1. DISCOVERY Day 2 Native Americans in the New World American History 1 Mr. Hensley SRMHS

2. Before the Humans Came Both North and South America contained megafauna ( types of very large animals) Wooly mammoths, giant armadillos, giant wolves, etc. All are gone by 10,000 BCE – why? Humans, climate or both?

3. How Did They Get Here? The land bridge theory says people move from Asia into Alaska about 13,000 BCE, spread south Problem: proof of humans in South America at same time Solution: coastal migration theory says people landed at multiple spots on both continents and spread inland

4. What Were They Like? Did Native Americans share a common culture? No private property No central government Belief that everything contained a spirit Equality of women True for most Native Americans… but not all True for most hunter- gatherer cultures

5. Native Agriculture Native American agriculture was based on corn (maize) Other domesticated plants included squash and beans These are known as the Three Sisters and were complementary and often planted together

6. No Domesticated Animals? Contrary to what you may think – Native Americans did not have horses before contact Successful Native domestications were dogs, turkeys and (only in South America) llamas North-south axis is to blame, plus extinction of megafauna

7. Native Technology and Science Some tribes had writing and calendars and astronomy and math Tools were stone or wood – no metal The wheel was known but only used as a toy Many Native American cultures had cities and large buildings

8. North American Natives Southwestern tribes lived in adobe (dried mud) buildings and had large irrigation systems Great Plains tribes were nomads, following buffalo The Mound-Builders along the Mississippi had big cities and farms Southeastern tribes lived in smaller villages and both hunted and farmed Artists conception of Mound Builder city

9. North American Tribes

10. Central American Natives In central Mexico, the Aztecs ruled Their capital, Tenochtitlan, had a population of 300,000 The Mayans ruled the Yucatan peninsula and had several large cities Both these cultures were advanced and urban

11. Aztecs and Mayans

12. South American Natives The Incas controlled most of the west coast of South America They had large cities, advanced farming based on potatoes and had domesticated the llama Incas used knots on strings to communicate information – a language based on numbers

13. Ruins of Incan Temples at Machu Picchu

14. Population Before First Contact? Method is to work backward from a reliable survey and assume a 95% mortality rate from epidemics 10 million in North 25 million in Central 15 million in South Problems?

15. Review: Native Americans Before Contact BIG QUESTION: When did the first people arrive in the Americas, how did they get here and what do we know about their unique cultures and civilizations? The first humans in the New World got here at least 15,000 years ago and while some did cross from Asia to Alaska on a land bridge, more came by boats and settled simultaneous points all up and down the western coasts of the Americas. Native Americans had fewer domesticated plants than Europeans and hardly any domesticated animals, because of geographical disadvantages. Native Americans did not have iron or steel, nor did they know about gunpowder. But they had multiple advanced cultures that featured very large cities, astronomy, mathematics and various forms of writing.