Rabbit and hare fur was cut into strips and then tightly woven together in a simple technique called nallbinding. The Cree and other northern tribes use these all winter. There is nothing that is quite so warm. they are completely coldproof.
They soon wear out and lose their fur and new ones have to be made. So you have new coats and caps being made constantly for a winter band of say fifteen to twenty individuals.
Also, rabbit and hare meat has almost no fat and people cannot subsist on them entirely. they get a condition known as ‘rabbit sickness’. Extreme weakness caused by lack of fat. So the rabbit meat has to be supplemented by at least fish with some fat, like sturgeon, if nothing else.
I have seen these woven rabbit strips in a museum in San Antonio Texas and have seen the coats and hats made in northern Ontario/Manitoba, so I know they were extensively used.
Also I recently read that in the camps of the Siberian mammoth hunters there were enormous amounts of rabbit bones. Same thing -— very warm coats and hats.
I wonder why anthropologists/archaeologists haven't realized this.
I also wonder if it wasn’t just the ancient hunters saying “Well, we haven’t managed to kill a mammoth today, so let’s just cook up some rabbit stew in the meantime and try again tomorrow”. Lack of fat probably wouldn’t have been a problem, as these people obviously hunted and ate other meat. The rabbits of course weren’t hunted solely for fur, or for food, but they probably were more of an easy food source that came along with really warm clothing material.