In the selection "Coming of Age in the Dawnland" in Charles C. Mann’s book 1491, the author discusses some of the struggles faced by Native Americans before the coming of European settlers, including survival, growing up, and conflicts between tribes.

Mann focuses on the people of Tisquantum, whom the settlers later called Squanto, and he shows what it was like living among the Native American community. Food was usually plentiful, but there could also be lean times. Houses kept their inhabitants warm and dry. But young people were raised to observe certain rules of behavior. Certain young men like Tisquantum were also subject to difficult tests designed to train them to be warriors who could master their pain.

Further, there were sometimes conflicts among the tribes, usually to avenge an insult. These were often in the form of raids and were not usually too deadly. Some women and children might be captured, though, and taken to join the victors’ community. Occasionally, the losers of a conflict were tortured and scalped. Only once in a while did full-scale battles break out.