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Oh Sh*t, Standing Rock Camp Raided!

xYouTube Video Via the Guardian, Tipis have been set on fire and 76 people have been arrested at Standing Rock [Note: not at the main camp but nearby on private property]. North Dakota police have arrested 76 people at Standing Rock one day after federal officials suggested that the government could soon approve the final … Continued

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Plateau Indian Beadwork in the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)

The Maryhill Museum located near Goldendale, Washington, has a display of Plateau beadwork. 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 … Continued

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A collection of Plateau Indian artifacts (photo diary)

The East Benton County Museum in Kennewick, Washington, has a number of American Indian artifacts from the Plateau culture area on display. The East Benton County Museum is shown above. Shown above are some examples of bead and shell necklaces and beadwork. The photograph above shows Indians fishing on the Columbia River before the dams … Continued

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Arctic Baskets (Photo Diary)

The Artic Culture Area includes the Aleutian Islands, most of the Alaska Coast, the Canadian Artic, and parts of Greenland. It is an area which can be described as a “cold” desert. Geographer W. Gillies Ross, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 3: A Continent Comprehended, writes: “The North American Arctic is usually … Continued

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Christians and Indians in 1818

During the nineteenth century, the policy of the United States government was to encourage, and sometimes require, the conversion of American Indians to Christianity. Christianity was seen as a key element in “civilizing” American Indians and thus, the American government not only encouraged Christian missionaries, Indian agents actively discouraged the practice of traditional Indian ceremonies. … Continued

Christians and Indians

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The Southwest 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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Cahuilla Life (Photo Diary)

One of the displays in The Cahuilla Continuum exhibit in the Riverside Metropolitan Museums shows some of the material culture associated with traditional Cahuilla daily life. The Cahuilla homeland in California was bounded on the north by the San Bernardino Mountains; on the south by the northern Borrego Desert; on the east by the Colorado … Continued

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Southern California First Peoples

Long before the first Spaniards arrived in Southern California, the area was occupied by six distinct Native American tribes: Chumash, Tongva, Serrano, Cahuilla, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay. The map shown above shows the territories of the six Southern California Indian nations. The Riverside Metropolitan Museum in Riverside, California has a display on Southern California’s First Peoples. … Continued