These Native American men are hunting, wearing deer hides as disguises. Native American societies in the southeastern United States region were matrilineal: kinship was traced through the mother's family. Therefore, as boys, these men would have been taught the rituals or skills they needed by their uncle--their mother's oldest brother--rather than by their father. Women had important roles in this society; it was they who were responsible for growing the crops, as well as for cooking the food. They also had religious responsibilities, closely connected with their food ways.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
