|
| September 5, 2008 |
 |
||
|
5. Were the Karankawas “Giants”?Researcher ________________________________ Research Team _________By around 8,000 BC, the Pleistocene or Ice Age had ended and the next two thousand years or so are referred to as the Late Paleo-Indian period. The animal life, vegetation and
Americans remained the same. They adapted, increased their popula tions and covered very diverse environments. As thousands of years passed, these earliest Americans spread across the North American continent, found their place and became independent. These tribes and bands of hunters and gatherers formed their own unique cultures and spoke their own languages. In Texas, the Native Americans lived successfully for nine or ten or no one really knows how many thousands of years before the Europeans came. The Native Americans not only survived here but adapted to changes in the climate and increased in numbers. They developed new tools and ways over time. However, they did all this without major damage or changes to the environment. More seems to be known about the Karankawa than the other groups because they were the ones that Cabeza de Vaca first met. Of the coastal Indians, the Karankawas managed to stay alive longer than the rest. You and your research team will be investigating to learn more about the people who lived along the coast among the bays, lagoons, marshes, river deltas and prairies of the central coastal zone. Materials: none Procedure:1. The Karankawas shared some of the customs of other Texas coastal Indians, but physically, they were different. This was first recorded by Cabeza de Vaca. On November 6, 1528, he and his crew were slammed onto the Texas coast by a Gulf storm. The exact location of this first meeting of the Karankawa and the Spaniards is not known. It is believed to be somewhere on the far west end of Galveston Island. The Spaniards were soon surrounded by the Karankawa with long bows and sharp arrows wanting to get back the earthen pot, small dog and a few fish they had stolen from a nearby hut. In his journal, Cabeza de Vaca notes that they were surrounded by more than a hundred Indian bowmen, “who if they were not large, our fears made giants of them. . .” © 2002 Texas Sea Grant College Program Table 1: Nutritional Value of Meats in Karankawa Diet at Shoreline Sites
NOTE: All values are 100 grams of raw meat weight From other sources it is clear that the Karankawas were unusually tall for Native Americans. Men were often near six feet or reached six feet in height. They were also noted for their strong and robust physiques. Measurements of skeletons found in a coastal prehistoric cemetery indicated heights around six feet. The Karankawas were taller than other Native Americans and the Spaniards. It was also noted that the skeletons were healthy, strong, and hardy. The bones indicated that the muscles attached to them were strong. Another observation was that the skeletons from the Karankawas showed less stress than those of the inland Indians. The Karankawas bones were stronger and their bones did not show the effects of any deficiencies in diet (minerals or proteins). Based on these observations, what inferences can you make about their lifestyle? 2. The sources of nutrition and energy in human diets are proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Proteins are the major building blocks of body tissue. Carbohydrates supply most of the body’s energy needs. Fats and oils are highly concentrated sources of energy. Using archeological data, the nutritional value of the Karankawa diet at the shoreline sites was determined. The values of the nutrients per 100 grams of raw meat for each of the major meats they ate are given in Table 1.
Lien: Investigating the Marine Environment in the 21st Century of carbohydrates from which most of the energy is obtained. It is probable that humans cannot survive on a sustained diet consisting of more than 40 to 50 percent protein. This amount of protein would result in “protein poisoning” from the excess nitrogen. What might the Karankawa have eaten that would have provided fat and carbohydrates to balance the high protein diet?
 
© 2002 Texas Sea Grant College Program These fruits provide carbohydrates in the form of fructose or starch. Based on Cabeza de Vaca’s journal, Beranger’s report and what is known about plants along the coast, what inferences could be made about the diet of the Karankawas?
Lien: Investigating the Marine Environment in the 21st Century |
climates became like those of today, and the lifestyle of the Native 
persons , at least, well sheltered. The descriptions by Beranger leaves no doubt that this was a Karankawan camp. He also reported, “They have a small permanent village of about a dozen large, quite round huts. That is where they put the supply for the winter that consists of fish that they dry without salt.” Beranger also made some interesting notes on their diet: “Although they do not cultivate the soil, they eat bread …they make with acorns, ashes, fibrous plant well crushed and pounded together and cook it over live coals. I ate some of it solely to oblige, but it is nasty eating according to my way of thinking. The rest of their food is fish that they eat half raw, a great deal of roots, and oysters.” What does Beranger’s report tell us about the diet of the Karankawa? | Texas Sea Grant College Program | 2700 Earl Rudder Freeway South, Suite 1800 | College Station, Texas 77845. |
| phone: 979.845.3854 | fax: 979.845.7525 | Customer Service | Webmaster |