Georgia History Chapter 4

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Georgia History Chapter 4

• GEORGIAS PREHISTORIC PAST
• CLUES OF THE FIRST PEOPLE

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Prehistoric Age

• Archaeologists must unearth clues to prehistoric
  past, before written records were created.
• Some cultures have prehistoric pasts. Egyptians
  had hieroglyphics as early as 5000 6000 BC.
• Georgias prehistoric past ended 500 years ago.
  Prehistoric Indians lived thousands of years ago.

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Unearthing the Clues

• Archaeologists study certain clues to the past
• Artifacts, such as arrowheads, tools, pottery,
  jewelry, etc.
• Ecofacts (living objects) such as pollen, seeds,
  bones, teeth, skulls and shells)
• Features, such arrangement of rocks, bricks,
  stains, and other features laid out on ground.

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Site Excavation

• Basic tools include shovels, wire screens,
  trowels, ice picks and brushes are used.
• Digging is very slow and methodical, to prevent
  missed objects or damage.
• Notebooks recording data and sketches are used,
  as well as cameras to document all information.

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In the Lab

• After digging, all evidence is taken to a lab for
  cleaning, sorting and identifying.
• Archaeologists try to answer and record multiple
  questions about each artifact.
• Dating each object is an important clue to its
  history.

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Dating the Evidence

• If evidence is an ecofact (once living), then
  Carbon 14 dating (C14) can be used.
• C14 deteriorates at a steady rate, so amount left
  is examined (less C14, older the object).
• If object is nonliving, then proximity to ecofact
  is considered (ex ax near a fire pit).
• Final step is to compare findings with all
  previous findings to understand ancient culture.

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Georgias First Inhabitants

• Theory is land bridge (Beringia) between Asia
  (Siberia) and U.S. (Alaska) brought first nomadic
  people about 12,000 years ago.
• Ice Age froze much of earths water, and ocean
  levels were as much as 300 ft. lower than today.

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Crossing over to North America

• Beringia may have been 1,300 miles wide during
  Ice Age. Now covered with water (Bering Strait)
• Migration of people (nomads) probably due to
  searching for food and warmth.
• By 10,000 BC first humans came to Georgia. Next
  11,700 years divided into traditions
• 1) Paleo, 2) Archaic, 3)Woodland, and
• 4) Mississippian.

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Beringia Today
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Paleo-Indian Period 10,000 b.c. 8,000 b.c.

• Lived in small bands of about 20 adults and
  children
• Dependent mostly upon wild animals for food,
  clothing, even tools
• Diet consisted of large game bison, mastodons,
  giant sloths, etc also ate small game, berries,
  wild fruits and vegetables.

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Paleo-Indian Period contd

• Moved often in search of food
• Usually camped in the open, but sometimes dug
  pits or built shelters covered in bark, brush or
  animal skins for warmth
• Created the clovis spear point for hunting
  also created the atlatl to aid in throwing
  spears further
• There is no evidence of a religion

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Paleo-Indian Period contd
atlatl
Spear is notched, suggesting a reloadable spear
Clovis point
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Archaic Period 8,000 b.c. 1,000 b.c.

• With the disappearance of large game, they began
  to depend on hunting, fishing, and gathering
• Deer, bear, squirrels, rabbits, fish, berries,
  wild fruits and vegetables made up their diet
• Middens large trash heaps containing shellfish
  and oyster shells have been found.
• Large middens suggest that the Indians returned
  to the same place year after year.

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Archaic Period contd

• Learned to use the resources around them and a
  wider variety of tools to make hunting and
  gathering more efficient
• Also built more permanent homes from long poles
  covered in animal hide
• Learned to burn small areas of forest to aid in
  hunting

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Archaic Period Contd

• With less time needed to gather food, they
  learned to polish stone, create decorative items
  from stone and bone.
• Learned to create pottery from clay and Spanish
  moss or grass to be used for cooking.
• Became concerned with proper burial of the dead
  suggesting religion and belief in an after life.

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Woodland Period 1,000 b.c. a.d. 1,000

• Woodland Indians began to build ceremonial mounds
  used for a variety of purposes, most commonly
  religious ceremonies and burial grounds
• Developed the bow and arrow for hunting as well
  as agriculture began to save seeds and for
  planting
• Nuts became very important to their diet dug
  underground pits to save nuts and seeds

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Ceremonial Mounds in GA
Kolomoki Indian Mounds
Etowah Indian Mounds
Rock Eagle
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Woodland Period contd

• Corn, squash, and bottle gourd from modern-day
  Mexico were also used in agriculture
• Increase in food supply allowed for increase in
  group size people began to group together into
  tribes
• Created pottery from clay and sand designs were
  unique to each area were stamped on the pots

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Woodland Period contd

• Artifacts in Georgia from as far away as the
  Great Lakes suggest that Woodland Indians traded
  through the US.
• There is also evidence to suggest religion
  burial mounds contained jewelry, pottery
  figurines of humans, and other ceremonial objects

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Mississippian Period a.d. 1,000-1,600

• Preferred rich bottom lands, long moist growing
  seasons, and good deer and turkey hunting
• Relied heavily on agriculture, particularly corn
  and beans
• Harvest crops were stored in community
  storehouses supported a large population

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Mississippian Period contd

• Settlements were usually protected by a wooden
  palisade
• Houses were constructed of wattle and daub
• Organized into chiefdoms that may include only a
  couple of villages or may include a wider area
• A priest-chief presided over religious ceremonies
  as well as political affairs

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Mississippian Period contd

• Built large flat topped mounds for religious
  ceremonies with burial places underneath Etowah
  and Ocmulgee Indians are the best known
  Mississippian
• Regularly travelled waterways and forest trails
  to trade evidence shows they were highly
  artistic
• Discovered by Hernando de Soto in 1540

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wattle and daub house
Palisade