Tlatilco, an Ancient Site in the Valley of Mexico
For most people the mention of ancient Mexico brings up images of the Aztecs, the Mayas, and perhaps the ancient city of Teotihucán. Ancient Mexico, however, also includes some sites which are much...
View ArticleAncient America: Great Basin Oregon, 12,900 to 9,000 Years Ago
About 12,900 years ago there was an abrupt change in climatic conditions known as the Younger Dryas which marked the beginning of cooler conditions in the Great Basin area of present-day Oregon. This...
View ArticleAncient America: Stone Quarries
Like human beings everywhere, Indians used stone as their primary material for toolmaking for thousands of years. At the time of the European arrival on this continent, Indians, unlike Europeans, were...
View ArticleAncient America: Coastal Oregon, 13,000 to 7,500 Years Ago
The Oregon coast is a part of the larger Northwest Coast culture area which stretches from the Tlingit homelands in Alaska to the Tolowa homelands in northern California. The cultures along this...
View ArticleAncient America: The Northeast Prior to 8000 BCE
The Northeastern Woodlands of North America is a land of heavily forested rolling hills and rounded mountains, salt marshes of waving grass, calm lakes, tumbling brooks, surf-beaten beaches, and rocky...
View ArticleAncient America: A Plateau Clovis Cache
As the ice age was ending in North America, a new hunting technology arose. This technology, commonly known as Clovis after a find in New Mexico, is characterized by a finely made stone projectile...
View ArticleAncient America: The Lower Columbia River Area
In 1805, the American Corps of Discovery under the leadership of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark made its way down the lower Columbia River. This area, from Celilo Falls near the present-day Oregon...
View ArticleAncient America: Montana Prior to 6000 BCE
While the region of North America known today as Montana entered into written Euro-American histories in the early nineteenth century with the Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William...
View ArticleAncient America: Quarry Sites in Montana
One of the common ways of making stone tools throughout the world is by breaking and flaking: a process commonly called flintknapping. Tools made by flintknapping included points (both spearpoints and...
View ArticleAncient America: Montana 6000 BCE to 3000 BCE
About 8,000 years ago (6,000 BCE), the American Indian cultures of the Northern Plains and the Columbia Plateau began undergoing a series of major changes. There was a decrease in dependence on big...
View ArticleAncient America: The Dakotas, BCE
The Dakotas—the modern states of North and South Dakota—are a part of the Northern Plains, an area which was buffalo country from the time of de-glaciation until modern agriculture in the nineteenth...
View ArticleAncient America: How Old is It?
Archaeology in the United States is often said to have started in 1764 when amateur archaeologist Thomas Jefferson had his African slaves dig up hundreds of Monacan skeletons so that he could learn...
View ArticleAncient America: Wyoming Before 6000 BCE
Although the region of North America known today as Wyoming first entered into the written Euro-American histories in the early nineteenth century with the exploits of fur traders, trappers, and...
View ArticleAncient America: Wyoming 6000 BCE to 2500 BCE
About 8,000 years ago (6000 BCE), the American Indian cultures of the Northern Plains began undergoing a series of major changes. There was a decrease in dependence on big game hunting as the people...
View ArticleAncient America: Nebraska Prior to 6000 BCE
Archaeologists often refer to the era prior to 6000 BCE in North America as Paleo-Indian. This appears to have been a time when the people specialized in the hunting of big game. Briefly described...
View ArticleAncient America: Idaho Prior to 6000 BCE
Archaeologists often refer to the era prior to 6000 BCE in North America as Paleo-Indian. This appears to have been a time when the people specialized in the hunting of big game. At this time, the...
View ArticleAncient America: Idaho, 6000 BCE to 3000 BCE
The present-day state of Idaho is a totally arbitrary area defined by political concerns unrelated to American Indian history. With regard to American Indian cultures, Idaho straddles two distinct...
View ArticleAncient America: Texas Prior to 5000 BCE
As a cultural area, the Southern Plains is bounded by the Arkansas River on the north, the Rocky Mountains on the west, the Mississippi River on the east, and the Balcones Escarpment on the south. The...
View ArticleAncient America: Colorado Prior to 6000 BCE
The boundary lines that mark the current state of Colorado are artificial and were laid down by non-Indigenous people with no regard for the cultures of the American Indians who had occupied this...
View ArticleAncient America: The Halliday Site in Illinois
The ancient city of Cahokia was originally founded about 600 CE and its time of greatest development appears to have been between 1050 and 1250. Conservative estimates say that Cahokia had a population...
View Article
