A map illustrating the probable routes by which the first Americans settled the Western Hemisphere at various times between 15,000 and 60,000 years ago.

The First Americans The first human beings to arrive in the Western Hemisphere emigrated from Asia Most likely, these first Americans wandered into the Western Hemisphere more or less accidentally in pursuit of prey African and Asian Origins – Homo Erectus, Homo Sapiens Paleo-Indian Hunters

Clovis point spears were used for hunting Clovis point spears were sharp that it could inflict wounds on animals as large as elephants Bows and arrows – a major innovation in hunting and warfare will replace the point spears

Archaic Hunters & Gatherers Archaic Indians hunted with spears, but they also took smaller game with traps, nets, and hooks Archaic peoples prepared food from wild plants by using a variety of stone tools Archaic Indians migrated from place to place to harvest plants and hunt animals Great Plains Bison Hunters

Great Basin Cultures Pacific Coast Cultures – The mosaic of Archaic settlements in California included about 500 separate tribes speaking some 90 languages, each with local dialects The Chumash people – staple food, Acorns Eastern Woodland Cultures – East of the Mississippi River (the major river valleys of the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland; the Great Lakes region; and the Atlantic coast)

Native Peoples of California at Time of First European Contact, c. 1542

Deer supplied Woodland peoples with food as well as hides and bones that they crafted into clothing, weapons, and many other tools Woodland cultures added two important features to their basic hunter-gatherer lifestyles: agriculture and pottery Trade and migration from Mexico – traded corn women learned how to plant, grow, & harvest this crop

Southwestern Cultures – Ancient Americans in present-day Arizona, New Mexico, and southern portions of Utah and Colorado developed cultures characterized by agricultural settlements and multiunit dwellings called pueblos Their signature crop – corn Southwestern Indians became irrigation experts, conserving water from stream, springs, and rainfall and distributing it to thirsty crops

Ancient cultures included - Hohokam and Mogollon cultures as well as the early Anasazi Woodland Burial Mounds – around 2500 B.C., Woodland cultures throughout the Mississippi River watershed began to build burial mounds Chief – commanded the labor and obedience of a very large numbers of other people, who made up the chief’s chiefdom Native Americans in the 1490s – on the eve of European colonization

A modern aerial photograph of the ruins of Pueblo Bonita, in Chaco Canyon in present-day New Mexico. The rectangular structures are the foundations of dwellings, and the circular ones are kivas, or places of religious worship.