Georgia’s Prehistoric Peoples

PREHISTORY?? What does “prehistory” mean?? Prehistory does NOT mean “the time before history”…it means the time before written records were kept.

Georgia’s Prehistoric period did not end until 1540 when Hernando DeSoto explored our state and wrote about his experiences.

Before written records were kept, it is hard to know exactly what happened, but archaeologists have been able to use clues from the past to figure it out. These clues are called artifacts and ecofacts.

Archaeologists study the artifacts, or any items that were made by humans such as pottery pieces, jewelry, or weapons.

Archaeologists also study ecofacts like fossils and bones.

Other methods like story-telling, or oral traditions were passed down through generations and gave some insight to the way people lived.

Later, art like drawings and cave paintings helped as well.

What do you think? What are the four ways that we know about history before people started writing things down?

We know about history by studying Artifacts (pottery, weapons) Ecofacts (fossils) Storytelling Art (cave paintings)

Scientists believe that during the last Ice Age the sea level was much lower than it is today. This occurred because much of the ocean water was frozen.

They believe that a land bridge (sometimes called Beringia) connected Asia and America in what is now known as the Bering Strait. This was about 20,000 years ago!

Nomadic people came across the land bridge in search of animals for food.

These people eventually migrated to the Plains Region and the Southern Region of what is now the United States following herds of animals that do not even exist here anymore…

…like the Saber-Toothed Tiger… …and the Mastadon, or Wooly Mammoth.

True or False The first peoples in the Americas migrated here during the Ice Age because there was an ice bridge.

FALSE The first people did migrate here during the Ice Age, but it was because the land bridge Beringia was uncovered at this time due to lower sea levels (MAYBE).