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Ages Ten and up. There were people living in Florida for 12,000 years before Columbus got here, living all over the state. Before hardware stores and shopping malls, these people managed to get food, make clothing, and cook their meals. In The Crafts of Florida’s First People, Robin Brown asks, How did they do it? And to answer his question, he actually learns to do things the way that they did. Using materials that you can find in Florida today, you can learn with him how to throw spears and darts, make pottery, weave cloth, mix paint, build traps, and even how to start a fire without matches—just the way Florida’s first people did it for thousands of years. Each chapter has easy-to-follow, fully illustrated directions. Even if you don’t have the natural supplies available in your area, the book includes suggestions for alternative materials so you can still learn their crafts. As you work, you will experience some of the daily life of the ancient peoples of Florida. You will find out not only how to make a spear, but what its construction tells us about how the first people hunted and what animals they ate. The last true Florida native died 200 years ago, but you can help keep their culture alive.