An addition to a popular history series presents a child's eye view of the Native American cultures of America's northern Pacific coast, showing their housing, clothing, social structure, religious customs, occupations, and more. Original.

NORTHWEST.

Thirty-three black-and-white drawings representing aspects of the culture and society of Indians of the Northwest coast.

Extending some 1,400 miles from Alaska to northern California, America's Northwest Coast is one of the richest and most distinct cultural areas on earth. The region is famous for its magnificent art--masks, totem poles, woven blankets--produced by the world's most politically and economically complex hunters and gatherers. As this pioneering account shows, the history of settlement on the Northwest Coast stretches back some 11,000 years. With the stabilization of sea levels and salmon runs after 4000 B.C., many of the region's salient features began to emerge. Salmon fishing supported rapid population growth to a peak over 1,000 years ago. The spread of rain forest made available trees such as red cedar that could be turned into vast houses and seaworthy canoes. Large households and permanent villages emerged alongside slavery and a hereditary nobility. Warfare became epidemic, initially hand to hand but later characterized by the development of fortresses and the bow and arrow. Art evolved from simple carvings and geometric designs 5,000 years ago to the specialized crafts of the modern era. Written by noted experts and profusely illustrated, this is an essential reference for scholars and students of Native American archaeology and anthropology as well as travelers to the region.

These book focus on Native American culture by examining geographic and cultural groupings as well as the major nations and tribes within each area.

Written by an outstanding authority and profusely illustrated, this is a comprehensive study of the Indians that lived from Yakutat Bay in Alaska to the northern coast of California. Originally published in the Anthropological Handbooks Series of The American Museum of Natural History, this volume vividly recreates the complexities and attainments of this unique culture of aboriginal America. The author first describes the land, people, and prehistory of the area and then considers each aspect of the culture: social structures and marriage customs, economy and technology, religion, rituals, art, wars, and feuds. Philip Drucker, an authority on the ethnology of the Pacific Coast, was educated at the University of California and was formerly with the Bureau of American Ethnology of The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Illustrated with over 70 drawings

Examines the culture of some of the Native American groups that live on the northwest coast of America, including the Tlingit, Haida, and Chinook peoples.