In the olden days, our people made their own tools. The following are examples of how our people used nature's raw materials to make tools for many uses. If we did not have a tool that did what we wanted, we would create one.

Wood was used for making tools for many tasks. It could be sharpened and used for digging roots. Wooden spoons were used in our kitchens. A wooden knife was not good for cutting. We knew that we could make wood harder by heating it.

Bone, horn, and antlers were important because they were strong, and could shaped, hardened, carved, and polished. We used bone awls for sewing. Sheep horns made excellent spoons. Or bone could be shaped and sharpened for fish hooks, and so on.

Scrapers used in tanning hides were made from shin bones. The patterns for these have remained the same for many generations. Even today, it is a simple matter to shape a bone to scrape hides.

Teeth are strong with naturally sharp edges. We made knives of bones with teeth as the sharp edges.

Stone was heavy and could be pounded. Our people were skilled in chipping stones to create a sharp edge. Stones with sharp edges could be used on spears or arrows or as a scraping tool in tanning hides. Obsidian was used for making knives and for small arrowheads. Stone was used to make axes and adzes for cutting trees and working on wood.