American History A Unit 1: The Earliest Americans
Lesson 10: The Eastern Woodland Indians
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Document Analysis: Eastern Woodland Indians
You can learn a lot by studying, or analyzing, historical drawings. Drawing analysis, like
photograph analysis, is a skill that historians use to learn about the past.
Step 1: Observation
On page 43 of Chapter 9 there are two pictures that were drawn by sixteenth-century artists
who traveled to the New World. The one on the top shows Indians hunting deer. The one on
the bottom shows Indians cultivating (farming) their land. We can learn a lot about the lives of
the first Americans by studying historical drawings like these.
For each drawing, follow these steps.
1. Study the drawing. Form an impression of the whole drawing in your mind.
2. Now examine individual objects in the drawing.
3. Divide the drawing into four equal sections, or quadrants. Study each section. Look for
details.
4. Complete the following chart. List people, objects, and activities you notice in the drawing.
Drawing
People
Objects
Activities
1. farming
2. hunting
Name Date
American History A Unit 1: The Earliest Americans
Lesson 10: The Eastern Woodland Indians
© 2011 K12 Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 2
Copying or distributing without K12’s written consent is prohibited.
Step 2: Inference
Based on your observations, list at least two things you might infer from each drawing. To infer
is to draw a conclusion based on facts. For example, if you see a drawing of a person wearing
lots of jewelry, you could infer that the person likes jewelry.
Drawing 1: farming
1. _________________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________________
Drawing 2: hunting
1. _________________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________________
Step 3: Questions
What questions come to mind when you study these drawings? Where could you find the
answers to these questions? Select one drawing to ask these questions about.
Drawing: ____________________________
1. What questions come to mind when you study this drawing? _________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Where could you find the answers to those questions? _____________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________