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First Americans

The first Americans crossed into North America from Asia over a land bridge called Beringia around 34,000-30,000 BC, following game as their ancestors had for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence indicates that life was well established across North and South America by around 10,000 BC. Early Americans hunted large animals like mammoths but later relied more on plants, berries, and seeds as the large game died out. Corn, squash and beans were cultivated in central Mexico as early as 8,000 BC and spread northward, with corn being grown in present-day Arizona and New Mexico by 3,000 BC along with early irrigation systems. By AD 300, the Hohokam lived in settlements near Phoenix, Arizona

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61 views

First Americans

The first Americans crossed into North America from Asia over a land bridge called Beringia around 34,000-30,000 BC, following game as their ancestors had for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence indicates that life was well established across North and South America by around 10,000 BC. Early Americans hunted large animals like mammoths but later relied more on plants, berries, and seeds as the large game died out. Corn, squash and beans were cultivated in central Mexico as early as 8,000 BC and spread northward, with corn being grown in present-day Arizona and New Mexico by 3,000 BC along with early irrigation systems. By AD 300, the Hohokam lived in settlements near Phoenix, Arizona

Uploaded by

yelenin
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THE FIRST

AMERICANS

Y E L E N I N VA R G A S 4 - 8 1 0 - 4 4 9
THE FIRST AMERICANS
At the height of the Ice Age, between 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much of the world’s water was
locked up in vast continental ice sheets. As a result, the Bering Sea was hundreds of meters below
its current level, and a land bridge, known as Beringia, emerged between Asia and North
America.

At its peak, Beringia is thought to have been some 1,500 kilometers wide. A moist and treeless
tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals that early humans
hunted for their survival.
THE FIRST AMERICANS
• The first people to reach North America • Once in Alaska, it would take these first
almost certainly did so without knowing North Americans thousands of years more
they had crossed into a new continent. to work their way through the openings in
They would have been following game, as great glaciers south to what is now the
their ancestors had for thousands of years, United States.
along the Siberian coast and then across
the land bridge.
THE FIRST AMERICANS
• Evidence of early life in North America
continues to be found. Little of it, • Similar artifacts have been found at sites
however, can be reliably dated before throughout North and South America,
12,000 B.C.; a recent discovery of a indicating that life was probably already
hunting lookout in northern Alaska, for well established in much of the Western
example, may date from almost that time. Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000
So too may the finely crafted spear points B.C.
and items found near Clovis, New
Mexico.
THE FIRST AMERICANS
• Around that time the mammoth began
to die out and the bison took its place
as a principal source of food and hides
for these early North Americans.
• Over time, as more and more species
of large game vanished — whether
from overhunting or natural causes —
plants, berries, and seeds became an
increasingly important part of the
early American diet.
THE FIRST AMERICANS
• Gradually, foraging and the first attempts • By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn
at primitive agriculture appeared. Native was being grown in the river valleys of
Americans in what is now central Mexico New Mexico and Arizona. Then the first
led the way, cultivating corn, squash, and signs of irrigation began to appear, and, by
beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B.C. 300 B.C., signs of early village life.
Slowly, this knowledge spread northward.
THE FIRST AMERICANS

By the first centuries A.D., the Hohokam


were living in settlements near what is now
Phoenix, Arizona, where they built ball
courts and pyramid-like mounds reminiscent
of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal
and irrigation system.
Read the text above, then answer the questions below:
1. What is the name of the land bridge which emerged between Asia and North America during the last ice age?
A: The land bridge that sprung up between Asia and North America during the last ice age is called Beringia
2. Why did the first people cross into North America from Asia?
A: The first people to reach North America almost certainly did so without knowing they had crossed into a new
continent. They would have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian
coast and then across the land bridge.
3. According to archaeological artifacts, how long have human beings lived in the Western Hemisphere?
A: Similar artifacts have been found at sites throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably
already well established in much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000 B.C.
4. What animals were hunted by the earliest Americans?
A: They hunted the large animals.
5. How early was corn planted in what is now Arizona?
A: By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizona.
6. Describe life for the Hohokam of present-day Arizona.
A: The Hohokam were living in settlements near what is now Phoenix, Arizona, where they built ball courts and
pyramid-like mounds reminiscent of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal and irrigation system.
THANK YOU

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