THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS PREHISTORIC INDIANS

THE MOUND BUILDERS WHO WERE FIRST PEOPLE TO LIVE IN ILLINOIS? SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THE FIRST PEOPLE LIVED IN ILLINOIS THOUSAND YEARS AGO THERE WAS NO WRITTEN RECORDS (PREHISTORY) SO WHAT IS KNOWN OF THE PEOPLE MUST BE GATHERED FROM WHAT THEY LEFT BEHIND

THE PALEO INDIANS FIRST INHABITANTS OF NORTH AMERICA WERE NOMADS FROM ASIA PEOPLE WERE KNOWN AS PALEO (ANCIENT) INDIANS FOLLOWED ABUNDANT ANIMAL LIFE EVIDENCE OF THE ARRIVAL OF PALEO INDIANS IN ILLINOIS HAS BEEN FOUND IN SEVERAL PLACES ONE PLACE IS MODOC ROCK SHELTER IN RANDOLPH COUNTY IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS DATING PLACES MAN THERE 11,000 YEARS AGO. FOUND LAYERS OF TOOLS LEFT BEHIND

THE KOSTER SITE LOCATED NEAR KAMPSVILLE ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER IN GREENE COUNTY CONSIDERED ON THE MOST IMPORTANT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN AMERICA THE LIFE OF PALEO INDIANS HERE SEEMS TO BE SIMPLE, BUT THEY DID FASHION SPEAR POINTS, ARROWHEADS, AND OTHER THINGS FROM FLINT, STONE AND ANIMAL BONES THE FLINT DEPOSITS IN ILLINOIS WERE VERY USEFUL TO THEM

THE WOODLAND PERIOD AND THE HOPEWELLIANS 3,000 YEARS AGO, WOODLAND CULTURE BEGAN MORE PERMANENT VILLAGES WERE ESTABLISHED AGRICULTURE WAS DEVELOPED (CORN) WOODLAND INDIANS BECAME SKILLFUL IN POTTERY AND JEWELRY MAKING TRADED WITH SURPRISINGLY DISTANT PARTNERS (THINGS FROM GULF OF MEXICO FOUND IN ILLINOIS)

HOPEWELLIAN INDIANS ONE OF THE MANY GROUPS OF THE WOODLAND CULTURE MOST ADVANCED GROUP FLOURISHED FROM 300BC TO 500AD CULTURE DEVELOPED IN ILLINOIS AND SPREAD IN EVERY DIRECTION

HOPEWELLIAN CULTURE ARTIFACTS SHOW HIGH DEGREE OF SKILL IN POTTERY MAKING VARIOUS CAREFULLY SHAPED WEAPONS AND FARMING TOOLS USED COPPER, MICA, OBSIDIAN, AND ALLIGATOR TEETH AS WELL TO MAKE TOOLS

EFFIGY MOUNDS HOPEWELLIANS BUILT WOOD AND EARTHEN MOUNDS AS BURIAL PLACES OFTEN BUILT IN SEVERAL LAYERS SECOND LEVEL MAY BE MADE IN SHAPE OF LIZARD, BIRD, OR TURTLE OFTEN AT LEAST 40 FT HIGH

THE MISSISSIPPIANS THE NEXT GREAT INDIAN CIVILIZATION TO APPEAR FROM 800 TO 1500 AD LIVED IN LARGE TOWNS WITH AS MANY AS 100,000 PEOPLE CENTER OF TOWN HAD HUGE PYRAMIDS WHERE RULERS LIVED THESE PYRAMIDS WERE SURROUNDED BY A MOAT, BUT VILLAGERS LIVED OUTSIDE PROTECTED AREA

CAHOKIA MOUND MOUNDS WERE ALSO USED FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES LARGEST KNOWN MOUND IS IN CAHOKIA STATE PARK NEAR EAST ST. LOUIS ALSO KNOWN AS MONKS MOUND RISES 100 FT ABOVE PLAIN AND COVERS 16 ACRES WHICH IS MORE THAN THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT MOUNDS HOLD 22,000,000 CUBIC FEET OF DIRT, ALL PILED UP BY HUMAN LABOR HAD OTHER SMALLER MOUNDS USED AS BURIAL PLACES

MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE TOWNS HAD CENTRAL PLAZA WHERE PEOPLE PLAYED GAMES AND PARTICIPATED IN DANCE OR RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS HAD POLE HOUSES WITH MUD WALLS THATCHED GRASSES COVERED ROOFS CENTER EACH OF HOME HAD A RELIGIOUS ALTAR

MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE GREW VARIETY OF CROPS SUCH AS MAIZE, SQUASH, BEANS, AND TOBACCO HAD NO DRAFT ANIMALS SO PEOPLE DID ALL THE PLOWING, PLANTING, AND FIELD WORK TWO TYPES OF POTTERY MOST WAS FOR EVERYDAY USE IN COOKING, WASHING, OR CARRYING FOOD SECOND KIND WAS PAINTED AND OFTEN PLACED IN TOMB OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE

DOWNFALL BY 1500 AD THE MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE BEGAN TO DECLINE WHITE EXPLORERS BEGAN ARRIVING THE HIGHLY DEVELOPED TEMPLE TOWNS HAD DISAPPEARED A NEW GROUP WOULD RISE

HOMEWORK WRITE DOWN THE DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE WOODLAND CULTURE AND THE MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE.. 3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WHAT DOES PALEO MEAN? WHAT 3 MATERIALS WERE USED TO MAKE TOOLS FOR THE HOPEWELLIAN INDIANS? WHAT CROPS DID THE MISSISSIPPIANS GROW?