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What Types of Animal Skins Are Teepees Made Out Of?

Teepees, or tipis, are the quintessential housing unit of the Native American plains nomads. Utilized by numerous tribes, particularly the nomadic plains peoples and buffalo hunting tribes, these conical structures provided shelter to Native Americans for generations. Tipis are made by stretching tanned animal hides around a bundle of sturdy logs that, when erected, form a tall cone. Several different types of skins are suitable for use in tipis. (See Reference 1)

Buffalo
- According to Reginald Laubin, author of "The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction and Use," buffalo skins were probably the primary type of hide used by Native American plains peoples for making tipis. Laubin writes that a typical tipi for a family might require between 18 and 24 buffalo hides -- all of which had to be scraped, stretched, tanned and worked by hand.
Cow Skins
- The Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma used buffalo hides to make tipis, the Omaha Public Library reports, but switched to cattle hides in more recent times. Buffalo once roamed great swaths of the American central plains providing sustenance to Native Americans, but as they were hunted into near-extinction Native American tribes had to find new raw materials to fuel their lives. Cattle offered a solution to the problem of hides for tipis because, like buffalo, they are quite large.
Elk and Deer
- Laubin notes that the materials used for tipi construction varied by tribe, location and season. While buffalo hides were convenient in the American central plains groups that lived in other areas used elk and deer hides to make tipis. Elk hides are not as large as buffalo hides but still offer a fairly large area of coverage. However, deer hides had to be smoked before use in tipis because they contain a tough sub-layer of skin that grows hard and stiff if not treated .
Canvas
- Though not technically an animal skin, canvas is a material often utilized by Native Americans for making tipis. As the giant herds of plains buffalo were hunted out existence Native Americans had to find other means of creating shelter. The decline of the buffalo corresponded with the migration of many white settlers into Indian lands. These settlers often brought materials with them that were new to Native Americans. Laubin notes that Native Americans often chose canvas for use in tipis even before the decline of the buffalo because of canvas's light weight. Laubin also reports that the canvas needed to make a tipi often required just as many buffalo hides as building a tipi, but hides could be traded for canvas without having been tanned. (See Reference 1)

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