Geography
The Plateau is a smaller cultural area with a low population. It is located in lower British Columbia and Alberta. For being a smaller region, its geography is complex. It is bounded on the north by low extensions of the Rocky Mountains, on the east by the Rocky Mountains and the Lewis Range; on the south by the Blue Mountains and the Salmon River; and on the west by the Canadian Coast Mountains and the Cascade Range. It includes the watersheds of the Columbia and Fraser rivers. The climate in which the Plateau peoples live is of the continental type. Temperatures range from −34 °C in winter to 38 °C in summer.
Language
The linguistic families traditionally represented in the Plateau are the Dene (sometimes known as Athabascan) and Salishan language.
Suggestions for your class:
With the collaboration between Allan Adam and the First Nations University of Canada, learn the sounds of the Dene language.
With the collaboration between Allan Adam and the First Nations University of Canada, learn the sounds of the Dene language.
Art
The Plateau peoples may have been the only Indigenous group in Canada to have used textiles - for example, they wove baskets, blankets, mats, and clothing using goat's wool and bark. Other art forms for those in the Plateau region are rock painting and pictographs. The paint used was made out of red ochre pigments mixed with animal oil or fish eggs.
Little research has been done on the art of the plateau peoples, on their blankets woven of mountain goat wool, their clothing, or the religious beliefs that provide the context for art interpretation in many First Nations cultures.
Little research has been done on the art of the plateau peoples, on their blankets woven of mountain goat wool, their clothing, or the religious beliefs that provide the context for art interpretation in many First Nations cultures.
Suggestions for your class:
With the common art form of the Plateau being weaving, get students to weave their own pieces - bags, baskets, blankets etc.
Also, keep an eye out for exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum of weaving and archaeological textiles so students can get a first hand experience of the culture and history combined.
Also, keep an eye out for exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum of weaving and archaeological textiles so students can get a first hand experience of the culture and history combined.