Quote Originally Posted by ThistleDown View Post
Brian, may I tap your knowledge as a re-enactor? What caused the aboriginal of the American prairies to, within the last forty years of the 19C and the first ten or so of the 20C, completely change his manner of dress? Paintings and photographs of the period show him something like this one of Cheyenne Dull Knife in 1873.



Or this one of Sioux Rain-in-the-Face, he who was at the Battle of Bighorn



I'm not trying to sidetrack us here, but trying to draw some sort of parallel that may be more easily understood.

Rex
Contact with Europeans, and the new trade that swiftly developed between the two groups, rapidly altered the life styles of the natives. This was seen among the Eastern Woodland nations as early as the 1600s. The Indians quickly became dependent upon the manufactured European items they received via the fur trade: steel-bladed tools and weapons, firearms, iron cooking vessels, woolen blankets, the list goes on. Native garb was also affected over time as mass-produced items replaced traditional ones as "civilization" marched westwards.
I'm not sure that the experience of New World inhabitants being rather suddenly impacted by technological newcomers was mirrored in the Highlands. The Highlands were considered somewhat remote, but were never cut off from the remainder of Europe, and trade was an ongoing state of affairs, was it not?