Chapter 1: Native Peoples of America to 1500

FocusOrigin and migration of Native

American peopleSimilarities and differences

between Native Am. CulturesEconomic basis of various

civilizationsReligious and cultural beliefs,

esp. concepts of landThe state of things prior to

European arrival

Peopling New Worlds33,000-10,500 BC: Last Ice AgeSmall widely scattered groups (small

bands) that interacted through trade/travel. Few large possessions or permanent villages.

Theory 1◦ Siberian hunters following game

Theory 2◦ Arrived before 10,500 BC by boat with

patterned stops down the coastMost agree it was multiple migrations

Three MigrationsMost Native Americans are

descendents of the 1st earliest migrations

Athapaskan – 7000 BC and settled in Alaska and NW Canada. Later migrate and become the Apache and Navajos

After 3000 BC Inuits and Aleuts

Connection to Oral TraditionsPueblos/Navajos

◦arrival by way of a perilous journey through other worlds

Iroquois◦Pregnant woman who

fell from the sky world

These earliest Indians are referred to as Paleo-Indians◦Hunters and gatherers

living in small bands of 15-50 individuals (several families)

◦Traveled well defined hunting territories

◦Basic tool was the spear with a flint point

◦Arch. sites near perennial springs, watering holes, and river crossings

◦Left hunting grounds for quarries and encountered other bands

◦Creating a Broad Cultural Life

This “Free Land” and skilled hunters creates an abundant diet and then a growth in population

Around 9000 BC Megafauna becomes extinct◦2/3 of the species over 100 lbs.

at maturity◦Probably due to a warming

climate and overkill

◦This decline brings a change in humans

Archaic SocietiesWarming climate until 4000

BCSea levels rise, flooding low

lying coastal areas, glacial runoff fills waterways

Deciduous forests and grassy plains

A range of Flora and Fauna emerges

Archaic peoples live off of a wider/broader variety of smaller mammals, fish, plants (creation of the atlatl spear)

Communities require less land and can support larger populations (yr. round villages)◦Up to 10X as many people◦N. American pop. Increase to 1

million

By 5000 BC farmers were planting selected seeds for future farming◦ Modification of the environment:

setting fires, weeding out inedible plants = the verge of horticulture

3000 BC – Maize in C. America (2500 BC in N. Mexico and squash/gourds in MO and KY

However, for over 1000 yrs. after farming, the diet is still meat, fish, wild plants

Next Big ChangeDiversity

◦Farming takes over the majority of diet around 2000 BC

◦Officially a Horticultural society by 1500 BC with three great crops: Maize, Squash, and Beans

◦What’s the Impact?

Altered environmentsIncreased populationMore sedentary lifeYet trade networksSpecializationPolitical systemsHierarchical societyNegative: diet may not be as

diverse, potential catastrophe, spread of disease

Mesoamerica and South America

2500-2000: selective breeding of corn and beans (lysine)

After 2000 crop surpluses expand contacts through formal exchange networks

1200: Olmecs had urban centers, hereditary rulers, unequal society

American Southwest Full time farming not until 400 BC

(water has always been an issue)Hohokam in southern Arizona

◦Farmed the Gila and Salt rivers◦Built irrigation◦Permanent towns (pueblos)◦Confederacies with central city

coordination◦Constant ritual exertion to maintain

balance (existential anxiety)

Anasazi (Navajo for “ancient ones”)◦Four Corners during the 1st

century BC◦Apartments with kivas◦Height of culture: 900-1150

during an unusually wet period◦Chaco Canyon

12 towns with 15,000 people (satellite towns 65 miles away)

Connection to Central America Used Mesas to capture rainfall

Downfall of these cultures◦Drought, malnutrition,

and feuds Defensive pueblos Skeletal remains depict

violent deaths, even cannibalism

Eastern WoodlandsWith rain and forest,

populations predate farmingMound Builders: Poverty Point

in Mississippi and Adena in the Ohio Valley◦Rarely exceeded 400 people◦Most mounds contained graves◦Hopewell Mounds from the Ohio

Valley to the Illinois River

1st full time farmers was the Mississippian Culture◦Around 700 AD◦Extensive craft production and

trade◦Plazas, sun worship, death of

chief ceremony◦Best example is Cahokia (St.

Louis) after 900 AD

Cahokia20,000 people; 6 square

miles; 120 earth mounds125 square metro area

with 10 large towns and 50 farming villages

Northwest coastal villages

Plains Indians

By 1500 Western Hemisphere had 75 million people

7-10 million north of Mesoamerica◦Unevenly distributed◦Hundreds of languages◦Hundreds of nations

Broad common cultureBound by kinship

◦ Nuclear families never stood alone◦ Iroquois- extended families of the

women took precedence over those of men; primary male figure was mother’s oldest brother

Animism◦ Supernatural was a complex and

diverse web of power woven into every part of the world; spiritual and material

◦ Restraint out of fear or concern

Social values◦Consensus◦Shaming children◦Custom-regulated life◦Reciprocity but not equality

The EndEuropeans

◦The Tech◦Organizational capacity◦Imperial rivals◦Conducive religious

ideologies◦Domesticated animals◦System of long-distance

communication◦Shared microbes