Interior Plains

Regions Art

Canadian indians believe in the totem. The totem poles are made of red cedar logs, and depict the bear, wolf, whale,and the eagle, which are the patron saints of Indian tribes. There are also parts of the totem depicting the images of famous people in the tribe, and the totems were erected in the center of Indian tribes.

Food Gathering

The plains had tons of bison/buffalo. In the late 19th century, there were around 40 million of them. The people survived on there meat, and made house hold items out of the remains. In order to gather the bison successfully, they had a Bison Hunt, and they needed about 50-100 people to do it. A Bison Hunt is were the hunters use an enclosure and tried to locate the Bison into them. They then had people in the stands cheering and making noise to continue the run. After they were all there and gathered up, the hunters would then kill them. Usually with bow and arrows. There were other methods of killing them too. Like a quick trap, then kill. Other than that, they ate them after they killed and cooked them.

Shelter

Shelter in the plains consisted of 3 meter deep pits dug into the earth, then covered with wooden rafters, and  then soil and grass placed on top of that. A small hole was put in the very center of the roof, as to filter smoke from the hearth, and to be used as an exit as well. They dug similar holes to store food over winter in the surrounding area.  This style of housing was only used in winter, as they would be smoky and uncomfortable. For the remaining time of the year, they created tents out of animal skins, as they gathered food resources.