(i rly need help!) Explain and analyze the impact the environment has had on the culture of at least one of about the first American tribes. This could be the kinds of animals they hunted, the homes they built etc.

The kinds of food the Native Americans ate, the clothing they wore, and the shelters they had depended upon the seasons. Their foods changed with the seasons. In winter, they hunted birds and animals and lived on stored foods from the previous fall. In spring, they hunted, fished and picked berries. In summer, they grew crops (beans, corn, and squash). In fall, they harvested crops and hunted for foods to preserve and keep for the winter.

The Native Americans used natural resources in every aspect of their lives. They used animal skins (deerskin) as clothing. Shelter was made from the material around them (saplings, leaves, small branches, animal fur). Native peoples of the past farmed, hunted, and fished. They used natural resources such as rock, twine, bark, and oyster shell to farm, hunt, and fish.

Explanation:

Hunting and Fishing and Farming: Indian men had the primary tasks of fishing and hunting. Each winter men from different tribes would join together for hunting expeditions. Deer meat, or venison, served as a supplement to the mostly agricultural diet. The Indians used other parts of the deer such as skin for clothing and bones for tools. The men also protected their village.

The Powhatan Indians were primarily farmers planting fields that averaged one hundred acres in size. The women were responsible for working the fields and did so using various tools made from such materials as deer antlers. They grew corn, squash, pumpkins, beans and sunflowers. They also gathered wild foods from the land around them such as nuts, berries and roots. The women were responsible for making meals of these foods. Corn (maize) was the staple crop, and from it women produced such foods as corn cakes and hominy.

Homes: Since the Powhatans were farmers, they did not move around like Indians of the western plains who had to follow the herds of buffalo. As a result, they built semi-permanent houses that were framed with saplings and covered with woven reeds or bark. Constructed by the women, these “yehakin” provided good protection from all the extremes of weather, sometimes for as many as sixteen to twenty members of an extended family. The fire in the center of the lodge was kept burning at all times which kept the house warm and dry.

Clothes: Each tribe had a chief or “werowance” who ruled over the tribe. All the tribal chiefs were subject to Powhatan. They supported him in war and paid an allowance to him from their tribe. Status was determined by achievement, often in warfare, and by the inheritance of luxury goods like copper, shell beads and furs. Those of higher status had larger homes, more wives and elaborate dress.