Far flung field trip

The Girl's class is studying the Iroquois, and today they had a field trip to the Iroquois Museum, about an hour away from school. I got to go along too as a driver/chaperone.






The Museum building is reminiscent of a traditional longhouse and contains a great assortment of Native American artefacts and artworks. As part of our school trip we had two presentations from a history professor of Mohawk ancestory.

The native people's story is long and complex, especially following the Europeans' arrival on the scene, so that part of the presentation was hard to follow (though fascinating, and definitely something I plan to revisit). More accessible was the display of tools - "Not weapons" - spears, arrows etc which the professor had crafted himself using traditional skills and materials. The undoubted highlight of the trip was when, asked how far he could throw a spear, he led us all outside and showed us. Far! He used what he called a throw-stick, like a hooked extension of his arm, to propel the spear about a hundred feet further than anyone expected. 50,000 year-old technology, still highly effective.