Material Culture

Over millennia the Innu looked to nature to satisfy all their material needs. They developed a rich material culture based on hunting and fishing technologies and a nomadic life. They were experts at making snowshoes, toboggans and canoes, skin clothing, tents, stone tools, wooden utensils, weapons, and spiritual objects such as the drum. These items, used in everyday life, were simple, highly efficient, of quality and infused with spiritual meanings centred on beliefs about human connections with the animals, human-like spirits and the natural world.  These items were often decorated with beautiful and intricate designs — painted, woven or beaded.  Many such items are now found in museum collections around the world.  The Innu Nation is working with several museums to repatriate these artifacts, and bring them back home.