Makah Indians essays

Makah Indians essays The Makah Indians were a predominantly fishing society. This was quite obvious because most of their artifacts were oriented toward the sea and the land around. Various artifacts were bordered with carving of fish or whale. A few were made from whalebone, and others made from different kind of wood and fiber. Although anyone can see that the Makahs had a lot of pride in presenting their relationship with the ocean, it was not their only means of subsistence. Numerous artifacts such as their canoe were made out of wood, which suggests that the forest they lived in or around were heavily depended upon. They are not limited to the natural resources of the rivers, lakes, tidelands, and ocean areas. While the water provided a main source for food and transportation, Makah forests provide many types of wood for carvers, many species of land animals for hunters, and a wide variety of plants that can be used for food, medicine, or raw materials. Most of the artifacts recovered were from the early nineteenth century, which suggests the Makahs had lived and existed well beyond that era. Their subsistence technologies presented in the museum revolved around the sea. Especially in a case that holds exclusively fishing supplies such as fishhooks, nets, traps, boats and paddles. In it were canoes of different tribes, of which one of them belonged to the Makah Indians. The size of it was reduced yet big enough so the details were visible. The canoe was made out of cedar and it was from the 1900s. The craft was dugout from a single cedar tree. The canoe itself didnt have any carving or embroideries, but it was the shape of it that makes it unique. The front end of the canoe had a head shaped like a bird; maybe it was some kind of divine creature that they revered. Since their prey was a whale, one would expect the actual size of the canoe to be no less than the size of gray whale. In addition, it would be in favor of the hu...