One must take particular care in considering nonprint materials relating to Indian archaeology. Much of the material available was created for lower school use. Three films may be recommended here, but they should be used carefully. The concepts are valid but the expected audience is younger. Indians of the Americas, sixteen minutes, provides a sweeping survey from twenty thousand years ago. Indian Origins: The First 50,000 Years, eighteen minutes, and Indian Cultures from 2000 B.C. to 1500 A.D., sixteen minutes, provide a useful summary. To obtain the films consult the Educational Film & Video Locator.

Films for the Humanities and Sciences has two series of eight 26-minute videos of Legends of the Indians and More Legends of the Indians, authentic stories from various Indian tribes told by the tribespeople themselves. It also offers two 13-minute videos, The Indians Were There First and When the White Man Came, which tell the story of the migration across the land bridge from Asia and the development of the major tribal groups. In a sixty-minute video, The Search for the First Americans, the same source offers new archeological evidence that questions the Bering Sea land-bridge thesis. In Ice Age Crossings, twenty-eight minutes, artifacts from South America are considered in relation to the Bering Strait thesis. Films for the Humanities and Sciences also offers videos that examine some ancient North American sites: The Ancients of North America, twenty-three minutes, travels to the Southwest to a site dated 5490 B.C.; The Anasazi of Chaco Canyon, forty-three minutes, looks at that civilization; Spirits of the Canyon: Ancient Art of the Pecos Indians, twenty-eight minutes, takes viewers to the canyon walls of southwest Texas; and America's Indian Heritage: Rediscovering Columbus (Ohio), fifty-six minutes, considers the moundbuilders and their connection to later peoples. PBS Video offers a sixty-minute presentation of Myths and Moundbuilders that focuses on the river valleys of the Southeast and Midwest. Several videos in the Ancient America series from the Jefferson National Expansion Historical Association will be of interest. Indians of the Southwest, Indians of the Northwest, and Indians of the Eastern Woodlands, each sixty minutes, are available from the association at 10 S. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102.

Although Nanook of the North was made about Eskimo people in this century, its status as one of the original films of the documentary genre and its effort to capture the character of an earlier society are notable. Robert Flaherty's reputation has been challenged, but the film remains a great achievement.
Document Set 1-1

The world World of Native Americans: Oral Tradition

1. The Indians of New Netherlands Account for the Creation, ca. 1650s
2. The Origins of Ottawa Society, as Related by Nicholas Perrot, ca. 1720
3. The Dekanawida Myth and the Achievement of Iroquois Unity, ca. Sixteenth Century
4. The Foundation of the Iroquois Confederacy, 1570, as Recounted in the Tuscarora Oral TraditionAlthough it is impossible to provide students with traditional source material on pre-Columbian life in North America because Native Americans did not leave a corpus of written documents, there are other forms of evidence that will help students gain insight into the lives, thoughts, and experiences of indigenous peoples. This document set is intended to acquaint students with the diversity of cultures that existed in what later became the United States, prior to the arrival of Europeans. Through an acquaintance with both the oral tradition of Native American tribes and the observations of Europeans, students may come to recognize the depth, color, and richness of Native American history. The documents focus particularly on tribes east of the Mississippi, because those are the tribes whose oral traditions are most accessible to students of early America.Because of the controversy surrounding the concept of "discovery," instructors might wish to begin with an exercise in semantics, asking students to explore the implications of the word discovery. By examining the creation myths and other Native American ideas contained in this document set, students may come to appreciate the sensitivity of today's Native Americans to the widely held assumption that a vacant continent awaited exploitation at the time of the first Columbian encounter with an American population.Another fruitful avenue for discussion would be an exploration of commonalities in creation myths to determine whether there were linkages between separate Native American tribes, at least in their belief systems. Students might be asked to discuss similarities and differences between Native American and Judeo-Christian beliefs. This exercise could easily incorporate an analysis of European influence on Native American religious thought. A careful examination of the documents will reveal not only evidence of European modification of traditional oral accounts of Native American history and myth but also the subversive and potentially dangerous impact of European assumptions concerning the intrinsic worth of the respective cultures involved in the exchange of ideas. This discussion might revolve around student exploration of ethnocentrism, as well as the merits and shortcomings of cultural relativism. Students might be asked to approach this topic through discussion of the values and lifestyles of Native Americans and Europeans in the first centuries after initial contact.The value of the oral tradition as evidence could also be explored through discussion of the research problems presented by a culture that left few records. Students might be asked to consider the ways in which the modern scholar reconstructs the lives and thoughts of Native Americans in the pre-Columbian era. As students grapple with the limitations imposed on the scholar by the absence of written documents, they should begin to see why oral accounts assume significance as historical sources. Equally valuable would be a discussion of the precautions necessary when the scholar relies on oral tradition.Finally, this chapter should provide the springboard from which instructors may launch an examination of the Columbian exchange. Alfred W. Crosby's conceptual framework might be introduced by a preliminary minilecture in which the Native Americans are portrayed as part of an incipient global interaction soon to alter the course of history. An awareness of the reciprocal nature of this exchange may begin with an analysis of the highly sophisticated cultures present in North America and their potential for influence as well as absorption.

Recommended Readings for Document Set 1-1


James Axtell. The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America (1985).

Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present (1978).

Alfred W. Crosby. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (1972).

William Denevan. The Native American Population of the Americas in 1492 (1976).

H. Dobryns. The Number Became Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America (1983).

Ake Hulkvantz. The Religions of the American Indians (1979).

Francis Jennings. The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes from Its Beginnings to the London Treaty of 1744 (1984).

Daniel K. Richter. The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The People of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Expansion (1992).

Elizabeth Tooker, ed. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands (1979).

Christopher Vecsey. Imagine Ourselves Richly: Mythic Narratives of North American Indians (1988).
Audiovisual Resources for Document Set 1-1


The Early Americans (film--41 min.). Shell Film Library, 1433 Sadlier Circle W. Drive, Indianapolis, Ind. 46239.

The Indians Were There First (videotape--13 min.). Films for the Humanities and Sciences, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, N.J. 08543-2053.

Glooscap (How Humans and Animals Were Created to Live in Peace and Plenty and How Evil Intervened) (videotape--26 min.). Films for the Humanities and Sciences, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, N.J. 08543-2053.

Myths and Mound Builders (videotape--60 min.). PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Va. 22314-1698.

The New Found Land (videotape--53 min.). Episode 1, America Series, Time-Life Films, 110 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, N.J. 07652.

Popul Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya (videotape--60 min.). University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2176 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, Calif. 94704.
Document Set 1-2

Native American Life: European Observations on Social Institutions and Ecological Change

1. Jesuit Observations on the "Enslavement" of Native American Women, 1633, 1710
2. Father Pierre de Charlevoix Describes the Female Role in Iroquois Governance, 1721
3. Sir William Johnson Confronts the Iroquois Women, 1758
4. A Challenge to European Stereotypes of Native American Gender Relations, 1819
5. Aspects of Native American Life
6. Indian Agriculture and Nature's Balance, Seventeenth Century
7. A Narragansett Leader Complains of English Encroachment, 1642
8. Mohegan Indians Describe Effects of White Settlement, 1789
9. Father Sebastian Rasles Comments on the Hunting Practices of the Illinois, 1692Discussion of these materials might be preceded by a lecture dealing with the cultural assumptions Europeans brought to North America with them. The documents containing observations on Native American families and communities will be better understood by students who are aware of European models of behavior in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Moreover, this background session should enable instructors and students to explore the nature and definition of ethnocentrism. As a result, it should be possible to question some traditional shortcomings in instructional and scholarly interpretation of the Indian-European cultural exchange.An excellent point of entry into this discussion would be an examination of the relationship between social institutions, gender roles, and the sexual division of labor on the one hand and, on the other, the conditions imposed by the cultures and societies in which they appeared. This topic also gives instructors an opportunity to introduce an interdisciplinary approach to the study of history. The topic is ideally suited to introducing into class discussion some anthropological, archaeological, and ethnohistorical insights into the Indian way of life. As a result, students may develop an appreciation of indigenous cultures and an understanding of cultural relativism as a tenable analytical assumption.In this respect, students might be asked why the economic roles and responsibilities described in the documents had evolved as they had by the seventeenth century. This exercise will encourage students to think about the rationale behind a set of social relationships. A critical approach to the documents can also lead students to identify cultural bias and hidden assumptions in the observations of European commentators on Native American social, economic, and political relationships. By urging students to arrive at the "truth" concerning the Indian way of life and to consider the validity of that "truth," instructors may help students understand the complexities of historical analysis.Another point of emphasis in acquainting students with Native American cultures would be discussion of the principles of equilibrium, reciprocity, and ecological balance as central to the Native American worldview. The textbook conclusion stresses the Indians' assumption that they participated in a "natural and spiritual order that pervaded the universe." Students will find much to contemplate in evaluating the Indians' value systems, including their attitude toward nature and the role of humans in the natural order. The question of Native Americans' ecological sensitivity offers instructors an excellent opportunity to establish past-present linkage through discussion of the clash between Indian ecology and European capitalist expansionism. Moreover, instructors might also spark debate by introducing the modern scholarly controversy over the extent of the Indians' commitment to ecological principles (see "Recommended Readings"). In any case, the documents may be employed to demonstrate early evidence of the unquestionably disruptive effect of unrestrained European development.

Recommended Readings for Document Set 1-2


James Axtell. The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial America (1985).

Cheryl Claassen and Rosemary A. Joyce, eds. Women in Prehistory: North American and Mesoamerica (1997).

William Cronon. Changes in the Land (1983).

Francis Jennings. The Invasion of America: Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest (1975).

Karen Kupperman. Settling with the Indians: The Meeting of English and Indian Cultures, 1580-1640 (1981).

James H. Merrell. The Indians' New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Settlement Through the Era of Removal (1989).

Calvin Martin. Keepers of the Game: Indian-Animal Relationships and the Fur Trade (1978).

Neal Salisbury. Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans and the Making of New England, 1500-1643 (1982).

Timothy Silver. A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, Colonists and Slaves in South Atlantic Forests, 1500-1800 (1990).

Bruce G. Trigger. The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660 (1976).

Richard White. The Middle Ground: Indian Empires and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 (1991).
Audiovisual Resources for Document Set 1-2


1492 Revisited (videotape--28 min.). University of California Extension, Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2176 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, Calif. 94704.

An Introduction to the Indians of America, Part 4 (Indians of the Northeast); Part 5 (Indians of the Southeast) (slides--18 min. each). Morey Associates, Kansas City, Mo.

The Indians Were Here First (videotape--13 min.). Films for the Humanities and Sciences, P.O. Box 2053, Princeton, N.J. 08543-2053.

In Search of the Long World (film--52 min.). Films, Inc., 5574 Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 60640-1199.