Episode 5 Late Archaic Innovations

Ancient Civilizations of North America

Dr Edwin Barnhart (2018)

Film Review

In North America, the late Archaic period dated roughly between 4000 and 2000 BP. There were fewest changes along the Pacific coast, where food was most abundant. Here population increased ten times over the  Paleoindian period. One new late Achaic innovation was leeching acorns to remove bitter and harmful tannins. After leeching, late Archaic humans pounded them into powder, which they cooked in large pots. There is evidence they traded with inland peoples.

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest gave rise to the the first permanent villages in North America. Living in multiple family groups in long rectangular houses, these late Archaic humans fished for salmon and buried their men with projectile points and their women with grinding stones. Their remains reflect a high proportion of violent deaths, suggesting they began living in villages for mutual protection. Moreover long standing feuds between villages led an “us vs them” mentality and a drive cultivate and exploit cultural distinctions. Totem poles are the Pacific Northwest’s best known cultural innovation from this period.

Southwest

In the Southwest (Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada), the late Archaic period dates from 4100 BP, triggered by the arrival of corn agriculture, learned from incoming migrants from Mesoamerica (where it was first domesticated). From 3500 BP on, Southwest peoples were also growing beans, squash and sunflowers.

With the arrival of agriculture, these peoples began living in permanent settlements and left behind artifacts (such as baskets) related to foodstuffs cultivation, as well as elaborate rock petroglyphs depicting animals and geometric shapes.

North Florida/Georgia

In the north Florida/Georgia, the late Archaic period starts around 3,000 BP as sea levels fall and indigenous humans migrate to the coast. Here an abundance of shellfish fosters the development of permanent settlements and the use of giant shell middens* for burials.

This would be the first North American culture to make ceramic bowls and plates, which they tempered with grass and Spanish and traded with other regions.

Northeast Woodlands (includes eastern Canada)

Northeast Woodlands culture is found in five distinct regions east of the Mississippi, which coalesced when the Archaic period ended. All five regions saw an increase in cemeteries and bodies buried with axes and art objects painted with red ochre. In coastal areas, these peoples used canoes in summer to hunt ted sea mammals and swordfish. They hunted caribou in winter and fished for salmon in spring. Towards the end of the late Archaic period, villages with round pit houses began to appear.

Great Lakes area

Around the Great Lakes, which were rich in copper ore, the Archaic period saw the emergence of metallurgy and the bow and arrow. Collecting copper deposits they found lying on the ground, around 4000 BP, Great Lakes peoples pounded them into spearhead, axes and fishhooks. This technology slowly spread down the Mississippi to the Gulf Coast.

The first use of the bow and arrow in North America dates from 2500 BP in Canada, where it was used to kill moose, muskrats and other game. Globally bow and arrow originated in South Africa in 71,000 BP. It arrived in Europe around 9000 BP and in Siberia in 5000 BP. It most likely arrived in North America via the Bering Strait.

South of the Great Lakes, populations remained low during the late Archaic period, as people lived in semi permanent villages near shell middens, buried their dead portion of violent deaths) with their tools and other possessions. These indigenous American relied more on nuts and acorns than game for food.

*Midden – old dump for food waste and other domestic garbage.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5712746