Early settlers
The earliest people in the Americas faced harsh condition. There were glaciers covering much of the north central portion of North America. After the tools and equipment they had brought with them from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley wore out they were forced to invent new tools and weapons from whatever materials were available. They made spear points from chipped stone and flint. They used them to hunt elephants, bison, mammoth, tapir, and camels, and smaller game, including deer, rabbits, and others.
Llano man
The earliest traces of these primitive hunters have been found in what is now the Great Staked Plains area of Texas Called Llano men by scientists these people made tools from bones and hammerstone.
Spear heads
The first big advance in their culture was the development of a more effective spearhead called the Folsom point (named for the area where it was discovered by archaeologist). This and another type spearhead called the Clovis point made it easier to hunt larger game. The knowledge of how to make these points was shared by migrating hunters and spread throughout the Americas.
Culture
Culture spread from one group to another in the Americas basically as a result of the migrating hunters. As people settled in villages cultures sprang up in many areas at the same time. They would not have had much influence on each other had it not been for the migrating hunters.
Danger Cave people
While Llano men using their Folsom point hunted mammoth a different culture developed in what is now the Great Basin Desert in the Southwest United States. These people lived in an area called Danger Cave. They wandered across the desert gathering wild grasses and plants for food. They developed a shallow milling stone for grinding parched wild seeds into flour. Woven baskets some of the oldest samples ever found were made by the Danger Cave people. They also made traps, nets, and snares to capture porcupines, rats, mice, and gophers which they roasted and ate with a gruel (porridge) made of ground seeds.
Poverty Point
Archaeologist discovered remains of an early civilization at Poverty Point Louisiana. Today Poverty Point is composed of six circular ridges shaped like an octagon 3/4 of a mile across. Across these mound are ridges and on the outer edge is located a hug irregular mound. Between the ridges deep pits have been discovered resembling those usually used for garbage around a large town. Archaeologists estimate that a least 600 homes were located there and were built about 1000 B.C. This makes Poverty Point the oldest North American civilization yet discovered. Poverty Point was a stone culture. The people ground a polished Hematite and other stones into balls, weights, and small ornaments. Flint, Chert, and quartzite were shaped to form blades, points and delicate punching and cutting tools. Although not much pottery has been uncovered small crude figurines always female have been discovered Tens of thousands of small baked clay ball and cylinder have been discovered. The Indians heated these balls in a fire dug a pit and buried the hot clay with meat they wished to cook. These clay "fire balls" were also used to heat water. Clay balls were used for cooking because early Indians did not have pans to place over the fire. The clay was often decorated by grooving punching, or squeezing an each housewife had her own favorite decorations. At least thirty-three smaller site similar to Poverty Point have been found at different places along the Mississippi River. Each has the major features of Poverty Point sit although archaeologist do not know if there was any relationship between the two areas.
Mound Builders
Most of the early cultures of North America were very primitive compared to the civilizations we have been studying. The earliest remains yet found are those of the Mound Builders. Mounds of earth were used by these people for tombs, defense, homes, and possibly religious purposes. The Mound builders although they sometimes hunted big game gathered seeds, nuts, and other wild plants for food.
Eastern North America
In the woodlands of eastern North America mammoths and other large leaf-eating animals moved south. At the end of the Ice Age the weather was too cold for them. The people living in this area were then forced to change their way of life. They began fishing, hunting deer, and other small game, and gathering edible plants. It was during this time that the North American people began making more complicated tools. They invented a perforated spear-thrower and made grooved axeheads, crude soapstone bowls, and pottery.
Shellfish-Eaters
Along the region of Western Tennessee from the Mississippi Fiver to Florida lived a people now called the Shellfish-Eaters. Huge mounds of empty shells dated about 1,000 B.C. mark the places where these early people lived. In Lake Superior area of northern Wisconsin people discovered copper deposits and began making copper tools and spear points. Adzes and gouges (developed for carving wood) and slate knives have been discovered in the area now know as the state of New York.