most of their food from fishing. Male tribe members would use bows, arrows, spears, and fishhooks to catch their food. Some of the common animals they ate were seals, salmon, sea otters, and whales. They also ate plants and fruits that were from the forest.

What did the people in the Northwest Coast eat?

They ate clams, crabs, seals, sea otters, sea lions, fish, herring eggs, and mussels, sea urchins, and seaweed. The men hunted land animals including bear, caribou, deer, elk, and moose.

What did the Northwest Coast people hunt?

Northwest Coast peoples varied their fish-based diet through hunting and gathering. Families traveled to the mountains, where the men hunted deer, elk, mountain goat, and bear.

What was the most important natural resource for the people of the plains?

The buffalo was the most important natural resource of the Plains Indians. The Plains Indians were hunters. They hunted many kinds of animals, but it was the buffalo which provided them with all of their basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter.

What natural resources were available to the peoples of the Eastern woodlands?

The Eastern Woodlands Indians developed myriad ways of using natural resources year-round. Materials ranged from wood, vegetable fiber, and animal hides to copper, shells, stones, and bones. Most of the Eastern Woodlands Indians relied on agriculture, cultivating the “three sisters”—corn, beans, and squash.

What was the economy of the northwest coast?

The traditional Northwest Coast economy was a complex whole. One of its most important distinctions was the highly efficient use of natural resources. Aquatic resources were especially bountiful and included herring, oil-rich candlefish (eulachon), smelt, cod, halibut, mollusks, five species of salmon, and gray whales.

What did the people of the northwest coast eat?

Sea mammals, including seals, whales and porpoises, were taken with harpoons on the water, and with clubs or nets wherever animals came ashore. The abundant waterfowl fell prey to a variety of nets. The people gathered additional nutrition in the form of shellfish, berries, edible roots, bulbs and green shoots.

What kind of tools did the northwest coast people use?

Most tools that the Northwest Coast people used were made out of cedar wood, stone, and shells. Sledgehammers for splitting wood were made out of stone. For hunting they used bows and arrows, snares, deadfalls, and harpoons. For fishing they used nets, underwater traps, bone and wood hooks, and harpoons.

Why did the people of the northwest coast go to sea?

People also went to sea to hunt marine mammals and to fish for offshore species such as halibut. Water transport was highly important in the region for subsistence purposes and as a way to effect trade between tribes and later with fur traders. All groups made efficient dugout canoes.