JUMANO

When you think of the mountains and basins… Think of the Jumano!

Jumano=Pueblo?  Some people refer to the Jumano as the Pueblo, which means “village”. Some historians believed the Jumano of Texas descended from the Anasazi, a group of people who lived in cliffs in Colorado.

Do you see the connection?

Housing  The Jumanos lived in Adobe houses. Adobe is a type of brick made from straw and mud. They had more than one stories and ladders leading up to the 2 nd story. Based on their housing do you think they were nomads or sedentary?

SEDENTARY!  They stayed in one place. So were they hunter- gatherers or farmers? Why?  They were farmers, but they lived in the mountains and basins, does that make sense?

Farmers  Farming is very hard in the mountains and basins because they don’t have a lot of water.  So the Jumano were very smart and used irrigation systems to bring water to their crops from nearby streams.

Crops  Jumanos grew many vegetables including corn, beans, and squash. But what were they missing in their diet?  Meat! Where will they get their meat from?

Bartering or Trading  The Jumano had to barter their crops for meat. Which tribes did the Jumano probably trade with?  Mainly the Apache and Comanche (more with the Apache)  If they barter with vegetables, what will the Apache give to them in return? Buffalo meat, buffalo hides, anything with buffalo!

Jumano Today?  When white settlers came to Texas the Jumano worked with them. But slowly the settlers stopped working with the Jumano and started working with a Caddo, a larger tribe.  Jumanos started working more with the Apache and it’s believed they started becoming a part of other tribes. Today there are no Jumano villages and only a very small number of descendents left in Texas.