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Some Inuit Birds (Art Diary)

The Inuit are a Native American people whose homelands are in the Canadian Arctic. A special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, featured The Inuit Art of Povungnituk. Povungnituk is a village on the eastern shores of Hudson Bay in Arctic Quebec. This artwork provides some insights into the … Continued

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Artifacts from Western Mexico (Photo Diary)

The San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California, includes displays of archaeological artifacts from Western Mexico. Western Mexico includes the modern states of Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Sinaloa. One of the archaeological features within this region are shaft tombs. Shaft tombs by 300 BCE are associated with circular architecture. There is a central … Continued

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The Great Basin Culture Area

In providing a broad overview of the hundreds of distinct American Indian cultures found in North America, it is common for museums, historians, archaeologists, and ethnologists to use a culture area model. This model is based on the observation that different groups of people living in the same geographic area often share many cultural features. … Continued

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The Hall of Plateau Indians (Photo Diary)

The High Desert Museum, located just south of Bend, Oregon, has a large gallery devoted to Plateau Indians. The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north … Continued

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Plateau Indian Spirituality

The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part of it … Continued

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Acoma Pueblos and the Spanish, 1539-1599

During the sixteenth century, the Spanish began their invasion and conquest of New Mexico. The Indian people they encountered lived in large villages with two- and three-story homes made from adobe and stone. In 1539, the people of Acoma pueblo (village) had their first recorded contact with the Spanish. The name Acoma comes from Akome … Continued

Acoma Pueblos and the Spanish

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250 Years Ago (1768)

By 250 years ago, it was evident that Europeans intended to stay in North America and their quest to expand their empires was nearly insatiable. European trade goods as well as the European colonists were changing the American Indian lifeways. At this time, just prior to the American Revolution, there were two major European empires … Continued

The Cherokee Trail of Tears

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Modern Cahuilla Regalia (Photo Diary)

The Cahuilla Continuum was an exhibit at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum in Riverside, California, authored and curated by Sean C. Milanovich. The exhibit told the story of the Cahuilla from creation to the present day. One of the displays in the exhibit shows modern Cahuilla ceremonial clothing and regalia. Shown above is the display of … Continued