The Jim and Vanita Oelschlager
Native American Ethnographic Collection
"Drums, Tomahawks, and the Horse: Native American Cultural Tools"
Who were the people now called First Americans?
The ideas, theories, and beliefs about how humans first came to the Western Hemisphere are varied and changing as scientific knowledge grows. Archaeological research, climate studies, and human genetics all contribute to the collection of knowledge and on-going debates.
Along with the science, we must also consider the long tradition and spiritual beliefs of the Native people themselves. Most Native American belief systems assert that they have always been in North America. Tribal creation narratives reflect the geographical regions, resources, and long cherished beliefs in the connections between humans and the natural world.
Understanding both the spiritual beliefs and the archaeological evidence that early peoples left in stone is critical to understanding the history and lives of contemporary Native Americans.
Glaciers and Sea Levels
The ability for humans and animals to live and migrate through the northwest part of the Western Hemisphere was determined by the presence or absence of ice-free zones. These had to be open for long periods to accommodate the growth of plants that would support animals both large and small. Animals, including humans, probably migrated over tens of thousands of years; the search for clues about these migrations continues in archaeology and related fields.
What is known is that about 17,000 years ago there were ice-free areas exposed by melting glaciers along the Pacific coast and inland, through Alaska. Significantly the seas were about four hundred feet lower than in modern times and a large landmass, called the Bering Land Bridge, connected what is now Siberia and Alaska. These ice-free areas allowed migration of animals of all sorts to move in both directions. For example, archaeological sites in northern North America contained bones of small, prehistoric horses, but no later forms. This suggests the horse evolved in North America, but died out here soon after the end of the Pleistocene Era. Some of the species however migrated west across the Bering Land Bridge and over thousands of years evolved to become the modern horse on the Eurasian steppes. Modern horses then returned with the Spanish in the 1600s.
Numerous Archaeological Theories:
The Land Bridge Theory
This theory is the most accepted and is supported by artifacts. Early hunters and gatherers crossed the Bering Straits land bridge and followed an ice-free corridor south into warmer climates, about 14,000 BCE or earlier. They were following large animals such as mastodon and wooly mammoth but also hunted deer, elk, and other animals.
The Sea Route Theory
People followed the ancient coastline from Siberia in small boats. The seas were nearly four hundred feet lower at that time because so much water was frozen in the glaciers. This sea route would have required sturdy boats of wood and hide, as the seas would have been very rough. There are no artifacts yet found to support this theory.
The Multiple Migration Theory
This theory states that multiple migrations of diverse populations from several different points in Asia occurred before the last glaciation. Stone tools, bones, even chucks of mastodon meat have been found preserved in a peat bog in the far south of Chile, dating to at least 12,500 years ago.
And--- We were Always Here
Most Native American tribes retain beliefs that their people have always been here, since the world was made. Most have very complex stories of how the world and their people came to be. These creation stories vary from one geographical region to another and reflect the people’s connection with the natural world.
The Iroquois creation stories include creation by a woman who fell from the sky and landed on the back of a giant turtle. She went on to create the world as we know it.
The Ojibwa creation story centers on a culture-hero and trickster, Nanabozho. The story begins with his birth and continues through his creation of a new world after a flood.
Native American tribes of the Great Plains hold a number of creation stories sacred. The connection between the spirit world and the people is demonstrated in rituals of vision quests, and in the belief in the White-Buffalo-Calf Woman spirit who guided the people and could save them from disappearing.
In the Southwest, creation of the Hopi people is one of several stages of emergence from another existence into this world. The people still move through various stages and processes during life. The Hopi believe all things that are Hopi are sacred.
The Trail of Artifacts
Artifacts are one type of evidence for understanding archaeological excavations, and many artifacts are tools. Most artifacts that have survived in archaeological sites were made of different kinds of stone, including flint and obsidian. Tools such as points (arrowheads), scrapers, hammer stones, and axes provide information about the past. Bones, antlers, and shells were also important materials for tools, but many other types were made of more perishable materials, such as wood, reeds, woven grasses, hide, and other materials. These were used to make fishnets, traps, mats, and shelters. But such artifacts tend to deteriorate over time due to moisture, freezing, and thawing. More artifacts are preserved in climates that are dry; thus there are more types of artifacts, especially pottery found, in the Southwest.
It is commonly thought that the early prehistoric people lived largely by hunting big game, but they also hunted smaller animals, fished, and used a large variety of wild plants, depending on the geographic region. But, there are many unanswered questions about prehistoric life. Common questions arise, such as how would they have built small boats that could survive along the ocean shore, how did they decide to use one plant and not another, why did they use particular symbols and not others, and what was their life expectancy? The trail of artifacts tells only a small part of the story of migration and survival of the first peoples; the trail is far more complex than we yet have the tools to discern.
The map indicates a few of the early archaeological sites that have been researched over the years. It is very important to protect these sites as they are our clues to the past. When archaeological sites are disturbed by looters and pothunters, the potential information the site holds about the past and the artifacts are lost forever. The federal government now protects many archaeological sites as parks and historic monuments and has instituted laws against unauthorized hunting for artifacts.
Meadowcroft
(17,000 – 11,000 BCE) – Along the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania.
Although the dating is debated, the site is rich in artifacts such as point types, and bone and shell tools. Testing revealed that the people used or ate nuts, seeds, various fibers, fish, and small animals.
Mummy Cave
(7300 BCE)
Northeastern Wyoming.
This cave archaeological site has thirty-eight occupation levels. The sandals represent artifacts that were preserved due to dry conditions. They are made of yucca plant fiber with tanned hide on top.
Clovis
(13,000 BCE) – Blackwater Draw site, Clovis, New Mexico.
In North American archaeology, the people who made the Clovis points or arrowheads are still considered one of the earliest cultures. The Clovis site is famous for a point type, made with a fluted base. This point type remains the earliest, most widespread, and consistent tool type found. Their actual size varied according to the stone used for knapping and the type of animal hunted.
Hopewell
(100 BCE – 400 CE) – Central Ohio, Scioto River Valley, Ohio.
It seems that Hopewell followed the Adena culture, but built grander burial mounds with more elaborate grave artifacts. The raw material for these grave goods came from distant sources, such as obsidian from Yellowstone and copper from Lake Superior. Hopewell culture was widespread and had connections with similar mound sites west in Illinois.
Chaco Canyon
(100 – 450 CE) – National Historical Park, New Mexico.
The Chacoan people lasted more that three hundred years. Using masonry techniques unique for their time, they villages. constructed massive stone buildings (Great Houses) of
multiple stories containing hundreds of rooms much larger that any they had previously built. Sophisticated astronomical markers, communication features, water control devices, and formal earthen mounds surround the buildings. These people were ancestral to both the people of Bandelier and modern Pueblo
Poverty Point
(1200 BCE) – Louisiana.
This site near the mouth of the Mississippi River contains massive earth mounds; the largest is seventy feet high. It is estimated that it would have taken almost three million man-hours to build the embankments around the site. Such a large number of labor hours required a centralized system of authority such as chiefdom.
Marpole
(400 BCE) – Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada.
The Marpole stage began about 200 CE and had artifacts consistent with other early Northwest Coast societies, such as tools for woodworking and objects to include in burials, denoting status.
Serpent Mound
(500 – 100 BCE)
Adams County, Ohio.
The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot-long, three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound located on a plateau of the Serpent Mound crater along Ohio Brush Creek. It is the largest effigy mound and is part of the Fort Ancient Tradition (1000-1500 CE).
Mesa Verde
National Park
(700 CE) – Colorado.
The most famous of the southwestern archaeological sites, Mesa Verde is an example of villages and housing built into cliffs. It began with small villages on the mesas above, but it seems an increased concern for security encouraged more cliff housing and the construction of two- and three-story towers. Population may have reached 7,000. Crop production was still practiced on the mesa tops.
Bandelier National Monument
(1000 CE) – Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This prehistoric community contains over three thousand archaeological sites inhabited over a long period of time, but by 1200 CE the villages became larger, with some exceeding six hundred rooms. The people of Bandelier are ancestral to present-day Pueblo people.
Cahokia
(700 -1500 CE) – East St. Louis, Illinois.
Part of the widespread Mississippian Tradition, Cahokia is the second largest prehistoric city in North America. The communities included platform mounds, with temples and elite residences on the top. These were arranged around a central plaza.
One of the many unique features at Cahokia is Monks Mound, the largest mound in North America. The mound has four terraces and is one hundred feet high and located on sixteen acres.