First AmericansUnderstanding our future from

the past

By: Gabi Mella

Three first American tribes we studied

• Aztecs• Mound builders• Cliff dwellers

What some first Americans left behind.

• Aztecs: They left behind hieroglyphics, books, and status of their leaders.

• Mound builders: ceremonial masks and jewelry

Where the cliff dwellers were found

• Cliff dwellers are found on the edges of cliffs when they became sedentary and began to make corn, they also began to build circular pits as storage bins. Later they reinforced the bins with stone walls and covered them with roofs, and some people began to use the structures as homes. Once they had developed farming techniques to the arid climate and were able to live completely on the corn, squash, beans, and cotton they grew.

What tribe would I want to be in?

If I were in a tribe I would want to be in the mound builders because they were very good at making things by hand. For example mound builders made their houses by hand. They also made there cooking materials by hand out of clay and dirt. Some would even dig pits in the ground to act as earth ovens.