Early Civilizations of the Americas

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 5 — CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGINS OF EARLY AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS Nhe first people to live in the Americas were the Indians or Native Americans Their settlements ranged across the Western Hemisphere and were built on many of the sites where modern cit ies now rise Indian families and traders used paths now followed by roads and railroads Indian farmers were the first in the world to domesticate corn maize beans squash potatoes tomatoes and many other food plants that help feed the peoples of the world today These resources along with others provided by hunting gathering and fishing were used to support communities ranging from small villages to expansive cities with tens of thousands of residents The first Indians arrived during the last ice age when thick ice sheets covered much of northern North America As the ice sheets absorbed water sea levels dropped and a land bridge emerged along the present day Bering Strait From about 30 000 to 12 000 years ago the land bridge connected IO

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 6 — THE ORIGINS OF EARLYAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS ARgrTIC OCEA Yana Rhinoceros Horn RUSSI SIBER RUSSIA Alask IU S Ushki A ME RC A SA A STATESKO Hake digit JAPAN Clovis PACIFIC OCEAN Jobo Taima LATE PLEISTOCENE PALEO INDIAN SITES SOUTH do Ame MERICA Cover PERU BRAZIL Pedra Pintada Quebrada Jagua Lapa do Quebrada Tacahuay Boquete Areas covered by glacial iced during Pleistocene Early human sites CHILE Monte Verde s To o 2010 E Early humans crossed from northeastern Asia to the Americas over a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Strait The locations of archaeological sites in the Americas suggest the migration routes followed by Paleo Indians after the glaciers of the late Pleistocene Epoch melted northeastern Asia to what is now Alaska Humans began to cross over from Asia at least 3 000 years ago and perhaps much earlier When the ice sheets melted the land bridge disappeared under the rising seas and the migration ended II

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 7 — EARLY CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICA THIE CLOVIS AND FOLSOM DISCOVERIES In 1908 George McJunkin a ranch foreman and former slave reported that the bones of an extinct form of giant bison were eroding out of a wash near Folsom N M An ancient spear point was later found embedded in the animal's skele ton In 1929 teenager Ridgley Whiteman found a similar site near Clovis N M albeit with mam moth rather than bison remains The Folsom and Clovis sites yielded the first indisputable evidence that ancient Americans had co existed with and hunted the huge now extinct mam mals called megafauna including giant bison mammoths mastodons giant ground sloths and saber toothed cats Previously most schol ars had doubted this possibility The earliest peoples of the Americas are known as Paleo Indians They lived by hunt ing and gathering As people began to settle down and expand their diets they developed what are called Archaic cultures In addition to foraging Archaic peoples began to experi ment with agriculture By about 2300 BC Indians in the Andes Mountains of South America had adopted a fully agricultural way of life They began to 12

Early Civilizations of the Americas — page 8 — TTER ORIGINS or EARAYAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS settle in villages Farming villages appeared by 2000 BC in Middle America present day Mexico and Central America and somewhat later in Northern America present day United States and Canada Over time these prehis toric farmers developed new kinds of societies Advanced cultures arose in Middle and South America that rivaled the great civilizations of ancient Egypt Mesopotamia and China PALEO INDIANS The very early people of the Americas were the Paleo Indians They shared some cul tural traits with peoples of Asia such as the use of fire and domesticated dogs However they do not seem to have used other Old World technologies such as grazing animals domesticated plants and the wheel Paleo Indians shared the land with such large mammals as mammoths mastodons and giant bison Archaeological sites of Paleo Indians often include bones from these animals This has sometimes led to the mis taken idea that these peoples only hunted big game By the turn of the 21st century however excavations had shown that Paleo Indians used both animal and wild plant foods includ ing fruit tubers and even seaweed 13

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