| The highlighted area is in the central part of North and South Dakota. These early farmers had no horses or oxen to pull a plow, so all their farming was done by hand. Every spring after the rivers flooded they planted their crops in the soft, fertile soils along the river bottoms. They made and used tools that look similar to modern hoes, rakes, and augurs. Sturdy limbs were chopped from trees with stone axes and carved with stone knives and scrapers. These digging sticks were used to loosen the soil. The farmers made hoes with wooden handles. The scapula (shoulder bone) of a bison was attached to a wooden handle to make a hoe blade. Rakes were made of wooden branches tied together. Sometimes, instead of a bundle of branches, deer or elk antlers were used as rakes. | |
 |
|
|
ANTLER RAKE |
 |
|
|
SCAPULA HOE |
|
The early farmers lived in South Dakota for
hundreds of years, especially along the Missouri River. Between hunting and
farming they thrived. Agriculture for these ancient people was a
religious-cultural practice. It was and still is believed that Mother Earth
provides the necessities for life. People were to live in harmony with
everything around them. What they were given, they gave back. They sang
prayers and danced to Mother Earth to provide what they needed.
|
|