| The First Americans (c. 28,000 BCE-c. 1650 CE) |
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Sections:- Beringia and the Paleo-Indians
- The Clovis Culture
- The Archaic Period
- The Development of Agriculture and Urban Societies
- The Mayan Civilization
- The Anasazi Civilization
- The Mississippian Period
- The Aztecs
- The Iroquois Confederacy
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| Historical Context
Archaeologists speculate that the first Americans arrived on the continent during the Pleistocene (pronounced, "ply-stowe-seen") Ice Age, which endured from about 1.65 million until 10,000 years ago. Through most of this period, the northernmost and southernmost parts of the Americas were covered by thick ice sheets. Sea level was about 300 feet lower that it is today, and the now-submerged land that connected the Asian and American continent is known as "Beringia." Paleo-Indians, the first inhabitants of America, are believed to have pursued migratory animals across the "land bridge" that connected Siberia with Alaska about 30,000 years ago. Population pressure further dispersed the Paleo-Indians southward along two routes: the ice-free corridor on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific Coast (possibly by boat).
Attached Documents
The article below by Don Alan Hall below briefly explains the method of researching paleo-environments and examines the controversy over the vegetation patterns in Beringia.
Questions to Consider
1. How do scientists analyze the environmental conditions of the Ice Age?
2. How do the scientists mentioned in the article describe the climate of Beringia?
3. What conclusions can you draw about the animal and plant life in Beringia?
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| Historical Context
The Clovis culture is the name given to Paleo-Indians living south of Canada at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. The name is derived from the area in New Mexico where the distinctive fluted spear tip, known as a Clovis point, was first discovered. It is believed that the Clovis people developed more sophisticated and efficient hunting implements to support their growing populations. Clovis sites have been identified throughout North and South America where the ancient weapons are found with the remains of Ice Age mega-fauna, such as mammoths and mastodons. Clovis people were mostly likely nomadic, as they built no permanent structures. The Clovis culture's abrupt disappearance about 10,500 years ago coincides with the extinction of the mega-fauna. Some archaeologists believe that the Paleo-Indians over hunted the giant species (this is known as the "overkill" or "blitzkrieg" theory), while others believe that the mass extinction was a result of changing climatic conditions. In any case, by the end of the Pleistocene epoch, the continent had a more diverse climate which gave rise to more distinctive regional cultures.
Attached Documents
The photograph shows examples of Clovis points.
Question to Consider:
1. Some scientists subscribe to the blitzkrieg theory of mega-fauna extinction, while others believe that climate change caused the die out of giant prehistoric mammals. What do you think?
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| Historical Context
About 12,000 years ago, the continental ice sheets began to melt, sea levels rose, and melt-water filled low-lying areas. The mega-fauna of the Pleistocene era were extinct and regional environments changed drastically. In response to the transformation of the natural world, technology became more sophisticated as humans turned to a wider variety of activities for subsistence. In the geological epoch known as the Archaic Period, people still followed seasonal migration patterns and subsisted by hunting and gathering, but disparate cultures proliferated, trade networks developed, and some occupational specialization occurred. Economic and social networks became more complex as groups used new methods to exploit their local environments more intensively.
Attached Documents
The stone mortars and deer bone fish hooks pictured below are examples of the development of specialized tools during the archaic period. The use of a wider variety of tools indicates that groups of humans during this period were not as mobile as their Paleo-Indian ancestors but used a greater variety of resources to survive.
Questions to Consider:
1. As Archaic people developed more sophisticated technologies and societies, they were able to extract more resources from the land than ever before. How would this affect the amount of territory necessary to cover during seasonal migration?
2. Explain the relationship between climate change and the life ways of human beings at the end of the Pleistocene epoch.
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| Historical Context
Around 3000 BCE people in different parts of the world began to domesticate seeds and grow crops. In North America, 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 like craftsmen and priests. 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. Teotihuacan provides a stunning example of the emergence of highly stratified societies with sophisticated mastery of architecture, mathematics, politics, hieroglyphic writing, and craftsmanship.
Attached Documents
The photo below shows the massive temple structures along the Avenue of the Dead in the ancient city of Teotihuacan.
The seed jar below is an example of early fired-clay pottery. As societies became more sedentary, craftsmanship and specialized tools and vessels became highly developed.
Question to Consider:
1. What is the relationship between agriculture and the development of urban societies?
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| Historical Context
The Mayan Civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula of South America peaked between 300 and 900 CE. The most significant Mayan population centers were located in tropical rainforests, which inhibited the development of large farms to support a high urban population. Impressive complexes served as religious centers where the priestly class lived and performed religious duties, while most people lived and worked in the surrounding rural areas. Thus, while the Mayan culture was common on the Yucatan, political control was decentralized and groups operated as independent states. The Maya abandoned their cities for unknown reasons about 900 CE. Historians speculate that this did not effect most people's daily lives because the cities were primarily used for religious and ceremonial purposes. The peasants grew maize in the nutrient-poor rain forest using the labor intensive milpa (slash and burn) technique. The soil would become unproductive after in two to four years, so each family needed a vast tract of land to support itself. The natural environment, which dictated agricultural production, was the primary focus of the pantheistic Mayan religion. Spirituality was primarily focused on time, as the cyclical nature of the seasons was central to food production and survival. For this reason, the Mayans developed an incredibly accurate and complex system of calendars. The calendar from a stone altar pictured below illustrates the centrality of time-keeping and the Mayan system of writing. 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.
Attached Documents
The first image is a Mayan calendar from an alter in Tikal.
The map below shows fifteen of the better-known Mayan sites.
The palace pictured below is an example of the stunning and sophisticated architectural achievements of the Mayan, who used neither wheels nor large domesticated animals.
Questions to Consider:
1. Which modern countries contain Mayan sites?
2. List a few ways that the natural environment shaped Mayan agriculture, population patterns, politics, and religious beliefs. |
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| Historical Context
The Anasazi culture gave rise to the first political societies north of Mexico. Their culture peaked in around 1050 CE in the Four Corners region of the United States (modern day Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico). The modern tribes of the Hopi, Pueblo, Zuni are likely decedents of the Anasazi. It should be noted that modern tribal peoples dislike the term "Anasazi." It is a Navajo term meaning "ancient enemy" that came into use in the 1930's to designate the diverse groups of native peoples living in the region at the time. Though these tribes shared some characteristic artistic, agricultural, and settlement patterns, they were by no means a unified nation of peoples.
Little evidence of the life-ways of Anasazi peoples has survived, but according to the oral traditions of the Pueblo, the societies were most likely matrilineal and relatively egalitarian. Anasazi population centers were clusters of farming communities. Religious ceremonies were tied to the natural world, marked by observation of celestial events like solstices and equinoxes. Vast, informal networks of trade and communication developed amongst the Anasazi and with distant North American tribes, but the Anasazi's main occupation was agriculture.
Attached Documents
The structure pictured below, known as the the Escalente Pueblo, is an example of the masonry pueblos constructed by many Anasazi groups. Twenty-eight rooms surround a round chamber, known as a kiva. Some kivas were detached and used as dwellings, but this one is most likely the religious center for the people occupying the other rooms. Many Anasazi pueblos resembled modern day apartment buildings, with multiple levels of rooms for a number of families.
The clay pitcher below illustrates the remarkable craftsmanship of Anasazi potters.
Some later Anasazi groups built majestic cliff dwellings. The third 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.
Questions to Consider:
1. Why do you think later Anasazi built cliff dwellings? Include both social and environmental considerations in your hypothesis.
2. How did the climate and class structure of the Anasazi regions differ from those of the Mesoamerican Mayan regions?
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| Historical Context
The term "Mississippian Period" applies to the cultures that existed in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States roughly between 700 and 1600 CE. These agricultural societies developed in the Mississippi and Tennessee River valleys, where periodic flooding could replenish the soil with nutrients. Like the Maya of Mesoamerican and the Anasazi of the Southwest, Mississippian cultures were not unified nation-states, but rather a collection of distinct groups and villages that shared some common identifying characteristics. Most these societies were socially stratified and organized as chiefdoms. Many built large earthen mounds for ceremonial and burial purposes. Mississippian villages subsisted upon intensive cultivation of corn, beans, and squash which was typically planted in a concentric pattern.
Attached Documents
The map below shows a number of Mississippian settlement sites.
The largest and oldest of the Mississippian cities is Cahokia, outside of St. Louis. It was a planned city with over 120 earthen mounds. The 1997 Washington Post article below describes ancient Cahokia and touches upon modern Native American interaction with the Cahokia site.
The third image is of Monk's Mound, the largest earth mound in the Americas and Cahokia's central monument.
Questions to Consider:
1. How would you characterize the political and economic organization of the Cahokia?
2. What are some of the "mysteries" of Cahokia mentioned in the article? How do archaeologists differ on the significance and demise of Cahokia?
3. How do modern Native Americans view Cahokia, according to the article?
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| Historical Context
The term "Aztec" generally refers to Tenocha tribe of the Mexica, who lived in the Valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some archeologists speculate that the culture that developed during this time was essentially a continuation or renaissance of the ancient Teotihuacan culture. 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 elaborate metropolis of Tenochtitlan and the site of present-day Mexico City, was built on marshes and islands, which gave it an appearance not unlike Venice. Its size and sophistication rivaled those of 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.
Attached Documents
The picture below comes from 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.
The 1520 letter from conquistador Hernan Cortez to Charles V describes the splendor of Tenochtitlan in detail. Cortez compares the Aztec capital with the cities of Spain in several places, commenting on the similarities in wealth and sophistication. The Aztec were conquered by the invading Spanish in the early sixteenth century.
The modern sculpture depicting the founding of Tenochtitlan can be found in present-day Mexico City.
Questions to Consider:
1. What is the significance of the imagery associated with the founding of Tenochtitlan? Of what importance is this imagery to modern Mexicans?
2. Identify several similarities between Tenochtitlan and European cities that Cortez identifies in his letter. What do these comparisons reveal about Cortez's impression of the Aztecs?
3. Do you think that the Cortez account constitutes an example of ethnocentricity (the tendency to view the world in terms of one's own culture)? Why or why not?
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| Historical Context
The Iroquois of present-day Ontario and New York State settled along waterways where cultivation could support their dense populations. Iroquois peoples 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 sixteenth century, under the leadership of Chief Dekanawidah, the five nations of the Iroquois allied to form the Iroquois Confederacy. The Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and later the Tuscarora, allied as sovereign nations under a common constitution known as the Great Binding Law.
Attached Documents
The excerpts from a version of the Iroquois constitution illustrate one the first experiments in confederate government. 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 even during, European colonization.
Note: In the Great Binding Law, the term "Adodarhoh" refers to the person who tends the fire where the Iroquois councils were held. The Onondagas were responsible for maintaining this meeting place.
Questions to Consider:
1. Describe the deliberative process at the Iroquois councils.
2. What was the political role of Iroquois women?
3. How did the council document important decisions and laws?
4. How were the Lords kept accountable and responsive to the people?
5. Identify some of the mechanisms the Iroquois designed for preserving the peace and unity of the confederacy. Identify some of the ways the nations preserved some autonomy.
6. What are the main similarities and differences between the Iroquois and United States Constitutions? Do you think that the Iroquois influenced the founding fathers? Why or why not?
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