The Wampanoags in the seventeenth century : $b An ethnohistorical survey — John Shaqi
The Wampanoags in the seventeenth century : $b An ethnohistorical surveyMarten, Catherine
History
The Wampanoags in the seventeenth century : $b An ethnohistorical survey
Marten, Catherine
Indians of North America -- New England -- History -- 17th century; Wampanoag Indians
Probable Wampanoag hairstyles include the following: hair cut short
into bangs in the front, the remainder falling free to the shoulders;
hair braided into four braids with part of this knotted behind, and
with feathers and other sorts of ornaments stuck into the knot; hair
shaved from the front and sides of the head, the remainder left long
and made into a knot with feathers in it.[241]
Various forms of ornament, frequently feathers, were an integral
part of certain hairstyles. Turkey and eagle feathers are mentioned
specifically for this purpose.[242] Single feathers might be stuck
into a knotted portion or otherwise intertwined with the hair.[243]
Feathers were sometimes joined fan-shape and put into the hair.
Fox tails and other fur were also used for hair ornament. Strips
of deer hides, dyed red, were tied on, in the manner of a cock’s
comb.[244] Other ornaments included ribbons of European manufacture
and ornamental combs carved from antler.[245]
Specific information on female styles of hairdress is slight.
Champlain describes one style which was a combination of free-falling
hair in back and various braids for the rest.[246] Beyond this, there
are no descriptions that relate to the Wampanoags.
Sources are contradictory in the subject of facial hair. Some writers
report that Indians in this region generally despised and plucked out
what little facial hair they had.[247] Another writer of the same
period relates that these Indians were at pains to preserve their own
thin beards and to add to them by fastening on animal hair.[248]
EXPLOITATIVE ACTIVITIES
=Lumbering and Forest Products=: Prior to contact with Europeans the
Wampanoags used stone tools for lumbering. Large trees felled with
these primitive implements were used for the manufacture of dugout
canoes.[249] Birch bark, another product of the forest, provided
the material for house coverings and containers of various sorts
as well as material for another type of canoe. As the range of the
canoe birch (_B. papyrifera_) had its southern limit at Cape Anne
on the immediate coast, the use of birch bark by the Wampanoags was
probably not so extensive as that of some of their neighbors.[250]
Nevertheless, by trade and by seeking out individuals of the species
that grew beyond their range, birch bark was obtained and used as an
alternative material for the items mentioned above.
Carved wooden bowls and spoons are said to have been a craft
specialty of the Wampanoags. Burls were selected for carving material
in order to avoid the problem of splitting along the grain when an
item was subjected to repeated wetting and drying. Small objects such
as fish hooks were sometimes made of wood, and there were other more
obvious uses such as poles for house frames, arrowshafts and handles
for tools. Bast fiber (inner bark) was used for various woven items.
A red dye was made from pine bark.[251] Turpentine and pitch were
also products of the pines.[252]
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