|
Kutchin | Chipewyan |
Beaver |
Stoney
| Blackfoot |
Blood |
Assiniboine |
Sioux |
Sarcee
The Stoney Indians
live on the east side of the Canadian Rockies in present
day Alberta. Their traditional name is Na-ko-da which
means "people" in their language. The Na-ko-da
were named the Stoney Indians by white explorers because
of their method of preparing soup. They would place
large round stones around a fire, and dig a small hole
in the ground. They would then line the hole with one
piece of buffalo or deer hide which was then partially
filled with the soup or liquid to be heated. They could
then place the very hot stones into the soup and the
heat from the stones would cook the food. They could
place pieces of meat or vegetables into the water to
cook it. For a people with now metal tools this was an
ingenious method of cooking food.
They hunted the
buffalo, deer and antelope but did not have horses until
after the arrival of Europeans due to the fact that
horses were not indigenous to North America. They would
use the buffalo for just about all of their needs. The
skin would provide clothing and cover for their tepees.
The bones could be used for cooking and crafts tools, as
needles for sewing cloths and as parts of the weapons
they crafted for hunting and warfare.
The faced very cold
severe winters and had to stock up food during the
summer season in order to survive the winter. They were
placed at the junction of a trading network which
existed among North American native nations and would
trade for many items which in turn they could trade to
other people for other items they did not have
themselves. |
