Date post: | 12-Jan-2016 |
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Amerind History and CultureA Brief Overview of Pre-Columbian
America
I. Native American Land Wisdom
Myth or reality?
Is this history?
A. Why consider them?
1. European survival
2. Confluence of environment and culture
B. Who were they?1. Early guesses (Jose de Acosta)
2. Pleistocene Epoch migration (30,000-15,000 BC)
C. Clovis Technology
1. 12,000-8,000 BC
2. Global technology
II. Development of Regional Cultures
Climate change
over-hunting
“Pleistocene Overkill”
A. Climatic diversification
1. Folsom technology cooperative hunting
2. Desert culturelimited nomadism
3. Forest efficiencyhunt, gather, burn
B. Agriculture1. 7,000-5,000 BC (late but independent)
disadvantages of nomadism
2. Agriculture breeds complexity
pop. Growth
tribal organization
urbanization
gender roles: production & reproduction
3. 1200 AD, Anasazi culture (sw)
4. Mississippian culture (mound builders)
Cahokia (1200 AD, 30,000 people)
ecological instability
III. The Americas on the eve of colonization
In 1492…
- 2000 distinct cultures in the West. Hem.
- 60m people?
Aztecs dominate Mexico
Incas dominate South America
North America
Southwest - Pueblos, Pimas
Southeast - Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee
Northeast - Iroquois Confederacy (Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca)
combined farming w/ hunting? Easy targets?