THE PAWNEEOF THE GREAT PLAINS

Table of Contents

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The Great Plains…………………………………………………………………………………………………..2Food…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3Homes………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...4Clothes………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5Buffalo…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6

FOOD There was an abundance of food for the Pawnee, such as buffalo, hens, quail, raccoon, prairie chicken, skunk, otter, rabbit, sunflowers, watermelon, beans, squash, pumpkin, The Pawnee used every part of the buffalo. Men harvested the crops and the women grinded the corn so all the Pawnee had a good supply of food.

3Food of the Great Plains

THE GREAT PLAINS The Great Plains are in the central area of North America. It has very hot conditions and rarely rains. It is very flat and grassy. Large herds of buffalo once lived in the Great Plains which meant there was plenty of hunting. The temperature is normally forty-five to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The Rocky Mountains border the Great Plains. One tribe that lives on the Great Plains is the Pawnee.

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Map of the Great PlainsSioux traveling across the Great Plains

HOMES

The Pawnee built homes called earth lodges made of grass mud and dirt. These houses were built to look like the dome of the sky. Villages were made up of eleven or twelve earth lodges. Sometimes for bigger tribes they built these buildings called long houses which could contain a whole tribe. The Pawnee built houses near the river so they could get good soil and fire wood.

4Earth lodge

CLOTHES The Pawnee men wore different kinds of feathers and skins. buffalo and deer skins were often worn in the winter for warmth. Women often wore beaded dresses and beaded moccasins. Chiefs normally wore feathers on there head dresses. The Pawnee decorated there clothes with elk teeth, bear claws, and feathers on special occasions.

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Clothes of the Pawnee

The Pawnee used every part of the buffalo. Pawnee used the buffalo hide for pelts. Buffalo hide can stretch up to twenty yards. After the pelt is stretched and dried they cut it into shawl like shapes. A normal sized hide can provide twenty to thirty pelts. The Pawnee believed that the buffalo was a gift from the gods. The Pawnee got many valuable items from the Buffalo.

BUFFALO

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Bison

GLOSSARYconditions: environmental requirement

herds: a large group of animals

crops: a large plantation providing food

abundance: a large amount of something

long houses: a large building that contains a large amount of people

lodges: house set apart for people in a certain season

occasions: a special gathering of people to celebrate something

pelts: an animal skin with hair or fur still on it

yards: a unit of length equal to three feet or thirty-six inches