The Hopewell People: The Adena Civilization

It was during the time period that Christ was born that the Anasazi Indians appeared in the Four Corners area which is the area where the boundaries of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet. For the over a thousand years the Anasazi thrived and built their homes into the side of cliffs. These cliff dwellings could only be reached by climbing and made for a great defense system against enemies; some dwellings reached five stories in height and contained hundreds of rooms. Many of the elaborate cliff dwellings and terraced apartment houses built of stone, mud, and wood that dot the Four Corners region still stand today and date back to about 9,000 CE., but the people who comprised this desert culture did not begin to settle into an agricultural lifestyle until around A.D. 400. The Anasazi, which is a Navajo word meaning “the ancient ones”, likely received corn, squash and beans, which are a prime source of protein, added to their diet and the knowledge to raise them from their southern neighbors in Mexico. Vegetable crops provided a reliable food source that made an increase in population possible and also allowed time for other interests such as religion, art, ritual, public works and handicrafts. This allowed the Anasazi society continued to evolve and progress. The ancient ones also possessed beans, a prime source of protein and new varieties of corn. Other innovations included the bow and arrow which eventually replaced spears and at least two varieties of dogs

During the early years of the Paleo-Indian tribes, they exploited a wide variety of exotic plants and animals. Many of these animals were from the Ice Age. This research paper will discuss what kinds of tools they used for growing crops, hunting big animals like the woolly mammoth and the giant ground sloth and what they used them for besides a source of food.

If ancient civilizations did not invent new ideas and machines, the world would not be in the spot it is today. Innovation is necessary for the continuation and improvement of a society. Ancient cities in the River Valley were very intelligent and knew how to use the resources they could find. Civilizations in the Middle East and Asia, circa 3,000 BCE, showed great success in the areas of government, science and technology, and writing. The cities made advancements in government and the security of their lands.

Ancient civilizations have had profound effects of what we know as the modern world today. The primary purpose for anything that lives is to survive. Throughout history animals, plants and humans have adapted to their surroundings. All living things have changed throughout time. The thing that differs humans from rest is, humans are more cognitively advanced. Over the course of time the shape and size of the human skull has changed. The size of the human brain has increased, which has allowed humans to adapt more to their surroundings. To survive, humans were making tools for hunting and to cut with. The closer you lived to the equator the darker your skin may have been, so you could adapt to the intensity of the sun’s rays. If you lived further

|1500 CE |Early Woodland Period. Use of pottery and building of earth tombs emerges especially in the Mississippi |

All the way from the start of civilization through to the Early Christianity there has been a pantheon of; destruction, recognition, wars, cultural diffusion, religious breakthroughs, laws that have been established, kings and queens crowned and dethroned. The Mesopotamian Civilization it was the land between two rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers that civilization first began.

The Chickasaw Indians were a small group of Indians, consisting of a estimated amount of 5,000 people in the 1600's. They were people who were very coordinated and established their homes at close proximity. They held life at a high esteem, and had several towns and villages that incorporated present-day elements. The Chickasaw were religious and relied most on faith for healing. This Indian group worshiped the deity Ababinili. This god represents the things above such as the sun, clouds, and sky. In addition, worship of other deities was included into the religion. Each god or deity has a different purpose. For example, some deities protect against wicked spirits and evil forces.

The first time I heard about the Mound Builders, which was in this class, these people seemed like a very primitive group. What was so exciting about having the skill of piling up a bunch of dirt. Then I was able to see some of these mounds and the scale was nothing I had imagined. These mounds were huge and also contained distinct structural shapes. Tombs, houses, and religious structures were constructed in or on top of the mounds. What made the edifices even more amazing was the time period they were built. Constructed all the way back to 3000 B.C., the mounds rivaled the most advanced engineering techniques in the world.

Evidence suggests that agricultural and cultural artifacts such as maize and the bow and arrow moved east word into the eastern woodlands. After the fall of the Hopewell, people spread out moving in all directions. It is possible that a few of these people moved east. This is suggested by the sudden appearance of the bow and arrow

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,

Starting in AD 800 and hitting its peak from 1050- 1200 AD, Cahokia covered six square miles with a population between 10,000 and 20,000 people (Jarus 1). During their 500 years, the Cahokians developed America’s first city and arguably the greatest civilization of its time, and then seemingly disappeared without a trace. But, despite Cahokia’s disappearance, a significant amount of history was left behind through earthen mounds, evolved social structures, advanced cultural practices, and Cahokia’s unexplained demise.

The rise of political and social complexity can be seen in the mound building cultures of eastern North America. Ames and Maschner listed the aspects of socio-political and cultural complexity as: sedentism, built structures, social stratification, storage, embryonic property rights, dispute-resolution strategies, and elaborated ritual or symbolic life. Mound builders were found in eastern North America, with the greatest concentration of mounds found in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Mounds are a type of elaborate earthwork usually built of soil or shell with a variety of shapes, including flat topped, rounded, slight rises of the landscape, and geometric or animal shapes. Mounds were used for burials, territorial markers, some had temples

From three thousand BC to one thousand two hundred BC, this mighty nation lived. In Peru, near the city of Lima, scientists discovered a city. A sunken plaza, a big amphitheater, a city in ruins. Sadly, they disappeared. One of the skeletons they found, was a woman. By what the scientists could tell, she had a high status, and, based on what they found in the grave, this civilization practiced equality between men and women. I welcome you, to the oldest civilization, Norte Chico.

The Nacirema tribe is a North American group with a highly developed market economy that has evolved into a rich natural habitat. The underlying belief of the Nacirema is the human body is ugly and that it has a tendency to weakness and illness. The Nacirema believe that the condition of one’s mouth has influence on their social relationships and believe that if not in good condition, their lovers will leave them, their gums will bleed and their teeth will fall out, etc. So in order to maintain a healthy mouth, they perform a mouth-rite which is one of their daily body rituals, but this certain one involves moving a bundle of hog hair with magical powders sprinkled throughout around their mouths in order to cleanse and protect. Nacirema rituals

The Minoans were a civilization who flourished from 3000 BCE until 1100 BCE on the island of Crete, were greatly influenced by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians and the Anatolians (Britannica Encyclopedia). This civilization made major contributions to Western European development in the areas of language, architecture and art. It was the famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who made the astounding discoveries at Knossos in the early 1900’s that introduced to the world the fascinating and wonderful sophistication of these early Greeks (Britannica Encyclopedia). The history of the island has been molded by its proximity to the Aegean Sea. Its geographical location gave it control over the sea and the lucrative trade routes. The Minoans traded with Egypt, the Levant, the Aegean, and beyond to Italy, and Sicily.