Before Written History Ancient North America Before Written History

Pangaea A theory that all the earth’s continents formed one enormous land mass Before human evolution

Continental Drift About 240 million years ago, continental drift pushed the landmass apart, allowing oceans to surround land much like our current geography. Land of the Western Hemisphere was isolated by continental drift

Beringia Changes in the earth’s climate that led to the reconnection of North America to Asia The sea level dropped so that people could cross the land bridge of Beringia between Siberia and Alaska.

Paleo-Indian Hunters By about 25,000 BP, humans had spread from Africa throughout Europe and Asia; sometime after 15,000 BP, humans traveled the Beringia, the land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska Archaeologists refer to these first migrants and their descendants, who originated in Asia, as Paleo-Indians. They traveled to North America is small bands to hunt, arriving sometime after 15,000 BP Within 1,000 years, they arrived at the tip of South America

Clovis Points, evidence of a common culture

Mammoth Extinction After the extinction of mammoths, Archaic Indians hunted bison and smaller game with Folsom Points Like their ancestors, the Paleo-Indians, the Archaic Indians hunted with spears But they also used nets, hooks, and set traps

Folsom Points

Artifact of Archaic Indians

Anasazi Culture Began to flourish around AD 100 to the north in southern Utah and Colorado and northern Arizona and New Mexico. Beginning around AD 1000, some began to move to large, multi-story cliff dwellings; others built huge, stone-walled pueblos; a drought that began in AD 1130 caused the disappearance of the Anasazi culture.

Algonquian Tribes occupying the Atlantic seaboard, the Great Lakes region, and much of the upper Midwest.

Iroquoian Tribes occupying Pennsylvania and Upstate New York; some in the Carolinas and Georgia Iroquois society observed matrilineal rules of descent, and property ownership by women

League of Five Nations A Confederation of Iroquoian Seneca Onondaga Mohawk Oneida Cayuga