Quinnipiac
Indians and the Woodland Village
Project Ideas, Taken from The
New England Indians by C. Keith Wilbur.

Villages
Location
of a village all depended on game, fertile fields, and the availability
of firewood.
Sites were by ponds, rivers, or ocean. During the winter months some
would move to large hills as protection from the wind. It would take
a few hours to break their villages down and pack up. The average village
had about one hundred people. The women worked in the gardens that surrounded
their villages.
Shelter
The covering
to their wigwams were the only thing that needed to be saved when they
moved during the seasons, and they could easily be packed up (A.).
The husband
would mark out a circle in the ground about 10 to 16 feet in diameter.
(B).
The highest
point in the middle was 6 to 8 feet high. (C.).
An 18 in.
hole was left at the top of the roof for smoke to escape. (D.)
The entrances
were covered with mats, deerskin, or bark to block the wind. (E.)

Suggested
materials: flexible wood, brown paper towels, and paper mache mix.
Step
1: Place wood in corresponding holes on board.
Step
2: Cut up small strips of brown paper towels.
Step
3: Place paper towel in paper miche mix and carefully get rid
of excess glue.
Step
4: Lay paper towels on top of structure starting at bottom, moving
up.
Tip:
Make sure that you decide where door is before placing paper towels down.
Ground
Covering
Suggested materials: a mixture of sawdust, dirt and sand.
Step 1: Cover open space
on board with glue. (Make sure you blend the glue in)
Step 2: Distribute materials
over glue and gently tap the extra sawdust off.
Door
Covering
Suggested materials: fabric, glue.
Step 1: Cut fabric to size
of door.
Step 2: glue top edge of
fabric and glue to top of door on wigwam.
Step 3: Fold up right bottom
corner and place a dab of glue on outside and stick to fabric on left
side. Or roll fabric up and glue to itself.
Hair
Styles
(1.)
The most popular hairstyle was the cockscomb, which was a strip of hair
running down the center of the head. It was kept short and stiff with
paints and grease. The sides of the head were shaved. Often deer bristles
were dyed red and tied to the head to heighten the effect.
(2
+ 3.) Those that had longer hair would braid it. Or leave it
hanging down their back. Bits of shells, stones, metal and the like were
often tied into the hair for decoration.
(4.)
Some would tied their hair in a top knot and let some hair hang down like
a horse's tail.
(5.)
Others shaved their head on one side and let the hair grow on the other.
(6.)
Some would shave all of their hair but a small tuft on top of their head.
Suggested materials: pipe cleaners or colored string.
Step
1: Glue hair where desired.
Step
2: color hair as desired.
Tips:
Use the pipe cleaners for the small tufts on top of head, and use string
for longer hair.
Headdresses
Both
men and women wore headbands of embroidered skin. White feathered
bird skins, a fox tail or rattlesnake skins were often worn as headbands.
They hung bangles and fancy tails from the headband. Feathers from
an eagle, hawk or turkey were secured to the band and stuck straight
upright. There is evidence that only the most outstanding warriors
wore eagle tail feathers, each representing an enemy life taken
in battle.
Suggested
materials: pipe cleaners, string, and feathers.
Step
1: Take pipe cleaners or feathers and decorate as
desired.
Step
2:
Glue feathers to headband.
Step
3:
Glue headband to head. |
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Breech
Clouts
It
was suspended from a belt. (A).
Flaps
hung in the front and the back. (B).
Boys
until the age of ten or twelve wore nothing in the warm weather.
Both men and women wore breech clouts made out of doe or seal skin.
Suggested
materials: fabric, thin wire or string, glue.
Step
1: cut fabric to desired size for piece in front
and piece on back.
Step
2: glue down fabric to front and back
Step
3: Wrap string or thin wire around waist. |
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Bow
and Arrow
New
England Indian bows were long bows- 5 to 6 ft. Most of them were
made out of Ash, Oak, Witch Hazel, and Hickory.
Suggested
materials: flexible wood, rubber band
Step
1: Bend wood into a half moon shape (A.).
Step 2: Tie rubber
band from one end of wood to the other.
Tips: You can substitute the wood for pipe
cleaners. |
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Pots
Women
made the pots that were used for cooking and storing food (A.).
Algonquin pots were simply decorated.

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Suggested
materials: clay, acorns.
Step 1: Pick
acorn that is desired size for pot.
Step 2: Form clay around acorn.
Tips:
If you want a handle for the pot use thin wire, and attach to sides. To
make coil pots roll out long coils of clay and place them on top of each
other (A.) Pinch pots are also good examples of stone bowls. (B).

Stone
Bowls
Drinking
cups, spoons, platters, plates, dishes, and storage bowls were all
made out of stoneware.
Men were craftsmen in villages. |
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| Mortars
and Pestles
There
were many different types of mortars.
(A.)
Steatite Mortar
(B.) Geode
(C.) Shallow Stone
(D.) Log Mortar
(E.) Carved Mohican
Mortar
(F.) Glacial Cobble
Pestle
(G.)
Wooden Pestle |
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(H.)
Because the cavity of the mortar was funnel- shaped, uncrushed kernels
gravitated to the center to receive the full force of the pestle. Smaller
particles rose to the top of the mortar. Walnuts were extracted of their
oil; acorns were ground into meal for the winter storage. Roots, seeds,
berries, and bone marrow could be ground up and used to strengthen the
stews.

Suggested materials: clay, acorns, and small sticks.
Step 1: Form
clay around acorn.
Step 2: Take small stick relevant to mortar and cover with clay.

Pot
Holder for cooking over fire
Suggested materials: 2 sticks with V shape at one end, 1 straight stick,
clay, glue.
Step 1: Take two sticks
with V shapes at one end and stick them in clay in order to stay up.
Step 2: Lay stick across
two vertical pieces.
Fire
Suggested materials: sticks, glue, red and yellow tissue paper.
Step 1: Glue sticks
down.
Step 2: Glue little
pieces of red and yellow tissue paper sticking up from sticks. |
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Pipes
Women
crafted the clay pipes and the men smoked out of them. Men considered
it a privilege to grow tobacco.
(A.)
Between 1000 A.D. and 1650 A.D. three pipes were developed.
(B.)
The Straight Pipe
(C.)
The Elbow Pipe
(D.)
Elbow Trumpet
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Dugout
Canoes
White pine trees were used to build the canoes. (A.)
Limbs were burned off and the bark was stripped free. The log was
raised on supports and gradually burned, chipped and scraped into
shape. A paddle was made out of maple with a 20 in. blade and a 3
ft. handle. |
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Suggested materials: clay.
Step 1: Use a big chunk of clay and get it into a rectangular shape.
Step 2: Hollow out center of clay.
Games
The center field of the village provided the playing field for stickball,
stone throwing, running matches, weight lifting, wrestling, spirited
dancing, and marksmanship.
Many
spectators came to watch these events and cheer the players on.
Modern
day lacrosse was played.
All men over the age of sixteen were able to take place in war dances.
Lacrosse
Sticks
Suggested
materials: window screen, pipe cleaners.
Step
1: Shape pipe cleaner into frame of stick.
Step
2: Cut out window screen to fit in hole as net.
Step
3: Color pipe cleaner brown.
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