The First Americans

1
The First Americans
2
Beringia and the Paleo-Indians

• The first Americans arrived on the continent
  during the Pleistocene Ice Age (about 1.65
  million until 10,000 years ago)
• Northern and southernmost parts of the Americas
  covered by ice
• Sea level was about 300 feet lower that it is
  today
• The now-submerged land that connected the Asian
  and American continent is known as "Beringia."
• The Paleo-Indians pursued migratory animals
  across the "land bridge" about 30,000 years ago
• The Paleo-Indians dispersed southward

3
The Clovis Culture

• Clovis culture name given to Paleo-Indians
  living south of Canada at the end of the
  Pleistocene epoch
• Name derived from area in New Mexico where the
  Clovis point, was discovered
• Clovis people developed more sophisticated and
  efficient hunting implements to support their
  growing populations
• Clovis sites have been identified throughout
  North and South America
• Ancient weapons have been found with the remains
  of Ice Age mammoths and mastodons
• Clovis people were nomadic and built no permanent
  structures
• The Clovis culture disappeared about 10,500 years
  ago with the extinction of the mega-fauna
• It is believed that the Paleo-Indians over hunted
  the giant species or that the mass extinction was
  a result of changing climate

Clovis points
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The Archaic Period

• 12,000 years ago ice sheets began to melt, sea
  levels rose, and water filled low-lying areas
• Regional environments changed drastically
• Technology became more sophisticated as humans
  turned to a wider variety of activities for
  subsistence.
• In the Archaic Period, people still followed
  seasonal migration patterns and subsisted by
  hunting and gathering
• Disparate cultures proliferated, trade networks
  developed, and occupational specialization
  occurred

Stone mortars and deer bone fish hooks are
examples of specialized tools during the Archaic
period
5
The Development of Agriculture and Urban
Societies

• Around 3000 BCE people in different parts of the
  world began to domesticate seeds and grow crops
• People in the highlands of Mexico began
  cultivating maize (corn) about 5,000 years ago
• The practice spread throughout the continent,
  facilitating the rise permanent settlements,
  architecture, division of labor, distinctive
  social classes, and specialized occupations
• Agriculture increased population density and
  allowed urban civilizations to evolve in
  Mesoamerica
• The city of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico
  appeared about 100 BCE and eventually peaked at a
  population of 200,000
• This was a highly stratified society with
  sophisticated mastery of architecture,
  mathematics, politics, hieroglyphic writing, and
  craftsmanship.

Massive temple structures along the Avenue of the
Dead in the ancient city of Teotihuacan.
6
The Mayan Civilization

• Mayan Civilization peaked between 300 and 900 CE
• Mayan population centers were located in
  rainforests, which inhibited development of large
  farms to support high urban populations
• Impressive complexes served as religious centers
  while most people lived and worked in the
  surrounding rural areas
• Political control was decentralized and groups
  operated as independent states
• The Maya abandoned their cities for unknown
  reasons about 900 CE
• Maize was grown in the nutrient-poor rain forest
  using the milpa (slash and burn) technique.
• Soil would become unproductive after 2-4 years,
  so vast tracts of land were needed to support a
  family
• Nature was the focus of the Mayan religion
• Primarily focused on time, as the cyclical nature
  of the seasons was central to food production
• Developed an incredibly accurate and complex
  system of calendars
• Elaborate ceremonies often involved some form of
  sacrifice, which was offered in the form of
  foodstuffs, blood-letting, or the beating heart
  of a person

A Mayan Calendar
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The Anasazi Civilization

• Anasazi culture gave rise to the first political
  societies north of Mexico
• Their culture peaked in 1050 CE in the Four
  Corners region of the United States
• The modern tribes of the Hopi, Pueblo, Zuni are
  likely decedents of the Anasazi
• The term "Anasazi" (Navajo for "ancient enemy)
  came into use in the 1930's to designate the
  diverse groups of native peoples living in the
  region at the time
• These tribes shared some characteristic artistic,
  agricultural, and settlement patterns, but the
  were not a unified nation of peoples
• Anasazi population centers were clusters of
  farming communities
• Religious ceremonies were tied to nature marked
  by observation of celestial events
• Vast, informal networks of trade and
  communication developed amongst the Anasazi and
  with distant North American tribes

Some later Anasazi groups built majestic cliff
dwellings. This photo shows the largest of these
structures, the Cliff Palace, at Mesa Verde
National Park. Strictly speaking, it was not a
palace, but rather a village.
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The Mississippian Period

• "Mississippian Period" refers to cultures that
  existed in midwestern and southeastern United
  States between 700 and 1600 CE
• Developed in the Mississippi and Tennessee river
  valleys, where periodic flooding could replenish
  the soil with nutrients
• Mississippian cultures were not unified
  nation-states, but rather a collection of
  distinct groups and villages that shared some
  common identifying characteristics
• Socially stratified and organized as chiefdoms
• Many built large earthen mounds for ceremonial
  and burial purposes
• Mississippian villages cultivated corn, beans,
  and squash

Monk's Mound is the largest earth mound in the
Americas and Cahokia's central monument.
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The Aztecs

• "Aztec" refers to Tenocha tribe of the Mexica,
  who lived in the Valley of Mexico in the 15th
  16th centuries
• The vast city of Tenochtitlan was founded in
  1325, when the wandering descendents of the
  Aztecs came upon a eagle perched on a cactus
  eating a snake on an island in the middle of Lake
  Texcoco, the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy
• The metropolis of Tenochtitlan was built on
  marshes and islands, which gave it an appearance
  not unlike Venice
• Its size and sophistication rivaled its European
  contemporaries
• The highly stratified and organized social
  structure efficiently administered a powerful and
  flourishing empire, which sustained itself
  through warfare intended to secure tribute and
  victims for sacrifice to the gods

The first page of the Mendoza Codex, produced by
Mexica artists in the 1540's. This illustration,
one of the few examples of pre-colonial Mexica
manuscripts to survive the destruction of temples
by the invading Spanish, depicts the founding of
Tenochtitlan in 1325 and celebrates the prowess
of its leader, Tenochtli, and that of other lords
and warriors.
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The Iroquois Confederacy

• The Iroquois of present-day Ontario and New York
  State settled along waterways where cultivation
  could support their dense populations
• Lived in longhouses occupied by extended,
  matrilineal families, surrounded by imposing
  wooden palisades to defend against invaders
• They called themselves the Haudenosaunee, "people
  of the long house"
• In the late 16th century, the five nations of the
  Iroquois allied to form the Iroquois Confederacy
• The Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas,
  Cayugas, and later the Tuscaroras, allied as
  sovereign nations under a common constitution
  known as the Great Binding Law
• Some historians theorize that the framers of the
  United States Constitution were inspired by the
  ingenuity of the Iroquois system, though this
  point is controversial
• The Iroquois Confederacy was one of the most
  formidable powers in the region before and during
  the colonial period

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Multimedia Citation

• Slide 1 http//sscl.berkeley.edu/anth122/wenatcl
  vs.JPG
• Slide 2 http//www.ic.arizona.edu/mmap/images/Sl
  ides/beringia.jpg
• Slide 3 http//sscl.berkeley.edu/anth122/wenatcl
  vs.JPG
• Slide 4 http//www.cabrillo.edu/crsmith/anth7_ar
  chaic.html
• http//mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/newpermanent/archaeol
  ogy/exhibition/archaic.html
• Slide 5 http//www.photo.net/philg/digiphotos/200
  311-mexico-city/teotihuacan.quarter.jpg
• Slide 6 http//www.wsu.edu/dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYAS.HT
  M
• Slide 7 http//www.nps.gov/history/worldheritage/
  images/Mesa20Verde20-20Glen20Crandall-a.jpg
  Slide 8 http//www.eiu.edu/history/ha/Applicati
  on20Data/Macromedia/Dreamweaver20MX202004/Confi
  guration/ServerConnections/Unnamed20server/ha/exh
  ibits/images/intro20pic.JPG
• Slide 9 http//www.lib.msu.edu/diversity/tenoch.h
  tm
• Slide 10 http//www.gwu.edu/erpapers/humanrights
  /timeline/iroquoisnations.jpg