Anthropology Prehistoric Culture North America

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

Native American culture originated in some parts North America. These countries are known as the United States of America and some parts of Canada. In the United States, there are 6.6 million Native Americans, which form about 2.0 percent of the population (Bureau, 2016). Europe had realized there were about 50 million people already living the “new world” and these people were called Native Americans. Native Americans were originally called Indians, but later through history they formed a new name. These people were called this because of them being native to the “new world” and the American part came after the colonist named the United States. Throughout history, Native Americans believed that using raw material in nature was the best way to provide for their people. Their culture thought no part of an animal should go to waste. They would eat the meat, use the skin for clothing, and make jewelry from the bones. Over the years a lot of their culture and customs were lost due to conforming with society. Their languages were referred to as “Indigenous Languages” because of them being extremely complicated and diverse. Some important factors that help understand the foundation of Native American culture are their rituals/practices, death ceremonies, holidays, family, and stereotypes.

The Hopewell tradition was not a single cultural society, but a widely dispersed set of people. They worshiped a goddess by the name of spider-woman or moon goddess. Mounds were built as a ceremonial object. Which is where they buried members and worshiped. These mounds were actually made as lunar alignments and were an integral part of their highly developed social

Haury’s journal article, “Snaketown: 1964-1965,” Snaketown demonstrated an architecture of independent structure, side entered, with a sunken into the desert floor, and covered by a superstructure supported by vertical posts. The posts sloped from the floor’s edge to horizontal stringers. Reeds, brush, and earth covering closed up the house. One hundred sixty-seven separate house floors made up the town. The well-engineered structure indicated a full sedentary lifestyle indicated a full dependence on agriculture with irrigation. (Haury, 2) The Gila River supported their irrigation operation, however, the citizens of Snaketown used shallow wells with in the town for drinking water. The ability of to access drinking water in a desert environment accounted for the location of Snaketown. (Haury, 3) Pits were dug everywhere searching for ground water and used to produce building material for houses such as adobe. These pits were filled with refuse, such as pottery, and allowed for archaeologists to recover cultural material that represented short time spans and phases of pottery production. (Haury,

The largest mound discovered in North America is Monks Mound in Cahokia, located outside of present day St. Louis and covers more than eighteen acres and is over one hundred feet tall (3). Made with locally quarried soils and built in stages over the course of a century or more, these mounds served as platforms for building, stages for religious and social activities and some were even used as cemeteries (1). It is believed that natives often occupied pre-existing settlements where the previous chiefdom had died out and the site had been abandoned; the reoccupying of these sites lead to the buildup of the earth mounds. Mounds were formed in the shape similar to a pyramid with the top cut off leaving a platform on the summit. Mounds were used to define the public space of the settlements plaza. The chief’s house was always on the largest mound in the settlement. If the mound was large enough a temple could be added or even a mortuary house so natives could prepare their dead. If the chief’s mound was not big enough then the temple mound would be adjacent to the chief’s mound in the plaza so that they would face each other (2).

Monk’s Mound is the largest earthwork in the United States, but the reason for why this one Mississippian mound stands out from all others has been a point of confusion for archaeologists. In the 1960s, researches started to investigate the mound to understand the mound’s relation to the Mississippian mound building culture. During this initial research, there were nine cores samples taken that showed that Monk’s Mound was constructed in 14 stages in the span of 250 years (De Pastino 2015). It was initially thought that the mound was built like many other Mississippian mounds, through loading baskets from a nearby source with dirt, then stacking them up, and flattening the top of the mound. However, this idea was contested in 2005 when a part of the mound collapsed (De Pastino 2015). Archaeologists, Schilling and Lopino, took twenty-two samples from the mound interior that became exposed due to the collapse; these researches studied the soil to understand the construction of the mound. What they found was that the soil that comprised the mound was relatively fresh and contained undisturbed plant material, there was little carbonized material, this is a sign that the soil did not sit at the surface long and was buried quickly (De Pastino

Early civilization of North America With the discovery of America, several emigrants started moving to this newly discovered land. As a result of this, numerous colonies were formed in America. The Spanish settlers were the first to immigrate to America. They formed colonies in the West Indies, Mexico and South America. On the other hand, English emigrants arrived to New England, Virginia and other parts of America, which later formed the United States. Immigration to the “New World” took pace in the early 1600s and grew from a group of few hundred colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers. These new settlers started building a new civilization in the northern region. Immigration of English settlers started long after the settlement of Spaniards in South America and Mexico. Majority of the English colonists were those who escaped their homeland to avoid political coercion, to practice their religions with freedom and to explore new opportunities that were absent in their homeland. It was the time when England was facing an economic depression and job opportunities were rare even for skilled people. Immigration of English and other European settlers was primary due to the political instability in their homeland. The instable regime of Charles I forced many English people to move to the New World. In addition to this, the repressive policies of rulers in other parts of Europe and the destruction because of several wars played a major role in encouraging Europeans to move

The Asiento System was a system the Spanish created in Mexico and Peru between the early 16th and the mid-18th century. In the system, enslaved West African people were brought into the New World to be used as slave labor to replace the Indians in the encomienda system that died from diseases and being overworked by the Spanish. However, Spaniards who wanted to import slaves were heavily taxed by their king. Even so, these Spaniards continued to participate in the slave trade because they wanted to acquire some of the gold and silver that was being produced by the slave trade. The Asiento System was a forerunner to the Triangular Trade System and resulted in thousands of slaves being brought into the New World.

The idea that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture is averse to change or is static is a belief shared by the minority. Although it can be said that Indigenous culture and our ancestral peoples share many similar or unchanged basic behaviour patterns, each society or culture can be distinguished from others by the certain configurative patterns or directives for why the Prehistoric peoples did or did not achieve things and how they were or were not achieved. This willingness to change and not be opposed to innovation and holding traditional values all the time, suggests that Prehistoric Aboriginal Culture was constantly changing. This essay discusses the concept that Prehistoric Aboriginal culture adopted a willingness to learn, change and grow through forms of art and culture, for both aesthetic and useful purposes. Secondly, the developing cultural intricacies will be deliberated, how hunter gatherer societies affected Prehistoric Aboriginal culture and how these complexities are the source of change for many Indigenous peoples through time.

“Civilizations develop when the environment of a region can support a large and productive population” (Sayre 8). Even though civilizations do not last forever, there are elements within it that share their culture with the world making them an everlasting memory and something to strive towards. The belief system and social structure of a culture is known through the images and written language that they leave behind (Sayre 11). The Great Serpent Mound is an art piece created by the Hopewell that skillfully encompasses their culture.

These Paleo-Indians began to utilize storage pits for surplus from gathering and hunting in the land about 3,000 years ago (Chartwell, 1999). No more would they be completely at the mercy of nature and roam as the game lead them. They could now return to storage sites over and over again using and replenishing the contents as needed (Chartwell,1999). This storage system gave the Paleo-Indians the ability to begin to carve out their own stable areas in the region. During this period of transition, the Paleo-Indians would collect seeds from valuable medicinal plants and plant them near storage pits so that they could be easily found again and used (Chartwell, 1999). This is the beginning of what would become the agricultural community of the

The Ancient Puebloans were a prehistoric Native American civilization. They first appeared around 1200 B.C, whom are known as the early Native Americans, first settled in the plateau area. They were first nomadic hunters and gatherers, then later started cultivating crops and building permanent dwellings. They are split into two groups, Basket Makers and the Puebloans. By 1300 A.D, some say due to a drought, or a “nuclear winter”, or the increase of violence; the Four Corners Area had been abandoned, many abandoned settlements were left, leaving behind pots and baskets. Many people are not certain on what happened to them, their disappearance is still questioned.

Living off the land in a means of meeting sustainable comfort and taking only what they need the Native American tribes maintain a rich stock of natural resources. Such moderation of ecological bio systems consistently provided year after year tribes would continue to reap the benefits of the environment. With each tribe came community packs defending surrounding tribes in confrontation with other tribes competing for resources and land rights. For the Pioneer community such differences occurred throughout the valley all throughout the early 15th century urban development of virgin forests and river

During the Paleolithic time period, different societies were grouped together as one in Africa and ultimately migrated into different regions of the world. While migrating, changes amongst each society began to take place. For example, one of the groups traveled into Eurasia, or commonly known today as Europe and Asia, around 45,000-20,000 years ago. Once they arrived, a change in hunting tools and the different climate became one of the more significant aspects to the migration. Many other groups migrated into North America, South America, and even Australia. These groups also developed several peculiar ways of life once they arrived. As each society moved to a new area, changes were made to better fit their environment. Tools, weapons, clothes,

What do we know about prehistoric medicine and what are the problems with the evidence?