NATIVE AMERICANS

There are about 5, 220, 500 Native Americans today. The usual theory of the settlement of the Natives, is that they came from Eurasia to America over a land bridge which connected from America to Eurasia, which the land bridge is now the Bering Strait. The number of the migrating people is uncertain, and the land bridge was believed to only have existed until about 12, 000 years ago. The Folsom Tradition was characterized by sharpened stones called 'arrow heads', and the particular design of arrow heads from the Folsom, called 'Folsom projectiles'.

Crops that the Natives grew were usually cotton, sunflower, squash, pumpkins, tobacco, goosefoot, knotgrass, and sump weed. In the South West they grew beans next to corn, so the bean would be able to form a vine on the corn stalks.The most important crop they grew, was maize. Maize was important to the Natives, because it was part of their every day diet, and it could be stored underground in pits during winter, and they used every part of the plant. The husks were made into crafts, and the cob was used for fuels in making fires.

The Natives commonly used tools such as, hoes, mauls, and dibbers. The hoe was the main tool used to prepare land for growing crops, then eventually it was used for weeding. The first versions were made of wood and stone, but when the settlers brought iron, the Natives then used iron hoes and hatchets.The dibber was a digging stick used to plant seeds. once plants were harvested, women prepared them for eating. They used the maul for grinding corn. The grinded corn was cooked then eaten, or cooked for bread.


The languages they speak include english, o'odham, spanish, zuni, ojibwe, cherokee, keres, western apache, dakota, and navajo.