During our study of the native people of America we focused on two general groups: plains peoples and cliff dwellers. For the plains study, we looked at how the more nomadic groups would frequently move their village to be near the buffalo, which they used for food, clothing and to cover their tipi lodges. For the cliff dwellers study we looked at the incredible castle-like buildings tucked in caves around the Four Corners in areas such as Mesa Verde. The students were surprised to learn these had likely been abandoned for hundreds of years BEFORE Columbus arrived on what is now Haiti. "New World" doesn't seem like the right name when you think about it that way.
Students enjoy searching for real obsidian arrowheads, dried corn husks, pottery shards and other artifacts during a lesson at Foothills Academy in my 3rd and 4th grade homeroom.
We ordered two chests of artifacts - one for plains people, one for cliff dwellers - from the Colorado Historical Society which were shipped to the classroom. The plains chest was a re-creation of a box of goods collected by a woman who had been a little girl at the turn of the century. The students were impressed by the beadwork on the soft, supple elk skin bag.
Look at this incredible stone ax head and these beautiful obsidian arrowheads the students found. There are also bits of rabbit pelt, pottery shards showing coil technique, corn husks and even some yucca-fiber string. Cool!
In the cliff dweller chest was a mock-archaeological dig. The students used a trowel to scoop sand onto a mesh filter to expose beautiful translucent obsidian arrowheads, dried corn husks and pottery shards with detailed glaze designs. What a neat opportunity to peer back in time to the lives of the Ancestral Puebloans.
Here is the cliff dweller recipe I put together for the students. At the bottom is a drawing of a quartzite stone knife with wooden handle. The real one is at the museum at Mesa Verde. The hominy we ate today was a little different than this recipe, but I encouraged the students to try this at home with their folks. Looks good (and good for you!).
Today the kids were excited to prepare and taste two different recipes: one example from the plains people and one from the cliff dwellers. For the plains recipe we stuffed a squash with venison, wild rice and sage (the recipe called for a pumpkin but I couldn't find one anywhere!). As an example from the cliff dwellers - who grew squash, corn and beans atop their mesa strongholds - we tried a hominy and chili recipe. The kids loved both recipes! This lesson wasn't just hands on - it was in our tummies!
Students took turns spooning the pre-cooked venison and onion into our gourd-vessel for the Hidatsa recipe. I pre-baked the squash a bit, too because the recipe calls for 1.5 hours in the oven and we only had 45 minutes for class. We tried the
Thomas couldn't get enough of either the Hidatsa venison-stuffed squash or the cliff dweller-style hominy and chilies. He must have had 15 servings of hominy! What a nice day to eat outside. We thought this would be a more authentic experience than eating in the cafeteria! Note the ancient plastic cups.
Another fine day of learning at Foothills! http://www.foothills-academy.org/
Here is the recipe we used for the plains-style meal. We learned that unlike the Crow, Kiowa or the Blackfeet, the Hidatsa were more sedentary and farmed as well as hunting buffalo. That explains the pumpkin in the recipe. We wondered about the wild rice. Could that be found in wetlands perhaps? It's nice to imagine a person gathering wild rice in a wetland before the era of highways and parking lots.