Native American Research Project 2012

Native American Research Project ~ 2012

4th Grade Humanities

Eastern Woodlands/Algonquin/Delaware/Lenni Lenape

Trees were very important. They were used in many ways!

Paper Birch – Height is 50 to 75 feet. It has reddish brown twigs and creamy white bark that could be peeled and used for longhouses. Andrew

Sugar Maple – Height is 60 to 80 feet tall. The Lenape made maple syrup and maple sugar from the sap of the sugar maple tree. They cut v-shaped gashes into the tree trunks and put reeds or concave pieces of bark to run the sap into birch bark made buckets. They did not eat much sugar, so it was very sweet to them. Lorena

Red Mulberry – Height is 35-50 feet, diameter 12-18 inches - It is an ornamental tree and has many small fruits which are about 1 inch long. They start green, turn red and finally turn purple when they appear in July. The fruits are eaten by birds, animals and people. The bark is dark grayish brown and was used to cover longhouses & wigwams. The durable wood was used as fence posts and to make furniture. Viswa

White Ash –Height is 70 to 80 feet. The bark is gray-brown. The wood was used for agricultural tools, and the juice of the leaves was used for mosquito bite itching. The leaves grow to about 10 inches long and contain 5-9 leaflets. The leaves in the fall range from brilliant yellow to dark maroon. Emme

Eastern hemlock –Height is 40 to 70 feet tall. Deer browse it heavily when deep snow makes other food scarce. The cones are ¾ inches long and hang singly from the tips of the twigs. Under each scale are 2 small winged seeds. It’s important for construction timber. It contains tannic acid which was used for tanning hides to make leather. Abe

Tulip Tree –Heightis 70 to 90 feet. It is sometimes known as a Yellow Poplar. It is a large hardwood tree and was carved into canoes by the Lenape. The bark is smooth with whitish streaks. The fruitis first green then turnslight brown in the fall when it ripens. Skayina

Black Willow –Height is usually up to 30 feet. It is found on stream banks and wet meadows. The bark has thick ridges. The bark contains a medical compound. The Lenape made Black Willow tea by aging the bark then grinding it into powder. Two teaspoons of the powder could be poured into hot water and taken aspirin back then. The Black Willow was planted as a shade tree. The wood was made into fine charcoal. Natasha

Witch Hazel – Height up to 25 feet high - A shrub or small tree used to make a soothing lotion. It is also used to make bows. Richard

Black Walnut – Height is up to 100 feet – A large size tree that has wood that’s valuable for quality furniture and musical instruments. It has a round nut that’s about 1-2 inches in diameter and a rough shell. A tea of pulverized inner bark can be used for stomach problems. The black walnut can be used to cure cases of tape worm. Audrey

Blue Spruce – Height is up to 150 feet. When it is young, it is gray-blue, but turns reddish brown with age. It grows pine cones 4 inches long. Eric

Common Sassafras – Height is about 50 feet. The roots, bark, & leaves were used to cure ills. The roots were used to make root beer. Get a young tree and simmer its roots to turn the flavors into soda syrup which also extracts the vitamins and minerals and other healing components into the water. Then add ginger root and maple syrup. Dried root bark was also used to make a fragrance for soaps or food. This was done by steaming it until it produced an essential oil. – Anish

Fire Cherry – Height is up to 40 feet. It has a rounded base and is also called a Pin cherry. The fruit is edible and was used in jams & jellies. The trunk is smooth and could be peeled off.

It has a green inner bark. Caroline

Sycamore –Height is 70-125 feet - It has reddish brown bark that breaks off into tiny scales revealing an inner bark of creamy white. Sycamore leaves are 4-8 inches long and wide. It is most commonly used as a shade tree. Because it is a more breakable wood, it was used for firewood and baskets. It provided homes for lots of wildlife. It is one of the fastest growing trees in Pennsylvania. It is found close to bodies of water due to its need for moisture. Amanda

Elm –Height is up to 100 feet. The elm tree was valued for lumber and shade. Some branches and limbs branch out from the top of the trunk in an umbrella shape. The Elm tree symbolizes the principles of fairness, peace and social justice because of the treaty signed under the majestic tree along the Delaware River in 1682. The chiefs of the Lenape met with William Penn and made a treaty of friendship. The leaves are ovals with saw-toothed edges and nutlike fruit. The bark is tough and hard and is usually light brown. Bark does not split easily so it is useful for making garden tools, containers, lacrosse sticks, fence posts, furniture, and canoes. Ria

Flowering Dogwood –Height up to 40 feet. The bar is reddish brown to reddish gray like alligator hide. The wood is hard and heavy. Brianna

White Oak –Height is 80 to 100 feet. The twigs are red-gray, often with grayish coating. The fruit are acorns, ¾ to 1 inch long. The bark is pale gray and scaly. The tree is very important to both wildlife and people. The acorn is an important wildlife food, and the Lenape Indians made flour from the acorns. The wood could be used for containers, furniture, arts & crafts, and boat building. Samantha

Common Hackberry– Height is 20 to 35 feet. The twigs are slender, somewhat shiny, and brownish. The bark is grayish brown with warts and ridges. The edible fruit is dark purple cherry. Ben

Chestnut Oak – The twigs are smooth orange/brown to reddish brown. The fruit is an acorn 1 to 1 ½ inches long. It is rich, dark brown and shiny. The fruit ripen in one growing season and the kernels are moderately sweet.Emma

Fresh Water was the most important resource for the Lenape. They used it for a lot of things. They lived near rivers or lakes and used it for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, gardening (watering crops), transportation in their canoes, and recreation. It was also an important source of their food (especially protein) such as fish, clams, crab, and shellfish, including oysters. They also used water animals to make things like wampum belts from clams or cups & dishes from turtle shells. Andrew

Homes – Longhouses were long rectangular homes. They could be more than 100 feet long. Several related families would live in them. They could fit up to 12 families (sometimes as many as 60 people). The one doorway was only about a yard high. Openings in the roof let out smoke from the fires in the house and provided some natural light. Off the hallways, there were rooms which allowed families to have some privacy. The longhouse had two floors. The second was where the sleeping pallets were. Some foods such as corn & herbs were hung from the ceiling.

Wigwams were strong dome shaped homes that were approximately 8-15 feet in diameter and 7 feet high at the center. They were usually covered with brush, bark, dirt, reeds, woven matsor animal skins. They used whatever resources they had. There was a hole in the center of the roof so smoke from a family fireplace could escape easily. Homes were built near a stream or river at the edge of a forest. That way they had access to water and wood.

Sweat Lodges – They were made of slender saplings of Willow or Aspen, lashed together with raw hide, grass, or root cordage. They did not have a set size, but were usually about 4-5 feet high at the center and the pit in the center was about 2 feet in diameter. The floor of the sweat lodge was clean or dirty. The women and men each had their own sweat lodge. They went to sweat off the dirt from their cracks and crevices. This was done once a month. EmmeSkayina Theybelieved that by sweating, they could get rid of evil spirits. Andrew

Fire – The Lenape knew that rubbing wood creates heat or sometimes fire. Man living in the woods has to build a fire for comfort if not survival. It is true that they sometimes made fire by rubbing sticks together or by rotating two sticks, but both ways were slow. A bow drill was better, and so was a pump drill, spun by unwinding a wrapped thong rapidly, but either was cumbersome to carry. The Woodland Indian solution to the problem of getting a fire was to carry a little bit of it with him. He lined a large shell with clay and filled it with hot,smoldering powdery rotten wood. The village fire was built in a teepee shape with wooden logs and little rocks around it. Anish

Gardens – The three sisters,corns, beans and squash, were precious gifts from the Great Spirit and were always planted together so they could thrive and grow. Beans grew up and around the corn for stability and they helped the garden by putting nitrogen or nutrients on the roots. The squash provided shade for the corn. Corn was considered the primary crop, providing more calories or energy per acre. They also planted tomatoes, melons, gourds, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes.

The artichokes grew up on the foot of the sunflowers.

Sunflowers were grown for the oil found in the seeds. It was used for cooking. Tobacco was grown and offered as a gift to the spirits in special ceremonies. People smoked before making important decisions. Gardens were planted close to the village so women could easily look after them and collect the harvest. They were often planted among burned tree stumps for the rich soil. The garden had a structure built nearby for the children to stand on to scare away animals that would try to eat their crops. Fences were built to protect the plants from deer. Birdhouses were made from dried gourds so birds would move in and eat bugs. Men and boys helped to loosen the soil with stone hoes and pointed sticks called dibbles or digging sticks. The Lenape planted crops in spring or early summer and harvested them in late summer or early fall. Since there were more fish in the rivers, seas and oceans than the Lenape could eat, they put some of the fish they caught into the earth to make the vegetables grow better. The women inserted them in small holes in the ground. Every three feet, women made small mounds of dirt. Knives, choppers, scrapers,and milling stones were used to prepare the food. Amanda, Audrey, Brianna

Travel – The Lenape made many paths and different types of canoes. They usually traveled more by land than water. By the time the European settlers arrived, there were many trails criss-crossing the land. The Lenape were excellent trail markers. They understood nature so they made wise choices for where to plans their paths. They always tried to keep on high, well drained ground. When they had to cross a stream or river, they chose the best location.

Most canoes were made out of Birch bark, but others were made out of heavy Elm bark. The Birch bark canoes lasted longer in the water. Birch bark canoes were made by covering a sapling frame with Birch bark and caulking it with Spruce gum. The women dug Spruce and Tamarack roots for the seams of the canoe. They used on piece of Birch bark for the bottom and two for the sides. They used large sheets of winter bark. They used White Cedar for the ribs and planking. They put poles in the ground and lashed them together to hold the canoe in place while they were working on it.

The dugout canoes were made from large trees like the Chestnut or Pine. First, they cut down the tree. Then they took the bark from the tree and charred one side with fire. Last, they hollowed out the charred wood by chipping away at it with axes, knives, shells and bone scrapers. They ranged from 12 to 40 feet long and were used to transport people and goods. Dugout canoes were used on the Delaware River and for rougher waters. RiaViswa

Food storage –The Lenape dug deep holes in the ground and put baskets of dried food in them. When it was winter, they dug up the food and ate it. They often smoked meat, especially deer. Abe

Cooking – The Eastern Woodland Indians made their dishes and cups out of wood, gourds, turtle and sea shells. They made bowls and pots out of clay and were egg-shaped. The pots had rounded bottoms and when used for cooking, they were held upright by three stones and a fire was built around them. Maple syrup, used as a sweetener, was made by collecting sap from the Sugar Maple trees in early spring and boiling it down. They also wrapped their food in leaves and set it in hot ashes to cook. Beans were boiled or fried, made into soups or added to meat dishes. The Lenape liked to have their corn, beans and squash in many different ways. Corn on the cob was boiled, baked or fried in bear grease. Sometimes, the women scraped the kernels off the cobs and ground, and baked them into paste, and made the paste into patties that were then baked or boiled. Corn was also used to make bread, soup and pudding. They used mortar and pestles to pound the corn into flour/meal to make a sort of bread. Loaves were small and flat about 11/2 inches thick. Sometimes dried berries or nuts were added. Nuts could also be ground up and baked, or pressed to squeeze out their oil, which was used for cooking. They also used oil from the sunflowers for cooking. Food was also cooked by roasting. Most meals incorporated a soup or stew prepared in a simple black pot or a bark container. Slow cooking clay pots were hung over the fire. During good weather, a fire for cooking was built outside of the home where the women did the roasting. During bad weather, cooking was done indoors. Most households only had one big late morning meal. Amanda, Audrey, Lorena, & Ria

Drying Racks -

Pumpkins and squash were cut into rings, put on a stick and hung up to dry in the sun. Meat and fish could also be sun-dried or sometimes placed over a smoldering fire to slowly smoke it dry. As long as foods were kept dry, they would not spoil. They would last for a long time. Dried meat could be chewed or cooked into a stew. When the Lenape wanted to eat dried food, they cooked it in water. The water made it swell up and become soft enough to eat. Dried corn was prepared by boiling it first in water to which wood ashes were added. Lye in the ashes made the kernels swell and lose their hulls.

The Lenape/Algonquin smoked meat such as deer and fish. They also ate roe (or fish eggs) for a treat. They smoked meat and other things because they lasted longer without water in them. The dried food was stored under beds and benches. The way they smoked it was over a fire on a wooden drying rack. They also dried corn and vegetables. The Lenape/Algonquin smoked meat such as deer and fish. They also ate roe (or fish eggs) for a treat. They smoked meat and other things because they lasted longer without water in them. The dried food was stored under beds and benches. The way they smoked it was over a fire on a wooden drying rack. They also dried corn and vegetables.

Amanda, Audrey & Eric

Animals –The animals that lived in the area, and were used by the Lenni Lenape were the following:

White tailed deer – This was the most important animal.

Elk, Moose

Black Bear – Bear fat was melted, purified and stored in skin bags. It was rubbed on their hair to make it shiny. (Bear fat was rubbed on the skin to prevent mosquito bites.Lorena)

Beaver, Rabbit, Raccoon, Wolves

*The above animals were used in many ways. The meat was eaten. The skins/hides were made into clothing (skirts, leggings, shirts), moccasins, blankets, diapers, hats, door flaps and pouches. The sinew was used to tie things, cords, thread & belts. Their teeth were used for jewelry. The bones were used to make knives, hoes, ladles, awls, fish hooks and needles. Even the animal muscles and brains were used.