Caddo – Southeasten Texas

=The Caddo lived in tall cone shaped grass huts. To build a hut, they made a wood frame and covered it with cut cane and long grasses. These huts were nicely furnished inside with furniture and were quite comfortable. One of the reasons the Spanish seemed to like the Caddo was because they had beds and chairs inside these huts. This reminded the Spanish of their own beds and chairs. They would use buffalo skins with the hair on them as blankets to keep warm in the winter. These huts could be very large. The inside of the huts had woven grass and split cane mats on the floors. These same mats were hung up as partitions inside the hut. Often several families would live in one hut.

The Caddo would build more than one house for a family group. They would build a house like above for the winter and rainy weather. The Spanish sources tell us they would also build another summer house next to the winter house. The summer house had no sides on it, only a roof. The floor was special in the summer house. The floor was raised up off the ground and was made of woven cane or split wood. This woven floor was like a screen, it had small openings between the wood to let air pass through. This floor and the open sides were all to help keep cool in the hot humid East Texas Summers.

Karankawa – Coastal Plains

The houses were small huts made of long sapling tree trunks or limbs bent over and tied together. They would stick one end of the tree limb or saplings into the ground in a big circle. Then they would bend them over towards the middle and tie them together making a framework. They would cover this framework with woven grass mats, palm leaves or with animal skins. They would cover the floor with woven grass mats. Now I am describing a NICE Karankawa house -- probably one made for the winter camp. Many times, especially in the summer when they were moving around a lot, they would just lean some deadwood limbs together and throw a few mats or some grass or palm leaves on the limbs. This is a lean-to shelter.

Living in a hot humid climate that does not get very cold very often they did not wear very much. Men wore simple breach cloths and women wore grass skirts. Often the men simply went naked. The kids always went naked in warm weather. Because their environment has lots and lots and lots of insects that bite, they would smear animal fat and grease all over their bodies. Sometimes they would smear mud all over their bodies too. This would protect them from bug bites. They also liked tattoos. Men and women would tattoo themselves from head to foot with bold designs.

Apache – Plains Culture

Notice their high leather boots made of soft leather. They would roll the soft leather tops up past their knees to protect them from cactus and thorny brush when they needed to. Or they could be rolled down to cool off. Often they would store small items in the rolled up part. Look at the wide cloth headbands. These are another Apache trademark. Almost all the men wore them. They would absorb sweat and keep it from trickling down into the eyes. The headbands are also thick to absorb the heat of the hot sun in their desert environment. The short skirt or breechcloth is another standard piece of clothing for Apache men. They are wearing European style shirts and maybe pants too. They probably got these from traders. This is what Apache men wore after 300 years of contact with the Europeans. Their coats, belts, vests, and guns are all European and not Indian.

The Apache lived in both tee-pees and wickiups. Tee-pees are easy to move around when hunting and gathering. Wickiups take more work to build and cannot be moved and are best for semisedentary people. Here is a picture of an Apache camp with tee-pees. The wagon would date this camp to the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Jumano – Puebloan

The Rio Grande branch of the Jumanos were Puebloan Indians and they lived in Puebloan style villages. The Pueblos along the Rio Grande north and south of modern El Paso from the Tompiro Pueblo down to La Junta and smaller villages along the Rio Concho in Old Mexico formed the core area of historic Jumano culture. These are the Puebloan Jumanos.

They are called Puebloan because the houses and buildings they lived in are called Pueblos. A Pueblo is like a big apartment building. Most have two or more stories. The walls are usually made from large mud bricks called adobe bricks. If the right kind of rock is available, many Pueblos would build rock walls. The rooms are small by our modern standards. A whole family would live in one room. All the people in a Pueblo are like one big family.