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A Compact History 3rd Edition Vol 1: To 1877
Chapter 1 Summary: Ancient America before 1492, pp 3‐27
Introduction
This chapter begins with the unearthing of fossilized bones in Folsom, New Mexico, in the early twentieth century, an
archaeological discovery that proved humans had inhabited America for more than ten thousand years, at a time when
most experts assumed that humans had lived on the North and South American continents for only three or four
thousand years. The Folsom discovery sparked other major finds that have allowed archaeologists to understand who
ancient Americans were, where they came from, and some basic features of their history prior to Columbus's landing in
1492.
Archaeology and History, pp. 4‐5
Both archaeologists and historians study the past but use different methods to obtain information. Archaeologists
employ physical artifacts to understand people who did not document their history in writing, whereas historians focus
on the period in which writing began to be employed. Writing is a relatively recent invention, and without written
records, it is impossible to lift people out of anonymity or to know about their daily lives, thoughts, and emotions.
Archaeologists have to use artifacts to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
The First Americans, pp. 5‐10
The first human beings to arrive in the Western Hemisphere emigrated from Asia. They brought with them hunting skills,
weapon‐ and tool‐making techniques, and a full range of other forms of human knowledge and expertise developed
during previous millennia in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Most likely, these first Americans wandered into the Western
Hemisphere more or less accidentally, hungry and in pursuit of their prey.
African and Asian Origins
The first human beings emerged in Africa approximately two million years ago and spread to Asia and Europe, but the
Western Hemisphere remained uninhabited because of its inaccessibility. Two factors—climate and human
adaptation—made possible the movement of people into the Americas. Climatic changes created a massive land bridge,
called Beringia, across the Bering Strait and connected Asian Siberia with American Alaska. Across this pathway, humans
who had adapted to the colder temperatures were able to enter the Western Hemisphere, many in search of game
animals. Their migrations revolutionized the history of the world, both for their descendants in the Western Hemisphere
and for the descendants of their ancestors back in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The first migrants—Paleo—Indians—likely
arrived sometime after 15,000 BP. Physical and linguistic evidence confirms that they were almost certainly of Asian
descent.
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The American Promise
A Compact History 3rd Edition Vol 1: To 1877
Paleo‐Indian Hunters
The first arrivals to the Western Hemisphere were nomadic hunters who used stone‐tipped spears to pursue large
mammals. As ice began to recede and corridors opened through the Rocky Mountains, Paleo‐Indians went farther south.
Some may have traveled by boat down the coast. Archaeologists' discovery of the spearhead they used, known as a
Clovis point, at sites throughout North and Central America indicates that Paleo‐Indians shared a common ancestry and
way of life. About 11,000 BP, Paleo‐Indians confronted a major crisis. The mammoths and other big‐game animals they
hunted became extinct due to environmental changes and overhunting; therefore, Paleo‐Indians sought new ways of
acquiring food, and their culture began to diversify significantly as men and women adapted to their new and different
environments.
Archaic Hunters and Gatherers, pp. 10‐13
The term Archaic is used to describe the many different hunting and gathering cultures that descended from Paleo‐
Indians. The Archaic period is the several thousand years in the history of ancient America that followed the Paleo‐
Indian mammoth hunters and preceded agricultural development. Like their Paleo‐Indian ancestors, Archaic Indians
hunted with spears but also killed smaller game with traps, nets, and hooks. Most Archaic peoples also used a variety of
stone tools to prepare food from wild plants. The majority of Archaic Indians were nomadic hunter‐gatherers whose
migration patterns followed the availability of wild plants and animals.
Great Plains Bison Hunters
Archaic hunters concentrated on bison, which grazed in huge herds on the plains east of the Rockies. Like their
predecessors, these Archaic tribes were nomads who moved constantly to stay near their prey. The Great Plains
inhabitants hunted on foot, killing the bison by hurling spears or by driving the animals into narrow gulches. By AD 500,
most Great Plains hunters were using bows and arrows rather than spears, which made it easier for them to kill their
prey.
Great Basin Cultures
The Archaic peoples of the Great Basin—the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada—inhabited a
region of great environmental diversity, from lakeshores to arid climates. Yet, despite the variety of foodstuffs available,
Great Basin cultures relied on plants as their most important food source, supplementing their diets with small game like
rabbits, rodents, snakes, and, in some areas, fish. By diversifying their food sources and migrating to favorable locations
to collect and store them, Great Basin Indians were able to adapt to their changeable environments.
Pacific Coast Cultures
An abundant natural environment made the California region the most densely populated area in ancient North
America. About five thousand years ago, the Chumash culture emerged near Santa Barbara. Plentiful food—particularly
acorns—allowed the Chumash to establish relatively permanent villages. Conflict arose between Chumash villages over
acorn‐gathering territory. Another culture emerged along the Pacific Northwest coast. These Archaic peoples
established large and permanent villages and harvested the bounty of the oceans and rivers, drying their catch to last
throughout the year. With time free from the task of food gathering, people of the Northwest cultures became skilled
woodworkers, carving canoes (used for both fishing and warfare) and totems to adorn their houses. Conflict arose
between Northwestern cultures in their efforts to defend or gain access to plentiful fishing sites.
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A Compact History 3rd Edition Vol 1: To 1877
Eastern Woodland Cultures
The forested environment east of the Mississippi River contained numerous Archaic cultures that adapted to local
conditions in a variety of ways. Despite this variety, certain fundamental similarities were shared among all Woodland
cultures. Deer, for example, were the most important food source for nearly all Woodland hunters. Woodland peoples
were also gatherers of edible plants, seeds, and nuts. About 6000 BP, some Woodland peoples began to establish more
or less permanent settlements, and around 4000 BP, some groups began to cultivate plants for food and to use ceramic
pottery, likely results of the introduction of Mexican crops and pottery through trade and migration.
Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms, pp. 14‐18
Most Archaic peoples used agriculture as a supplement to hunting and gathering, but peoples in the Southwest came to
rely on farming and to build permanent settlements. Beginning around 2500 BP, the Archaic Woodland cultures around
the Mississippi River built burial mounds that reflected the existence of new social and political hierarchies known as
chiefdoms.
Southwestern Cultures
To provide themselves with more predictable food sources in their dry environments, Southwestern peoples used
irrigation to develop more sedentary and agriculturally oriented cultures. Corn was introduced around 3500 BP and
became the basic staple crop of the Southwestern peoples; the demands of corn cultivation required that they stop
migrating in order to tend the plants. In southern New Mexico, the Mogollon (AD 200‐1000) and later the Hohokam (AD
500‐1400) cultures reflected this settled agrarian orientation. North of the Mogollon and Hohokam cultures, the Anasazi
and their descendants built extensive pueblos and cliff dwellings, some with hundreds of units that housed entire
settlements.
Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms
Around 2500 BP, Woodland cultures throughout the vast area drained by the Mississippi River began to build burial
mounds. The Adena were Woodland hunter‐gatherers who lived in what is now Ohio between about 2500 BP and 2100
BP. Their burial mounds often contained a wide array of grave goods, including weapons, tools, and ritual items. The size
of the mounds, the labor and organization required to erect them, and differences in the artifacts buried with certain
individuals suggest the existence of a social and political hierarchy that archaeologists term a chiefdom. Around 2100 BP,
Adena culture evolved into the more complex Hopewell culture. The Hopewell people built larger mounds and filled
them with even richer grave goods. Objects found in these mounds suggest that the Hopewell culture traded with areas
as far away as Florida and Wyoming. About AD 800, another mound‐building culture, the Mississippian, flourished. At
Cahokia, Illinois, and other sites, the Mississippian peoples built enormous, flat‐topped earthen mounds containing the
expected grave goods as well as many sacrificial victims. By AD 1500, on the eve of European contact, Cahokia and other
Mississippian cultures had declined.
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A Compact History 3rd Edition Vol 1: To 1877
Native Americans in the 1490s, pp. 18‐21
By the 1490s, approximately four million Native Americans had settled throughout North America. Regions in North
America with abundant resources had relatively high population densities, like California and the Northwest coast. The
food‐scarce Great Plains, Great Basin, and Arctic regions held about one‐quarter of Native Americans, but the
population density was extremely low, roughly one‐tenth the continental average.
By the 1490s, about a third of Native Americans lived in the Woodland region east of the Mississippi River. Three major
groups of tribes inhabited the vast Eastern Woodland region. The Algonquian peoples lived along the Atlantic seaboard,
in the Great Lakes region, and in much of the upper Midwest. Coastal Algonquians hunted, fished, and grew corn and
other crops; inland and northern Algonquians found agriculture impractical due to severe weather conditions. The
Iroquois tribes, located primarily in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, successfully cultivated corn and other crops,
which allowed them to build permanent settlements. Five Iroquois tribes—the Seneca, Onondaga, Mohawk, Oneida,
and Cayuga—formed a confederation, the League of Five Nations, for purposes of war and diplomacy.
The Muskogean peoples, which included the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez tribes, were spread throughout
the Southeast, south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi. This region offered the Muskogean Indians abundant
food, both from agriculture and from hunting and gathering. West of the Mississippi River were the Great Plains Indians,
many of whom had migrated from the Eastern Woodlands, having been forced westward by Iroquoian and Algonquian
tribes. Most of the Great Plains tribes, including the Teton Sioux, Blackfeet, and Comanche, became dependent on the
buffalo for their existence.
In the Southwest, the descendants of the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon peoples continued to live in settled
agricultural communities. Around AD 1300, warlike Athapascan peoples invaded the area, attacking the pueblo Indians.
Along the Pacific coast of California, abundant acorns and nutritious marine life supported high populations but retarded
the development of agriculture. Similar dependence on hunting and gathering persisted along the Northwest coast,
where fishing reigned supreme. Abundant salmon at the Dalles site on the Columbia River allowed Northwest peoples to
trade some of it as far away as California and the Great Plains. Although important trading centers existed throughout
North America, particularly in the Southwest, it is likely that the Dalles site was the largest Native American trading
center on the continent.
All native North Americans used bows and arrows for hunting and warfare. Although they did not use writing, they
expressed themselves in a variety of other ways, such as by weaving patterns in baskets and textiles, dancing, and
making music. They also engaged in elaborate burial rituals and religious rites. It would be a mistake, however, to
conclude that native North Americans lived in blissful harmony with nature and each other. Archaeological sites provide
ample evidence of violent conflict among Native Americans, including signs of human sacrifice and even cannibalism.
Native Americans not only adapted to the natural environment, they also changed it in many ways, building thousands
of structures, favoring useful plants over others, and using fire to aid hunting.
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The American Promise
A Compact History 3rd Edition Vol 1: To 1877
The Mexica: A Meso‐American Culture, pp. 21‐22
The ancient peoples of Central and South America were far more numerous than their North American counterparts.
The Mexica, or Aztec, civilization of Mexico was the most impressive and most powerful of all Native American societies
at the time of European contact. By the early fifteenth century, the warrior society of the Mexica had consolidated its
rule over much of central and southern Mexico. The Mexica empire was fundamentally a military and political system for
collecting tribute in the form of goods from conquered peoples. The Mexica also practiced human sacrifice, dedicating
victims to their war god, Huitzilopochtli. But the empire's dependence on military conquest and constant payment was
ultimately its downfall. Instead of treating conquered peoples as citizens of Mexica society, the Mexica instead treated
them as subjects whose sole function was to provide tribute; thus, the Mexica failed to inculcate their subjects with a
feeling of allegiance to a larger, legitimate polity. The antipathy these conquered peoples felt toward the Mexica would
later help the Spanish conquer the Mexican empire.
Conclusion: The World of Ancient Americans, pp. 22‐23
Until the arrival of Europeans, ancient Americans shaped New World history. Although much about their existence
remains a mystery, the artifacts and monuments they left behind give us an idea of what their lives were like. They
succeeded in establishing a continuity of human habitation in the Western Hemisphere. They survived and established
cultures through their resourceful adaptation to the New World's continually changing environments.
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