1. Term1Day2 8/21 Bellringer
Before Christopher Columbus came, who lived here? How did they get here? What were their lives like? What animals / did they eat?
Reminder: Your Disclosure Doc is due today! Hand it in, or turn it into the manila / tan folder on my desk, marked for your period.

2. Key Terms Section 1: Archaeology Artifact Ice Age Nomad Migration
Maize
Carbon dating
culture

3. Ch. 1.1 Early Peoples How did the first people come to the Americas?
How have we learned about them?

4. First Americans
Before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, there were many different groups living here. In fact, evidence shows there were over 2000 different ethnic groups, between North and South America!
We aren’t exactly sure how these Native Americans / Indians (as Columbus called them, thinking he’d arrived in India) got here. Experts in archaeology, the study of ancient peoples, have puzzled over this for centuries.
They use artifacts, or things left by ancient people, to learn more. For example, tools, weapons, baskets, carvings, buildings, etc., help provide clues.

5. How did people get here? Evidence says: VID,

6. Beringia
So the popular theory was that about 12,000 years ago, or around 10,000 BCE, NE Asians came across the land bridge that connected Asia and North America during the Ice Age.
DNA and other evidence has shown us that just one such migration is invalid. Pacific Islander DNA for example has been found in Native American populations in S. America, which suggests they may have come across the Pacific in boats! Cactus Hill VID DNA evidence isn’t perfect, however… Genetic Bottleneck
After the Ice Age, the land bridge disappeared, making it harder to get here, but perhaps others came in boats, etc.

7. Earliest Americans
While there is much we do NOT know about the earliest Americans, here’s what we DO know:
About 9,000 years ago, they discovered how to cultivate corn, aka maize. It became a primary resource for many in the Americas. Potatoes (VID) were also domesticated (or trained and raised by humans) about 8,000 years ago, and later other plants, like beans, squash, pumpkins, etc.
These plants became the basis for the diet of early Native Americans, and together with the domestication of llamas, turkeys, etc., the population of these people grew, with the earliest communities developing about 5,000 years ago.
Carbon Dating: VID

8. Agriculture
Being able to grow food allowed people to settle down. They built larger, permanent shelters, and soon created art and crafts in their pottery, clothes, etc. They began to develop more complex forms of government as well.
This lead to new cultures developing in the Americas, and after 100s of years, many different, unique cultures developed here, over 2,000 by the time Christopher Columbus showed up!
New Ways to the New World Handout