Early People of America

Imagine if you will…… The time is 40,000 years ago ... the last great ice sheet still covers much of the north. You are a hunter with your family, tracking animals for food and for hides to make warm clothing. You carry a stone-tipped spear. On foot, you follow wild herds through the cold and fog. You cross a bridge of ice. On the other side, you find a new land. You do not know that it is a new land. You only know that there are no human enemies to stop you. You keep pushing south, following the herds. You find paradise - elk, deer, bison, wild vegetables, wild fruits - and forests, with so many trees - and squirrels and rabbits. Fish leap from the streams. As time goes by, other people find their way across the frozen land. Many years pass. The ice begins to melts. Now there is a wide strip of water where once there was a walkway of thick ice. Still, people find their way across the Bering Strait in boats of bark and hide ...

How and when did the first people arrive? Answer…… No one really knows for sure! but we have a few good theories….. They may have come across a land bridge during the Ice Ages During the ice ages much of the oceans froze and this exposed land that was usually covered by water. During the last ice age, scientists and archeologists believe that (100,000 to 12,000 years ago) there was a land bridge that ran from northeastern Asia to present day Alaska

Land Bridge (Beringia ) Theory

Migration Across the Bering Strait The migration of early peoples to the Americas did not happen all at once. It was a long, gradual process. What do we mean by migration? Use context clues. Migration – movement of a large number of people to a new home Over a long period of time (thousands of years) people spread throughout North America.

Another Theory About Ancient Arrivals There is new evidence that people were here long before the first people crossed the Bering Strait For Example – There is evidence found by archeologists in Cactus Hill in Virginia that there was a settlement where artifacts have been found that are nearly 18,000 years old – this is before the ice age that would have exposed the land route. So this begs the question – HOW DID THEY GET HERE? Answer - More than likely by boat Some of the artifacts at Cactus Hill look like artifacts that were found in Spain in Portugal dated around the same time.

Though some early people may have arrived by boat, the majority of Early People -probably 99% of them- migrated over many hundreds of years over the Bering Strait land bridge.

What do we know about Early Americans? Because there was no written history before European arrived we do not know a lot. What we do know we have discovered when archeologists study artifacts that have been unearthed. Scientists who study ancient people Things people left behind

Four Main Pre-Contact Groups Early Native Americans (Pre-European Contact) can be divided into four main groups according to the time period in which they lived. Four Main Pre-Contact Groups 15,000 BC to10,000 BC Paleo Culture 10,000 BC to 2,500 BC Archaic Culture 1,000 BC to 1,000 AD Woodland Culture 700 AD To 1400 AD Mississippian Culture

Paleo Culture 15,000 BC – 10,000BC Earliest known Americans Nomadic hunters that followed herds Hunted large animals like wooly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and mastodons Made weapons out of stones and began using stone spears

Archaic Culture 10,000 BC to 2,500 BC Larger animals like the Wooly Mammoth began to die out so people began to hunt smaller animals. They also learned how to fish Began cooking their food They then began staying in one place for longer periods of time They began making bowls, tools, pendants and pipes (artifacts that archeologists have found) Buried their dead with care – What does this show?

Woodland Culture 1000BC to 1000AD Began hunting with bow and arrow Grew crops like squash, gourds, sunflowers and maize Built shelters Stored nuts and berries Buried dead with great care and personal items type of corn

Mississippian Culture 700AD up to European Contact Most were farmers, but a few tribes were still nomadic hunters Some were traders – traded things like fur Built earthen pyramids (mounds) for ceremonies Types of ceremonies Ceremonies to help crops grow Burials