Wood Working
Wood is naturally very susceptible to decay. Little wood remains from ancient sites, so much of the information given here is common sense, theory or taken from ethnographies.
It seems that most of the wood that still exists in ancient archeological sites are found either in garbage pits or as the bottom remains of posts driven deep into the ground. Posts also left impressions in the soil after they decayed. Digging sticks were undoubtedly used, and impressions of bark as coverings for buildings and pits. (Barrett, 1970, pp. 346-47, 420)
Extensive ethnographical research on the use of wood was published in 1905 by William Martin Beauchamp. His Aboriginal Use of Wood in New York is an account of numerous examples using colonial sources of several different tribes' uses of wood in the area of New York State. How limited these examples should be used as corollaries of tribes in Minnesota is unknown, since there are no similar works done for this area. The assumption must be made that some of these practices would be similar between the tribes of the different areas, and that some would be quite different, especially in relation to similarities and dissimilarities in environment.
One of the more important uses of wood would have to be for making fire. Among the Native American tribes of New York, several different methods of making fire were used. Rubbing two sticks together and stick-twirling are examples. (Beauchamp., 1978, p. 91) Fire is, of course, important for heat production and for cooking of food.
Any houses that New York tribes built tended to make use of long poles for a frame, and bark was an optional covering. In times of war, villages were often protected by wood fortifications, built by close picketing of posts driven into the ground.
Many stone points that have been discovered have features that would allow them to be attached to long pieces of wood to make a spear or arrows. Archeological and ethnographical evidence supports the making and use of these weapons. Beauchamp. also mentions the use of blowguns, axes and clubs. Defensive items such as armor and shields were observed among the Mohawks and Mossawomeks. (Beauchamp, 1978, pp. 120-130)
Tools used for hunting and fishing were basically interchangeable. The bow and arrow and the spear were used for hunting. Harpoons were often used for fishing, as were weirs (wooden boxes) and baskets made of woven wood fibers. (Beauchamp, 1978, pp. 130-131, 148.)
Trees were often made into canoes, as was plain bark. Lightness was important in the making of canoes to aid in portaging. River transportation was certainly important for trading networks and any seasonal migration. Paddles were also made of wood. There is also evidence of the use of snowshoes made of wood. (Beauchamp, 1978, pp. 139-147)
Ethnological evidence indicates that large wooden mortar and pestles were used. Wooden trays, dishes, utensils, pitchers, bowls, barrels, mats, brooms, ladders and dolls were all evident to colonial observers. (Beauchamp, 1978, pp. 149-160)
The custom of placing a body on a wooden scaffold, exposed to the elements until only the skeleton remained, was practiced by several tribes in the Americas. Some forms of burial included placing the body in a hole and placing wood over the hole to hold up the soil placed on top of it. (Beauchamp, 1978, pp. 116-118)
Many of these items listed here were undoubtedly similar to those used by Native Americans in the area of Minnesota. Archeological and ethnographical evidence of the use of wood in Minnesota is so scanty that conclusions must be drawn from other sources. The similarity of environment between the target area and the area from which most of the information comes must be fairly close, as the environment is the most important factor in how a resource is to be exploited to its most beneficial extent.
Barrett, Samuel A. Ancient Aztalan. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970.
Beauchamp, William M. Aboriginal Use of Wood in New York. New York: AMS Press, 1978.