12000 - 8001 B.C.
INDIAN HISTORY 8000 - 3001 B.C.
INDIAN HISTORY Return to MAIN Pre-History INDEX
12,000 B.C.
Butchered mammoth is discovered at Bluefish Caves just fifty kilometers south of Old Crow, Yukon. This site tells us very little of the cultural affiliations of the People. At this time the natives in Chile had a colony of 56 people, used wooden weapons, stone balls as missiles, lived in wooden homes and hunted Mastodon. The last ice age is declining and the ice caps still held the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River in their grip. Lake Erie (Lake Arkona) is free from ice but it continues to drain into Southern Lake Michigan (Lake Chicago) then down the Wabash River (meaning white water) to the Mississippi (meaning big river). As the Great Lakes became ice free the animals such as, mastodon, cervalces, a type of fallow deer with antlers ten feet wide related to the Irish elk, dire wolves, deer, giant grizzly bear, giant beaver and musk ox populated the area. Early man usually followed the animals as they migrated into new lands. Lake Maumee (Arkona) or (Lake Erie) is believed about this time to have changed course and began creating the Niagara Gorge. The present Niagara Falls is a later route south of the original flow route.
Some suggest the St. Lawrence River opened about this time diverting the Canadian glacial waters from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence causing a minor ice age. Coral samples from offshore Newfoundland suggesting a mini ice age that developed within a five-year period.
The Siberia Chukchi people who are the genetic and linguistic ancestors of the Canadian Inuit are living in the Chukchi Peninsula on the Bering Straight. They continue to occupy this territory to present times.
The Fluted Clovis point spearhead used to hunt mammoths appears all over North America. Clovis point man has been found in the Peace River, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Washington, and Mexico. This unprecedented form of stone point has the conservatives puzzled, as it requires a very rapid spreading to fit their hypothesis. Conservatives suggest the Clovis Point likely only dates to 10,500 B.C. Another problem with this technology is that few Clovis points are discovered in Alaska and no Clovis points in Siberia except those dated 6,300 B.C. at Uptar. All evidence supports a south to north migration of this technology. Latest thinking is that Clovis points originated in Central America. The Clovis technology may have migrated from America to Asia. Many conservative scientists resort to science fiction type theories to explain these and other anomalies. A submerged sinkhole in North Florida's Aucilla River discovered flat and fluted points that predates Clovis point by at least 1,000 years.
Much evidence suggests the interior of North America is peopled by a migration from the West Coast California to British Columbia. Paleo Plains Peoples are believed to have migrated across the mountains to the plateau of B.C. Evidence is mounting to support the contention that the Pre-Clovis man is a different people not related to the Clovis race. The Triangular point people of Monte Alegre in the Amazon adds to the confusion even though it dates to 9,200 B.C. and is associated with cave paintings. Clovis points are not associated with cave paintings suggesting a different culture.
Pre-Clovis peoples occupied Idaho at Wilson Butte Cave.
The Monte Verde, Chile area is Carbon dated to
earlier than this date and the findings are verified by a nine person team
from the National Geographic Society and the Dallas Museum of Natural History.
Even the most skeptical now agree that mans arrived North America before
20,000 B.C.(*) This site contain dwellings, a piece of mastodon meat,
a child’s foot print among 700 other artifacts and suggest occupation from
about 30,000 B.C. These people lived in long houses built on log
foundations. The have trade goods from distant regions as far as
150 miles away. They used 45 different editable plants including
potatoes suggesting their harvest approaches agriculture. (*) French Archeologists suggest the arrival of humans to America predates
50,000 B.C.
There is significant Palo-Indian activity in California, a shift is taking place
from a sea food and agriculture (gathering?) base to a hunting culture with the
development of the Clovis point. Some suggest these changes are caused by
climatic change. This is also about the time that the Algonquin People
began to migrate from California to Canada. Some however would also
migrate to the east coast of America.
Southwestern Pennsylvania exposed hearths, stone tools, deer bones with knife markings all suggesting human habitation.
Paleo-People are in Florida at this time.
A skull uncovered in Brazil looks more African or Aboriginal Australian than Native American.
Aucilla River, Florida a carved mastodon ivory tusk is uncovered along with other tools.
The conservatives call this period the Late Migration to America vs. the Early Migration of 22,000 B.C. plus.
Studies at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru suggest from 13,000 to 11,000 B.C. was a vary dry period. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on earth at 12,580 feet and sits between Bolivia and Peru. It is believed to be occupied from this period to current times. So far 5 civilizations, dating from 5,000 B.C., one on top of the other has been excavated, the last being the Inca. It some previous time this lake was at sea level and/or flooded by sea water leaving deposits of sea shells throughout the area. It is now 13,300 feet above sea level. A causeway at the 9,000 foot level is built on a bed of sea shells fossils that some speculate was originally at sea level.
11,800 B.C.
Two pre-Clovis sites in Virginia, Saltville, S.W. of Blacksburg dates to this period.
11,700 B.C.
Monta Verde, south central Chile contains evidence of grinding stones used to process plant food. Plant remains including wild potatoes, medicinal plants and salt rich plants likely harvested from 30 Km distant. This site causes major problems to other long held theories.
This was a Global warming period when Greenland experienced a 10 degree C. temperature that happened in one or two years and likely lasted 50 years like the Global warming of 12,700 B.C. and core samples showed plant and insects in the area now covered by 2 km of ice.
11,500 B.C.
The Clovis Point People (12,500-10,900) is the earliest and only universally accepted American culture by the ultra conservatives. Some believe the Clovis Point was introduced by the Solutrean culture of France and Spain which existed from 19,000 to 15,000 B.C. There arguement is the technologies are very similar and not found in Eastern Asia, Siberia or Beringia. It is proposed they followed the edge of the pack ice during the glacial maximum like the Inuit culture. DNA analysis tends to support this hypothesis.
11,200 B.C.
Pre-Clovis People likely Algonquian and Athabascan speaking Peoples occupied Oregon at Fort Rock Cave in south central Oregon. They used milling stones, projectile points and scrapers.
St. Mary Reservoir suggests Clovis Man is migrating northward hunting the horse. This lends support to the ocean migration theory and discredits the north south ice free corridor theory.
11,000 B.C.
Some believe about this time that the Peoples of the Plains and Mountain West differentiated into the Proto, Waukeshan, Siouan and Algonkian speaking peoples. It is more likely these linguistic groups predate this period.
A woman’s (Arlington Springs woman) bones are discovered on the California Channel Islands lending more support to migration by sea rather than the land bridge theory. It is assumed the only way to reach the island is by boat. These bones are slightly older than bones found in Montana, Idaho and Texas. She may be the earliest inhabitant of North America discovered to-date. The find has not yet been subjected to critical review. The bones were discovered 40 years ago but only recently subjected to DNA and radiocarbon testing.
A skeleton of a 26 year old woman is discovered in Mexico City, unlike native American remains. This Penon skeleton suggests Mexico was populated by two distinct waves of people. The first being possible Ainu People from Japan and the second American Indians believed by some to have come from China..
Genetic studies suggest Caucasian and African genes entered the Americas about this time.
Studies at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru suggest from 11,000 to 9,500 B.C. was a vary wet period, following a very dry period..
A mastodon was killed by humans in Venezuela.
Three skeletons were discovered in underwater caves off the Caribbean coast of Yucatan in 65 foot deep water. Ocean water levels at this time were about 100 feet below present levels.
Evidence suggests the world was struck by cosmic rays and debris from an exploding star that was world wide but its epicenter of destruction was the Hudson Bay. Evidence suggests an earlier supernova struck earth in 30,000 B.C. It is believed these altered the path of human evolution causing climate change, destruction of mega-faun species and the sudden appearance of A & B type blood
10,900 B.C.
Much of American archaeology rests on the Clovis point theory which assumes this technology arrived America 10,900 to 10,550 from Asia across the Bering Straits. It assumes this technology spread to 16,000 finds in the United States. Unfortunately no Clovis points are found in Asia and 75% are found east of the Mississippi and 40% are found in the Southeast suggesting this is the arrival point of this technology. Others argue the spread of Clovis point does not support the Asia migration nor the start of Clovis dating as 10,900 B.C.
10,800 B.C.
A massive comet struck northern Canada causing a mini ice age called Younger Dryas or the Big Freeze that lasted 1,300 ±70 years, it also caused massive forest fires causing pyro-convections into the stratosphere sending tonnes of CO2 around the world. Some believe this contributed the extinction of the mammoth. Others believe it was caused by a sudden influx of fresh water from Lake Agassiz (Manitoba). However both these theories don't explain why South America cooled first.
10,500 B.C.
The Tehuelche People occupied the lower tip of South America since this time. Their God who created heaven and earth was called Kooch. The Spaniards first encountered them in 1520. They were shot, poisoned and driven from their lands to make way for European sheep farming. The last Tehuelche died in 1960. Their only Legacy is the 'Cave of the Hands' to mark their passing.
10,300 B.C.
Ocean levels began to raise some 130 meters cutting off the Canadian West Coast migration plains thereby isolating pockets of early man. Evidence of flooding is not only found on the sea floor, it is also evident on the Queen Charlottes and in native legends. The flooding is believed gradual, as Current Ocean levels are not attained until about 9,500 B.C. Other evidence suggests the flooding is not gradual and may have occurred in a ten year period.. Others suggest ocean levels are 60 meters or 197 feet below current levels. Current levels were not attained until about 2,000 B.C.
10,000 B.C. Indisputable evidence of Canada's repopulation is evidenced. Some however believe Canada had a population throughout the Ice Age. There were certainly people in the Pacific coast islands as they were free of glaciations.
It is believed that the Migration from Europe to America occurred about this time period. This was deduced by genetic markers among the Ojibwa Peoples. Its possible the migration was from America to Europe as the gene is not found in Asia.
The Northwest Coast of America, namely Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon host two distinct traditions, one derived from the north, the other from the south.
The Oregon People include Bannock, Chinook, Klamath, Modoc and Nez Perce.
The Bluefish Caves in the Yukon are occupied, as are the Pikimachy Cave in Peru. Paleolithic people migrated to Western North America. They are big game hunters using BI-facial projectile points that are channeled and not found in the Old World. Others speculate these people migrated from South America. Early man is well established in Central America to the tip of South America. Others speculate Paleolithic natives are the first to migration to America speaking Amerind (which covers most of the People's languages) and those later migrations include the Aleut-Eskimo and finally the Na-Dene (Athapascan). One would expect that someone who recently emigrated from Asia should have the same tool set as their Asia source. This is not the case. The Great Lakes are freed of ice except Western Lake Superior and Northern Lake Huron. Evidence suggests the Fraser Valley and Southern Manitoba are occupied at this time.
Skeleton DNA in Alaska can be traced to modern Japan and Tibet populations as well as aboriginal groups along the west coast of north and south America. This suggests a west coast migration and not an interior content migration as previously believed. Unfortunately most archeological sites are inundated under water in post-glacial B.C., however the hunt goes on..
Banff Park is occupied and evidence suggests the Paleo Peoples negotiated
the mountain passes like the Palliser, Bow, Devils Gap and the Kicking
Horse with ease. The Queen Charlottes are populated by the Proto
Athapascan Haida and Vancouver Island by the Nootka and Waukeshan.
This likely implies that these and earlier peoples are seafarers.
Divers in the Little Salt Spring sinkhole discovered a tortoise killed
with a wooden stake driven into it and dated to about this period.
Some contend the practice of mummification began about this time in Peru. Others suggest it began about 7,000 to 5,000 B.C. The people believed the dead stayed with the living. It is interesting to note that when the Egyptians adopted this practice about 3,000 B.C. they believed the dead went to a far off place.
The Browns Valley Man of Minnesota resembled the Greenland Eskimo and his jawbone is much wider than the Mound Builders or Heidelberg man.
The Paleo-Indian migrated into Indiana as the ice sheet retreated. During the Paleo-Indian period 10,000 to 5,000 B.C. numerous animal species disappeared, namely; the horse, camel, mammoth, mastodon, giant ground sloth, Liama, giant beaver, glyptodont, giant peccary, woodland musk ox, saber-toothed cat, cheetah, and many others. During this same period, mass extensions are noted in South America, Eurasia and Australia.
The upper reaches of the Mississippi River contain a 6 foot long giant beaver, mammoth, mastodon, caribou and horses.
Recent genetic findings suggest that the people now known as Gaelic speaking Celts (including Irish, Welsh, Scots, Basques and Berbers) are a remnant of a group of people who also left Spain 12,000 years ago and spent 6,000 years isolated from Europe before returning, bringing the Megalithic culture to coastal Europe.
Some suggest Elephants, lions and camels are roaming Alaska about this time?
A saber-toothed cat is discovered in La Brea Tar Pits in California.
9,700 B.C.
We some times think of Lake Agassiz (Manitoba)., that covered much of North central North American Prairies, as a single event. Lake Agassiz likely preceded the years 10,300, 12,000, and 15,000 B.C. as the ice sheet advanced/retreated due to glacial seasons of global cooling/heating.
9,500 B.C.
In the Wyoming and Colorado region over the next five hundred years are many big-game hunting sites of mammoth, giant bison, camel and horse. They also include milling stones.
The Flinted-Point People arrived Lake Superior staying until 8,200 B.C.
A Rio team suggests a skull found in Brazil belonged to a woman from Africa or aboriginal (Australia) descent. Some believe she might be one of the Australian aborigines who arrived by boat..
This marks the end of Younger Dryas or Big Freeze period (10,800-9,500 B.C.). Two theories exist for the cause, one suggests it was a sudden influx of fresh water into the Arctic from Lake Agassiz (Manitoba) and others suggest it was caused by a comet striking northern Canada, causing massive forest fires and pyro-convection sending tonnes of CO2 into the stratosphere causing global cooling. However both are unable to explain why South America cooled first. It is more likely that volcanism in the southern hemisphere caused the global cooling. There have been a few short-lived cold snaps since: one 8000 years ago, another 5000 years ago and another 4000 years ago, and the 'Little Ice Age' of the 1700's but nothing like Younger Dryas..
Studies at Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru suggest from 9,500 to 8,000 B.C. was a vary dry period, following a wet period.
9,300 B.C.
The Nenana complex in Alaska contains no microblades and may represent a culture related to the Clovis people of America. They may have migrated to Asia.
9,200 B.C.
The Triangular point people of Monte Alegre, in the Amazon are associated with cave paintings. They didn't hunt mammoth and bison but fish, rodents, turtles, and birds. They likely had boats, as the fish were nearly five feet long. Clovis points are not associated with cave paintings suggesting a different culture.
9,000 B.C.
Ojibwa religious history claims the Anishinaubag (spontaneous Man) or more literally the beginning of the Pre-Ojibwa culture began near the Great Salt Water of the East Coast, at this time of the New World. The creation of the New World follows the end of the ice age. It is during this period that the People suffered the ravages of sickness and death (Medawewin), the Great Spirit, at the intercession of Manabosho (Algonguian uncle or Proto-Ojibwa Great Spirit), the great common uncle of the Anishinaubag (Ojibwa) granted them the rite wherewith life is restored and prolonged. It is noteworthy that the Pre-Ojibwa are believed to have migrated from California.
The Russell Cave in Alabama, some believe, represents the migrating cultures from 9,000 B.C. to 1650 A.D. but could equally represent the range of trade. The cave contained artifacts from the north, such as the jointed fish hooks and the Aztec athath from the south.
North of Lake Ontario the people are hunting caribou, grizzly bears, Arctic fox, california vultures, mammoths and mastodons.
Lake Huron is freed from ice but Western Lake Superior is still ice locked. Paleolithic Peoples are in central and eastern Canada using variations of the channeled points called Clovis. Many Paleolithic sites are established at the base of the glaciers on the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, Labrador and Newfoundland. One Paleolithic site is located at Vermilion Lake, Alberta. Another site dating to this period is Lake Minnewanka near Banff, Alberta. The great glacial lake Agassiz, really an Inland Sea, larger than all the Great Lakes combined covering most of Manitoba, began to drain into the Hudson Bay. Lake Souris to the south drained into the Missouri (meaning muddy river) River system. Some contend Newfoundland is not occupied until about 5,000 B.C. However, at Debert, Nova Scotia evidence suggests caribou are being hunted by Paleo-Peoples. Other evidence suggests Maritime Archaic peoples occupy much of the Maritimes.
A Wooly Mammoth is butchered in Wisconsin. It is about forty years old when it was killed.
Between 9,000 to 3,000 B.C. Minnesota Man is evident during the retreat of the so called Lake Agassiz II period in this region.
Vancouver's peninsula began rising from below sea level, emerging from its frigid burial beneath a mile of ice. The Old Cordillera (Cascade) culture of the Columbia River Valley, British Columbia began about 9,000 B.C. and lasted to 5,000 B.C. including fishing and edible wild plants indicated a wide based economy. The natives of Utah, Nevada and Arizona are grinding seeds and using woven containers. The Spanish would later consider Arizona as Arida Zona or dry zone; the Aztec however would call it Arizuma or silver bearing region. During this period to 5,000 B.C. many of the large mammals disappeared, first in the lower latitudes, then in the North as well. Some Natives followed the herds north but eventually most peoples are forced into some form of agriculture. The disappearance of the Ice Age animals cleared the prairies for the buffalo (Bison) that flourished. The Great Plains nourished an estimated 60 to 70 million bison with a combined weight greater than all the people alive in Canada and the United States in the 1990's. They lived among 50 million pronghorn antelope, millions of elk and deer not to mention the 5 billion prairie dogs. The buffalo is a descendent of the Siberian Bison. Kill sites to this period contained the larger Colombian mammoth and Clovis Points but is quickly being replaced by the buffalo and the Folsom point. The first buffalo is much larger than the more modern buffalo. Canada still retained the Clovis point whereas the United States is basically Folsom man. This may indicate the beginning of a cultural differentiation between Canada and the United States people.
Alaskan sites of Paleo Arctic microblade suggests a northeastern Asia
origin.
Evidence suggests that Pre-Clovis man still exist along with Clovis
man in the Americas. Most conservatives will accept that people had
reached the southern most tip of South America about this time.
The Pacific North West Coast People between 9,000 to 5,000 B.C. have no fluted point which suggests they were not influenced by the Paleo-Indian cultures. It would appear that these people have a culture more aligned with Mexico or Asia. The culture appears to be based on a culture of, heredity - wealth - prestige. The Paleo-People of North America culture was based on a caring - sharing - philosophy. The Coast Peoples are paternalistic where as the Paleo-People are matriarchal. The Coast People have a strong chief tradition whereas the Paleo-People used shared leadership, no chiefs. The Coast People have a strong need for social rank whereas the Paleo-People didn't see a need for this, it was more based on skills for social rank. The Coast People held slaves distinct and apart, the Paelo-People a slave would be adopted into the tribe with equal rights and responsibilities. The interesting thing about the Coastal People is the potlatch which appears to put the caring/sharing philosophy into a type of religious ceremony rather than being incorporated into everyday life. If this culture came from Mexico you would expect it to influence the California culture, which it didn't. The other alternative is they were influenced by wave after wave of Asian immigration after 5,000 B.C. The Coastal People made a major cultural change about 5,000 B.C. It is noteworthy that the tribes in the north, kinship is passed down through women, mid coast tribes were split on kinship between men and women and in the south kinship is passed through the men..
Algonquian and Athabascan speaking Peoples occupy and dominate northwestern California and this likely represent a general historical stability in this region for thousands of years. Evidence suggests they likely migrated from the Columbia Fraser River Plateau region likely being driven south by the advancing ice. It is noteworthy that California contains some 500 separate ethnic groups with a likely population of 350,000 people. The Penutian, Shoshonean and Yuman-speaking peoples dominate central and Southern California. The scattered and broken distribution of Hokan speaking people throughout California suggests they may represent the remnants of a more ancient people to the region. Human skulls from Laguna Beach and Los Angeles date to 15,000 and 21,000 B.C. but others suggest they date closer to this period.
The builders of the majestic towns, cliff dwellings and 500 miles of irrigating canals of the south west began about this time. Some attribute this culture to the Anasazi during their 700 year occupation of the region. The peoples before and after the Anasazi suggest a continuous culture even to modern times. I was truly impressed at their construction of apartment complexes that housed 100's of people in one structure.
8,600 B.C.
Paleolithic Peoples established a kill site at Camp Debert, Nova Scotia. Most artifacts uncovered are found in or near hearths. This could be the possible site of the origin of the Ojibwa people near the Great Salt Water. The Great Megis (sea-shell) likely represents the sun that rises above the salt water gave warmth and light (enlightenment) to the Anishinaubag (Proto-Ojibwa).
Some believe beans and peppers are being cultivated in the highlands of Peru.
8,500 B.C.
The Guitarrero cave suggests that beans, peppers, various tubers and fruits are being cultivated.
Alaska tools and bones of a man revealed he lived on a marine diet proving more evidence that people lived along the coast.
Some believe the Plano People arrived about this time in the Lake Superior region, staying until about 6,000 B.C. They are believed to arrived via the plains between the Rocky Mountains, Hudson Bay into Michigan and Lake Superior, as far as Cape Breton Island. They were preceded by the Flinted-Point People but it is known they occupied the same regions at the same time. These could be the ancestors of the Algonquian Peoples. The soils of newly uncovered Lake Superior was too acidic to sustain good agriculture until about 3,000 B.C.
A skull discovered in Brazil suggests its ancestors may have originated in Africa or aboriginal Australia.
8,400 B.C.
The Crowfield site between Lake Erie and Lake Huron uncovered a burial site with nine fluted points, numerous bifaces, scrapers and heat fractured flakes in a pit-like structure, likely a cremation pit. Its possible this represents the western migration of the Ojibwa peoples as recorded in their sacred traditional history. The Megis representing warmth and light reflected itself on the Anishinaubag (Proto-Ojibwa) of the Great River that drains the Great Lakes.
8,200 B.C
A site in Peru called Pampa de Fosiles suggests that by their teeth remains they have a plant dominated diet rather than a hunting culture. This is considered the end of the Paleo-People and the beginning of the early Archaic 8,000 to 6,000 B.C.
In the Yucatan a camp fire is discovered that carbon dates to this time.
8,000 B.C
A Caucasoid skeleton is discovered in Spirit Cave, Nevada.
The Aymaria People of the High Andean Plains of Doliva speak of a gigantic flood about this time. Geological evidence seems to support this tradition.
The Haida have been living Queen Charlotte Islands since about this time. The Haida culture peaked at about 30,000 people and after contact with Europeans the population dropped to 600 members by 1915.
DNA analysis suggests the African bottle gourd are in sites from the mid-Atlantic to Peru about this time.
DNA from bone marrow of 1,500 year old (500 A.D.) mummies found in northern Chile was analyzed. The results show that a virus associated with adult T-cell leukemia was prevalent in native Andeans and in a small section of people from southwest Japan. The study also theorizes that the virus may have originated from paleo-Mongoloids who migrated to Japan (the Ainu Peoples) and South America more than 10,000 years ago (8,000 B.C.). This was based on mitochondrial DNA PCR study.
INDIAN HISTORY Return to MAIN Pre-History index