Food:
The Plains People's main food source was the bison. In that time, around 40 million bison lived on the Interior Plains. These aboriginals' lives subsisted of bison meat.
Because the Plains People were nomads, they traveled great distances to hunt bison. Due to the need of food along with them that would not spoil as well as no access to vegetables and nuts, the Plains people discovered an extremely useful food: pemmican. Pemmican is ground-up bison meat that has been dried and made into a cake by mixing lard and dried berries, lasting for months at a time. It is both nutritious and tasty.
Whenever they were available, edible roots and berries were gathered by the women but the main source of food, bison, came from hunting by the men.
The Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa added fish to their diet, but fish was unimportant elsewhere on the Plains.
Because the Plains People were nomads, they traveled great distances to hunt bison. Due to the need of food along with them that would not spoil as well as no access to vegetables and nuts, the Plains people discovered an extremely useful food: pemmican. Pemmican is ground-up bison meat that has been dried and made into a cake by mixing lard and dried berries, lasting for months at a time. It is both nutritious and tasty.
Whenever they were available, edible roots and berries were gathered by the women but the main source of food, bison, came from hunting by the men.
The Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa added fish to their diet, but fish was unimportant elsewhere on the Plains.
Dwellings:
Because they were nomadic tribes, following wherever their main source of food went, they needed the type of shelter that could be brought down as well as built up fast. Made from a pole structure covered with hides sewn together by the women, the Plains People lived in tipis, with flaps at the top controlling the smoke from the fire. The dwellings were insulated in winter.
Many household and personal items were made from the bison hides, hair, horns, and bones.
Many household and personal items were made from the bison hides, hair, horns, and bones.