Chapter 4:

The Land and Its Early People

History

• Written: began in Africa about 6000 years ago.– Pre-history: before written records

• Hieroglyphics: early writing that used pictures and symbols

• Oral: stories or narratives passed down from older generations to younger generations.

• Traditions, beliefs, folklore,…• Thanksgiving table• Crazy Uncle

• Culture: describes the beliefs, traditions, music, art and social institutions of a group of people,

Sources• Primary Source: Original account

• Letters, diaries, speeches, autobiographies, newspaper reports, gov’t documents, business records, oral accounts, old photos, buildings, tools, clothing, art, grave markers…

– Hernando De Soto (1540)…one of the 1st Europeans to WRITE eyewitness accounts about Indians

• Secondary Sources: second hand accounts• Written by people who did not witness events• Biographies, text books, maps, encyclopedias…

• Hypothesis: preliminary conclusion

• B.C.: Before Christ• A.D.: Anno Domini• Circa: around or approximately

Early America

Christopher Columbus

• Thought he was in the East Indies— ”Indians”– Believed to have come from

Asia 30,000 years earlier.

• New World: – North AND South America

Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria

Archaeologists v. Anthropologists

• Archaeologists: study the artifacts and fossils to learn about the life and people of early times.

• Anthropologists: study the development of human culture…”Paint us a picture of the times.”

• Carbon 14 Testing: used to help date artifacts and fossils– Organic matter only…plants and animals– Dr. W.F. Libby

Land Bridge

During the Ice Age, the sea level was much lower than today…forming a “Land Bridge” between Asia and North America.– Beringia: land between present day Alaska and Siberia (1300

miles wide)• Nomadic tribes followed the animal herds across this bridge

becoming the Early Indian cultures of America. – 4x length of Georgia– P. 51

Indian Cultures-PAWMp. 57 “Cause and Effect”

4 Indian Cultures (Tribes)

1. Paleo: 10,000 years ago

2. Archaic: 8000BC to 1000BC• Early , Middle, Late

3. Woodland: 1000BC to 1000AD

4. Mississippian: 700AD to 1600AD

PALEO• Earliest known Indian culture.

– Paleolithic Age (Very old)

• Tools and weapons made mostly of stone– Atlatl: spear throwing device

• Nomadic: roaming hunters who followed animals for food.

• Mammoths, bison, sloth…• Hunting methods included

chasing off cliffs (Bones)

• Paleo Sites in Georgia:– Flint, Savannah, Ocmulgee

ARCHAIC

Early (8000-5000BC)• The larger game slowly became

extinct forcing the Indians to hunt smaller animals.– Deer, rabbit, turkey, fish…– Spears and points became

smaller• Archeologists found weapons

made of rock not found in GA.– Trade or Migration

• Fall: lived where berries, nuts fruits were available

• Summer: good fishing locations• Spring & Winter: migrated for

other food sources.

ARCHAIC

Middle (5000-4000BC)• As areas grew drier and warmer, coastlines and riverbeds became exposed

— mussels, clams, and shellfish.– Middens: heaps/piles of shells

• Hooks made of animal bone for fishing• Longer/lighter spears traveled farther and more accurate—no longer

needed to hunt as often.• Small groups begin to join together outside the family structure

ARCHAIC

Late (4000-1000BC)• Discovery of grooved axe with

wooden handle.– Excavations: archeological

diggings• Horticulture: science of

growing plants and trees• Saving seeds

• Stallings Island: mound of mussel and clam shells…burial grounds, fire hearths, pipes, axes and shell beads

• Villages were becoming more permanent.

Stallings Island Excavation Site

POTTERY• One of the greatest contributions the Archaic Indians made to

advancement of civilization.

– Sherds: bits of broken pottery

• Allowed for the storing and preservation of food, causing Indians to stay in one place longer!

Broken Pottery with engravings

WOODLAND• Several families or camps would

come together to form TRIBES:• A group of people who share a

common ancestry, name, and way of life

• Bow and Arrow: made of stone, shark teeth and antlers.

• Pottery made to last longer– Mixed with sand and dried in sun

• Evidence of religious ceremonies– Burial Mounds

• Rock Eagle Mound: made of quartz in the shape of a bird.– No Explanation…theory.– Effigy: image of person or animal

MISSISSIPPAIN

Temple Mound Period• Highest prehistoric civilization in Georgia• First discovered villages along the Mississippi River

– Villages, towns, and farms– Practiced a religion

• Evidence of Civilization:• Grow most of their food• Crop rotation- plant in different fields (replenish nutrients)• Jewelry, tattoos, hair styles, elaborate clothes• Settlements with protective fences and moats

– Palisade: wall made of tall posts– Wattle and Daub: structure made of wood and clay

• Religious centers to village• DISAPPEARED without a trace…Disease, enemies…?

MISSISSIPPIAN

• Ocmulgee National Monument:– Ceremonial lodge built of red clay– Used for religious and village

meetings

• Etowah Indian Mounds:– 7 pyramid-shaped mounds– Graves and bodies found– Carved marble statues

• Kolomoki Indian Mounds:– 300 acres with one mound, 50

feet high, 320 feet long– Many workers using primitive tools

over a long period of time.

Etowah Indian Mounds

Cherokee & Creek Confederacy

• Confederacy: Nation• 14 Tribes of with similar language and way of living• Called “Creek” by the Europeans because that is where

they were found to be living.– Chiefdom: Social and political institution

– Ruled by a priest/chief– One to many villages

• Coweta: War town (Columbus)– Tribal war decisions were made here

• Cusseta: Peace town (Ft. Benning)– Tribal peace plans and treaties were discussed here

• Took on some of the European lifestyles– GOVERNMENT

Creek and Cherokee Lifestyles

1. Villages on high banks• Rich soil• Water• Defensive• Fish

2. Houses

3. Religious Ceremonies

4. Games & Recreation

Swimmer: Cherokee medicine man who related his “stories” to anthropologists into written history.

Indian Belief Systems

• Gods and spirits

• Cleanse themselves• In and Out

• Believed in an Afterlife:– Brave warriors and faithful

women rewarded– Cowards and thieves

punished

“This World”

• Believed they were on an island– Hung from the sky by 4 cords

• East-Red (life and success)• West-Black (death)• North-Blue (cold, trouble, defeat)• South-White (warmth, happiness, peace)

• Each tribe thought it to be the center of the universe

• Orderly and predictable– Did not like change

• Illness and bad luck came to those who misbehaved.

Laws and ceremonies

• Purification of one’s self:– Inside: black tea– Outside: sweat house/cold stream

• Green Corn Ceremony:– To give thanks and to forgive wrongs done to them…

Murder was not forgiven!

• Law of Retaliation (Most Important):– A person harmed has the right to harm the first in a

similar manner…– “An eye for an eye”

“Upper World v. Under World”

• Upper World:– Order and expectation– Pure– Sky vault

• Controlled day/night

• Under World:– Disorder and change– Below the water– Cannibals, ghosts and

witches

Gods and Spirits

Kanati

GHOST

Gods and Spirits• Sun (Female):

– Power of night and day– Life and breath– Kind hearted and watched over this world

• Moon (Male):– Sun’s brother– Rain and fertility

• Kanati (Male):– “Red man who lived in the sky vault in the East”– Voice of thunder

• Long Man (Male):– River– Head rested in the hills and feet in the lowlands

• Lesser Beings:– Underworld– Treated with honor to avoid spread of disease

• The Immortals:– Invisible– Lived in the mountains

• Cherokee legend: drove away attacking tribes• Little People:

– Short with long hair– Mischievous…insanity

• Ghosts:– Spirits that would cause illness and disease– Murdered spirits stay until avenged

Animals• Deer: greatest 4-footed animal• Birds: Sacred as they came in

contact with Upper World– Eagle: Peace and order– Falcon: Eyesight– Turkey Buzzard: Healing– Turkey/Red-Bellied

Woodpecker: War• Rattlesnake:

– Meat: fierce– Rattles: scare enemies– Oil: sore joints– Fangs: draw blood/healing– Bones: necklaces

• Owl: a witch due to humanlike eyes

BEAR

• Believed to be once a man who failed to avenge wrongs done to his people.

• Indians asked all animals for forgiveness EXCEPT for the bear, because they were men being punished and did not deserve Indian respect!

• Go CHIEFS—BEAT the Grizzlies!!!

“Smarter than the average bear!”

PLANTS

• Friends to humans• Corn (MAIZE):

– Most important

• Plants used in ceremony and healing:• Bear Grass Root: snakebites and rheumatism• Ginseng: shortness of breath/stop bleeding• Angelica Root: back pain• Spicebush tea: cleaned blood• TABACCO: special plant used in ceremonial purposes

asking for blessings from the Gods.– Pure, white smoke rose to the Upper World

Indian Society

• Mother-centered Family Systems:– Women at the center of clans (Related by blood)– Women had a voice in anything that affected the tribe

• Child is only related by blood to its mother– Mother’s brothers (uncles) acted as the father figure

Indian Government• Clan: who could marry; punish wrongs• Village: headman and elders made up council

– Advised tribal chief• Tribe: some had 2 chiefs (War & Peace)

– Many villages• Nation or Confederacy

– Many tribes

Indian Words of Georgia

• Dahlonega: Yellow Money (Cherokee)• Chickamauga: sluggish or dead water• Ocmulgee: babbling water (Cherokee)• Chatooga: He has crossed the river and

come out on the other side• Tallulah: awesome (Cherokee)

Credits• Page 1: http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/paleoind.htm• Page 1: http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/archaic.htm• Page 3: http://www.sailtexas.com/columbusships2.jpg• Page 4: http://www.usd.edu/anth/midarch/archdo.htm• Page 4: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/iu-af4011705.php• Page 5: http://www.alaskancities.com/• Page 7: http://www.uark.edu/depts/contact/paleo.html• Page 8: http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/prehistoricalabama/archaic.htm• Page 9: http://www.fotosearch.com/IMP163/ingfmysb0011/• Page 10:

http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/sassaman/pages/research/stallings/StalPage.htm• Page 11:

http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Prehistoric_Ceramic_Web_Page/Prehistoric%20Ware%20Descriptions/Townsend_Series_Images.htm

• Page 12: http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/prehistoricalabama/woodland.htm• Page 14: http://notatlanta.org/etowahmounds.html• Page 14: http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/delta.htm

Credits 2• Page 16: http://cherokeehistory.com/image1.html• Page 17: http://www.cherokeeswestern.com/artgallery1.htm• Page 20:

http://www.cherokeescouter.org/camps/cherokee/Camp%20Cherokee%20Totem%20Pole.htm

• Page 21: http://www.meredith.edu/nativeam/kanati_&_selu.htm• Page 21: http://www.manataka.org/page77.html• Page 21: http://www.netaxs.com/~mhmyers/moon.tn.html• Page 21: http://www.afunk.com/other/realghostbusters/• Page 23: http://www.travel2canada.com/pics/hide/deer.jpg• Page 23: http://www.owlpages.com/species/otus/seductus/balsas_screech1.html• Page 24: http://members.aol.com/PaulEC2/yogi.html• Page 26: http://www.aprint4all.com/images/Native%20American%20Wife.jpg• Page 27:

http://www.csulb.edu/depts/history/default/ugrad/pflegerS01/images/AmIndLanguageMap.jpg