Nicole D. answered • 08/23/19
Each Native American Tribe could be considered to have it's own culture area as culture was uniquely tribal. All humans need food, shelter, and clothing and use creative means to not only find each for necessity but utilize each as an expression of culture. Climate and resources are the two major factors influencing fulfillment of these needs. So if you think about the climate (warm or cold overall) and the resources in each region (renewable and non-renewable) then you gain an understanding of how each people group around the world have cultural aspects influenced by these factors.
All that being said, there was a variety of what Native Americans used for building materials, what they caught and ate for food, and a the animal skins they wore based on the resources around them and the climate influences.
For clothing, Native Americans used the animal skins of the animals they hunted for food. On the eastern coast, the Natives used mostly deerskin. In the mid-west, they used the buffalo skins from the buffalo and bison which they hunted and ate. Lastly, up in the northwest, the Inuit of Alaska used seal skins from the seals they caught in the ocean as well as caribou skins from the large caribou they hunted on land.
For shelter, Native Americans used the materials which were easily accessible in their surrounding environment. In the northeast, the Native Americans built homes called Wigwams made out of trees, including bark. In the southwest, the Native Americans built with the wood and clay around them, making what were called Hogans --- squared log-cabin style huts. In the northwest, the Inuits used the surrounding ice and snow to build igloos.