Native American Cultures — Answer Key
Part A: Fill in the Blank
Write the missing word or number on each line.
1. Native Americans made arrowheads and tools from a hard stone called flint.
Flint is a tough stone that breaks into very sharp edges when struck with another rock, making it perfect for arrowheads, knives, and scrapers.
2. Pueblo women shaped wet clay into pots and bowls, then baked them in fire.
Wet clay can be molded into any shape and then hardens permanently when fired, which is why Pueblo potters used it to make beautifully painted pottery.
3. Horses were brought to America by Spanish explorers in the 1500s.
Before the 1500s there were no horses in the Americas; Spanish explorers sailed them across the ocean, and Plains tribes later became expert horseback hunters.
4. The Lakota are one of the most well-known tribes of the Plains region.
The Lakota lived in the wide grasslands of the central United States, following buffalo herds — that area of grassland is called the Great Plains.
5. Baskets woven from grass and bark were used to carry and store food.
Sturdy woven baskets were the lunchboxes and pantries of Native American villages, holding berries, nuts, and dried meat without breaking.
6. A dreamcatcher is a handmade craft that some tribes believed caught bad dreams.
The Ojibwe wove the dreamcatcher's web above sleeping children to trap bad dreams in the strands and let only good dreams pass through.
7. Many tribes decorated clothing with dyed quills from porcupines.
Porcupine quills were softened, dyed bright colors, and stitched onto leather clothing in beautiful patterns long before glass beads arrived in trade.
8. Smoke signals were one way that tribes sent messages over long distances.
Without phones or letters, tribes built fires and used blankets to send puffs of smoke that scouts on faraway hills could read as messages.
9. Eastern Woodlands tribes used birch bark to cover their wigwams.
Birch bark peels off in large waterproof sheets, making it the perfect lightweight covering for dome-shaped wigwams as well as canoes.
Part B: Matching
Match each item on the left to the correct answer on the right.
1. Match each region to its climate or landscape.
Arctic
→ Frozen tundra and ice
Hot, dry desert
Southwest
→ Hot, dry desert
Wide, flat grasslands
Northwest Coast
→ Rainy forests near the ocean
Frozen tundra and ice
Plains
→ Wide, flat grasslands
Rainy forests near the ocean
Each region's climate and land shaped how tribes lived: ice and tundra in the Arctic, dry desert in the Southwest, ocean rainforest along the Northwest Coast, and open grass on the Plains.