Gulf Coast Culture

Painting, Karankawa Native Americans by Frank Weir. Courtesy of Texas Beyond History. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

Karankawa

Fun Fact: Head flattening was practiced by many of these coastal tribes. A thin board padded with moss and cloth was tied to a small baby's head for a year. This caused the head to slope and become somewhat pointed. It was considered a mark of beauty by these Indians.

Notetaking Guide:

List the tribes that belong to the culture. (Hint: Use the map to help you.)
Location and Geography: Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?
Shelter: Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?
Food/Diet: Are they hunters and gatherers or farmers? What kind of foods did they eat? What kind of animals did they hunt? What kind of crops did they plant?
Culture/Other Facts: What traditions or customs did they have? What kind of clothing did they wear? Did they have any special skills or items they made? Does their name have a special meaning? List any other special facts you find.

Karankawa

Location and Shelter

The Karankawa lived in small tribes. They lived in the Coastal Plains region of Texas, stretching from current-day Galveston to around Corpus Christi. The name Karankawa possibly means “dog lovers” because they bred coyote-like dogs. The Karankawa lived in 10 to 12 foot-wide round houses made of poles that were covered in hides and mats. The shelters were easy to move and could fit in their canoes.

Diet

The Karankawa moved with the seasons to find their food. They would pack all their belongings and travel the rivers in dugout canoes. During the winter they lived along the coast. Large schools of fish came into the shallow waters and the Karankawa used traps to catch fish. They also liked to eat oysters and clams. During the summer they moved away from the coast and hunted bison, deer, rabbits, turtles, alligators, turkeys, and even grasshoppers. The Karankawa also gathered edible roots, plants, and berries.

Culture

The Karankawa were very tall, over 6 feet, and they hunted with bows and arrows that were 6 feet long. They coated their bodies with shark oil to protect themselves from mosquitos.

Much of the information about the Karankawa is biased - it is based on documents written by their enemies. A few primary sources exist from Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer who lived with the Karankawa after being shipwrecked in Galveston.

Coahuiltecan

Fun Fact: Among the Coahuiltecans, boys and men who died were mourned for three months by relatives. During this time the mourners could not leave camp even to find food, but had to be fed by relatives. When food was scarce, they often starved.

Notetaking Guide:

List the tribes that belong to the culture. (Hint: Use the map to help you.)
Location and Geography: Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?
Shelter: Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?
Food/Diet: Are they hunters and gatherers or farmers? What kind of foods did they eat? What kind of animals did they hunt? What kind of crops did they plant?
Culture/Other Facts: What traditions or customs did they have? What kind of clothing did they wear? Did they have any special skills or items they made? Does their name have a special meaning? List any other special facts you find.

Coahuiltecan

Location and Diet

The Coahuiltecan lived in bands in southern Coastal Plains region of Texas and northern parts of Mexico. They were nomadic and moved in search of food. The Coahuiltecan were hunter-gatherers. They followed streams and rivers for fresh water and fish. They used bows and arrows and simple traps to catch food. They hunted deer, rabbits and small pigs, as well as lizards and snakes. They collected plants, roots and fruits, especially from the cactus.

By the 1800s, the streams began to dry up and food became scarce. The Coahuiltecan resorted to eating insects and rotten meat because they were starving. They moved nearly daily in search of food. Since they stopped for only a day or two, they built temporary windbreaks or shelters called lean-toos.

Culture

The Coahuiltecan wove baskets and sleeping mats from grasses. While they didn’t wear many clothes, they did wear sandals woven from the fibers of plants.

Karankawa Warriors. Courtesy of Texas Beyond History. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

Historical Marker for a Karankawa campsite and burial ground located on Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

The Karankawas’ principal means of transportation was the dugout canoe, a watercraft made by hollowing out the trunk of a large tree. Those dugouts, unsuited for deep, open water, were used primarily in the relatively shallow waters between the islands and the mainland. Each canoe was spacious enough to carry an entire family along with their household goods.

from TSHA Online

The Karankawa used bows and arrow points for hunting and fighting. The bows were said to be almost as tall as their owners and the arrow shafts were two and one-half to three feet in length. They had amazing skill with them. Arrows and bows were even used when fishing.

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