food, history, rural life, and how we connect our cultural past and future
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Pipes and feathers; Native American trade items
In truth long before Columbus arrived in the New World Native American cultures traded over long distances for interesting and innovative products not available locally; the red soapstone (Catlinite) for sacred tobacco pipes is one example, decorative bird feathers from the Caribbean another, hides and horn, woven cloth and baskets, annatto, vanilla, and cacao, and certainly corn, bean and squash seeds would have been early trade items leading to the broad North American cultivation of the Three Sisters. [To be continued]