Did native Americans have the concept of possession?

Question

It can be any primitive culture (not that primitive is bad) but did Native American's ever say "This arrowhead is mine." If you could post a link talking about the subject that would be great.

Thanks.

Answer 1

of course they had possesions.  the importance of the material possesions had in their lives was different than current culture.  in many indian cultures a rich had many things that he shared and gave away.  you were a worthy person if you were generous.

Answer 2

Please divest your mind of all that Romantic nonsense taught students in the 60's and 70's. They may have had a variant concept, but you did not see too many tribes that did not have the concept, " this is my land. "

Answer 3

To give you an application of how property ownership differed between culture:

On Monday, a group of strangers arrive in town and inform you that somebody you have heard of has signed away ownership of the air in town. The strangers are going to tear down the houses and plant trees to increase the air quality. Meanwhile everybody was being moved to another state.

So who owns the air and who could sign ownership of our air away?

Change air to "land" and you can appreciate what many Native Americans encountered when dealing with the newcomers. While land could be controlled by a tribe and one could fight another tribe over it, the issues was more about the resources then the dirt. No individual staked out a plot of land and tried to sell it.

While we equate "Chief" with "ruler" or "Boss" to the Native Americans chiefs weren't all-powerful. They were simply considered (not elected) the wisest or the best in an area. Having a chief "touch the pen," (sign a treaty) did not commit the rest of the tribe to the treaty. If you didn't like the terms of the treaty you just ignored it. Much the same applied to tribes. One generally had relatives in other bands. You could always move in with them if you didn't like the chief's policies.

There was personal ownership. One's weapons, horses and so on. Just as important was one's name and reputation. Many tribes would "count coup." This meant that one gained honor by being able to actually touch an enemy. Several tribes had elaborate systems to count coup. One could gain credit for first touching a foe. It also mattered if the foe was alive, wounded, or dead. In some cases, you could kill an enemy yet receive no credit. Those that claimed first, second, and further touches got the honors. For this reason, weapons that killed at a distance, such as a rifle, might not always be popular. Awarding of coup was serious business. It took time and efforts were made to ensure that the right person got the honor.

As you can see, the differences between Native American and newcomers were enormous. It was also a culture clash between stone age and iron age cultures. Native Americans wanted guns, iron tools etc. but didn't have the means to make or repair them. Even powder and lead shot had to be obtained from the newcomers. This trapped the Native Americans in dependency for the technology and ultimately required them to adopted parts of the new culture

Answer 4

No Native Americans never had possession everything was a gift from Creator to help in their lives. And Native Americans paid homeage to Creator for these things as all things have a spirit and Native Americans would give a gift to the spirit of the things he used be it animals, plants, rocks, etc.

By the jools4fools what tribe is kataba? just curious, where were they from? etc.

Yes the land was not for sale because it was no one land to sale but the Creators. The Earth is their Mother and provides all things to them. The Creator made it that way so they would respect the earth and its resources. Yes they had personal possessions and some did not like to share but all in all they understood that the things they had where gifts from Creator thru the Earth Mother. Their battles with  other tribes where more of a look what I ca nget away with. Yes they would steal other tribes horses etc. But is was just a game of bravery. Because usually shortly after that the othre tribe would come and steal their things back. Their battles did not end with millions of dead and casualties because they did go alot and try to take totally control of the land sometimes if they won a battle they're area was expanded some but never to an extent of taking soul possession and making entire nations slaves.

Answer 5

Well ok, I cannot speak for other nations, but with my own, people were divided by clans and each clan has their own long house. So theres a sign of posession. When the men married the women, the man would move in with the woman into her long house because the childrens clan's depended on the women. Its a matrilineal society.

Also a great example of what your asking is the edge of woods ceremony. Whenever someone new came onto our land, they had to wait by the woods for a proper introduction and for safety of the community. If they didn't, well then, they would be punished. This is still praticed today, except for the punishment part, when a different nation comes onto our territory, the proper greeting is a edge of the woods ceremony.

There is lots more I could tell you so there is just a sample. Hope it helps!!

Answer 6

Common sense tells me that if attempted to take a guy's best horse...yeah, he might not be too pleased.

Humans are possessive, just not all groups or individuals are possessive over the same things.

Answer 7

They sure did! Native were far more materialistic than the story we've been sold. I should know!

Natives actually claimed their kills by leaving their arrows in the animal so the hunter's wives would know which animals to process. "That's my husband's arrow! This buffalo is MINE!"

They made a game of stealing stuff from each other. They had/have a strong "finders keepers" ethic. I guess the plains Indians didn't have a lot of room for possessions so everyone thinks they were not materialistic. The French traders could tell you a different story.

Indians are people. Just like everybody else.

Answer 8

Yes, they liked to attack neighboring tribes and take THEIR possessions.  They loved stealing squaws and horses and making them their own possessions

Answer 9

oh cr ap. that last answer was long. i think they had more a mind set as this is everyones and everythings land. and when those spaniards came and gave them little money for land they were probley thinking ehh this is everyones land but thanks.. then it whent downhill from there