known as the Rocky Mountain Sioux, despite the fact that the Assiniboin and the Dakota Sioux share virtually the same language, the two were enemies for as long as anyone could remember. The early Jesuits in America found the two peoples distinctly different from one another, except for their language.
The name Assiniboin means “one who cooks with hot stones,” and the tribe were given this name by the Ojibwe; the Assiniboin united with the Ojibwe, and also with the Creek, to fight the Dakota Sioux for overall control of the buffalo plains.
The Assiniboin originally lived in Canada, subsequently traveling south to what are now North Dakota and Montana. Sadly, many of the Assiniboin tribe fell prey to the white man’s disease of smallpox in the 1840s and were wiped out.
ATLATL
A device used to make spear throwing more effective, the atlatl was a prehistoric invention. It was constructed from a stick approximately 2 feet long. Using a rock as a balance, there was a groove in the stick to hold the shaft of the spear in place, and loops made of animal hide with which the atlatl was grasped firmly.
BABICHE
This is the name given to a string, or thong, made from the hide of a caribou, a deer, or even an eel. A useful material, it was used in the same way that string or twine is used today, except it was likely to be much longer-lasting. Babiche would be made into skeins and carried around with a person just in case it was needed for repairs.
BALSA
The Californian Native Americans made small boats from reeds or rushes that were tied together into bundles and bound into a cylindrical shape. After a period of use this small craft, or balsa, would become waterlogged and had to be dried out before it could be used again. The name “balsa” also refers to the lightweight wood that comes from the tree, whose Latin name is Ochroma pyramidale.
BAND
Smaller than a tribe, the term “band” is used to describe a small group of Native Americans, often a sub-division of a tribe or clan. A band might also be used to describe a group who had elected to follow a leader other than the accepted tribal chief.
BANNERSTONE
A decoratively carved and polished stone or rock, often sculpted into the form of a bird. This might be mounted onto the top of a staff to show the authority of the bearer. Such decorative stones were also used as weights on the atlatl.
BANNOCK
Related to the northern Paiutes, the Bannock belong to the northern Shoshone people.
Their original stamping ground included southeastern Oregon, southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming, and the southwestern part of Montana. They belong to the Paiute language group.
The Bannock had less trouble in general with the white settlers than other tribes. The tribe traded with other Indian nations, using their pottery, horn utensils, and salmon-skin bags as currency with which to barter. After they adopted the horse in the middle of the 18th century, they traded the animals with the Nez Perce.
The Bannock, as well as other tribes, place a huge amount of importance on the buffalo, not only for food but for all manner of essential items: clothes, implements, tipi coverings, etc. There was another natural resource that was an essential for the Bannock lifestyle: a plant named camas, a purple/blue flower whose bulb was an important form of nutrition, especially in the winter months when little else was available.
In 1868 the Bannock had been removed to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. The rations allotted to them by the U.S. Government were not sufficient to keep the Indians from starvation. In the spring of 1871, the tribe left the reservation to harvest camas roots, but discovered that the settlers had allowed their livestock to roam free in the Great Camas Prairie; there were not enough of the precious tubers left. In addition, it became clear that the numbers of buffalo were rapidly diminishing due to dramatic overhunting by the white men. These two factors forced the Bannock to rebel against the white settlers and the U.S. Government, in an uprising known as the Bannock War, in 1878. The Bannock Chief, Buffalo Horn, made an allegiance with the northern Paiutes; the massed tribes made a series of raids on the white settlers in order to try to find some food. The tribes were defeated by the U.S. Army, and many members of the tribe were captured. After this defeat, they returned to the reservation at Fort Hall in southeastern Idaho.
BARABARA
The Inuit and Aleut peoples built large lodges in which many people could live; this was the barabara. Partially dug into the ground to a depth of approximately 2 feet, the barabara was lined with timber and the roof—except for a chimney or smokehole—made from arched branches covered over with earth and bark.
BASKETWARE
An ancient craft, the making of baskets was an essential skill carried out by every Native American people. Materials used for making baskets included grasses and reeds, whippy branches, bark, and roots. The Natives of the Great Lakes favored birch bark containers over baskets, whereas cane and willow were the preferred materials in the south. There were two specific styles of basket which are still made all over the world—woven baskets, and coiled ones. The former took as its basis a framework of a stouter material which would be woven through and in between that framework. Coiled baskets were made from braided material that would be coiled and then stitched into the shape of the basket.
Patterns can be woven into baskets with fibers of contrasting color and texture. Different tribes developed their own unique designs.
As well as being used to carry equipment, food, and other objects, baskets also made handy cooking receptacles. To use a basket in this way the receptacle was first lined with pitch or clay to make it watertight. During the cooking process the clay hardened; afterwards it was discovered that the clay vessel could be used on its own, without needing the basket itself. It’s not unlikely that pottery was developed because of using baskets in this way. However, it was also possible to weave baskets which were in themselves watertight, with no need to use any coating material. To boil something in a basket—which of course could not be used over direct heat—the water inside it was heated by dropping hot stones inside.
Basket-weaving skills were also used to make cradles, shields, fences, boats, and fishing nets, among other objects.
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN
See Custer’s
