Native American Foods: Technology and Food Sources: Large Game

Among game animals, American bison, or buffalo, were probably the most important. They existed in most of America and were hunted throughout most of the nation. The largest concentrations lived on the plains. Buffalo provided the chief sustenance of more than twenty tribes of Plains Indians and were the most important figures in their cultural worldviews and mythologies. The early introduction of the horse by the Spanish strengthened buffalo cultures. Also of considerable universal importance were deer, antelope, bear, elk, and moose.