Daily life for Plains People centred around food. Generally, men hunted for food and women prepared it. It was women who skinned and cut up animals like the buffalo, once they had been killed. It was difficult to preserve meat so some of the meat was cut into thin slices and hung over a tripod (like a tepee without the covering). It was then left in the sun to dry. Once dry, the meat could be stored for a long time.
Women also collected berries in summertime. As well as being a source of food some of these were also dried and used to make dyes, jewellery and medicines.
Drying buffalo meat on a tripod
Women had to bring their babies with them wherever they worked so they carried the babies on their backs in a moss bag. These were made from hide or cloth and filled with moss.
Sometimes the babies were carried on cradleboards, which could be propped against something while the mother worked.
