SS8H1 The student will evaluate the development of
Native American cultures and the impact of European exploration and settlement
on the Native American cultures in Georgia.
a. Describe the evolution of Native American cultures
(Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, and
Mississippian) prior to European contact.
Paleo Indians
-10,000-8,000 B.C. (paleolithic period)
-“Paleo” =
very old
-Tools,
knives, scrapers, and spear points made during this era were all made of
stone
o
pre-historic cultures are often classified by the materials
that they used
§
Paleolithic age
= old stone age
-Major
technological contribution- the atlatl
o
The atlatl
allowed hunters to throw spears or darts much more accurately and from greater
distances than when thrown by hand.
o
How might an
invention like this be beneficial to a hunter?
-Paleo
Indians were nomadic
-“Why were these people
nomadic?
-Paleo
Indians hunted large game animals that roamed in herds
- animals such as the bison, mammoths, ground sloths, and mastodons
-one interesting hunting technique was when the Indians would chase large
game
animals over cliffs in order to kill
them
-Paleo
Indians lived in groups of twenty-five to fifty people
-Nomads did not leave behind many
artifacts
-Paleo Indian artifacts
have been uncovered in the following
Georgia locations Savannah River area, in the
Ocmulgee River area, and the
Archaic Indians
-“archaic” = old
-The Archaic period is split into
three distinct time spans: early, middle, and late
-Early Archaic Period
-8,000 B.C. – 5,000
B.C.
-Still hunted large game
animals
-these animals slowly
became extinct because of over hunting or climate change
-Early Archaic Indians began hunting
smaller game such as deer, bear, turkey, and rabbit.
-began using smaller
spears – Why?
-also
began eating reptiles, game birds, and fish
-major technological
contributions
-choppers, drills, and
chipping tools made from deer antlers – Why deer antlers?
***
Economics Alert*** -many stone
artifacts found in
Georgia are made
from rock not often found in
Georgia, so the early Archaic Indians must
have
engaged in trade with
other Indian groups
-early Archaic Indians moved with
the season
-during the fall they
lived where berries, nuts, and fruits were available
-during the summer they
located places that were good for fishing
-Why did the early Archaic Indians move with
each new season?
-Middle Archaic Period
-5,000 B.C. – 4,000
B.C.
-
Georgia became warm and dry
-water levels along rivers and
coastal areas receded
-began to eat shellfish, such as
mussels and clams
-Major technological
contributions
-the weighted spear-
spears were weighted in the middle with polished stones, allowing them to be
thrown greater distances
-this made
food easier to get, leading the middle Archaic Indians to not have to move
around as often as before
-there is also evidence
that several small groups came together to form camps
-Late Archaic Period
-4,000 B.C. – 1,000 B.C.
-Major technological
contributions
-the grooved axe- a
stone axe head on a wooden handle
- the
grooved axe was used for clearing trees and brushes around the camp
-horticulture – the
science of cultivating plants and trees
-What do the grooved axe and horticulture
lead you to believe about the Indians of the late Archaic Period?
-burial grounds, fire hearths,
pipes, axes, shell beads, bone pins and needles, and bone hooks
-***Most Significant*** clay pottery-
pottery was used for storing, cooking and serving food
-How would pottery, and its ability to store
food, possibly lead Indians to change their nomadic lifestyle?
-used a grinding stone
to grind nuts into a type of flour
-nutting stone- used to
hammer nuts to get the meat and oil from them
-around
2,500 B. C., the climate of
Georgia became cooler and wetter, much like
it is today
-water filled lakes, rivers, and
streams
-these bodies of water
provided shellfish (mussels and clams), the main food source for the late
Archaic Indians
-it is believed that late Archaic
Indians lived in more permanent settlements due to the following artifacts being
found at archaeological dig sites
- burial grounds, fire
hearths, pipes, axes, shell beads, bone pins and needles, and bone hooks
Woodland Indians
-1,000 B.C-1,000 A.D.
-first Indians to band together and
form tribes
-major technological
contributions-
-these tribes lived in villages and built huts and houses
-used trees and bark to build homes-
they stuck trees into the ground, bent them forward at the top and tied them
together
-sticks are then woven in and out of
the trees to form walls
-often covered their
huts with bark or cane mats
-holes were left in the
tops of their homes to allow smoke to escape
-slept on fiber
mats
-bow
and arrow
-arrow
points were made out of stone, shark teeth, or deer antlers
-learned to make pottery last
longer
-found clay
along river banks and mixed it with sand
-rolled the mixture into strips and laid them on top of each other into
the shape that they wanted
-they made the clay smooth with rocks and water
-after the pottery dried in the sun, it was baked in a high temperature
fire until it was hard enough to cook
with
-Food
-the bow and arrow made
hunting easier
-fishing, hunting, and
gathering nuts and berries remained important ways of getting food
-also GREW squash, wild greens, and
sunflowers
-Religion
-elaborate religious
ceremonies were introduced during this time
-cone-shaped burial
mounds were built by the Woodland Indians
Mississippian Indians – a.k.a. “The
Temple Mound” period
-700 A.D. – to European
contact
-highest prehistoric civilization in
Georgia
-the name “Mississippian” comes from
the first artifacts of this era being excavated along the
Mississippi river
-lived in villages, farmed, and were
very religious
-grew most
of their food
-maize (corn), beans, pumpkins, and
squash
-planted tobacco for use in
ceremonies
-Major
technological contributions
-used crop rotation- to preserve
soil fertility
-used bone hoes and digging
sticks
-began to
dress and fix their hair differently
-tattooed their bodies
-villages
grew to include several thousand families
-built
centers for religious ceremonies
-also served as a home for the
priest-chief – the head of the village
-villages
were protected by moats and palisades (wooden fences)
-guard towers were located
one-hundred feet apart
-the
Mississippian culture began to disappear around 1600 A.D.
-no one knows why
-migration and disease
are possibilities
