Native American Cultures SS8H1 The student will evaluate the development of Native American cultures and impact of European exploration and settlement on Native American cultures in Georgia. (a, b, c) https://youtu.be/Ns4mIbnv-mE

Evolution of Native Cultures Through archaeological study we have pieced together the development of native cultures that inhabited Georgia prior to European contact. http://www.gpb.org/georgiastories/story/archaeology Early people are identified by cultural periods based on their hunting, eating, and group behavior. Paleo, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian

Paleo Indians Earliest people (paleolithic age) Lived until about 10,000 years ago, prior to 8000 B.C. People lived in groups of 25-50 people Nomadic hunters that followed herds Used wooden spears and Clovis points Diet included bison, mammoths, ground sloths and mastodons

Atlatl-Sling type tool which helped natives throw spears more accurately Arrow or spear Atlatl Photo by C. Hackney

Hunter/Gatherers Paleo Indians moved over large areas on foot or by water. They lived in small groups of twenty-five to fifty people. Paleo Indians were hunter-gatherers. They used tools to cut, hunt, and chop. When food supplies were gone, they migrated to a new area. Paleo Indians moved many times over the course of a year.

Archaic Period These natives lived about 8000 B.C. to about 1000 B.C. Hunted smaller game like deer, bear, turkey, rabbit, and fish Used smaller spears, stone points; invented choppers, drills and other tools from deer antlers; and fish hooks from animal bones Moved during the different seasons to collect berries, nuts and fruit Less nomadic and began to save seeds for cultivation of plants and trees

Photo by C. Hackney

Woodland Indian Period About 1000 B.C. to about 1000 A.D. Tribes developed, several hundred families banding together. Began to build houses or large huts Created the bow and arrow for better hunting Created pottery for storage of food Diet included: squash, wild greens, sunflowers, berries, nuts, fish and game Traded among different tribes Burial mounds suggest religious ceremonies

Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site Georgia Department of Natural Resources Cartersville, GA

Snapshots of Mississippian-Indian Life

Mississippian Period Culture started around 700 A.D. until around 1600. Known as Temple Mound period, lived in villages of several thousand families with guard towers and palisades People grew most of their food, corn (maize), beans, pumpkins, squash and tobacco Religious people with beads, tattoos, and headdresses Photo by C. Hackney

The Mississippian Period The Europeans are coming soon! The Mississippian Period Dates 800 A.D. – about 1600 A.D. Weapons All tools and weapons from previous periods – only better-made and more effective Food Grew most food Corn, beans, pumpkin, and squash Used slash-and-burn technique Stored food in storehouses for a constant supply Dwellings Large-scale communities w/ palisades and moats Several 1,000 families living together Wattle and daub houses made of clay, wood, and forest brush Mound communities like Etowah and Ocmulgee Indians Mounds in Macon. Religion Priest-chief presides over religious ceremonies Religious aspects controlled by govt.

End of Prehistory? Prehistory ends in Georgia with the arrival of Spanish-Explorer Hernando deSoto. (around 1539) Beginning of traditional European written records of GA