Native North America
The British Museum collection represents the arts and
history of Native North America from prehistory to the present day.
Some of the modern artefacts, such as textiles, have been created
by Native craftspeople while working in the Museum.
The earliest objects in the collection are
stone tools made about 8000 years ago by Big-Game hunters who were
part of the Paleoindian Tradition. These ancient people were
followed by Archaic hunters from 8000-1000 BC who exploited the new
animal and plant resources of a warming climate, following the end
of the ice-age, using specialised tools.
After the Archaic period came the Woodland
peoples, from about 800 BC, who lived in settled communities,
hunting, fishing and gathering and cultivating plants. Large
earthworks, such as those of the Ohio Hopewell culture (from about
100 BC to AD 600), were created for religious, economic and
defensive purposes.
At the time of European contact in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there would have probably been
between two and ten million Native inhabitants. They were
incredibly diverse, living as distinct nations with distinct
traditions and speaking different languages.
European colonisation and the expansion of the
United States brought diseases and warfare that killed most of the
Native population. Bison, on which many depended for food,
clothing, housing and tools, were hunted almost to extinction by
commercial hunters. Further hardship came as many were forced to
live in reservations.
Continuing conflict culminated in the Battle
of Wounded Knee in 1890 when United States troops massacred
hundreds of Lakota after they had surrendered.
Today, between two and three million people of
native descent live in Canada and the United States of America.
They are grouped into more than 1000 bands, tribes or nations all
possessing their own oral literatures and histories; their survival
and continued vibrancy a testament to the enduring strength of
their traditions.
Image caption: Painted military drum
Algonquian, AD 1850s. Probably from Manitoulin Island, Ontario,
North America