Unit 1 – Relationships, People and Paradigms

Chapter 1 – First Arrivals

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Origins and Arrival of the First Peoples

• Theories– Bering Strait Theory

• 80,000 to 12,000 years ago Canada was covered under a kilometer of ice.

• Sea levels lowered, creating a a plain 1 thousand kilometres wide in the Bering Sea.

• Paleolithic hunters persued large animals through this corridor

• Gradually, these hunters migrated across Beringia to North America (this occurred over thousands of years).

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Bering Sea

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Bering Strait

As you move South in North AmericaWe find that the climate becomes more mild.

We are familiar with the vast and advanced civilizations of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca in Southern tips of North America.

Why do you think they became so much more advanced then the people who remained in the north?

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The Coastal Route Theory

• Moving along the western coast in some form of water craft, fishing, collecting shellfish, and possibly hunting sea mammals

• Paleolithic people gradually moved south below the ice fields, where they moved inland

• Unfortunately, the coastline is now submerged, leaving no evidence to support this theory.

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Pre-Contact Map

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The People of Atlantic Canada: Archaic Period – 6000-1000 BCE

• Between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago, the world of the Palaeolithic people changed dramatically.

• Climate and Environmental changes caused the animals to disappear.

• These people were forced to change• They ended up pursuing animals like Caribou,

they reached the eastern coast of present-day Canada.

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Archaic People, 6000-1000 BCE…con’t

• During this period, the landscape changed from tundra to boreal forests of spruce and pine and later mixed hardwoods.

• From NFLD, Lab to PEI and NS, the Archaic Peoples developed cultural differences as they adjusted to regional variations in their environment.

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L’Anse-Amour

• Place:– L’Anse-Amour – south coast of Labrador

• What:– Mysterious pile of rocks– Archaeologists James Turk and Robert McGhee– Under the boulder in a pit 7m2 and 1.5m below the

surface.– Found a young person between 11 and 13 years old.

• Carbon dated to 5500BCE

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L’Anse-Amour…con’t

• One of the oldest sites in the world.• Why would a small community of hunters and

fishers go to such trouble to excavate a large pit, with only caribou antlers and birchbark baskets as tools, to bury a child with such elaborate ceremony?

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First Peoples of the Arctic: 2000 – 0 BCE

• Traditional stories speak of a strong but gentle people who once occupied the lands of the Arctic.– They were called the Tunit or Dorset

• Archaeologists have identified two groups of people who probably migrated across the Bering Sea from Asia to settle in the Canadian Arctic:

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Migration of Paleo-Eskimo and the Dorset People

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Pre-Contact Map

Atlantic –

Archaic

Period

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The Paleo-Eskimos

• Arrived about 2000 BCE.• Spread rapidly from Alaska throughout the

Arctic– Even to northern Ellesmere Island and north coast

of Greenland.

• Expert producers of chipped stone projectile points– Introduced bow and arrow to the Americas.

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Eastern Canada – Paleo Period

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The Dorset People

• Second group of people to migrate• Originated from Siberia and Alaska between

800 and 500 BCE.• Moved eastward

– Either absorbing or driving away the Paleo-Eskimo

• Lived in larger groups with greater numbers• Moved away from chipped tools to specially

crafted tools

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The Dorset People…con’t

• Their art demonstrates a complex worldview– Belief in supernatural powers and shamanistic

ceremonies

• Full sized masks were carved from driftwood and painted with ochre.

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Dorset People

Tools Mask

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The Fate of the Dorsets

• They were killed, displaced or absorbed by the Thule people, who are believed to be the forerunners of the modern Inuit.

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Review…Reflect…Respond

1. How do the two theories of how Aboriginal Canadians arrived on the continent help to explain the diversity of prehistoric and historic Aboriginal nations?

2. Why do you think that until recently, historians have largely ignored Aboriginal oral traditions, such as the creation myths, in this study of pre-historic Aboriginal history?

3. Are Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal historical methods exclusive of each other? How can a student of Aboriginal history use both types of sources to further their understanding of prehistoric Aboriginal history?

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First Peoples of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley: 8000 – 1000 BCE

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Pre-Contact Map

Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Valley

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The Laurentian Peoples

• Archaeologists believe that Paleolithic people inhabited southern Ontario and Southwestern Quebec 10,000 years ago.

• Developed variety of hunting, fishing and collecting activities based on local resources

• By 3000 BCE – the people of the Great Lakes area, called Laurentians, had adapted to the environment, similar to today's.

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• Artifacts found at these sites included:– Chipped and ground stone tools– Natural or native copper implements

• Projectile points• Knives• fishhooks,• Awls• Pendants• Beads

– The presence of copper suggests travel or trade with other peoples northwest of Lake Superior where the copper is naturally found.

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The Shield Archaic Peoples

• Found north (3000 BCE – 1000 CE)• Smaller villages located at narrows of lakes

and rivers• Food included:

– Fish and Caribou as well as bear, beaver, hare and waterfowl

• Sites found on islands suggest the birch bark canoe was already important.

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• The most dramatic find at these sites is that of pottery.– Reveal pottery being used 2000 years ago

• Archaeologists use the introduction of pottery to mark the beginning of the general period that came after the Archaic period, the Woodland period.

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The Woodland Peoples

• A key Woodland site, located near Peterborough, Ontario lies a group of nine human made earth mounds.

• 8 of the structures are oval in shape, 15 metres across and a metre high

• The 9th structure resembles a twisting serpent. It is 60 metres long, 8 metres wide and between 1 to 2 metres high

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• These sites were likely a summer camp for the Woodland peoples.

• Archaeology digs found extensive quantities of shells, some of which are from the Gulf of Mexico.

• This, along with the copper, suggest that the Woodlands people had contact with people from distant places.

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• This change in technology created a shift from being hunters of a range of big game to hunters of buffalo.

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First Peoples of the Western Plains: 8000 BCE – 1000 CE

• As the weather warmed, ice fields retreated• Grass plains developed• Animals such as the bison, rapidly increased in

numbers as larger animals (mammoth, prehistoric horse and camel) dissappeared.

• These people were a distinctive people because they developed a unique way of chipping stone, making spear heads that were much thinner and precise.

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Pre-Contact Map

Western Plains

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Buffalo Jumps

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• People of western Canada, for more then 6,000 years, have used buffalo jumps.

• They would drive herds of buffalo over cliffs• Hunting buffalo without the use of the jump

was very dangerous and results uncertain at best.

• Traditional hunting practice required a lance or bow and arrows, at close range on a bison that weighted more than 550KG and run at more than 60 km/hr.

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• The hunters new they couldn’t out run the buffalo

• They would dress as wolves and stalk the buffalo until they were close enough to use the arrows and spears.– Buffalo have poor eyesight and being down wind

from them would allow the hunters to get close.

• This would only afford 1 or 2 buffalo• A far more efficient way of hunting was using

a jump, killing hundreds of buffalo at a time.

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Oral Traditions of the Western Plains People

• Archaeology can only reveal a small part about how these people lived.

• An example of their oral history that has been passed down through the generations can give us some insight into their lives.

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First Peoples of the Pacific Coast: 8000 BCE – 1000 CE

• Arrived at the end of the last ice age (13,000 to 10,000 years ago)

• Migrated separately from other Paleolithic people from Asia

• Made their way along exposed seabed created during the last ice age

• Oral tradition of these people say they have been Haidi Gwaii since the end of the last ice age.

• This makes them one of the oldest traceable populations in the new world.

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Pre-Contact Map

Paci

fic

Coas

t

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Review…Reflect…Respond

1. In looking at the various Aboriginal groups discussed in this chapter, are there any similarities among the different groups?

2. This chapter looked at Aboriginal groups within regional areas in Canada. What area do you think will have the most interaction with Europeans when they begin to arrive?

3. What do you believe were the most important technological innovations for each Aboriginal group during this time period. Why?

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