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What do these homes all have in common ?

In the forested areas of the northern rainforests, and in the mountainous sierras, the bark and branches of large trees – like redwoods – was the materials homes were built out of.

In the western Channel Islands and coastal mountain region, the native people constructed home from whalebones and seal skins, or bent thin branches into domes that were then covered with tule reeds from rivers or sea grass out on the islands.

In the southern desert region, the homes of these early Californians were made from upright branches crossed by long poles and were covered by thatched roofs and walls for windbreaks on the desert floors and in upper elevations, with a few ceremonial structures having a floor dug down below the earth’s surface.

Answer : While these homes each look very different in shape and materials, what they share in common is being made of natural, local materials that were plentiful and easily available, and that reflect the plants and weather common to the area the tribe lived in. Here we see an excellent example of how the natural world shaped the Native American lifeway directly, and with out question.

To print out paper models of Indian houses and artifacts to create your own homestead or village, click here.