ANT 351 Lecture 6: Paleoindians
Paleoindians
-The Paleoindian period in North American refers to the time when people first inhabited
the New World
-encompasses the last stages of the Pleistocene (last ice age)
-There is no evidence of substantial human evolution in the New World. Paleoindians
were fully evolved humans
oknown as anatomically modern Homo sapiens
othought to be the ancestors of the modern Indians
-evidence of Paleoindian presence at least as early as 14,000 ya
-Bes evidence of Paleoindians is by Clovis culture
oThis has been well dated by the C-14 method to about 11,500 to 10,900
radiocarbon years BP, or about 13,325 - 12,975 calendar years ago
-They lived in the last glacial period is known as the Wisconsin or the Warm glaciation
-Much of north America at the time was covered with vast ice sheets up to several
thousand feet thick,
-Clovis people hunted large game such as mammoths and bison
-Used distinct spear points called Clovis points
-At the late Paleoindian period a new cultural patter appeared based on hunting and
gathering a wide variety of wild game and plant foods
oThis is the archaic
Environmental Context of Paleoindians
-The Wisconsin glaciation came at the end of the Pleistocene
oAbout 1.8 million to 10,000 years BP
-During the Pleistocene the were multiple points of cold and warm extremes
oCold = Glacial
oWarm = Interglacial
-Wisconsin glaciation dates from about 130,000 to 10,000 years BP
- glacial maximum (the maximum extent of glaciers) was about 18,000 to 15,000 years
BP.
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-climate over the past 10,000 years is known as the Holocene
-at the height of the Wisconsin glaciation, there were two massive ice sheets that
covered most of Canada and parts of the northern United States
o Laurentide (on the east) and the Cordilleran (on the west)
-Vegetation was vastly different
oparts of Florida were covered with sand dunes
oSW was a mosaic of pine woodland and scrub desert vegetation
-Ocean levels were vastly different
oDuring the height of the Wisconsin glacial period, oceans were 300 feet
lower than they are today
-Due to the lowered ocean levels, land bridges were exposed
oBering Land Bridge, also known as Beringia, that connected what is
now Siberia and Alaska
oNow, this land bridge is under the Bering and Chukchi Seas
oIt was about 1,000 miles wide and connected the New World (North America)
with the Old World (Europe and Asia)
-The Pleistocene was the time of the megafauna
oLarge bodied animals such as:
oMammoths
ogiant ground sloths
ocamels (now extinct species)
o bison (now extinct species)
o Horses (now extinct species)
ogiant birds
omastodon
oshort-faced bear
oAmerican lion
osaber-toothed cat
o dire wolf
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The paleoindian period in north american refers to the time when people first inhabited the new world encompasses the last stages of the pleistocene (last ice age) There is no evidence of substantial human evolution in the new world. Paleoindians were fully evolved humans: known as anatomically modern homo sapiens, thought to be the ancestors of the modern indians evidence of paleoindian presence at least as early as 14,000 ya. Bes evidence of paleoindians is by clovis culture: this has been well dated by the c-14 method to about 11,500 to 10,900 radiocarbon years bp, or about 13,325 - 12,975 calendar years ago. They lived in the last glacial period is known as the wisconsin or the warm glaciation. Much of north america at the time was covered with vast ice sheets up to several thousand feet thick, Clovis people hunted large game such as mammoths and bison. Used distinct spear points called clovis points.
