Archaic Indians
Background Information
The Archaic period began about 10,000 years ago, and ended around 3,000 years ago, meaning the Archaic Indians came after the Paleo Indians. In fact, the word "archaic" means "old", while the word "Paleo" comes from a word meaning "very old". Even though the Archaic period closely followed the Paleo period, the cultures and lifestyles of these two Native American groups are quite different. The difference in the lifestyles and cultures is mostly due to the changes that occurred in the climate, animals, water level, and vegetation.
The Archaic period is much longer than the Paleo period, therefor historians have divided this very long period into three sub periods : early, middle and late. Each sub period is different from the one before it, since each one experienced its own cultural changes.
|
|
Early Archaic PeriodThe Early Archaic period lasted from about 8000 B.C to about 5000 B.C, a time period in which mega fauna were mostly extinct. It is believed that these large Pleistocene animals perished due to either climate change, overhunting, or maybe even a combination of the two. Saying that the extinction of mega fauna was caused by overhunting may seem unbelievable, but a simulation done by Paul Martin shows otherwise. In one scenario, one hundred Paleoindians arrived on the Alberta prairies some 12,000 years ago, each year moved southward twenty miles and killed one dozen animals per person, and their population doubled every twenty years—all fairly modest assumptions except for the last. In only 300 years they numbered 100,000, spread two thousand miles south, and killed over ninety million 1000-pound animals. In this scenario, Paleoindians were able to reach Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America, and hunt megafauna to their doom.
|
Due to the extinction of most mega fauna, Archaic Indians began hunting smaller game. Since their prey became smaller, they made their spears and spear points smaller too. Examples of the smaller game that Archaic Indians hunted are white-tailed deer, black bear, rabbit, and turkey. Also, Archaic Indians began catching fish, turtles, and birds. Besides hunting and catching animals, they also gathered roots, seeds, nuts, berries, and fruits which supplemented their diets.
The prey that the Archaic Indians were now hunting was not migratory, so the Archaic Indians were not as nomadic as the Paleo Indians. Nevertheless, groups of Archaic Indians still moved around in search of seasonal foods, and sources of stone for making tools. Archaeologists believe that Archaic Indians, who traveled in "bands" which are groups of twenty-five to fifty people, met with other bands in designated places during certain times in the year. It is believed that they would socialize, share food, and even trade stone tools at these "meetings". Many new stone tool inventions were created during the Early Archaic Period. Examples of the stone tools created during the Early Archaic period are choppers, drills, and chipping tools.
Middle Archaic Period
The Middle Archaic period began at around 5000 B.C., right when the climate conditions began to change. In North America, the area became significantly drier and warmer. Land that was previously dominated by hickory and oak trees, now began to b invaded by pine forests. As a result, the hardwood forests most likely receded to the Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions of Georgia. In addition to the increase in temperature, water levels along rivers and he coastal areas receded. Because of this drop in water levels, Archaic Indians now began to eat mussels and clams.
The Indians living during the Middle Archaic period began limiting their territorial movement. Archaic people were still hunters-gatherers, but they relied on more locally available resources. Archaeologists believe this because the Middle Archaic stone tools in the Piedmont indicated a preference for locally available quartz. This means the people did not travel far, and did not trade with "bands" from other geographical regions as often. The main reason the Archaic people did not travel as often as before is due to the fact that food was now easier to find.
Of course, the fact that shellfish was now added as a food choice for Archaic people made finding food easier, an adaptation to one of their hunting weapons also helped. During the Middle Archaic period, Indians began adding hooks, which are made from animal bones, on to the ends of spears. The hooks were weighted in the middle with polished stones, so hunters could now throw the weighted spears longer distances. This resulted in food becoming easier to get, and the start of several "bands" grouping together to form camps. |
Late Archaic Period
4000 B.C. marked the start of the late Archaic period. During the late Archaic period, territories shrunk even more, because many late Archaic Indians built more permanent settlements. Even though permanent settlements had appeared earlier, they were well established by the Late Archaic Period. The invention of a particular idea, resulted in this sudden increase in these established settlements. That idea was horticulture. Horticulture is the science of cultivating plants and trees. Basically, horticulture is the idea of farming and landscaping. This idea was new to the Archaic Indians, but nevertheless improved their lives drastically. Horticulture allowed them to not only grow their own food, but also to begin clearing the trees and bushes surrounding their camps in order to provide more space. Finding food was now even easier, so the late Archaic Indians felt more comfortable settling down. The majority of the camps were located by rivers, which offered a clean, fresh supply of water.