eastern woodlands shawnee

EASTERN WOODLANDS

SHAWNEEBy: Mady Bruner, Jazmine Burgess, Taylor Cook, Carleigh Fleischmann

ENVIRONMENT (CLIMATE)• The climate was warm and temperate.• Significant rainfall with precipitation even in the driest month, which is April.

ENVIRONMENT (GEOGRAPHY)

• The Eastern Woodlands is located east of The Great Plains.• The Shawnee lived in forests near lakes (Great Lakes), rivers (St. Lawrence and Hudson rivers), and streams. • There was a lot of Birch trees that the Shawnee used.

ENVIRONMENT (RESOURCES)

• The Shawnee used wood and bark for cooking, building homes, and building canoes.• Water was used for transportation and fishing.• Animals the Shawnee hunted provided food and the animal skins and furs provided them with clothing materials.

SHELTER• The woodland tribes lived in wigwams and long houses. • wigwam – round, wooden-framed structures, also covered in bark.• long houses – same as a wigwam except rectangular, and had a long hallway with rooms on either side.

FOOD• The Shawnee hunted bear, moose, bison, and were also fishermen. • Shawnee ate beaver, raccons, rabbits, corn, beans, and berries.• Woodland tribes grew squash, pumpkins, and melons. Tribes in the Great Lakes area also consumed a lot of rice.

CLOTHING• Clothing was made of deer skin or furs• Women wore skirts with leggings underneath and men wore leggings• shirts were usually not worn in the summer months but in the winter ponchos were worn to keep warm

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION• The classes went from the highest (the chief and his children) to the nobility, and then the lowest (commoners).• The women’s role was to tend to the garden plots, harvest crops such as maize, and prepare the food.• The men’s role was to make bows and arrows, stone knives, and war clubs. Also, the men would hunt and farm.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP • Five Shawnee divisions: Chillikothe, Kispokotha, Piqua, Hathevekela, and Spitotha. • Membership was inherited patrilineally. But women related to male leaders could be chiefs on the town level.• They had the right to ask for a cancellation of a war party, sparing prisoners, and directing feasts and the planting of crops.

RELIGION • Christianity has similar beliefs.• The Shawnee believed the universe was created by a supreme ruler called Moneto.• Shawnee thought they themselves were created by female called “Our Grandmother”

TRADE• Exported pottery, maize (corn), goods made from plants and animals. • Imported feathers, minerals, and animal furs.

CUSTOMS • Marriages were almost always arranged and it was associated with gift giving.• Babies would be born in a special hut, the mother and baby would stay in the hut for ten days. Then they would have a special naming ceremony.• Men buried men; while both women and men would bury the females. The dead would be buried in their best clothes, facing west, and sprinkled with tobacco inside a dirt mound.