History Exam 1

• Proved that humans were on the North American continent about 10,000 years ago.
• Found giant bison, flint spear points among the bones.

• Also started the discovery of other major finds.
• Archaeologists have been able to piece together long, complex history of ancient Americans.

Archaeology: focus on physical objects such as bones, spear points, pots, baskets, jewelry, clothing, and buildings.

History: focus more on writings- journal entries, official and public pronouncements, laws, speeches, newspapers, court cases.

the difference denotes rough cultural and chronological boundary between humans studied by two groups of scholars. A boundary marked by the use of writing.

They lacked a way to travel to the Western Hemisphere because N. and S. Americas had been separated from the common landmass called Pangaea. the separation isolated it from the populated land masses.

Climate changes and Paleo-Indian hunters killing them more rapidly than they could reproduce.

• 1) Humans adapted to frigid, cold environments near the Arctic Circle.
• 2) During the earth's last cold spell (25,000-14,000 to 10,000 BP) snow piled up in glaciers, exposed a landbridge between Ancient Siberia and Alaska.

Beringia

Mammoths and other big-game prey of Paleo-Indians became extinct.

1) Began to prey on smaller aniamls. 2) Devoted more energy to gathering wild plant foods.

Resulted in a large variety of Native American cultures, ability to adapt to many different environments.

• Hunted bison by using Clovis spears, stampeding them over cliffs
• Use of bows and arrows by 500 AD

• Lived on shores of massive lakes and marshes.
• Caught fish with bone hooks and nets
• Killed deer, antelope, bison, rabbits, rodents, and snakes.
• Relied on plants- Pinon nuts as staple of diet

• present-day California, most densley settles area
• Hunter-gatherer way of life, many different tribes, languages and local dialects.
• Acorns were staple in diet.
• Built more or less permanent settlements.
• Caught whales nad salmon, halibut, and other fish
• Traded with people hundreds of miles from the coast
• Developed very elaborate wood-working skills, made canoes and carvings

• East of Mississippi River
• Stalked deer as most inportant prey.
• Gathered edible plants, seeds, and nuts- hickory nuts, walnuts and acorns.
• More or less permanent settlements
• Life expectancy of about 18 years.
• 4000 BP- added agriculture and pottery.
• Cultivated sunflowers, corn and tobacco
• Pottery used for cooking and storage, permanent settlement allowed this.
• 2500 BP- started building burial mounds, social and political hierarchies

• Present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado
• Agriculture, irrigation and pueblos
• Began to flourish 100 AD
• built pit houses on mesa tops
• about 1000 AD- began to move to large multi-story cliff dwelling
• Disappearance about 1130 AD due to drought

• Used sophisticated grids of irrigation canals to plant and harvest crops twice a year
• Built sizeable platform mounds and ball courts
• Began to decline about 1400 AD

• about 2500 BP Woodland cultures began to build burial mounds
• Suggests social and political hierarchy called "CHIEFDOM"
• Adena, Hopewell
• thriving trade network from Wyoming to Florida
• Mississippian culture- largest site was Cahokia
• ---more than 100 burial mounds grouped around large, open plazas
• ---qualifies Cahokia as largest settlement in ancient North America
• Dwindled about 1500 AD