The Early Americans

Terms / Concepts

• change in weapon design show mammoth hunters --> hunting bighorned bison after 11,000 ybp
• hunting tools
  • atlatl = spear thrower
  • bolas (thonged stones)
  • fall traps
• ice ages (ice-free corridors)
• methods
  • radiocarbon dating (C¹⁴; "half life")
  • dendrochronology
    • the use of tree rings in archaeological dating was pioneered at Pueblo Bonito the 1920s
  • pollen analysis (palynology)
• shamans = "priestly leaders"
• stone tool making (lithics)
  • hammerstone
  • percussion flaking
  • anvil technique
  • baton technique
  • pressure flaking
  • fluting
  • grinding / polishing
• pottery (ca. 2,000 b.p.)
• theocratic state
• sacred burial mounds

Notes

• From 1,000 B.C. onwards we see the "Mound Builders" (Woodland) culture. By A.D. 500 there were over 100,000 mounds.
• Landscape was different 11,000 ybp.
• "Pleistocene Extinction Hypothesis" suggests early hunters overhunted large animals.
• Force of a spear thrown with an atlatl = 200 X the force of a spear thrown by hand.
• Trend: 6,000 B.C. Koster was occupied seasonally, but by 2,500 B.C. it had become a permanent settlement.
• Diffusion: Lake Superior copper, mica from Georgia, obsidian from Yellowstone, . . .
• 12,000 ybp the way was clear in the ice-free corridor for people to migrate to central North America
• With the advent of pottery decoration we begin to recognize the individuality of the individual potters to the development of traditions which differ from village to village.

• Papago (saguaro cactus)
• Pima
• Hopi
• Mimbres (central NM)
• Clovis (11,000 - 11,500 ybp C¹⁴ dates)
• "Mound Builders" (Woodland)

• Valsequillo, Mexico (22,000 ybp)
• Wilson Butte, AZ (14,500 ybp)
• Lehner, AZ ("one of the oldest prehistoric sites in North America")
• Koster Farm (Green County, IL; A.D. 1,200 - 6,500 B.C. "and beyond")
  6,000 B.C. people were migratory, but by 2,500 B.C. they had become a permanent community
• Campsville (IL)
• Bat Cave (NM; 4,000-year-old maize)
• bALKMALDI, ga (100 MI. south of Etowah)
• Cahokia IL, near St. Louis, Mo.
  • "Monk's Mound"
  • at A.D. 1,300 there were an estimated 30,000+ inhabitants
• Anasazi Pueblos (including kivas)
• Etowah (GA)
• Mesa Verde (largest of the Pueblos housed over 400 people)
• Chaco Cañon, Pueblo Bonito
• "The Southern Cult"
  

Individuals

Publications / Bibliography

Question(s)