The Franklin County Historical Society and Museum in Pasco, Washington, includes several displays of American Indian artifacts, both historic and prehistoric. With record to prehistoric American Indians, the museum display mentions the Marmes Rockshelter, which is one of the oldest archaeological sites in the Columbia Plateau. For thousands of years, the ancestors of today’s American … Continued
Archaeologists use the term Mesoamerica in referring to Mexico and the adjacent areas of Central America which were the home to Native American civilizations prior to the Spanish invasion. The Formative Period in Mesoamerica is an era of spectacular social transformation marked by the development of social stratification and monument building. With regard to dating, … Continued
One of the displays in the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California, is entitled Sacred Earth and subtitled Understanding our past and honoring cultures that thrive today. One section of this display looks at some of the technological changes which began about 1,500 years ago. According to the Museum display: “Tribes became increasingly tied … Continued
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
The Salish-speaking First Nations whose aboriginal homelands included the Pacific coast area of present-day Washington and British Columbia have a long tradition of weaving. Weaving styles were owned by families and were passed down from mother to daughter or from grandmother to granddaughter. In an essay in Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native … Continued
June 21 is recognized as National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. This is a day when the heritage, diverse cultures, and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are celebrated. The Canadian Constitution recognizes these three groups as Aboriginal peoples, also known as Indigenous peoples. Although these groups share many similarities, they each have … Continued
The Great Plains is the huge area in the central portion of the North American continent which stretches from the Canadian provinces in the north, almost to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River in the east. This is an area which contains many … Continued
As Grandmother Taught: Women, Tradition and Plateau Art was a special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington. The exhibit featured the works of three Plateau women artists: HollyAnna Cougar Tracks DeCoteau Little Bull, Bernadine Phillips, and Leanne Campbell. The Columbia River Plateau is shown above. HollyAnna Cougar Tracks DeCoteau … Continued
Many museums, including the Maryhill Museum of Art near Goldendale, Washington, have displays of Mission Baskets. The designation “Mission Baskets” was developed by anthropologist Alfred Kroeber in 1922. According to the Maryhill Museum display: “Basketry from most of southern California has traditionally been grouped together under the name Mission. This term was used because the … Continued
The Great Basin Culture Area includes the high desert regions between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. It is bounded on the north by the Columbia Plateau and on the south by the Colorado Plateau. It includes southern Oregon and Idaho, a small portion of southwestern Montana, western Wyoming, eastern California, all of Nevada … Continued
