UNIT 4...ARTS, CRAFTS and CLOTHING

Like all American Indian groups, those people living in the Villages near the confluence on the Knife and Missouri Rivers of North Dakota made tools, housewares, clothing, toys, and musical instruments from things that were available nearby or sometimes farther off if the material was important in the production of the item.

Knife River flint, a dark-brown glassy quartz material, was used extensively by Knife River Indian Villagers in the manufacture of chipped stone tools. The largest concentrations of the material are found in Dunn and Mercer Counties of western North Dakota.

A predictable chipping pattern made Knife River flint valuable as a raw material for stone tool manufacture. Gathered from pre-Ice Age deposits, flint was utilized in tool manufacture not only by the Villagers but by many Native American groups for the past 11,000 years. Arrowheads are what we think of when we think of stone tools, but Native Americans made tools from flint for scraping hides and shaping wood and bone; piercing tools like awls and drills; cutting tools like knives; and chopping tools like axes. People traveled great distances to gather the raw material. It is believed that preshaped tools, called blanks, were locally made and then traded to people living greater distances from the quarries. It was so important a trade item that projectile points made from it have been found in sites as far away as Missouri and Ohio.

The primary flint gathering areas were located about 50 miles west of the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, in present day Dunn County. Archaeological investigation of these areas may answer questions about the lifeways of the people who came here thousands of years ago.

Several different techniques were used for the shaping of tools from stone. Two basic techniques are chipping and pecking. Chipped stone tools are made from a pre-thinned piece of material. Pecking was to pound one stone with another stone of equal or greater hardness. This technique was used to make grooved mauls, hammers, "war" clubs, etc.

The Hidatsa and Mandan made pottery as far back in time as their villages can be traced. This continued until the major smallpox epidemic of 1837. Pottery making was a protected right of certain women of the tribe. They made very usable and artistic pots. The pots were made by building up the sides gradually with rolled clay coils. A smooth stone or anvil was held inside the vessel with one hand while the outside was beaten using a paddle.
Designs were often carved into the paddle. Designs could also be added by impressing twisted cords, pressing the fingers into the moist clay, using sharpened sticks or bones, or deeply scratching in designs. Clays used for the pottery came from deposits found along the Little Missouri River and from other deposits in the Knife River area. The clay was mixed with water; temper of sand, crushed granite, clam shells or broken bits of pottery was added to keep the pots from cracking when fired.

Painting was an important form of decoration for the Indians of this area. Pigments from the natural colors of clays were mixed with animal fat to form paint. Blood from animals and juices from plants, and trees, berries, bark, and fruit also produced a wide range of colors. Indian women sometimes extracted the dyes from colored trade cloth by boiling it. This colored extract was then used to dye the material of their choice (i.e. quills). The traders introduced vegetable dyes, which became a valuable trade item since their use was much more convenient.

Most Indian items were decorated in some fashion. Their possessions were not only utilitarian, but also works of art. After painting a buffalo robe (Figure 20), or rawhide, the paint was "fixed" with glue; this glue was made by boiling hide scraping, horns or hooves from buffalo and deer. Porous bones were used as paint brushes. Capillary action draws the paint into a fine pore. When that pore is placed in contact with another material (rawhide, etc.), the paint flows out.

Porcupine quills were used for decorative work on clothing until approximately 1850 when the trade and application of glass beads replaced quills as the decoration of choice. The sewing on of glass beads was an easy adaptation to make because the same designs could be made, more colors were available, and the quills no longer had to be acquired, washed, sorted, and dyed before work could begin. While quillwork is beautiful, unique and usually very well done, there were limitations to the colors and designs which could be applied. With the introduction of glass beads of small consistent size, and great variety of color, these limitations were overcome. Most work was without a pre-drawn plan, leading to a feeling that the design belongs to each individual article. While there are many patterns which have definite meanings, the designs were frequently used simply because they were appealing to the woman doing the work. Some designs have been found that show definite European influence. Though most Plains Indian designs are geometric, the Hidatsa used some types of floral designs with no background.

The three tribes (Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara) made baskets called "burden baskets" that were used for carrying burdens such as garden produce, berries, firewood or dirt to place on the earthlodge. These baskets were made from the inner bark of elm, ash or box elder woven onto a framework of willow sticks. After the framework and weaving materials (weavers) were prepared, a light colored weaver was wrapped around and around the uprights of the frame. The
darker colored weavers were incorporated, weaving down one side across the bottom and back up the other side. This created a checkerboard effect. To make more complicated designs the darker weavers did not go over and under every light one but rather skipped in and out. The light weavers were the inner bark of the box elder which is nearly white. The dark weavers were made by soaking bundles of prepared bark in pools of clay which had water mixed in to bring it to the right consistency. The bark would pick up the color from the clay pool after several days. These darker weavers would be rinsed and then they were ready to be woven into a basket. Small flat baskets, seven or eight inches in diameter, were also made. These were used not only for playing a dice game, but in certain ceremonies.

The clothing of the Hidatsa and Mandan was much the same as that used by other tribes on the Upper Great Plains. The buffalo furnished much of the raw material for clothes as well as thread. The buffalo robe was the basic article of clothing. The robe was worn hair side out during the summer. It was not used to any great extent in the warmer months unless there was a formal council or other gathering of dignitaries. A particular attitude could be emphasized by varying the position and fold of a robe. For example, if a man were addressing a group, he might have his robe pulled up under the shoulders, supporting it with his left hand while he held an eagle wing fan in his right. Draping it over his entire body and head indicated anger or disapproval of some action. This was also considered a sign of shame.

There were traditional patterns used to show whether the robe belonged to a man or a woman. A typical women's pattern was the "box and border" design, which consisted of a colorful border of geometric figures enclosing a highly colored and pattered box-like design on one side. A man's robe might use a design called the "black war bonnet", a series of concentric circles with small radiating figures made into an elongated diamond shaped design. These indicated eagle feather. This central pattern was often augmented with drawings of horses or other activities associated with the particular man, such as buffalo hunts, which were placed around the outer portions of the robe. In this way, the man was able to display his "war record" and other exploits to others.

During the first few years of life, an infant often had no clothing or costume, but might wear a part of a previously worn robe. Infants were placed in hide bags, where they spent much of their first year of life. Cattail or milkweed down was used for diaper material, and warm sand was sometimes packed around the feet for warmth in winter, At the age of one, children were expected to start walking. Small girls usually wore simple dresses, moccasins and leggings. While these items were often plain, the leggings sometimes had a horizontal strip of quillwork on the edge. The moccasins might have a small strip of beadwork or quillwork over the instep. Small boys wore shirts, moccasins, and leggings, as well as an occasional breechcloth.

As children grew older, their clothing adopted more defined patterns. For the girls, dresses became important. These dresses were loose-fitting and had considerable variations in their decorations. Porcupine quillwork was the major type of decoration. This was replaced by beadwork as soon as traders made beads readily available. Elk teeth were also valuable items. The most highly prized elk teeth were the canines or tusks. There are only two of these canine teeth in each animal, so the incisors or front teeth were sometimes used as well. In later years, when elk were no longer available on the plains, the teeth became a very valuable trade item. Due to the high demand, people used antlers of deer and leg bones of buffalo or cattle to manufacture elk "teeth". Some of these fake teeth were so well made that it requires careful examination to determine whether the teeth are real or not.

A typical pattern of decoration for a dress consisted of a quilled or beaded yoke over the shoulders, with elk teeth distributed over the remainder of the dress. Sometimes the entire dress was covered with elk teeth. There were sometimes as many as 600 teeth on one woman's dress. Leggings and moccasins were also highly decorated.

Nobody is certain of the origin of the moccasin, but it is certainly one of the most comfortable forms of footwear ever devised and it is still the basis for many shoe designs used today. The Hidatsa used the basic plains pattern, with a hard sole and soft upper, although they did sometimes use the soft-soled moccasin.

One good source of material for moccasin soles was the top section of an old tipi cover, which had absorbed the "smoke-from-many-fires" and was virtually waterproof. The upper part of the moccasin was made from soft, tanned buckskin of elk, deer, or sometimes antelope; this upper part could be decorated using quills or beads. Awls made from sharpened bones, often ribs sections, were used to punch holes for stitches. Sinew was used for thread. Sinew is the fibrous tissue which runs next to the spine and down the legs of four footed animals. Buffalo, elk or deer sinew was commonly used by Indians. Removed at the time of butchering, it is dried and worked by beating and pounding to loosen the fibers.

When sinew thread was needed, a strand was removed from the bundle. It was customarily held in the mouth in order to soften. An inch or two at the end was usually left unmoistened in order to provide a stiff needle-like end. This fiber is strong and long lasting. Some moccasins, well over 100 years of age, are perfectly usable today. Sinew was used not only for sewing, but also to attach quillwork and beading and to strengthen the backs of bows.

In winter, moccasins were made larger than usual, in order to accommodate an inner lining made of furs or grasses, which insulated the foot. These moccasins had higher flaps. Leggings might be attached to protect the foot and ankle from deep snow.


Indians do not have much facial hair. Hair which did appear was plucked out. A beard or mustache was not considered becoming. A pair of fresh water clam shells were pinched together to pull out the hair.

Young boys and girls donned the "owl haircut". Their hair was cut very short except for a tuft left on either side of the head above the ear, which made the children look like owls. At the age of three, the hair style was changed to a single braid hanging down the back. At the age of twelve, the girls began to part their hair and wear two braids while the boys did the same thing when sixteen.

A great deal of importance was placed on personal cleanliness. Everyone went to the river for their morning bath after being awakened by a grandfather singing war songs. In winter, water for washing was brought to the earthlodge by the women (Figure 21). The whole body was sometimes washed with fresh snow in the winter. They believed that this would better condition one for the cold. At other times, baths were taken in an air hole in the ice where open water could be found. On ceremonial occasions, the "sweat bath" was completed by bathing in the river--winter or summer.

Tattooing was practiced by the Hidatsa and Mandan. Women were tattooed on the lower part of the face and neck. The buffalo robe was so often worn by men with the right shoulder and arm exposed that they usually decorated only on the shoulders and right side of the body.

The last known Hidatsa to be tattooed was Poor-Wolf (or Lean-Wolf), who was ninety years of age in 1909. He described the general method used for his own decoration. Several small, sharp pieces of tin were fastened to the end of a hollow bone. The piercing was done free hand, with charcoal being rubbed into the open wounds. Other accounts described drawing the design with charcoal on the skin first, then piercing.

QUESTIONS:

What is temper?

Why is temper important in pottery making?

What are some of the materials used for temper?

What did the Indians use to make paints and dyes?

Why did the Indians decorate their clothing and other items?

What did the Indians use to decorate their hand crafted items.

Why do we use decoration in our clothing and shoes today?

What are some similarities and differences in decorations used today and in the past?

Do you have any clothing or accessories which have Indian designs?

Where did the Indians get the beads for decorating their clothing?




ACTIVITIES:

Build a burden basket using construction paper for the weavers and tubing or sticks for a framework.

Consult craft books on beadwork. Get some beads and experiment with some beaded designs using either a loom or applique.

Bring into class any beadwork or other craft work done by Indians and discuss how it might have been made and or used.

Paint some Indian designs on leather or paper. Make some designs of your own and discuss why they are the size and shape they are.

Experiment with natural dyes. Some possibilities might be onion skins, berries, bark, or roots.

Make some costumes for dolls.