Native American Notes

Native American Notes

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

Flint River at Albany.

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