Texas Native Americans Chapter 2

It is best to think of Indians as “peoples” or “cultures” rather than as “tribes”. Not all Indians who had the same culture belonged to the same tribe. In fact, some Indians did not belong to tribes. Instead they lived in small groups or bands.

The Southeastern Peoples

CADDO LOCATION The Caddoes were part of a larger culture known as the Mississippian or Mound Builder Culture. Caddoes first moved into the Piney Woods during the Late Prehistoric period. East Texas Rich soil and plenty of rainfall

CADDO BLUE

CADDO Housing: Caddo houses were cone shaped buildings of poles covered with cane, grass, & mud Sturdy, beehive shaped houses Small hole in the top for fires More than one family

CADDO Food Source/Daily Life: They fished and hunted deer and small animals (rabbit). Crops were more important in their diet than meat and fish. Major crops included corn, beans, squash, and sunflower seeds. Sometimes buffalo

CADDO Appearance: Caddoes made most of their clothing from deerskin, which they tanned a deep black. They wore mostly skirts and leggings Men and women tattooed streaks on their faces and plant and animal designs on their bodies.

CADDO Trading: They traded beautiful clay pottery & hunting bows, they received shells from the Gulf Coast, turquoise from the Southwest, copper from the Great Lakes region. Skilled workers used these trade goods and made useful & decorative objects. The fact that Caddoes had such specialized craft workers shows how advanced their culture was.

CADDO facts They were organized into 3 confederacies or alliances of people or groups that unite for a common purpose. The Caddoes had the most advanced culture of all Texas Indians. Even in prehistoric times, they settled in villages, lived and farmed in small clearings in the forest. Men helped the women with crops Built mounds for burial and worship

ATAKAPAN Location/Landforms: South of the Caddoes lived Indians who spoke a language called Atakapan. The lived in five bands or small tribes spread across the coastal plains from Louisiana to Galveston Bay. Coastal Area Marshland

ATAKAPAN ORANGE

ATAKAPAN Housing: Atakapan houses were cone shaped buildings of Smaller than Caddo and portable like an umbrella

ATAKAPAN Food Source: Fish, sea life, deer, bear, bird, shark, and alligator (sea food)

ATAKAPAN Appearance: Short and stocky

ATAKAPAN facts: Tanned animals with deer brains (French fought over these hides) Nomadic

WICHITA LOCATION: For protection, villages joined together to create three tribes- Tawakonis, Wacos, and Wichitas. West of Caddo Moved along the Red River and Brazos River Rich, sandy soil

WICHITA GREEN

WICHITA Housing: Clay floors Dug moats around the houses Look much like the beehive Caddo houses “Spirit” door Tipis when hunting buffalo for the skins

WICHITA Food Source: The Wichita were farmers who tended large fields of corn, pumpkins, squash, melons, beans, and groves of plum trees. After the fall harvest, entire bands left their homes and spent the winter hunting buffalo. During these months they lived in tipis. A tipi is a cone-shaped tent made of poles covered with animal skins. In the springtime the bands returned to villages and planted crops again. The Wichita would make pemmican (jerky) out of the buffalo.

WICHITA Appearance: The Wichita people, were shorter & darker then most other Texas Indians. Men had tattoos around their eyes “raccoon eyes.” Women tattooed their faces & bodies w/zigzag lines, circles, & triangles

WICHITA Facts: Lakes and cities named for them Made lots of things from pumpkin (ropes, baskets, etc.) Farmers and Hunters

The Western Gulf Peoples

COAHUILTECANS PINK

COAHUILTECANS Location/Landforms: Southwest Plains and the Rio Grande area toward Northern Mexico. Bottom part of Texas. They lived in hundreds of independent bands. Mesquite thickets, desert, scattered grasslands, and cactus

COAHUILTECANS Housing: Coahuiltecans lived in dome-shaped huts made by cutting and bending young trees and covered them with reed mats and animal hides. They could quickly roll up the mats and hides, place on their backs to carry, and move to the next camp.

COAHUILTECANS Food Source: The Coahuiltecans were hunter-gatherers. They ate snakes, lizards, armadillos, worms, snails, spiders, and insects (ants). With meat in short supply, plants formed the major part of the Coahuiltecans diet. Women and children gathered leaves, cactus tuna (nopalitos), fruits, mesquite beans (very sweet), and nuts. They also hunted deer, javalinas, and rabbit

COAHUILTECANS APPEARANCE: Yucca sandals Rabbit skin shawls Long, loin cloths

COAHUILTECANS FACTS: The most primitive or least advanced tribe of all the Texas’ tribes Nomadic Had an ambush technique and would then run for days Would use a burning torch to attract fish (night)

KARANKAWA PURPLE

KARANKAWAS Location/Landforms: The Karankawa Indians lived along the Gulf Coast Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Marshland Goose Island Grove

KARANKAWAS Housing: Karankawa houses held about eight people and were easy to move. Small poles with mats of leaves, grass and palm leaves Portable like and umbrella

KARANKAWAS Food Source: They survived by fishing in coastal bays and by hunting and gathering wild plants near the coast. Fish/shellfish Wild rice Alligator Water plants Deer, bear, and bird sharks

KARANKAWAS Appearance: Karankawas were taller than most Texas Indians. The average man was about six feet tall. Both men and women painted their bodies with red clay or charcoal, and the men pierced their lower lips and chests with small pieces of cane. They wore very little clothing. The women wore clothes made of deer skin or Spanish moss.

KARANKAWAS FACTS: Nomadic Used alligator grease for insect repellant Pottery was waterproofed with natural asphalt Dugout canoes Special ceremony dance (mitoks)

The Plains Peoples

TONKAWAS DARK GREEN

TONKAWAS The Tonkawa were a group of independent bands. At first they lived on the Edwards Pleateau west of present-day Austin & San Antonio. In the 1600’s and 1700’s, the Apaches and Comanches moved into the Tonkawas’ lands. They pushed the Tonkawas away from the Edwards Plateau and onto the Balcones Escarpment. Central Texas. Treeless areas

TONKAWAS HOUSING Caves of limestone Tipis

TONKAWAS Food Source: Before other groups pushed them off their land, the Tonkawas hunted buffalo and small game. Buffalo was their main source of food and materials for making clothes and tools. Once they had horses, the Tonkawas tried to move to the plains. The Apaches and Comanches prevented this. Instead the Tonkawas were pushed east, where even fewer buffalo lived. There the Tonkawas became hunters and gatherers. Brush and grass replaced buffalo hides as covering for their tipis. The plant foods they gathered included roots, seeds, fruit, acorns, and pecans. Their meat came from rabbits, skunks, rats, rattlesnakes, and land turtles instead of buffalo.

TONKAWAS FACTS: Nomadic Religion centered around hunting prayers Women set-up the camps Funerals have vision quests

The Diet of the plains peoples Buffalo Deer Corn Beans Pumpkins Watermelons

APACHES JUMANO BLUE (took over the area)

APACHES Locations/Landforms: Around A.D. 1000, a Native American people moved south from the present-day Canada across the Great Plains. They posed a threat to the people who already lived on the land. In order to survive, these newcomers became fierce fighters. “Apache” comes from the Zuni word apachu, which means “enemy”. Two of the Apache tribes, the Lipans and Mescaleros, were very important to Texas history.

APACHES Housing/Food Source: The Lipans 1st appeared in the Texas Panhandle in the 1500’s. They lived as independent bands. The Lipans wore clothes made of deerskin. To keep warm in the winter, they wrapped themselves in buffalo hide robes. Buffalo hides also covered their tipis. The Lipans hunted buffalo and other animals and sometimes farmed. During spring and summer they lived in small villages where the women planted and harvested crops of corn, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons. In the fall and winter they moved about, following buffalo. The Mescaleros were among the Apache tribes that settled in New Mexico. Their lands stretched from present-day El Paso to the Pecos River. Unlike the Lipans, the Mescaleros were a hunting and gathering people.

The homes of the plains peoples Tipis, also known as Teepees

COMANCHES Location/Landforms: The 1st Comanches lived in the northern Rocky Mountains in what is now Wyoming. They were poor hunter gatherers and their environment offered little food. After they acquired horses from the Spanish they left the mountains to hunt buffalo. They became expert riders. They first appeared in New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle in the early 1700’s. Over time, at least 13 bands of Comanche roamed the plains. Each band had a chief with limited power. He could act only with the approval of the band’s council. All adult males were members of the council. The entire council had to agree for decisions to take effect.

COMANCHES Food Source: The Comanches entire way of life depended on the buffalo. The animals provided clothing, shelter, and most of their food. The Comanches were nomads: people who wander from place to place in search of food.

COMANCHES Housing: Like other Plains Indians, the Comanches lived in tipis.

COMANCHES Appearance: They decorated their bodies and made most of their clothing from buffalo hides. Comanche women had short hair. Men allowed their hair to grow long, parting it in the middle, with braids on each side.

KIOWAS Location/Landforms: They came into Texas late-after 1832-and occupied only the very northern part of the Panhandle. Their main territory lay to the north of Texas. The Kiowas raided other groups in Texas for many years. The Kiowas’ attacks brought them in conflict with the Comanches. For about 50 years, the two peoples were bitter enemies. Around 1790 they made peace. The Kiowas and Comanches became allies, or people who help each other to benefit them both.

KIOWAS Housing, Food Source: The Kiowas’ culture was like that of most other Plains peoples. They were nomads and buffalo hunters who rode horses, lived in tipis, and traveled in bands. Their diet, dress, and appearance were similar to those of the Lipans and Comanches.

More special information about the plains peoples The Apaches were a warlike people and forced other tribes, like the Tonkawas, to move to other territories. The Kiowas practiced the Sun Dance, an important and elaborate religious ceremony.

The Puebloan Peoples

The location of the Puebloan peoples West Texas Mountains and Basins region of Texas

The homes of the Puebloan Peoples Adobe pueblos Huts covered with grass or animal skins

The Diet of the Puebloan Peoples Corn Beans Squash Cactus Deer Birds Rabbits Fish

JUMANOS Housing: Jumanos farmed and lived in pueblos made of adobe.

JUMANOS Location: Around A.D. 1200 the Jumanos established villages on the land between the Pecos River & the Rio Grande.

JUMANOS Food Source: The Jumanos grew corn, beans, and squash. Most of their fields were close to the river and streams, providing them with reliable sources of water. Unlike in most other Texas Indian cultures, Jumano men did most of the farming. Farming was difficult during droughts, or periods with little or no rain.

JUMANOS Trading: The Jumanos were great traders. They supplied corn and other crops from the farming villages to Plains Indians. In return they received animal hides, meat and wild nuts and beans.

JUMANOS Appearance: They painted their faces in horizontal lines. Men cut their hair short except for one long lock, to which they attached feathers. Women had long hair, which they sometimes wore in braids. The arrival of the Apaches ended the Jumanos’ trade and drove the Jumanos toward the Rio Grande.

CONCHO Location/Landforms: The Concho Indians lived southeast of the Jumanos, near present day Presidio.

CONCHO Food Source/Daily Life: Conchos and Jumanos were allies. The Jumanos and Conchos also shared a similar way of life. The Conchos grew corn, beans, and squash. Concho women did the farm work and gathered wild plants to eat. The Concho diet included nuts, berries, roots, and the fruit of cactus. The main job of Concho men was hunting. They used bows and arrows, dug pits, and set traps to hunt deer, birds, rabbit, and other small animals. They also made nets to fish in rivers and gathered clams to eat. The Conchos lived in huts that were covered with grass or animal skins.

CONCHO Appearance: Men and women wore little clothing in warm weather. In winter they dressed in capes or ponchos made of rabbit fur. They painted their faces and bodies and sometimes decorated their hair with feathers.

TIGUA Location: The Tiguas are the oldest group of Native Americans still living in Texas today. They settled along the Rio Grande, in a pass between two mountain ranges. There they established the town of Ysleta. It was the first permanent town in Texas.

TIGUA Food Source/ Daily Life: The Tigua way of life is similar to that of the Jumanos and Conchos. They were farmers, and most of their food came from the corn, beans, and squash they grew. Their meat came from deer, rabbits, antelope, and other game that the men could find. Women and children gathered berries and other wild foods. The council governed the tribe and elected the chief, who served for life. The chief, was the Tiguas’ religious leader.

More special information about the Puebloan Peoples Kiva: large room where the tribal council met and where other community activities occurred Cacique: Spanish word for a Tigua religious leader