Notetaking Guide:

1. List the tribes that belong to the culture.  (Hint:  Use the map to help you.)

2. Location and Geography:  Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?

3. Shelter:  Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?

4. 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?

5. 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.

Notetaking Guide:

1. List the tribes that belong to the culture.  (Hint:  Use the map to help you.)

2. Location and Geography:  Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?

3. Shelter:  Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?

4. 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?

5. 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.

Apache

Location

The Apache lived in West Texas and New Mexico. The name “Apachu”, meaning enemy, was given to them by the Zuni tribe. However, the Apache referred to themselves as the Diné, meaning “the People”. Originally, the Apache were farmers staying in one place to  grow corn, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons. Once the crops were harvested, the Apache would follow the bison herds on foot. 

Shelter

The Apache lived in permanent houses called wikiups that were wooden frames covered with hides  and thatched grasses during the farming time.  While hunting the bison herds with bows and arrows, and spears, they lived in easy to move tipis. 

Culture and Diet

Once the horse was introduced by Europeans, the Apache became almost totally nomadic. They stopped farming and became hunters and gatherers. With the horse, the Apache could follow the bison herds greater distances. They became expert hunters on horseback. The Apache hunted bison, deer, black bear, and antelope with bow and arrows. They also gathered cactus fruit and mesquite beans. 

There were two different groups of Apache that lived in Texas. One group is called the Mescalero Apache. They lived in West Texas. The other group, called the Lipan Apache, lived in Central Texas. Both groups of Apache were driven out of their lands by the Comanche. 

The Apache and the Kiowa had a “friendship”. The Kiowa supplied the Apache with horses and in return the Apache allied with the Kiowa against the Comanche. 

Notetaking Guide:

1. List the tribes that belong to the culture.  (Hint:  Use the map to help you.)

2. Location and Geography:  Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?

3. Shelter:  Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?

4. 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?

5. 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.

Kiowa

Location and Culture

The Kiowa lived in the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma. The Kiowa had moved south after following the bison herds. They hunted the bison on foot using bows and arrows and spears. Kiowa hunters wore the fur of wolves and coyotes over their shoulders to camouflage themselves during the hunt. Like many other plains tribes, they used travois pulled by dogs to carry their belongings. 

Shelter and Diet

When the Kiowa finally arrived in Texas, they became expert horsemen. They had some of the largest horse herds in Texas. The easy to move tipi was their home. In addition to hunting the bison, they hunted antelope, deer, turkey, and small game. The Kiowa gathered wild berries and fruits, edible roots and nuts. 

The Kiowa made pemmican, their version of a power bar for a high energy food supply that could be carried without spoiling. It was made from dried meats, animal fat, and berries. 

Notetaking Guide:

1. List the tribes that belong to the culture.  (Hint:  Use the map to help you.)

2. Location and Geography:  Describe their location in Texas. What region in Texas are they located? Are they sedentary or nomadic?

3. Shelter:  Describe what their shelter looked like. What materials did they use to build their shelter? Was their shelter temporary or permanent?

4. 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?

5. 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.

Tonkawa

Location

The Tonkawa lived in a large area of Texas, around current-day San Antonio and Austin (Central Texas). Although their lands bordered the Coahuiltecan, Karankawa, and the Caddo, the Tonkawa were more similar to the plains tribes. Tonkawa means “People of the Wolf” because they claimed they were descended from a wolf. For this reason the Tonkawa would never kill a wolf. 

Shelter and Diet

The Tonkawa lived in huts, wikiups, and tipis. They used dog-sled travois to carry their belongings. The Tonkawa were hunters and gatherers. They used the bow and arrow to hunt bison and deer. They fished in the rivers and gathered fruits, nuts, and roots. The Tonkawa also traded with the Caddo for corn and beans. 

Culture

The Tonkawa were known for their painted animal hides and copper jewelry. When the Tonkawa fought, it wasn’t to harm or kill the enemy but rather to show their bravery. During a battle, the warriors kept “counting coup”, which meant touching an enemy without hurting him, stealing an enemy’s weapon or horse, or causing the enemy to retreat. 

“Bison and Native Americans”

Read to learn how the bison was an important part of the Plains Indians culture. 

Bison was of the greatest importance to the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches.  The Great Plains on which the bison roamed stretched from Canada into southern Texas.  Before the arrival of Europeans, American Indian groups farmed on the edges of the plains.  From time to time they entered the plains to hunt the bison.  These animals were enormous—some weighed 1,600 pounds and were 6 feet tall at the shoulder and 10 feet long.  

They ate every part of the animal except the skin, hooves, and bones and used these parts that they didn’t eat in other ways.  Unless they were starving, the hunting tribes did not eat fish, wild fowl, dogs, or coyotes.  Every spring the hunting tribes made new tepees of bison hides that had been fitted, sewn together, and painted with designs.  

Bison hunting was done in the fall and spring when herds gathered on the plains in large numbers.  In spring the bison were fat on the early grass, and in fall their hair was thicker.

When a herd was found by Indian scouts, camp was made – usually near a water hole.

Every night dances were held to insure the success of the hunt, and leaders were chosen in councils made up of all the braves.  These councils decided all matters of importance to the tribe – feast times, hunts, wars, and peace treaties.  The most successful warriors and hunters were chosen as leaders, and they were given much respect. 

After young boys had scouted for the bison, parties of hunters encircled the herd, driving it into a small area enclosed by natural rock “fences” or into a corral built of brush and rocks.  Bareback riders came close to the right side of a bison and shot an arrow into its flank downward behind the ribs.  If the arrow was well aimed, it went into the heart and killed the animal quickly.  Sometimes herds were stampeded over a cliff, and Indians waiting below would shoot or spear animals not killed in the fall.  

Jumano men who hunted for bison had to travel through the Davis Mountains to the northern plains.  Before horses were used, the hunters walked these long distances.  Because bison were so large, hunters could not easily transport the bodies of animals they killed.  Instead, they collected everything they could use off the body.  They carried hides and meat from the hunt on their backs or hauled them with dog travois.  Much of the meat was dried and cut into thin strips of jerky to keep it from spoiling on the journey home.   If they needed to cross a river, they stretched hides over branches to make tub-shaped boats.  

Bison hunting changed dramatically when the Spanish introduced horses to the region.  By 1700 most southern Plains Indians owned horses.  Once mounted, they moved out onto the plains to follow bison herds.  Their hunting grounds had become much larger.