Early Native Americans


Who were the Paleo People? 

 

 Fill in the characteristics of the Paleo People in the chart below.

Lifestyle

Paleo People were hunters and gatherers.  People were nomadic and needed to follow the animals to ensure that they could get meat.  They sometimes traveled long distances each year and traded over even greater distances. 

 

Time Period

10,000 - 8,000 B.C.

 

Climate/

Envioronment

End of the glacial era.  The temperature was colder than today.  Forests with pines, spruce, swamps.

 

Tools

Stone tools - spears, scrapers for cleaning hides, drills for making holes in hides, knives, gravers to engrave and design, and hammerstones to make stone tools.Bow and arrow to kill mammoths and mastodons.

 

Food

Paleo People hunted for meat and gathered plants.  They hunted mammoths and mastadons, caribou, elk, rabbits, ground squirrel, muskrats, and beaver also other small animals. They also gathered berries, seeds, and nuts.

 

House

Campsites.  They did not have permanent houses or dwellings.  Structures were probably made out of hides, sticks, and/or brush.

 

Settlement/

Group Size

Paleo People usually lived in small family groups of 10 to 15 people consisting of extended families (related siblings and their children).  They may have gathered in larger groups during the summer or special times of the year to trade and communicate with each other.

 

Religion/Rituals

None discovered.

 

   

 

 

 

Who were the Archaic People?

  Fill in the characteristics of the Archaic People in the chart below.

Lifestyle

Adapted to changing environment well.  Hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants.  lifestyle did not change because it was so successful (to survive easily).  Dogs were used for hunting, guarding settlements, and sometimes for food.  Settled in one area and concentrated living there instead of being nomadic.  Established trade networksThey put red iron ore on the corpses with cermonial beads, marine beads and copper ornaments in the mounds.

 

Time Period

 8,000 to 500 B.C.  Lasted longer than any other time period.

 

Climate/

Environment

Glaciers were gone from southern Wisconsin before northern Wisconsin. 

 

Tools

Use bone and antlers for tools; stones - grinders to process food; groundstone - used by striking two rocks together to make axes; banner stones - weights on the atlatl; and fishing gear; banner stones, spear points, sandstone (to smooth like sandpaper); modified flakes and hammerstones. Atlatl (at-il-at-ul) - used to make a spear fly faster and with more force.  Deer tendon used to bind spear points to sticks.  THe metate and mano were used for grinding seeds, plants and other foods.

 

Food

Hunted in smaller groups.  Mammoths were now extinct; hunted small animals (including elk, caribou, moose, deer, rabbits, raccoons, beaver, birds, ground squirrel, muskrat, fish, and shellfish).  Gathered seeds, berries, nuts, and fruits.  Used other plants for food as well.They also ate dogs in hard times.

 

House

Probably made homes from hide, sticks, and/or brush.   Lived in caves or rock shelters in the winter.

 

Settlement/

Group Size

Summer camps were 25-30 people, with groups breaking into small segments in the winter.  Still moved to take advantage of seasonal resources.  First settled in southern part of Wisconsin, then northern.

 

Religion/

Rituals

No religion known, but formal cemetaries were first used.

 

 

 

 

 

Who were the Woodland People?

  Fill in the characteristics of the Woodland People in the chart below.

Lifestyle

Woodland - Hunting and gathering, made pottery (straight sides and cone shaped bottoms) with temper (ground up rocks or sand on pottery to keep it from shrinking and cracking) - baked in open fire - carved with cords and decorated - shaped with paddles; had rock art - carved and painted pictures on rocks; had gardens (squash, beans, corn, and tobacco) and fished for food;

Mississippian - Kept some woodland traditions; farmers (corn, beans, squash); made pottery that was round like a pumpkin (ground clam shells instead of sand);  Elite individuals received special priveleges and goods from far away places.Corn agriculture appears to have been successful for Mississippian peoples.Mississippian people didn't want to give up Woodland ways so they blended it with Mississippian ways.

Oneota - Traded stones and copper; pottery was different that Mississippian pottery; farmers (corn, squash, beans, tobacco); first full scale farmers in Wisconsin; they used stones for flintknapping arrowheads for spears; Smoked pipes. They were the first farmers.

Time Period Woodland - Southern WIsconsin 500 BC to 1200 AD; Northern Wisconsins 500 BC to 1700 AD 

Mississippian - 1,000 AD to 1650 AD

Oneota - 1200-1650 AD

Climate/

Envioronment

Woodland - The climate is very similar to today unlike the Paleo people during the ice age.

Mississippian - Western Minnesota, Gulf Coast, Illinois, Grant and Vernon County. Climate and Environment were similar to today.

Oneota - nothing

Settlement/

Group Size

Woodland -Small groups 25 to 50 people then formed bigger groups from  100 to 500 when resources were scarce then would move back into smaller groups woodland people moved arund less then the previous groups did. 

Mississippian - By the time Missisippian ideas reached Wisconsin, they had been adapted into a uniquely Wisconsin form of Missisippian. The villages may have 50-100 who lived there year-round.  The center of Mississippian tradition was a site called Cahokia.  Lived on Platform Mounds and recieved exotic grounds.

Oneota - Settled groups of 100 people mostly around bodies of water.

Food Woodland -Hunters and gathers, Mostly ate deer, beaver, raccoons, muskrats, squirrels, fish, turtles, fresh water mussels, water fowl , wild rice, nuts, fruits, berries, Bison, and starchy seeds; Squash, corn, gourds, birds, sunflower seeds

Mississippian - Corns, beans, squash, deer, elk, bison, fish, small mamals, many wild plants, fruits, berries, corn and nuts. Also surpalas food that could be stored for lean years.

Oneota - Corn, squash beans, tabacco were grown. Berries seeds and nuts were gathered. Also hunted elk and, mussels, deer and buffalo.

Tools Woodland -Bow and arrow,knives  modified flakes  projectile points spear points, nets, hammerstones. arrow shafs. Mano and matate were used to process plants.Their arrowheads were smaller. Pipes?  

Mississippian - Small triangular arrowheads, bow & arrows, knives, scrapers, modified flakes,hammerstons,ground clam shells, pottery and so forth.

Oneota - Pottery was used; used stones for flintknapping; scrapers, drills, and bone awls.

House Woodland -Lived in rockshelters  found post molds( post molds are stains in the ground were posts used to be)  and campsites.

Mississippian -The Mississippian people lived in a stockade.

Oneota - Sometimes lived in longhouses; lived in villages; all different sizes

Religion/

Rituals

Woodland - Tribes would get together and build man made Mounds then they would bury anyone who had died since the last gathering.They put red iron ore on the corpses with cermonial beads, marine beads and copper ornaments in the mounds.

Mississippian - Platform mounds were used for ceremonies or possibly high ranking individuals lived there. Platform mounds were also used for burying the dead.

Oneota - Buried their dead in cemeteries or within the village; rather than construe burial mounds.

   

 

Wisconsin Native Americans
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