A Woman's Tools

I have been fascinated at the last two historical sites we’ve visited with the tools and crafts of women.  From food preparation to decorative beading, it is interesting to see the feminine influence within these pages of history.

Presuming that women were involved with food preparation and crafting while men hunted (as we’ve been told and without doing further research right now) I want to share some tools that I saw at Pictograph State Park and what the experts shared of their knowledge about them: 

The mano and the matate were a two-piece tool set (shown above) used for grinding seeds, nuts and roots to produce a flour or meal used in cooking.  The mano was rolling pin shaped and held in one hand and rolled against the food to be ground on the flat matate.  Pestles were used to pound and pulverize meat, which could be mixed with berries and animal fat to make a sun-dried, nutritious food called pemmican. 

Sticks with fire-hardened ends were used to dig roots.  Bone and chipped stone scrapers were used to remove hair and flesh from deer, elk and buffalo hides.  Knives were fashioned for cutting by attaching chipped stone to sticks called hafting which creates leverage to make the cutting of meat, antler or wood easier.

Bone beads, pendants, and pierced animal teeth were used as bracelets, necklaces or clothing decoration.

Awls were made of bone for stitching hides and clothing.

Remember, this is 9,000-year old technology created from the natural elements found in their environment.  They already knew what types of stone worked for making these tools, what berries and grains they could safely eat, how to preserve meat and other foodstuffs and most important of all how to make fire.

Jumping ahead 8,000 years we come to the culture of Native Americans who defeated Custer in 1876.  Add all of the above skills to these below:

They knew gray thistle could be used as a diuretic, tonic and astringent.  Hairy golden aster tops were used to make a tea that helped with sleeping.

Plains prickly pear was used to make candies, jelly or a refreshing drink.

Yucca (soap weed) flowers and pods were added to salads and other dishes.  The petals are a little sweet and nutty tasting.

Elaborate beading work was used to decorate belts, leggings (first photo below) and other clothing items along with moccasins, pouches, jewelry or pendants they hung over teepee entry doors.

If you suddenly found yourself “beamed up" into this same environment, could you survive?  And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what they knew about their natural world and what it could provide for them.  These two sites are fascinating to me because of a culture that is revealed not because of a battle that was fought.  I am glad I spent time at both.

  

Custer's Last Stand

Today we left Billings, Montana after spending three nights there.  Leaving early ahead of a low pressure system working its way east from Idaho, we got on the road amid a few sprinkles of rain hoping to stay ahead of the forecasted heavier weather including some possible wind gusts.  Not far out of Billings, I-90 turns due south winding like a silver ribbon toward the Wyoming border crossing over rolling, golden hills that are muted under the gray sky without a building to be seen for miles.  Occasionally the hills become flat topped and it is easy to imagine it is the 1800s with either pioneers or Crow warriors riding horses along the ridges scouting for one another.

We reach the Crow Reservation and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument just off I-90 and stop to tour the Custer Battlefield.  This is the site of the infamous Lt. Col. George Custer and the 7^th Cavalry’s last stand on June 25, 1876, resulting in 263 men including Custer dying when they were defeated by warriors of the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.  The battlefield is on the Crow Indian Reservation and the landscape remains unchanged other than the addition of the Visitors Center and monuments, a cemetery and some paved road.  There is a walking tour throughout the site drawing visitors into imaging the events of 138 years ago.  The Visitor's Center was a wealth of information with great exhibits and a fabulous selection of reading material I could easily wish to possess.  As we were finishing our tour, the rain caught up with us pelting us with big, juicy drops of water. 

We crossed the border into Wyoming and the highways were paved in red tinted pavement with patches of the same shade of stone visible in the surrounding hills.  The golden color of the rolling terrain turns greener and we see more grazing cattle and horses along the highway.  We have outrun the rain and the sky turns blue with white puffy clouds temporarily.

We stop in Buffalo, Wyoming for the night and have a wonderful late lunch at the Historic Occidental Hotel’s Saloon founded in 1880.  This historic hotel building and saloon served the likes of Buffalo Bill, Teddy Roosevelt, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to name just a few of those who early on frequented the establishment known for its hospitality and fine food.  Restored to its original status as one of the great hotels of the Old West, their hospitality and fine food continue with the burgers we enjoyed.

A drive around Buffalo finished our day during which we encountered three deer wandering its streets with their final goal before we parted ways apparently an apple tree I suspect they’ve visited before.  Tonight the rain has returned in a downpour and we are safely settled into the RV.  Tomorrow we head for South Dakota and Mount Rushmore.