Chapter 3
Native Texans
Section 1
Ancient Texans
• First peoples migrated from Siberia along the
land bridge crossing the Bering Strait
– How do we know who the people are or how they
got here?
– Archaeologists- study evidence of past civilizations
– Artifacts- bones, baskets, shells, tools
Hunting for food
• Stone Age- 10,000+ years ago
• Hunting large animals – mastodon,
mammoth, bison
• Followed herds of animals
• Atlatl
• Flint tipped spears
• Archaic Age- 8000 years ago
– Hunted smaller game, warmer temps, tools of stone and
bone.
– Hunted and gathered – not so nomadic but still roamed
Hunters to Farmers
• Central American Indians first to grow food
• 100 AD Texans adopted this method
– How does farming change a culture?
•
•
•
•
Increase in population due to the availability of food
Nomadic living in the past
Villages can grow
Complex societies/governments/religious activities
Cultures Emerge
• Cultures- groups of people expressing and
conducting themselves
• Southeastern
• Gulf
• Pueblo
• Plains
Section 2
Southeastern and Gulf
Cultures
• All early people believed that spirits caused
major earth catastrophes as well as the
changes in seasons
• Humans and animals could communicate
• Harmonious with the Earth
• Some peaceful by nature some warring
SE farmers and gathers
Caddos
• 24 groups make up their confederacy
• In Texas groups were matrilineal
• Government
–
–
–
–
Headed by 2 leaders
War and peace leader and religious leader
Men and women held positions in govt.
Most productive agriculturally and most
numerous
– Farmers and great fishermen
– Lived in permanent villages- dome shaped
– Warring nation
Coahuiltecans
• South Texas Plain- nomadic but stayed in the
South Texas Plain
• Bows and arrows
• Hunted javelina, deer, bison, worms lizards and
plants when times were tough!
• Dried plants to use as flour
• Women took care of camp- men hunted
• Shamans-people believed to have power to
summon spirits…
• Many died from European diseases
Where they lived…
Karankawas
• Gulf Coast
• Built camps and gathered foods and hunted deer,
bears and buffalo
• Moved to the ocean in the winter
• Dugout canoes-prized possession
• Made pottery and baskets and they were
waterproofed with tar
• Mid 1800’s most were dead or displaced by
settlers
The Wichita
• Prairies and oak timberlands- Dallas/Ft.
Worth, Waco and Wichita Falls home
• Village dwellers resembled Caddo
• Women held positions of leadership
• Got along well with FRENCH, but fought all
other settlers
• Forced to give up lands
Section 3
Pueblo and Plains Cultures
• Jumanos - plains
• Hunting buffalo and trading throughout Texas
• Middleman between Eastern Indians and
Western Indians
• Traded corn, squash for animal skins and
meat and pigments and turquoise
• Striped face tattoos, unique hair cut
Territories
Jumanos
• Some lived close to Rio Grande from El Paso to
Big Bend
• Farmers- used irrigation
• Raised corn, squash beans
• Cacti and mesquite beans when
times were lean
• Homes were large and made of adobe
• Fought Apache to keep territory, but Apache won
• When Spanish explored Texas they had mostly
disappeared
Tiguas
• Live in present day El Paso
• Matrilineal- home and land belong to wife’s
people
• Today it is traced thru the males family
Plains Cultures
• Plains Indian's life's changed with the
introduction of horses
• Spaniards introduced horses around 1500
• Became outstanding hunters and warriors
• Buffalo played a major part in their lives
Tonkawas
• 1600’s arrival- lived by Austin and
some in coastal plains
• Buffalo was main choice of food, but few
roamed in their area. Apaches and
Comanches competed for buffalo
• Lost many to warring with other nations and
white man
Apache
• Ancestors from far north
• Mescaleros and Lipans lived in Texas
• Lipans were warring a nation fighting the
Spanish and Comanches
• Eventually moved to west Texas to be with
Mescaleros
Comanches
• Lived in prairies, plateaus and plains of west
Texas
• Comancheria- their territory- stretched from
Mexico, TX, Kansas, OK, Colorado and NM
• Divided into groups in which older men
lead them and all groups must
agree before a decision is made- like a
• democracy
Comanche Life
• Hunting and war
• Bear, elk, antelope, buffalo
• Hunters would surround buffalo on horseback
forcing them to move in a circle then used
bow and arrows to kill
• Ate meat and dried it for later – pemmican
• Fought to control comancheria and took over
Apache land and took enemies horses- highly
prized
Kiowa
• Ally-friend- of the Comanche
• Teepee- homes of tanned hide easy to move
- Plains Indians could move in 30 minutes if they had to.
• Valued their homes, horse and buffalo
• Buffalo provided everything to the Plains Indiansfood, clothing, needles, water bottles
(bladders), horns for making spoons and
other utensils, glue
• Like all other Indian groups they were forced to move
to the reservation.
• Like all other Indian groups they also had advanced
societies and languages and kept histories by painting