Gifts from the Thunder Beings: Indigenous Archery and European Firearms in the Northern Plains and Central Subarctic, 1670-1870

by Roland Bohr

Overview

Gifts from the Thunder Beings examines North American Aboriginal peoples’ use of Indigenous and European distance weapons in big-game hunting and combat. Beyond the capabilities of European weapons, Aboriginal peoples’ ways of adapting and using this technology in combination with Indigenous weaponry contributed greatly to the impact these weapons had on Aboriginal cultures. This gradual transition took place from the beginning of the fur trade in the Hudson’s Bay Company trading territory to the treaty and reserve period that began in Canada in the 1870s.

Technological change and the effects of European contact were not uniform throughout North America, as Roland Bohr illustrates by comparing the northern Great Plains and the Central Subarctic—two adjacent but environmentally different regions of North America—and their respective Indigenous cultures. Beginning with a brief survey of the subarctic and Northern Plains environments and the most common subsistence strategies in these regions around the time of contact, Bohr provides the context for a detailed examination of social, spiritual, and cultural aspects of bows, arrows, quivers, and firearms. His detailed analysis of the shifting usage of bows and arrows and firearms in the northern Great Plains and the Central Subarctic makes Gifts from the Thunder Beings an important addition to the canon of North American ethnology.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803254381
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	504
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Roland Bohr is an associate professor of history and the director of the Centre for Rupert’s Land Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Preface xi

1 Bows, Guns, and Diverging Views on Indigenous and European Technology 1

2 Indigenous Subsistence Patterns of the Hudson Bay Lowlands and Northern Plains 14

3 Bows of the Northern Plains and Subarctic 42

4 Arrows and Arrow Makers 80

5 Aboriginal Peoples and Firearms 127

6 Injuries Caused by Arrows and Firearms 154

7 Archery and Firearms in Aboriginal Beliefs 172

8 Archery and Firearms in Hunting 204

9 Archery and Firearms in Combat in the Central Subarctic 234

10 Archery and Firearms in Combat in the Northern Plains 252

11 Survival and Adaptation of Aboriginal Archery and European Firearms 297

Appendix: Extended Image Credits 319

Glossary of Archery Terms 325

Notes 331

Bibliography 417

Index 447

Editorial Reviews

"Gifts from the Thunder Beings [is] an excellent place to start for anyone studying the relationship between native peoples and European firearms."—Daniel P. Barr, Journal of American History

Journal of American History - Daniel P. Barr

“Aboriginal weapons are an important subject in themselves and for their role within Native societies and Native-white relations. Roland Bohr’s knowledge of how Aboriginal weapons work and why they were constructed as they were allows the author to critique the ethnocentric and technologically ignorant assumptions of many earlier scholars. As a bowyer himself, Bohr brings knowledge of making and using bows and arrows lacking in earlier scholarship to his careful historical research.”—Dr. Laura Peers, curator of the Americas at the Pitt Rivers Museum and reader in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford

Laura Peers

"Crisply written. . . . It should be read and appreciated by all students of ethnohistory."—David Silverman, Ethnohistory

Ethnohistory - David Silverman

"A fascinating read for anyone interested in the evolution of native North American hunting, warfare, and society after contact with Europeans."—James Donohue, South Dakota History

South Dakota History - James Donohue