The First People of North America

Unit 2

SS8H1 The student will evaluate the development of Native American cultures and the impact of European exploration and settlement on the Native American

cultures in Georgia.a. Describe the evolution of Native American cultures (Paleo, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian) prior

to European contact.

EQ: What do we know about

ancient Americans?

EQ: How did we find out about

them?

EQ: How did the ancient Americans

survive?

EQ: What happened to the

ancient Americans?

EQ: How did the environment impact the

development of each prehistoric Native American culture?

EQ: How did the various improvements of inventions assist the advancement of early

Native Americans?

Where did they come from?

• The first theory is that they came from Asia during the last ice age. (12,000 years ago)

• During the last ice age the ocean levels dropped and created a land bridge between Asia and America.

• This land bridge is known as BERINGIA.

Earth Now – Earth Then

Beringia Land BridgeASIA North America

Humans migrated acrossa land bridge known asBeringia, now The Bering Strait, following prey.

Prehistoric man reachedthe Southeast about12,000 years ago

Where did they come from?

• Some scientists also believe that early man might have come to America much earlier and by other routes, including by boat.

Possible Routes to the New World

How do we learn about them?

• Scientists called ARCHAEOLOGISTS study the first people of America.

• They study them through ARTIFACTS.

How do we learn about the Native Americans?

• Artifacts - objects that are left by prehistoric cultures that help archaeologists understand them.

• Prehistoric - is the time before written history.

• Culture - a way of life shared by people with similar arts, beliefs, and customs.

The Paleo-Indians

• This is the earliest inhabitants of North America.

• They are thought to have come to America across Beringia.

• This period began as the glaciers from the last ice age started to melt.

The Paleo Indians

• The Paleo Indians were nomadic.Nomadic - moving from place to place

following the animal herds. 1. They used spears to hunt the animals.2. The animals that they hunted were

wooly mammoths, large bison (buffalos), and elk.

3. They used the animals they killed for food, clothing, and tools. (their form of Wal-Mart)

Clovis PointFirst known type of spear point

found in North America

Paleo Indians

• The group is rarest of the prehistoric Native Americans

(very hard to find artifacts from this group)– They traveled in very small groups.– They were nomadic.– There are very few sites that archeologists can

use to learn about their everyday lives.

ATLATL

Tools that the Paleo Indians Used

Animals of the Paleo-Indian Period.

Columbian Mammoth

Animals of the Paleo-Indian Period.

Wooly Mammoth

Animals of the Paleo-Indian Period.

Mastodon

Animals of the Paleo-Indian Period.

Saber Tooth Tiger

The Paleo Indians

• As the ice age ended, the herds began to shrink.

• The extinction of the large animals changed the lives of the Paleo Indians. (Hard to find food)

• There have been no settlements from the Paleo-Indian period found in Georgia, but there have been a few artifacts found in GA.

Archaic Period

8000 BC – 1000 BC

The Archaic Period

• As the ice age ended forests began to replace the open plains from the ice ages.

• During this time the Paleo-Indians were slowly replaced by the Archaic Indians.

• This new time period lasted from 8000B.C.E to around 1000B.C.E

The Archaic Indians

• During this period the early humans began to settle into small groups of people.

• They lived in rock shelters and pit houses.

• They also started hunting small animals and the beginning stages of agriculture can be seen through gathering fruits, and berries.

The Archaic Indians

• They adapted to their changing environment by improving techniques in fishing, hunting, and gathering.

• They started making tools and bowls from stone.

• They also began trading with other groups in other regions.

• Started hunting smaller game, such as deer, turkey, rabbit, and even skunk, fox, and wildcat.

Are the Archaic Indian nomadic?

• YES!!!

• Archaic Indians made seasonal moves because different food sources were available at different places and in different times of the year.

• During the fall and winter, they camped in the forested hills.  Here the hunting was better and they could also gather nuts. 

• In the summer and spring, they returned to the lower lying river valleys to take advantage of fishing and collecting shellfish, such as mussels. 

Types of Shellfish that the Archaic Indians would have eaten.

Archaic Inventions/Innovations

Stone Bowl

Grooved Axe

Nutting Stone

How do you make a stone bowl?

Step 1: In order to make a steatite vessel, mushroom-shaped blanks were carved from boulders of steatite.

Step 2: These blanks were then carved using a wooden mallet and a chisel made from a deer antler.

Finished: When the bowls were completed they could not only be used for storage, but they could also be used in cooking by being placed directly over a fire.

Day – to Day Activities

Shell Middens

Some of the most informative areas of the Archaic period are shell middens.  These are garbage piles of mussel shells.  As people disposed of the shells year after year as they stayed at the same campsite, these piles grew and preserved well over time.  Archaeologists find more than just shells in the middens.  Archaeologists also find other artifacts that provide clues to what life was like and what activities were taking place there, including hide preparation, woodworking, tool making, and house building.