Pre-recorded History

The peoples that inhabited North America prior to the arrival of European explorers did not have (as far as we know) a written language and a written tradition of recording their own history. This makes it very difficult to learn about them and how they lived. This is a job for archaeologists; professionals trained to unearth the artifacts of earlier civilizations and to interpret what they find in order to show us what our ancestors were like.

Most archaeologists believe that the earliest human inhabitants of North America migrated from Asia between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago during the latter part of the last ice age. Multiple waves of migration probably occurred and there is evidence to suggest that these immigrants came from different parts of Asia. Asia and North America were linked at the time across what is today the Bering Strait. With so much of the earth's water frozen, the ocean level was 300 feet lower than today and the Bering Strait was dry land.

The puzzle is not entirely solved because skeletal remains have been found that are inconsistent with the above theory. It may also be the case that at least some early immigrants to North America came across the Atlantic ocean, possibly from Europe.

These early immigrants eventually spread across the North American continent and of course into the Mississippi River valley. Archaeologists divide the history of these early inhabitiants of the Mississippi valley into four distinct periods. They divide these periods one from another based on differences in the way these early native Americans lived.

• The people of the Paleo period (13,000 B.C. to 8000 B.C.) were nomadic hunters who lived in small groups. They hunted with stone tipped spears and moved as needed to follow the animals they relied on for food.
• The Archaic peoples (8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.) were less nomadic. They lived in more permanent settlements and ate a more varied diet that included small game, fish, and fruits and vegtables they could forage. Artifacts from the Archaic period include clay pottery for cooking and a variety of stone tools.
• The Woodland period (1000 B.C. to 900 A.D.) brought major changes. People lived in villages and built permanent shelters. The bow and arrow substantially improved the consistancy of hunting game. Most importantly these people developed formal religious beliefs and practices. The Woodland people built burial mounds and effigy mounds as part of their religion.
• The Mississippian period people (900 A.D. to 1600 A.D.) developed an elaborate culture. A sustainable agriculture allowed them to live in large cities with populations in the tens of thousands. They built massive earthen structures -- mounds. They had a class society with division of labor and formalized trade. Religion held their civilization together, and although we have no evidence that they developed a written language, they clearly had a sophisticated understanding of the movement of the planets and stars and so a requsite knowledge of mathematics.