"Increasingly diverse food resources 

 required the Archaic people to make a 

 much more diverse tool kit," Knick 

 says. 



Just among stone tools, these native 

 inhabitants were using spear points, a 

 smaller dart point, choppers, scrapers, 

 axes, adzes, grinding stones, nutting 

 stones, borers and drills, Knick says. 

 There were also numerous bone, shell 

 and wood tools, but again, very few of 

 these have survived. 



In the late Archaic Period, soap- 

 stone cooking and storage vessels came 

 into use. Since these Indians no longer 

 constantly searched for food, they could 

 manage the use of heavier utensils and 

 spare more time for the development of 

 tools and crafts. 



At the beginning of the Woodland 

 Period, between 2000 B.C. and 1000 

 B.C., Native Americans began to 

 understand the concept of agriculture. 



"Somebody realized those plants 

 they had been gathering all along had 

 little hard things in them," Knick says. 

 "If you saved those hard things and 

 planted them in your yard, next year 

 you wouldn't have to go out and hunt 

 for them. 



"This changes things forever," 

 Knick adds. "Once you have agricul- 

 ture, then you rarely have to move 

 again. You can have permanent 

 villages, a larger population and much 

 more cultural elaboration." 



Agriculture gradually evolved, and 

 by the 1500s, North Carolina's natives 

 had developed a complex agricultural 

 system. They were growing several 

 kinds of beans, squash and com as well 

 as sunflowers, pumpkins, melons, sweet 

 potatoes, tomatoes, chenopodium (a 

 cousin of the spinach), gourds and 

 tobacco. 



Tobacco was grown for ceremonial 

 and religious uses. Native North 

 Carolinians smoked the dried tobacco 



leaves in clay or stone pipes. 



With the cultivation of crops, the 

 Indians established permanent settle- 

 ments that averaged 100 to 200 people 



Stanley Knick 



along the shores of rivers and streams. 

 The waterways afforded the natives a 

 means of travel and trade by canoe and 

 rich alluvial soils for their crops. 



Two other innovations marked the 

 Woodland Period: pottery and the bow 

 and arrow. 



THESE PEOPLE 



HUNTED 

 WITH SPEARS 

 AND HAD A 

 SURVIVAL TOOLBOX 

 THAT CONSISTED 

 OF STONE, BONE, 



WOOD AND 

 SKIN IMPLEMENTS. 



Native Americans learned how to 

 shape pottery from clay collected along 

 river banks and stream beds. They 

 mixed the clay with sand or crushed 

 shell to prevent their pots from crack- 

 ing when heated. To decorate these 

 vessels, native women used fabric, 



cord, carved paddles, netting, matting 

 and methods such as incising and 

 punctating. 



The bow and arrow was developed 

 during the early Woodland Period and 

 gained widespread use. Native North 

 Carolinians used the bow and arrow to 

 hunt small game, protect themselves 

 and occasionally attack their enemies. 



The onset of agriculture signaled 

 other changes in the Indians' lifestyle, 

 religious ideology and social structure. 



By this time, Native American 

 social structures were well-organized. 

 The Algonkian societies were stratified, 

 Phelps says. They had a ruling class, a 

 nobility and commoners. 



It is believed that the Siouans and 

 Iroquoians were more egalitarian. 

 These Indians were led by a council of 

 tribal leaders. The councils acted 

 democratically, and decisions were 

 made by a consensus of the group. 



Many of eastern North Carolina's 

 native societies were matrilineal. 



Descent was traced along female 

 lines, and children belonged to the 

 mother's clan, not the father's. For 

 example, the mother's brother was 

 responsible for the children's education, 

 and he acted as the spokesman for the 

 family in tribal matters. 



Often the decisions made by the 

 male leadership had to receive the 

 approval of the women. In Iroquoian 

 society, the clan mothers chose the 

 tribal chief. Among the Algonkian 

 Croatans, a woman was serving as the 

 hereditary ruler at the time of European 

 contact, Phelps says. 



"When the Europeans got here, the 

 Indian women had a much higher status 

 in their society than European women 

 had in theirs," Knick says. 



The Native Americans of this era 

 were also trading among themselves. 

 Coastal Indians, having a ready supply 

 of shells and other local products, 



4 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992 



