The Earliest Americans

1
The Earliest Americans

• It is the land that we obtained the timber and
  stone for our homes and kivas.
• - Hopi, quoted by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. in 500
  Nations, 1994

2
The First Americans

• What is an Ice Age?
• A long period of freezing cold, where the Earths
  climate became so cold that huge, slow-moving
  sheets of ice called glaciers formed and covered
  large parts of the Earth.

3
The Bering Strait Land Bridge Theory

• Why did hunters make their way into the Americas?
• They followed the animals as they made their path
  through the glaciers.

4
Origin Stories

• The Blackfoot people tell a story of Old Man the
  Creator. According to the story, he made the
  animals and plants and formed the prairies and
  mountains.

5

• The Hurons tell an origin story that begins when
  water covered the Earth. According to the story,
  land was formed from a tiny bit of soil taken
  from the claws of a turtle.

6
Ancient Indians

• Hunters and Gatherers
• Clovis Point

7
A Time of Change

• Cause The climate of North America slowly
  changed, becoming drier and warmer.
• Effect the vegetation that the giant animals
  ate could no longer grow
• Effect the giant animals became extinct, or
  died out
• Effect life no longer centered around the
  hunting of giant animals

8
Changes in Native American Life

• The Bow and Arrow
• Storage of access food
• Planted seeds and grew crops
• Formation of Tribes

9
Early Civilizations
Olmecs
Mound Builders
Mayas
Anasazi
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The Desert Southwest

• The Pueblo People

Hopis
Kachina Doll
Zuni
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Navajo
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The Northwest Coast and the Arctic
The River Traders
The Chinooks
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The Kwakiutls
The Makahs
Inuit
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The Plains

• Native American hunters wore animal skins as
  disguises.

15
Mandan Earth Lodge
Pawnee Scouts
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Mandan Bull Boat
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The Eastern Woodlands
Wigwam
Powhatans
Wampanoags (wam puh NOH agz)
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Iroquois Village
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Compare and Contrast
The Northwest Coast Indians
The Plains Indians
Differences
Differences
They depended on whales, seal, walrus, and
caribou for food and clothing.
They depended on buffalo for food, shelter, tools
and clothing.
Similarities
Both groups used natural resources to meet their
needs.
The NW Coast Indians lived in villages made up of
long rows of wooden houses and in winter, igloos.
Many of the Plains Indians were nomads, they
moved from place to place.
They made boats out of buffalo hides.
They made boats out of large, hollowed-out logs.
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Resources

• Harcourt Horizons, United States History
  Beginnings
• http//www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/rss/media/nova-v-2
  0070216.m4v
• http//www.history.com/media.do?actionclipidmc_
  arrows_broadband
• http//inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/plains.ht
  ml
• http//www.eckstein.seattleschools.org/elmiller/ss
  /land_bridge/
• http//www.ancestral.com/cultures/north_america/na
  vajo.html
• http//www.ushistoricalarchive.com/indians/photos/
  ct05005.html