Cheers. Unfortunately, when I go to learn about a lot of topics, I find that no work has been done on them. The historians won't touch the precolonial period because there's basically no written sources, while the archaeologists just stick to pottery, arrowheads and post holes. Things they can prove like the movement of villages. If they want to be taken seriously as academics they need to stick to hard evidence, which doesn't really exist anymore. Speculation is often the best one can do, and that's not good enough for academia. So many fields are left barren. In short, I feel obligated to do this because if I don't, it's possible no one else will.
Yep. Experimental archeology has a definite place in understanding the past,- and this is a great example. The Guedalon castle project ones to mind as a good example...
i really enjoyed this video. your candor and plain talk about the inadequacies of your kit illustrate your honesty, commitment and intrepid nature. it is enlightening to see you 'make do' with what materials you had to hand. many would wait and wait until they had all the things just so (a proper reconstruction) before trying a gear test. i am a viking historical reenactor and have done winter camping and trekking with approximate reconstructions of historical clothing. i made a leather kaftan out of veg tanned goat skin. nothing like this exists in the historical record, but the wind stopping propensities of leather can not be beat-regardless of how many wool tunics you have on. the best part of your reconstruction clothing, for me, is, if we would meet marching through the forest in our 'historical' clothes we would've been dressed in a very similar fashion!!! well done Sir.
Yeah, I guess it does look like a kaftan. As to waiting, there’s no sense to it, I might never have the right materials. I only have access to a couple deerskins a year, and I don’t know how to tan furs. No time like the present.
@@MalcolmPL The complete book of tanning skins and furs by James Churchill is a really good book on tanning he also talks about how to use common items like bleach or even kitty litter to tan, its a resourceful book if you ever wish to learn :)
Loving your work. I'm 7 generations Canadian via Europe and a lover of history. Having spent some time in European medieval re-enacting I also love seeing people studying the other cultures from history. I find its important to think that the ancestors, of whatever culture, faced many of the same challenges though the technology is different. Seeing how they solved things is a great lesson giving perspective on things today. Well done.
My first exposure to you and this is quite impressive. Your narrative style is perfect. I don't want noise I want as much info as I can get. Period wear is starting to really interest me. Last summer I camped in a field of small trees and brush, tied some of the bushes into a wikiup shelter put my tarp over it and rode out one hell of a 2 day rain and thunder session. I was cold but dry and it was one of the best times I ever have had in the woods
My grandmother was full Iroquois and she woul wear calve high moccasins, leggings and a dress all from deer hide, an under shirt probably a women's tunic a rope belt gloves and hat made of deer, rabbit and minx for extra protection she had a small wrap made of rabbit and deer in winter. She was born on reservation land in Saranac, N..Y. and I do believe she had said our clan was Seneca. Your video was very interesting and not all clans dressed the same. There were different varieties through out the five nations. It really depended on were the clan were from meaning western plains of N.Y. or the Adirondack mountains of N.Y.
I have learned more about the Iroquois and other pre colonial tribes from your channel than any museum, book, or class. Thank you for all the hard work. I hope someday soon you get the recognition you deserve.
That is fantastic. Is it just me, or do we all have a bias towards the past where we assume they were all rock eating idiots ?? I love that fact that the more you study the past the more you realize 'we're not so different, them and us,' They hadn't figured out how to go to the moon but they knew how to keep warm.
i wear a kilt all year in Maine, the secret for warmth is the stockings , at knee height the kilt is quite warm with only a brief chill depending on the wind.
i like your calm and placid delivery...........and i adore history, if you are ever on the west coast and need some help in the field or a place to stay..................remember this
Also many native nations wore winter mocs. Made of hair-on hides resembling modern-day uggs to a certain point. Us Navajo say the best ones were made of buffalo skins. But we also made them from sheep pelts in the historic period. Hard sole and pucker toe mocs are purely for spring/summer and very light snow. Maybe your ancestors utilized moose or elk hides. I know the east had their own subspecies of elk back in the early days. Or maybe even deer hide with the hair left on and stuffed with grass. Like Otzi 🇮🇹
I live in upstate NY near the Onondaga Reservation. I've often thought about native people in our sometimes very severe winters. Recently I was at the James Fenimore Cooper museum in Cooperstown. In their permanent collection, they have a number of native American clothes. The craftsmanship is extraordinary.
I very much appreciate that you are doing experimental archaeology to try to recreate that of your people. I wish I could support you directly so you could afford appropriate materials for a new trial, so I will do what I can by liking and sharing your videos. Good luck, and hope you continue for years to come :)
Incredible video. I gotta point out though - that apart from walking 5km in the snow and wind - you're also composing, and setting up your camera/tripod for each shot and walking back towards it etc (assuming you're working on this entire shoot yourself). Great work, very insightful!
Dang, works pretty well and looks pretty rad while doing it. For what its worth, when I do my own historical sewing of 20th century fashion and I feel something should have existed, I just make it exist in my adaptations. Looking upon more outings in such clothing, I would say so long as you stay true to the methods of construction and general materials as you have been you should be able to create a hat with ear and neck coverings, and perhaps an analog to a scarf. These videos are fascinating and I admire your deep and thorough knowledge as well as your dedication and creativity in keeping important cultural hallmarks alive and well in the current day.
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot from it. One thing that I speculate is that people in those ancient days avoided walking around extremely windy days. Without the pressures of school or work, you could afford to wait it out :)
Deer hair is hollow. If you try bending a hair it usually breaks. It is my understanding that the Indians and pioneers used deer skin tanned with the hair on for winter clothing. It is supposed to be very warm. One pioneer account claimed that the Indians would wear warm clothing until they got near pioneers. Then cache the warm clothes so that it looked like they went out in winter in "light clothing".
Fascinating! I remember reading an account from a native american scout working with some american expeditionary force, i wish i remembered more than that lol. He said the white people "wore too many clothes and yet still shivered". Military uniforms at the time certainly had the philosophy of just adding layers of wool, fewer garments of better suited material could have saved lives.
I'm very excited for your videos. My daughter will be utilizing them for her autumn study for November. I appreciate your work. I'm also going to send a link for your channel to my sons. This video and some of your others remind me of the book The Brendan Voyage because of your application of historical knowledge to test things for yourself. Thanks so much
Nice experimental archeology project. Very interesting and revealing! I have spent a good amount of time out in the elements in winter, hiking, ski touring, climbing, etc, and I saw a lot of parallels between the equipment that was chosen for this vid and some modern paradigms- layering, for example, as opposed to lots of insulation, and how wind chill was considered- how a couple layers of windproof hide could potentially outperform wool is analogous to how a shell layer is better in windy/cold conditions than, say, a thick modern fleece... 'The more things change...', eh? Anyway, great vid. Cheers!
Also: This really made me think Re: rabbit skin/fur as insulation: one of the only pieces of clothing that I have personally used that would be available from this time period was a pair of rabbit skin socks/mittens, made by skinning a rabbit by basically turning the full skin inside out (there is a quick/easy/kinda brutal technique to pull off a full skin), with a few modifications, and they were exceptionally warm, and, (as far as I was told by their maker) far easier to produce than by sewing a bunch of smaller pieces together, or using scraps... After using them (only once, to be fair), just stuffing footwear with scraps of skin/fur doesn't really make sense, IMHO.
Layering really is key. I work outside in winter. It's great to be able to take off a layer when you get too warm because if you don't you'll get all sweaty, then the sweat gets cold, then you're stuck wearing too many layers because the sweat will make you cold if you take your outer layer off. Ushankas are great. Hats with ear flaps that can be tied under the chin or above the head depending on the weather seem to be fairly common for cultures in eastern Europe and western Asia. I've never heard of any First Nations having them, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought of it.
One of the things I like about this coat is that because there is no lining, you can just open it up and flap to dissipate all the built up heat, without the bother of having to take it off and carry it. As to ushanka, There's an Ojibwe hat of similar design in the ROM.
@@MalcolmPL Very nice. Looks almost exactly like an ushanka except the flaps are shorter and I've never seen an ushanka with fur on the outside. Similar solutions to similar problems, I guess.
Very nice Work, even with this wind we can hear and understand your Dulcet Voiceover. Really good production values, research and editing. Any multimedia presentation series sees adjustments, your work is very organized, Logical and Consistent. New Sub Thumbs Up!
Explorers from the warm country of France would have been huddled around their fires when the locals were out and about with the real cold weather gear.
We wear almost exclusively natural fibres and traditional knitted, handmade clothes in a medium maritime climate (southern NZ) probably equivalent to the PNW in the US, and I find layering and shoulder coverage essential in winter, especially in rain. You can get really wet on a windy walk and still be comfortable if there are knitted or felted layers over the top third of your body. The difference without them is amazingly uncomfortable. Also, you don't know how much heat is lost through your head until you shave it lol! Good hats in winter are non negotiable. Personally I find large shawls/cloaks indispensable and I see why so many cultures are all about them. I seriously doubt northern US tribes would eschew them even if they aren't really depicted. A lot of artists who couldn't figure out the exact nature of an unfamiliar garment from impersonal observation just left them out of their depictions, I've noticed, or drew them as a more familiar item, so no one should take the older drawings literally.
Really enjoy all you do extremely educational, I like wise do living history interpretations & You live and learn by doing. Bravo,Bravo to you. Fantastic!
Neck, sides of head and upper tights are areas of main blood vessels near skin. Blood transfers bodyheat. If you are active and want to cool your body down its good that those areas are not covered. It helps to cool you down. But if you a just standing still it is a major drawback and will result in overall body hypotermia. There must been some kind of coverages for those areas in olden days.
That's the Inuit way of doing things. That's how you deal with minus 50. The southern great lakes region doesn't generally get cold enough to warrant two layers of fur.
As a indigenous person myself, not to the Americas, I've always wondered how the leather fairs in regards to moisture and traction on ice, and snow. Did they insulate their moccasins with grass, or fur? Did they water proof their footwear in anyway? Here in Norway, the indigenous Sami population, distant related to all indigenous people in the Americas, wear the skins with the fur side inwards to keep warm as well as insulate their own style moccasins with grass.
I live in Northern Japan Hokkaido where we have the Ainu. I went to an Ainu museum and one of the things that stood out was 'salmon skin shoes'. Sounds crazy! right ? Imagine hot sweaty feet encased in salmon skin shoes for a few days. BUT they worked great (apparently) dry, warm, wicked moisture away from you.
There are first nations tribes in Alaska (sorry I don't know which specific ones) that also make salmon skin shoes. Interesting to see how different cultures come up with the same solutions - necessity really is the mother of invention!
@@hopeofdawn I am enormously interested in the similarities between cultures pre-intercommunication. Which is to say, before European / Asian / African and Western cultures met and exchanged ideas.
I enjoyed your video. I have made my own experimental historical clothing for many years. Since you are doing this completely documentable, I don’t know if these 2 small observations will be of use, but here they are: Inside my Buffalo hat I have ear flaps of bark tanned deerskin. They are not lined, but have kept my ears warm. The coldest night was -14f My mocs are brain tanned moose. I also have brain tanned deerskin that I smear tallow on the outside in wet or snowy weather. I have decided that I like my feet cold and wet. Lol
Thanks, I think it’s the wind chill that really gets the ears, I’m not surprised that a piece of leather does well. I’m making a beaver hat with ear flaps, to heck with documentability.
@@MalcolmPL my ear flaps tie under the chin to keep them tight. I once had a spider crawl into my ear while I was sleeping. Not a fun night. So I use the ear flaps often when sleeping in the woods. Hot summer weather, small squares of cloth stuffed in the ears can discourage insects, but don’t affect hearing much
Excellent video. I am surprised that the gap above the leggings was not more of a problem. From illustrations that I have seen, the mantle seems to have been ubiquitous; I know it was used by the plains tribes and was part of the "long hunt" coats used by the settlers and trappers. I have always wondered if the mantle could have doubled as a hood in really bad weather.
I understand some of the first colonizers copied much of the First Nations' dress style so I wonder if hoods may well have been used as well as fur-lined hats.
Hi, Im from Québec. Ive been practicing survival skills for a while with almost the same set up of clothing. I did recently 3 days in the wild at -38 celcius. I have alot to share with you if you want. I think champlain was right about the fur robe...
I’m not knocking the idea of a fur robe, that would be really great. I’m knocking the idea of nothing besides that. What did you do overnight in your three days?
Cool stuff Malcolm! (pun intended). I'm shivering just watching, lol. Do you know anything about accounts that some native peoples supposedly covered their bodies in animal grease to provide insulation? Do you think it would be effective at all?
I don't know anything about that. I had a commenter saying it works, but I'm skeptical. I would have thought that grease would conduct better than air, but what do I know. I'm probably just conflating it with other liquids.
@@Menzobarrenza The problem is rendered grease is NOT similar to fat cells in any way. Your body stores fat globules inside of cells. Or inside of animal cells. Those cells have a way of insulating your body. However when those gat cells are rendered they break down and you basically just have a flatty grease left. Great for cooking but it won't keep you warm is lathered on your skin. In fact if it did stay warm, it would melt and drip off of you lol. I'm sure the grease was rubbed on skin as an insect repellent and those two stories just got confused. They worked long and hard on their clothing for a reason. :)
I think that the idea of walking around half dressed is that one might A) not bother getting all dressed up for a short trip away from the warm, or B) have removed layers to better do something.
I think it’s was just people moving from longhouse to longhouse and the early writers misinterpreted. And yeah I can see that, if I’m only going to be out for a minute, I don’t even bother with shoes.
I would love to get the chance to work with sealskin! Ive Worked with most common large mammals but I have never gotten to work sealskin I think that would be amazing and where on Earth do you live if all you have access to is sealskin LOL a love to have access to that
also did you have to walk, to set up the camera and then walk back to reposition it? haha, so you're journey was twice longer for walking back and forth. Love the endeavor.
@@MalcolmPL were arrowheads not stone as well for the most part? -atleast until europe arrived when this armour was used. the reason should be something to do with its actual use in raiding parties and war. large rock tips are heavy and a the large staff is unweildy and conspicous when traveling through dense terrain? taking a spear down to the river or to hunt is ussually a shorter trip
War arrows had antler tips. It’s also a different situation, imagine you are fencing with a stone spear, the point being presented is an easy target the opponent to snipe. For it to be viable you would need to fight without the weapons contacting.
@@MalcolmPL still disagree, though cool about the antler tips for war. Reason for that is you can fire harden a spear tip until it's essentially carbon tipped. and you can create those at the place of battle (or a little before) opposed to carrying them if you desired a spear for combat. you don't actually need a spear tip at all to fight, it doesnt add the same benefit for flight that a weighted tip does. and sidenote: if they did have tips they could make them from bone or antler as well and have the same fragility as their other weapons. But all that being said im pretty sure the real reason that Native americans didn't utilize the spear all that much in warfare is that the spear truly 'took off' as more than just a hunting tool in a professionally organized military (phalanx etc) where the reality of being at arms legnth becomes an issue to long term survival. u do see somewhat more organized lance use with the native americans who secured horses post europeans(but again they likely would have had access to metal tips as well) also do you have a source saying they didn't use spears in warfare? this stuff is interesting and would apprecaite being able to check it out :)
I find this very interesting. I wonder if they didn’t rub some type of lard or oil on themselves also. I go pretty sparse in the winter, wearing shorts for example. I always coat legs with petro jelly and other oils
@@MalcolmPL Interesting. Edward Curtis describes fat (seal or whale lard I believe) as an insulative layer among one of the NWC tribes (Nootka if memory serves). I've wondered, if petroleum jelly would work, too. Good to know.
You walked a long way from the camera at the end. Did you go back for it right away, or another day? The idea of you walking back for the camera strikes me kinda funny, in contrast to the tone of the video. Of course, it's just one of those quirks of documenting oneself with a camera.
You can find pictures in the online archives of certain museums, such as those below. ROM and NMAI. I have no idea where you might find more information. collections.rom.on.ca/objects/217009/hare-skin-sock?ctx=fc4ff7a3-4325-4211-ab00-2debef4c82ba&idx=16 americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_147518?destination=edan_searchtab%3Fpage%3D1%26edan_q%3Dsock
Thank you, any information may help. When l tried to google, l didn't find anything useful (and l don't know foreign country museum collection websites. l have a possibility to gain hare/rabbit skins from nearby farm, and perhaps some day l try to make a pair of socks and primitive blanket out of them. Of course they (socks) are simply enough to make with basic leatherwork knowledge, but l want to know if there is some special technics used while making them.
How well did the rabbit fur stuffing work ? I assume quite well or you would have made issue, possibly I missed a comment on it I will rewatch it was good.
It isn't the Nunavut tundra, this place is all farmland, walk far enough in any direction and you hit a fence, or a hedgerow, or windbreak or a ditch or a woodlot, or the road.
@@MalcolmPL The video gave an impression of an endless, trackless waste, but in reflection it did occur to me that in the videos in which you're doing a piece to camera in woodland, traffic noise is audible in the background.
@@Del350K4 South Ontario is very densely populated, it's got almost half of canada's total. Even in the most isolated corners there is never more than 10k from a road.
@@MalcolmPL Your work is all the more important, then, in a way - the anthropological remnants must be in constant danger of vanishing beneath the rising tide of modern influences.
Perhaps they were simply smart enough to avoid going outside if the weather was bad? What would even be out there in that white hell? Your attire reminds me of the southern european combo of hat/chaperon, long tunic, braies, stockings/chausses, & foot leathers. If work was expected in extreme weather they'd have used clothing like the parka of their northern neighbors, which would be difficult to keep safe all year, no?
Winter is the best time for hunting. Tracking and spotting are easy and the deer have very thick coats. Now on a bad day like this they would be hunkered down in the dense conifers and hard to find, so there wouldn’t be much point on a day like that, but as I said, you can’t always tell what the weather is going to do. You might set out on a bright sunny day, then get caught in an afternoon wind storm. It can go from nice to harsh in the space of a few minutes, and you need to be prepared for the harsh if it comes.
haha---yeah... I had -18 here in New Hampshire the other day, went hiking, made a fire and boiled some coffee...leather by itself is no good except keeping the wind off, needs lining - with only leather you need to keep moving or it gets ugly...I don't think people in snow climates, like my germanic ancestors, have tooled around much in the snow - they needed to conserve calories at all times, food was scarce...moss is an insulator, so is the fur of your dog when you brush it...rabbit skins are weak, if you make socks out of them they won't last long - squirrel is tougher. If you study circumpolar tribal people, including northern European peoples including the Saami, you will find much likeness to dress and insulation materials, since plants and animals species are almost the same
I like my moose coat over a good wool sweater. Best of both worlds. As to rabbit, the ones in the picture look to be made from rawhide. Much tougher than leather.
I'd wonder if the anecdotes of Iroquois going around in just a fur coat with no mittens or anything is just a racial narrative to make Natives appear to be less civilized. Certainly the appearance of Iroquois cold weather wear cuts a _vastly_ different image compared to the indian stereotypes of anecdotes or post colonial media.
Certainly, I also think that the early writers exaggerate and embellish to make their adventures seem more strange and exciting. All the better to sell memoirs.
@@MalcolmPL Yeah if you come back to England or Holland saying 'we met some new people and they all dress just like us but with shorter hosen and made out of leather and hide instead of wool and linen" and you're probably not going to be selling much papers. The thing that immediately jumped out to me with the deer/moose hose is that the pattern has stark similarity to European/Inner Asian hose. Granted so does the entire kit. I guess there's only so many ways to not get frostbitten.
Your dedication to historical investigation never ceases to impress me!
Cheers. Unfortunately, when I go to learn about a lot of topics, I find that no work has been done on them.
The historians won't touch the precolonial period because there's basically no written sources, while the archaeologists just stick to pottery, arrowheads and post holes. Things they can prove like the movement of villages.
If they want to be taken seriously as academics they need to stick to hard evidence, which doesn't really exist anymore. Speculation is often the best one can do, and that's not good enough for academia. So many fields are left barren.
In short, I feel obligated to do this because if I don't, it's possible no one else will.
@@MalcolmPL 100% agree! The historical and archaeological record can never tell us everything.
Yep. Experimental archeology has a definite place in understanding the past,- and this is a great example.
The Guedalon castle project ones to mind as a good example...
Dang, those wide shots, you sure aren't faking it. That's a thorough winter test!
Easier with wides, don’t have to reposition the camera as much.
i really enjoyed this video. your candor and plain talk about the inadequacies of your kit illustrate your honesty, commitment and intrepid nature. it is enlightening to see you 'make do' with what materials you had to hand. many would wait and wait until they had all the things just so (a proper reconstruction) before trying a gear test. i am a viking historical reenactor and have done winter camping and trekking with approximate reconstructions of historical clothing. i made a leather kaftan out of veg tanned goat skin. nothing like this exists in the historical record, but the wind stopping propensities of leather can not be beat-regardless of how many wool tunics you have on. the best part of your reconstruction clothing, for me, is, if we would meet marching through the forest in our 'historical' clothes we would've been dressed in a very similar fashion!!! well done Sir.
Yeah, I guess it does look like a kaftan.
As to waiting, there’s no sense to it, I might never have the right materials. I only have access to a couple deerskins a year, and I don’t know how to tan furs. No time like the present.
@@MalcolmPL The complete book of tanning skins and furs
by James Churchill is a really good book on tanning he also talks about how to use common items like bleach or even kitty litter to tan, its a resourceful book if you ever wish to learn :)
I know how to tan, I’m just not good enough to do fur on. It requires speed and delicacy that I don’t have.
Loving your work. I'm 7 generations Canadian via Europe and a lover of history. Having spent some time in European medieval re-enacting I also love seeing people studying the other cultures from history. I find its important to think that the ancestors, of whatever culture, faced many of the same challenges though the technology is different. Seeing how they solved things is a great lesson giving perspective on things today. Well done.
Other folks have said it, but I'll say it again: This is amazing. Your commitment to the pursuit of real experience is fabulous. Never quit.
Cheers.
My first exposure to you and this is quite impressive. Your narrative style is perfect. I don't want noise I want as much info as I can get. Period wear is starting to really interest me. Last summer I camped in a field of small trees and brush, tied some of the bushes into a wikiup shelter put my tarp over it and rode out one hell of a 2 day rain and thunder session. I was cold but dry and it was one of the best times I ever have had in the woods
My grandmother was full Iroquois and she woul wear calve high moccasins, leggings and a dress all from deer hide, an under shirt probably a women's tunic a rope belt gloves and hat made of deer, rabbit and minx for extra protection she had a small wrap made of rabbit and deer in winter. She was born on reservation land in Saranac, N..Y. and I do believe she had said our clan was Seneca. Your video was very interesting and not all clans dressed the same. There were different varieties through out the five nations. It really depended on were the clan were from meaning western plains of N.Y. or the Adirondack mountains of N.Y.
I have learned more about the Iroquois and other pre colonial tribes from your channel than any museum, book, or class. Thank you for all the hard work. I hope someday soon you get the recognition you deserve.
Your experimental archaeology is wonderful, very informative, and thought-provoking. Thanks.
Great stuff as always! I love going out in the snow and elements but this was a step beyond with the handmade speculative traditional clothing.
Cheers, I love going out and knowing it’s the skill in my hands that keeps me warm.
That is fantastic. Is it just me, or do we all have a bias towards the past where we assume they were all rock eating idiots ?? I love that fact that the more you study the past the more you realize 'we're not so different, them and us,' They hadn't figured out how to go to the moon but they knew how to keep warm.
i wear a kilt all year in Maine, the secret for warmth is the stockings , at knee height the kilt is quite warm with only a brief chill depending on the wind.
i like your calm and placid delivery...........and i adore history, if you are ever on the west coast and need some help in the field or a place to stay..................remember this
Also many native nations wore winter mocs. Made of hair-on hides resembling modern-day uggs to a certain point. Us Navajo say the best ones were made of buffalo skins. But we also made them from sheep pelts in the historic period. Hard sole and pucker toe mocs are purely for spring/summer and very light snow. Maybe your ancestors utilized moose or elk hides. I know the east had their own subspecies of elk back in the early days. Or maybe even deer hide with the hair left on and stuffed with grass. Like Otzi 🇮🇹
I live in upstate NY near the Onondaga Reservation. I've often thought about native people in our sometimes very severe winters. Recently I was at the James Fenimore Cooper museum in Cooperstown. In their permanent collection, they have a number of native American clothes. The craftsmanship is extraordinary.
I very much appreciate that you are doing experimental archaeology to try to recreate that of your people.
I wish I could support you directly so you could afford appropriate materials for a new trial, so I will do what I can by liking and sharing your videos.
Good luck, and hope you continue for years to come :)
You don't ever have to feel guilty about things like that. You need your money more than I do.
A worthy addition to our knowledge of the past.
Incredible video. I gotta point out though - that apart from walking 5km in the snow and wind - you're also composing, and setting up your camera/tripod for each shot and walking back towards it etc (assuming you're working on this entire shoot yourself). Great work, very insightful!
I took that into account. Without the bloody camera it would only have been three.
Dang, works pretty well and looks pretty rad while doing it.
For what its worth, when I do my own historical sewing of 20th century fashion and I feel something should have existed, I just make it exist in my adaptations.
Looking upon more outings in such clothing, I would say so long as you stay true to the methods of construction and general materials as you have been you should be able to create a hat with ear and neck coverings, and perhaps an analog to a scarf.
These videos are fascinating and I admire your deep and thorough knowledge as well as your dedication and creativity in keeping important cultural hallmarks alive and well in the current day.
Excellent video one of the newest content creators I have subscribed to!
Great observations and good advice for winter safety.
If there's one thing I know it's winter.
I love your inquiry type approach to history. I make quite a bit of medieval European clothing, and now I want to make some Iroquois garb
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot from it.
One thing that I speculate is that people in those ancient days avoided walking around extremely windy days. Without the pressures of school or work, you could afford to wait it out :)
Deer hair is hollow. If you try bending a hair it usually breaks. It is my understanding that the Indians and pioneers used deer skin tanned with the hair on for winter clothing. It is supposed to be very warm. One pioneer account claimed that the Indians would wear warm clothing until they got near pioneers. Then cache the warm clothes so that it looked like they went out in winter in "light clothing".
Oh interesting. Remember which account that was?
Fascinating! I remember reading an account from a native american scout working with some american expeditionary force, i wish i remembered more than that lol. He said the white people "wore too many clothes and yet still shivered". Military uniforms at the time certainly had the philosophy of just adding layers of wool, fewer garments of better suited material could have saved lives.
I'm very excited for your videos. My daughter will be utilizing them for her autumn study for November. I appreciate your work. I'm also going to send a link for your channel to my sons. This video and some of your others remind me of the book The Brendan Voyage because of your application of historical knowledge to test things for yourself. Thanks so much
Nice experimental archeology project. Very interesting and revealing!
I have spent a good amount of time out in the elements in winter, hiking, ski touring, climbing, etc, and I saw a lot of parallels between the equipment that was chosen for this vid and some modern paradigms- layering, for example, as opposed to lots of insulation, and how wind chill was considered- how a couple layers of windproof hide could potentially outperform wool is analogous to how a shell layer is better in windy/cold conditions than, say, a thick modern fleece... 'The more things change...', eh?
Anyway, great vid. Cheers!
Also:
This really made me think Re: rabbit skin/fur as insulation: one of the only pieces of clothing that I have personally used that would be available from this time period was a pair of rabbit skin socks/mittens, made by skinning a rabbit by basically turning the full skin inside out (there is a quick/easy/kinda brutal technique to pull off a full skin), with a few modifications, and they were exceptionally warm, and, (as far as I was told by their maker) far easier to produce than by sewing a bunch of smaller pieces together, or using scraps... After using them (only once, to be fair), just stuffing footwear with scraps of skin/fur doesn't really make sense, IMHO.
Layering really is key. I work outside in winter. It's great to be able to take off a layer when you get too warm because if you don't you'll get all sweaty, then the sweat gets cold, then you're stuck wearing too many layers because the sweat will make you cold if you take your outer layer off.
Ushankas are great. Hats with ear flaps that can be tied under the chin or above the head depending on the weather seem to be fairly common for cultures in eastern Europe and western Asia. I've never heard of any First Nations having them, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought of it.
One of the things I like about this coat is that because there is no lining, you can just open it up and flap to dissipate all the built up heat, without the bother of having to take it off and carry it.
As to ushanka, There's an Ojibwe hat of similar design in the ROM.
@@MalcolmPL
Nice. Have a link to a picture of that hat?
@@5h0rgunn45 Try this.
collections.rom.on.ca/objects/220539/cap?ctx=75663999-51fd-4fc3-bbbc-0842838cb2ec&idx=14
@@MalcolmPL
Very nice. Looks almost exactly like an ushanka except the flaps are shorter and I've never seen an ushanka with fur on the outside. Similar solutions to similar problems, I guess.
@@5h0rgunn45 I guess.
I like the end...the sound of the weather and then fade to snow....:) Good video!
Thank you very much!
Very nice Work, even with this wind we can hear and understand your Dulcet Voiceover. Really good production values, research and editing. Any multimedia presentation series sees adjustments, your work is very organized, Logical and Consistent.
New Sub
Thumbs Up!
Thank you kindly.
Explorers from the warm country of France would have been huddled around their fires when the locals were out and about with the real cold weather gear.
Your journey is absolutely intreguing! Thanks for sharing, brother!
You're welcome.
Good job on this video and also the long house one. I've learned a lot. Thank you. I'll have to watch your other videos.
They're not as good.
We wear almost exclusively natural fibres and traditional knitted, handmade clothes in a medium maritime climate (southern NZ) probably equivalent to the PNW in the US, and I find layering and shoulder coverage essential in winter, especially in rain. You can get really wet on a windy walk and still be comfortable if there are knitted or felted layers over the top third of your body. The difference without them is amazingly uncomfortable. Also, you don't know how much heat is lost through your head until you shave it lol! Good hats in winter are non negotiable. Personally I find large shawls/cloaks indispensable and I see why so many cultures are all about them. I seriously doubt northern US tribes would eschew them even if they aren't really depicted. A lot of artists who couldn't figure out the exact nature of an unfamiliar garment from impersonal observation just left them out of their depictions, I've noticed, or drew them as a more familiar item, so no one should take the older drawings literally.
Really enjoy all you do extremely educational, I like wise do living history interpretations & You live and learn by doing. Bravo,Bravo to you. Fantastic!
Neck, sides of head and upper tights are areas of main blood vessels near skin. Blood transfers bodyheat. If you are active and want to cool your body down its good that those areas are not covered. It helps to cool you down. But if you a just standing still it is a major drawback and will result in overall body hypotermia. There must been some kind of coverages for those areas in olden days.
One benefit I didn’t mention of the unlined coat is that it’s easy to regulate heat, you just open it up and flap and you’re cool again.
traditionaly in the area where i live they used to put hay in the leather shoes as insulation
I have read that the inner layer garment would have the fur layer against the skin and the outer layer was worn fur side out. Great video!!!!
That's the Inuit way of doing things. That's how you deal with minus 50.
The southern great lakes region doesn't generally get cold enough to warrant two layers of fur.
@@MalcolmPL Thank you!
As a indigenous person myself, not to the Americas, I've always wondered how the leather fairs in regards to moisture and traction on ice, and snow. Did they insulate their moccasins with grass, or fur? Did they water proof their footwear in anyway? Here in Norway, the indigenous Sami population, distant related to all indigenous people in the Americas, wear the skins with the fur side inwards to keep warm as well as insulate their own style moccasins with grass.
I live in Northern Japan Hokkaido where we have the Ainu. I went to an Ainu museum and one of the things that stood out was 'salmon skin shoes'. Sounds crazy! right ? Imagine hot sweaty feet encased in salmon skin shoes for a few days. BUT they worked great (apparently) dry, warm, wicked moisture away from you.
There are first nations tribes in Alaska (sorry I don't know which specific ones) that also make salmon skin shoes. Interesting to see how different cultures come up with the same solutions - necessity really is the mother of invention!
@@hopeofdawn I am enormously interested in the similarities between cultures pre-intercommunication. Which is to say, before European / Asian / African and Western cultures met and exchanged ideas.
They had fur blankets which they probably also used like a poncho.
Your channel having low views is criminal, so I shared with some diy buddies of mine. Cheers
My videos are very dry and information focused, I make no effort to be fun or engaging or stylish. I’m honestly surprised I get as many views as I do.
my man those fringes look cool , the indian throuses are like my favourite thing from wild west
Cool, comfy, hard wearing. Triple threat.
You sir, are an inspiration!
Cheers.
I enjoy your videos. We get an insight into how Native Americans lived.
I enjoyed your video. I have made my own experimental historical clothing for many years. Since you are doing this completely documentable, I don’t know if these 2 small observations will be of use, but here they are:
Inside my Buffalo hat I have ear flaps of bark tanned deerskin. They are not lined, but have kept my ears warm. The coldest night was -14f
My mocs are brain tanned moose.
I also have brain tanned deerskin that I smear tallow on the outside in wet or snowy weather. I have decided that I like my feet cold and wet. Lol
Thanks, I think it’s the wind chill that really gets the ears, I’m not surprised that a piece of leather does well. I’m making a beaver hat with ear flaps, to heck with documentability.
@@MalcolmPL my ear flaps tie under the chin to keep them tight. I once had a spider crawl into my ear while I was sleeping. Not a fun night. So I use the ear flaps often when sleeping in the woods. Hot summer weather, small squares of cloth stuffed in the ears can discourage insects, but don’t affect hearing much
Oh, that’s an unpleasant thought. Brown recluse and a necrotic eardrum. Yuck.
@@MalcolmPL all spiders are venomous to an extent. A bite in the ear can cause severe problems.
Excellent video. I am surprised that the gap above the leggings was not more of a problem. From illustrations that I have seen, the mantle seems to have been ubiquitous; I know it was used by the plains tribes and was part of the "long hunt" coats used by the settlers and trappers. I have always wondered if the mantle could have doubled as a hood in really bad weather.
No doubt some of them could, but I haven't seen any that fit the bill.
@@MalcolmPL Yep. I appreciate your adherents to detail and historical evidence, thanks.
Rabbit wool is 4 times warmer than wool. So if you had rabbit fur...yes that would keep you warmer
I understand some of the first colonizers copied much of the First Nations' dress style so I wonder if hoods may well have been used as well as fur-lined hats.
Hi, Im from Québec. Ive been practicing survival skills for a while with almost the same set up of clothing. I did recently 3 days in the wild at -38 celcius. I have alot to share with you if you want. I think champlain was right about the fur robe...
I’m not knocking the idea of a fur robe, that would be really great. I’m knocking the idea of nothing besides that.
What did you do overnight in your three days?
Looks awesome
Cheers.
Cool stuff Malcolm! (pun intended). I'm shivering just watching, lol. Do you know anything about accounts that some native peoples supposedly covered their bodies in animal grease to provide insulation? Do you think it would be effective at all?
I don't know anything about that. I had a commenter saying it works, but I'm skeptical. I would have thought that grease would conduct better than air, but what do I know. I'm probably just conflating it with other liquids.
@@MalcolmPL Well, there's probably a good reason we mammals tend to have it under our skin, so I'd assume it at least helps a little.
@@Menzobarrenza The problem is rendered grease is NOT similar to fat cells in any way. Your body stores fat globules inside of cells. Or inside of animal cells. Those cells have a way of insulating your body. However when those gat cells are rendered they break down and you basically just have a flatty grease left. Great for cooking but it won't keep you warm is lathered on your skin. In fact if it did stay warm, it would melt and drip off of you lol. I'm sure the grease was rubbed on skin as an insect repellent and those two stories just got confused. They worked long and hard on their clothing for a reason. :)
@@MrBottlecapBill Super great explanation. Thanks!
Haha. I saw 5K and I was like "5000 miles?!!"
Then I remembered I'm Californian.
Thank you; I learned a lot
You’re welcome.
I think that the idea of walking around half dressed is that one might A) not bother getting all dressed up for a short trip away from the warm, or B) have removed layers to better do something.
I think it’s was just people moving from longhouse to longhouse and the early writers misinterpreted.
And yeah I can see that, if I’m only going to be out for a minute, I don’t even bother with shoes.
I would love to get the chance to work with sealskin! Ive Worked with most common large mammals but I have never gotten to work sealskin I think that would be amazing and where on Earth do you live if all you have access to is sealskin LOL a love to have access to that
Canada, a friend with northern connections brought it as a present, otherwise I could never have afforded it. Furs are stupid expensive.
also did you have to walk, to set up the camera and then walk back to reposition it? haha, so you're journey was twice longer for walking back and forth.
Love the endeavor.
Yep.
I think spears are more common where there isn't so much dense brush? not as easy to move through bush with a 8 foot spear
Spears were used for hunting. They were not used for war, I speculate that stone points are too fragile for combat.
@@MalcolmPL were arrowheads not stone as well for the most part? -atleast until europe arrived when this armour was used.
the reason should be something to do with its actual use in raiding parties and war. large rock tips are heavy and
a the large staff is unweildy and conspicous when traveling through dense terrain?
taking a spear down to the river or to hunt is ussually a shorter trip
War arrows had antler tips. It’s also a different situation, imagine you are fencing with a stone spear, the point being presented is an easy target the opponent to snipe. For it to be viable you would need to fight without the weapons contacting.
@@MalcolmPL still disagree, though cool about the antler tips for war. Reason for that is you can fire harden a spear tip until it's essentially carbon tipped. and you can create those at the place of battle (or a little before) opposed to carrying them if you desired a spear for combat. you don't actually need a spear tip at all to fight, it doesnt add the same benefit for flight that a weighted tip does. and sidenote: if they did have tips they could make them from bone or antler as well and have the same fragility as their other weapons.
But all that being said im pretty sure the real reason that Native americans didn't utilize the spear all that much in warfare is that the spear truly 'took off' as more than just a hunting tool in a professionally organized military (phalanx etc) where the reality of being at arms legnth becomes an issue to long term survival. u do see somewhat more organized lance use with the native americans who secured horses post europeans(but again they likely would have had access to metal tips as well)
also do you have a source saying they didn't use spears in warfare? this stuff is interesting and would apprecaite being able to check it out :)
Champlain, “their weapons of war are the bow and the club.”
This is why there is no bigfoot. No shoes = no toes, very quickly.
I find this very interesting. I wonder if they didn’t rub some type of lard or oil on themselves also. I go pretty sparse in the winter, wearing shorts for example. I always coat legs with petro jelly and other oils
What the heck?
@@MalcolmPL Interesting. Edward Curtis describes fat (seal or whale lard I believe) as an insulative layer among one of the NWC tribes (Nootka if memory serves). I've wondered, if petroleum jelly would work, too. Good to know.
I love this
Cheers.
You walked a long way from the camera at the end. Did you go back for it right away, or another day?
The idea of you walking back for the camera strikes me kinda funny, in contrast to the tone of the video. Of course, it's just one of those quirks of documenting oneself with a camera.
Yep. There and back again, there and back again. It's why the weather seems to change from shot to shot.
awesome.
Cheers.
Where l can find more information and pictures about rabbit fur socks?
You can find pictures in the online archives of certain museums, such as those below. ROM and NMAI. I have no idea where you might find more information.
collections.rom.on.ca/objects/217009/hare-skin-sock?ctx=fc4ff7a3-4325-4211-ab00-2debef4c82ba&idx=16
americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/objects/NMAI_147518?destination=edan_searchtab%3Fpage%3D1%26edan_q%3Dsock
Thank you, any information may help. When l tried to google, l didn't find anything useful (and l don't know foreign country museum collection websites. l have a possibility to gain hare/rabbit skins from nearby farm, and perhaps some day l try to make a pair of socks and primitive blanket out of them. Of course they (socks) are simply enough to make with basic leatherwork knowledge, but l want to know if there is some special technics used while making them.
Wow. Talk about dedication to the channel. I really took interest in your test. The results are very interesting. Thank you.
How well did the rabbit fur stuffing work ? I assume quite well or you would have made issue, possibly I missed a comment on it I will rewatch it was good.
It works well but you have to wrap it around your foot right or it will slip as you walk.
maybe for the neck and face, maybe they wore a scarf or something?
A stole or something like that would make sense.
What an interesting experiment this was. How on earth were you navigating in what appeared to be such a featureless wilderness?
It isn't the Nunavut tundra, this place is all farmland, walk far enough in any direction and you hit a fence, or a hedgerow, or windbreak or a ditch or a woodlot, or the road.
@@MalcolmPL The video gave an impression of an endless, trackless waste, but in reflection it did occur to me that in the videos in which you're doing a piece to camera in woodland, traffic noise is audible in the background.
@@Del350K4 South Ontario is very densely populated, it's got almost half of canada's total. Even in the most isolated corners there is never more than 10k from a road.
@@MalcolmPL Your work is all the more important, then, in a way - the anthropological remnants must be in constant danger of vanishing beneath the rising tide of modern influences.
@@Del350K4 Absolutely.
Perhaps they were simply smart enough to avoid going outside if the weather was bad? What would even be out there in that white hell?
Your attire reminds me of the southern european combo of hat/chaperon, long tunic, braies, stockings/chausses, & foot leathers. If work was expected in extreme weather they'd have used clothing like the parka of their northern neighbors, which would be difficult to keep safe all year, no?
Winter is the best time for hunting. Tracking and spotting are easy and the deer have very thick coats. Now on a bad day like this they would be hunkered down in the dense conifers and hard to find, so there wouldn’t be much point on a day like that, but as I said, you can’t always tell what the weather is going to do. You might set out on a bright sunny day, then get caught in an afternoon wind storm.
It can go from nice to harsh in the space of a few minutes, and you need to be prepared for the harsh if it comes.
@@MalcolmPL
You're right; I'm being foolish.
by kilt do you mean like an apron?
No, I mean a skirt but masculine.
haha---yeah... I had -18 here in New Hampshire the other day, went hiking, made a fire and boiled some coffee...leather by itself is no good except keeping the wind off, needs lining - with only leather you need to keep moving or it gets ugly...I don't think people in snow climates, like my germanic ancestors, have tooled around much in the snow - they needed to conserve calories at all times, food was scarce...moss is an insulator, so is the fur of your dog when you brush it...rabbit skins are weak, if you make socks out of them they won't last long - squirrel is tougher. If you study circumpolar tribal people, including northern European peoples including the Saami, you will find much likeness to dress and insulation materials, since plants and animals species are almost the same
I like my moose coat over a good wool sweater. Best of both worlds.
As to rabbit, the ones in the picture look to be made from rawhide. Much tougher than leather.
I'd wonder if the anecdotes of Iroquois going around in just a fur coat with no mittens or anything is just a racial narrative to make Natives appear to be less civilized. Certainly the appearance of Iroquois cold weather wear cuts a _vastly_ different image compared to the indian stereotypes of anecdotes or post colonial media.
Certainly, I also think that the early writers exaggerate and embellish to make their adventures seem more strange and exciting. All the better to sell memoirs.
@@MalcolmPL Yeah if you come back to England or Holland saying 'we met some new people and they all dress just like us but with shorter hosen and made out of leather and hide instead of wool and linen" and you're probably not going to be selling much papers. The thing that immediately jumped out to me with the deer/moose hose is that the pattern has stark similarity to European/Inner Asian hose. Granted so does the entire kit. I guess there's only so many ways to not get frostbitten.
Only so many ways to cover a body.
forst
Uh-oh. Look out. This channel is distinctly & adamantly non forst-friendly.
Nick is right, don’t do that please. This is not a first positive channel.