Gateway Adventure: People, Places and Things

PACIFIC COAST

Salmon fishing, sea mammal hunting, and the gathering of shellfish and wild plants provided a rich and diverse diet for the Aboriginal peoples living in the rainforest of Canada's west coast. A mild, moist climate provided an abundance of plants for use as raw materials. The tall, magnificent cedar tree was an important resource. The wood was straight-grained, light, durable and easily split. It was worked in numerous ways with hammers, wedges, chisels and adzes, and was suitable for making planks, posts and beams for multi-family houses, large dugout canoes, monumental poles and figures, masks, headdresses, rattles and other ceremonial objects. It could also be steamed and bent to create the sides of boxes and bowls. All parts of the tree were used. The inner bark was made into a variety of mats and when pounded and shredded, used for diapers or woven into skirts, capes, and blankets. Roots and withes were split or twisted for use in baskets, cradles, rainproof hats and rope. A life-giving tree, the cedar continues to be treated with greatest respect.

Given the information provided, can you identify the three (3) objects from the Pacific coast region? Check the boxes below the images you think are correct. Good luck!

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