What was the Native American Culture?

Answer 1

It is impossible to answer this question. There were hundreds of Native American groups before White contact. They were all different, had different languages, foods, art, traditions. They were spread all over the U.S. therefore cannot all be treated as one, big group.

Answer 2

Your question supposes that all native peoples in the Americas had a single culture, which is a false premise.

The culture of the Amazonian tribes is totally different from that of the Ingalik of Alaska; the Plains culture was totally different to the northern and eastern woodlands culture of Canada and the USA and the Great Basin people lived a totally different lifestyle to that of the Maya. Climate and Natural Resources have a huge impact on culture and the Americas include a huge range of different climates.

All that can be said in general terms is that before contact with Europeans, all native Americans were living a Neolithic lifestyle in its broadest sense - using whatever food sources and materials were available in their own locality. Some groups even produced metalwork with native copper and gold, but they were still essentially a New Stone Age society.

Some groups produced pottery, others did not; some wove baskets, others made containers of tree bark. Some were farmers, others were hunter-gatherers; some depended almost entirely on fishing.

For this reason the Americas are divided into many distinct cultural areas, each with its own specific cultural traits.

Answer 3

The Native American culture cannot be boiled down. There were once over 600 tribes in North America, with hundreds of distinct sets of customs and art forms.