Virginia s Indians Unit VS.2 d-g The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and native peoples, past and present, early inhabitants of Virginia by: d) locating three American Indian language groups (the Algonquian, the Siouan, and the Iroquoian) on a map of Virginia. e) describing how American Indians related/adapted to the climate and their environment to secure food, clothing, and shelter. f) describing how archaeologists have recovered new material evidence through sites including Werowocomoco and Jamestown. g) identifying and locating the current state-recognized tribes.
The First Virginians American Indians were the first Americans and the first people living in Virginia. They were mistakenly given the name Indians by Christopher Columbus, who believed that he was in the Indies, (near China) when he was exploring North America. We know that American Indians, or Native Americans, lived all over Virginia because they left artifacts like tools, pottery, and arrowheads behind. These artifacts give us clues as to how Virginia s Indians lived before the settlers arrived. In 1606 when settlers from England sailed into the Chesapeake Bay and up the James River, there were already thousands of American Indians living in thick, green forests of Virginia. The Indians living in Virginia are part of a group known as the Eastern Woodland Indians. The Eastern Woodlands Indians in Virginia were divided into three main groups based on the languages they spoke. The Algonquian-speaking peoples lived in the Coastal Plain (Tidewater) region north of the Chowan drainage basin. The people lived in some 161 villages located near major streams. The Powhatan were part of this group. The Siouan-speaking peoples lived primarily in the Piedmont region of Virginia. We know less about them than the Algonquians because they had little direct contact with early English settlers, who could have left a written record of their villages and way of life. The Monacan were part of this group.
The Iroquoian-speaking peoples lived in two widely separated parts of Virginia. Some Iroquoian-speaking tribes lived in the Chowan Drainage Basin which is at the fall line just above North Carolina. These tribes lived similarly to the Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Coastal Plain. The other Iroquoian-speaking peoples in Virginia were the Cherokee. Their villages and farm lands were near the Great Smoky Mountains in today s North Carolina and Tennessee. However, southwestern Virginia was part of their hunting territory, and others recognized their claim to that land. Virginia Indians Three Major Language Groups 3. Iroquoian was spoken in the Chowan Drainage Basin and in Southwestern Virginia. The Cherokee were a part of this group. 2 1 3 3 2. Siouan was spoken primarily in the Piedmont Region. The Monacan were a part of this group. 1. Algonquian was spoken primarily in the Tidewater Region. The Powhatan were part of this group.
Adapting to Environment The lives of the Eastern Woodland Indians were very connected to Virginia s climate and land. The kinds of food they ate, the clothing they wore, and the shelters they had depended on the seasons. The climate in Virginia is relatively mild with distinct seasons spring, summer, fall, and winter. The food they ate changed with the seasons. In the winter, they hunted birds and animals for food and clothing. Virginia s Indians also lived on stored foods that they had prepared the previous fall. In the spring, they hunted, fished, and picked berries. In the summer, they grew crops like beans, corn, and squash. They planted these three crops in the same field. The corn provided a structure for the beans to grow up and the squash provided a thick ground cover to keep weeds away. In the fall, they harvested their crops and then hunted for foods that they would preserve and keep for the winter. Their shelter and clothing was made from the materials around them. Because most of early Virginia was covered by thick forests, the homes of the Woodlands Indians were made from tree limbs, vines, reeds, and bark. Virginia Indians would begin building their houses in late spring. Green bark allowed for easy cutting, bending, folding, and stitching the different shapes. Deerskin was the most common material used to make clothing.
Seasonal Adaptations for Obtaining Food Winter Spring Summer Fall
Powhatan Way of Life The Powhatan Indians were part of the Algonquian language group that settled in the Coastal Plain (Tidewater) Region. The world powhatan means waterfall in the Algonquian language. The Powhatan built their towns near rivers. The rivers provided transportation and were a source of food and drinking water. Powhatan men were hunters and warriors. They made fishing equipment, built canoes, and made tools. Both men and women helped build houses. Men gathered saplings (young trees) and built the framework. Women made mats or gathered bark to cover the framework. Women also grew crops and cooked meals. Girls would weed gardens, pound corn, and care for younger children. Boys were taught to fish and hunt. In the summer, men wore a deerskin breechcloth. The women wore aprons made of deerskin or woven from silk grass. In cold weather, they added leggings and deerskin capes. Men of the Powhatan tribes wore their hair shaven on the right and long and knotted on the left. When they were hunting with a bow and arrow, hair would not catch in the bowstring. Some men would decorate their hair with deer antlers, copper, wings of birds, or shells. Copper objects were markers of high social standing.
The Powhatan Indians had songs and dances for just about everything. Usually men and women danced in circles keeping time with their feet. They used rhythm instruments, such as dried gourd and turtle shell rattles, to go with their songs and dances. Wooden drums covered with skins had walnuts attached to make a rattling sound. Another instrument Powhatan Indians played was the reed flute. Most Powhatan settlements were small, with fewer than 100 people. Ten to twenty houses, called yehakins, were randomly scattered among shade trees and fields. Some yehakins were small and round, while others were oblong, with rounded ends to make them more wind resistant. Young saplings were used to create a frame for the house. The people covered their houses with bark shingles stripped from trees, or with mats woven from cut marsh reeds. In warm weather these mats could be rolled up. Most houses had only a single room. Furniture was limited to fur or mat-covered sleeping benches built along the walls. At night, additional beds made of deerskins or reed mats were laid on the ground. A fire placed in the center of the room was the main source of light and heat. A hole cut in the roof directly over the fire, as well as doors, provided a way for the smoke to get out and for additional light to get in. Because of poor lighting, houses were mainly used for sleeping and storage.
Monacan Way of Life The Virginia Algonquians called the people on the western side of the Fall Line the Monacan, which means earth diggers. Although there were several tribes that spoke Siouan, the Monacan were the largest group in Virginia. When the Jamestown settlers arrived in 1607, the Virginia Siouan numbered more than 10,000 people. Dozens of Monacan towns stretched along the Rappahannock and James Rivers in the Piedmont region. The Monacan people had little contact with the English, so there is not much of a historical record for this people. What we do know is that they were an agricultural people who grew the Three Sisters crops of corn, beans and squash, and they farmed a wide variety of other foods, including sunflowers, fruit trees, wild grapes and nuts. They lived in villages with palisaded walls, and their homes were dome-shaped structures of bark and reed mats. They hunted deer, elk and small game, and they would leave their villages every year to visit their hunting camps. The Monacan traded with the Powhatan to the east and the Iroquois to the north. They mined copper, which they wore in necklaces, and which the Powhatan prized greatly. The Monacan also buried their dead in mounds, a tradition that differentiates them from neighboring Indian nations. Throughout the piedmont and mountain regions, thirteen mounds have been identified and many excavated.
Cherokee Way of Life At the time of European contact, the Cherokee were a settled, agricultural people living in approximately 200 fairly large villages. The typical Cherokee town consisted of 30 to 60 houses and a large council house. They built permanent, well-organized villages in the middle of large cornfields and gardens throughout the fertile river valleys. In these villages, homes were arranged around a central area that was used for dances, games, and ceremonies. The size of the council house varied, depending on the size of the village because it had to be large enough for all the people to meet. Council houses were made of saplings (young trees) and mud. Bunched around the council house was a collection of extended family homes. The Cherokee were hunters, farmers, and gatherers. The men hunted, and the women farmed and gathered. The men hunted only what was needed to feed their families, but the women farmed enough food to last for at least two years. They hunted deer and elk. They ate the meat, used the skins, and made tools from the antlers and bones. They made nets and other traps to catch many types of fish. The Cherokee gathered nuts and berries when they were in season. They planted beans, squash, corn, sunflowers, and tobacco. They put the harvested corn into storage buildings for the next winter, spring, and summer. The Cherokee used deerskin and other materials from nature for their clothing like other Virginia Indians.
Uncovering History Recent archaeological digs have found new evidence about historic Jamestown and Werowocomoco. Archaeologists are scientists who study material clues left from peoples of the past. They go to historical sites and use their special training to recover objects and look for clues that can help them piece together how people of the past lived. The Powhatan did not keep written records; so much of what we know today about the Powhatan is through the observations of the first settlers and through the findings of archaeologists. Even today, archaeologists are making new discoveries about Jamestown and Werowocomoco. Werowocomoco was the headquarters of Chief Powhatan, the leader of all of the Powhatan Tribes. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. Werowocomoco was just 12 short miles north of Jamestown! One example of a discovery made by archaeologists is the recovery of copper bits and blue glass beads in Werowocomoco. These artifacts were exact matches to ones made in England in the early 1600s. This proves that when colonists first arrived, they traded beads and copper with the Indians for food. Some other artifacts archaeologists have found in Virginia include arrowheads, pottery, and other tools. The recovered artifacts from these sites give archaeologists clues about the interactions of the English, Africans, and Indians in early Virginia.
Werowocomoco and Jamestown Sites True or False? 1) We know all about the American Indians from artifacts like old photographs that show how they lived. 2) Archaeologists use clues that they dig up to tell them about how the people who lived long ago interacted. 3) Detailed written records by the Powhatan reveal much of what we know today about how they lived. 4) Archaeologists have made all the possible discoveries they can about Jamestown and Werowocomoco. 5) Werowocomoco was like a capital city to the Powhatan people.
American Indians Today/State Recognized Tribes Today, most native peoples live like other Americans. Their cultures have changed over time. American Indians, who can trace their family histories back to well before 1607, continue to live in all parts of Virginia today. There are currently 11 state-recognized tribes located in the Tidewater and Piedmont regions. The Nottoway and Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) tribes lived in the Tidewater region in the small area that spoke Iroquoian. They were given the name Nottoway by the Powhatan Algonquian-speaking peoples. These two tribes still hold powwows every year in Virginia. The Chickahominy and Eastern Chickahominy tribes lived in the Tidewater region in established towns along the Chickahominy River near Jamestown. Because of their proximity to Jamestown, the Chickahominy Indians had early contact with the English settlers and helped them survive during their first few winters by trading food for other items. The Mattaponi Indian Reservation in the Tidewater region dates back to 1658. In 1646, the Mattaponi signed a treaty with an early Virginia governor and began paying a tax tribute. This practice continues unbroken to the present day, when on the fourth Wednesday of November, the tribe presents game or fish to the governor of Virginia. At the time of their first contact with the English in Virginia, the Nansemond people lived in several towns along the Nansemond River centered near the current location of Suffolk. At that time, the tribe had a population of 1,200 persons including 300 bowmen. Some members of the Pamunkey Tribe (28 families) live on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, which is on the Pamunkey River in the Tidewater region. The reservation contains approximately 1,200 acres, 500 acres of which are wetlands with many creeks. The history of the Pamunkey people dates back 10,000-12,000 years.
The Patawomeck tribe was loosely connected to the Powhatan chiefdom when the Jamestown settlers arrived in 1607. The Patawomeck helped the Jamestown colonists by trading food during the Starving Time in Jamestown. The people of the Rappahannock Tribe have lived on the lands along the Rappahannock River, named by the tribe, for 11,000 years. Their lands in the Tidewater region span from the Rappahannock River to the Mattaponi River and as far north as Fredericksburg. For centuries, the ancestors of the Upper Mattaponi people lived in towns along the waterways of Virginia in the Tidewater region. They farmed maize (corn), beans, and squash and hunted deer and spoke the Algonquian language. When the English arrived in 1607, the Upper Mattaponi were prosperous members of the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. The Monacan tribe has about 1,700 tribal members located in Amherst County. They have lived in this region for more than 10,000 years, and the original territory of these people made up more than half of the state of Virginia, including almost all of the Piedmont region and parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains region. The Monacan Nation is one of the oldest groups of native peoples still existing in their ancestral homeland.