360 words, 2 minutes read time.
Photo detail above from New England Land Forms poster, Abenaki Arts & Education Center.Download your FREE poster below.
The following article provides additional interpretation for the special exhibition “Deep Roots, Strong Branches.” Curated by Vera Sheehan.
Rivers are like roads that allow people in canoes to travel faster than on foot. This might make for easier travel to visit family and friends, or to create alliances, but rivers also make it easier for other people (strangers and newcomers) to travel into your territory. Strong currents or rapids might act as a barrier to travel. Mountains can make it harder to visit other people for trade and to reach allies, but mountains could also provide protection from attacks. Knowing where to find natural resources and having easy access to them is equally important. For example, if people want to build a wigwam (home) they need access to the forest to harvest saplings and birch bark. They might also seek a meadow where fertile soil for gardening is plentiful.
Using “Native Land Digital,” you can identify some early Abenaki neighbors. This website offers a searchable interactive map with colored overlays. If you conduct a search for “Abenaki Territory,” this map quickly provides a visual representation of the historical Abenaki homelands with a color overlay. Neighboring Tribes such as the Mohawks to the west and the Mohicans at the southwest corner of Vermont are represented through additional color overlays. You may notice that the colored overlays blend to indicate shared territories. By comparison, a topographic map only shows the geographic features that might form barriers or connect shared territories that might bring neighbors together.
The various groups of Indigenous people who lived in this region had much in common. They preferred to live near rivers, seeking natural resources that would meet their daily needs for food, clothing, and shelter (hunting, fishing) and that they could use for cultural practices (art, storytelling).
- Compare how the material and structures help with functionality and survival
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Supported in part by Vermont Humanities and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Cultural Sustainability program, made possible by the Wallace Foundation.
Related Readings:
Background Reading:
Classroom Activity:
- Abenaki Animals Coloring Book
- Abenaki Cultural Practices, Lifeways, and Natural Resources Card Game
- Abenaki Uses of Natural Resources
- Habitats Are Homes (early learners)
- DIY Seed Paper: Restoration Ecology for Kids!
Curriculum:
Visual Aid – Posters:
- Abenaki Home and Structures: Teacher Overview
- New England Landforms Poster: Teacher Overview
- Seeds of Renewal Project: 2013 Harvest
Video:
The Adventure of the Bentwood Box (high school)