Cheyenne Tribe Research Paper

Human history started out with people making a living by foraging necessities directly from nature. It was an egalitarian system, where everyone had equal access to everything they needed. The Cheyenne tribe were considered equestrian foragers, concentrating on hunting large animals, primarily buffalo (O’Neil). They lived in the Great Plains in what is now South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas (Englar 6). Today, the Cheyenne are split into two groups. The Northern Cheyenne live in Montana and the Southern Cheyenne live in Oklahoma. They consider themselves one people (Englar 6). As past equestrian foragers, the Cheyenne tribe had an interesting way of expressing kinship and religion. Before agriculturalism became the well-known
In a forage population, every man is primarily a hunter of animals and every woman is mainly a gatherer of plants. Tasks however, can be performed interchangeably by men and women. Gathering of firewood as well as collecting mollusks, insects, and other small game for food are often non-gender specific activities (O’Neil). Cheyenne women took part in buffalo hunts along with men. They drove the buffalos towards the men, who shot them with their longbows (Redish). A woman might occasionally become a hunter or warrior, but a Cheyenne chief was always male. The Cheyenne women were typically in charge of the house, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. A Cheyenne woman built her family's house and dragged the heavy posts with her whenever the tribe moved. Houses belonged to the women in the Cheyenne tribe (Redish). Most foraging societies do not establish permanent year-round settlements. Rather, they have relatively temporary encampments with tents, brush huts, or other easily constructed dwellings (O’Neil). The Cheyenne tribe used tepees as their form of shelter. They were made of straight tree trunks covered by buffalo skin. The hid of the buffalo was also used for tepee covers, clothing, saddles, ropes, and packs to carry food (Englar 13). Cheyenne women would rub the buffalo hides with clay or a material called gypsum to create a white color, which distinguished the tribe from other tribes (Englar 11). Men essentially were hunters and warriors, responsible for feeding and defending their families. Another role of the men is to teach their sons how to hunt, fish and use weapons. When the men get older and are not capable of hunting, they stay home and help out with teaching the children about past legends and religious practices. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork, music, and traditional medicine (Redish). Many Cheyenne children went hunting