Added August 27, 2000. Updated May 8,
2004, 06:01 –5 GMT.
Since it appears that there is relatively
little readily available information in many parts of the world on American
Archaeology, this Internet page aims to inform archaeologists on the subject.
The aim is to facilitate Comparative Archaeology as defined on the home page of the Comparative Archaeology WEB©.
This page will be refined and improved as
deemed necessary and useful.
The Comparative Archaeology WEB:
Chronology of America©
By
Maximilian O. Baldia ©
All
rights reserved May 30, 1999 to May 8, 2004
Introduction
America is
named after the Italian navigator Amerigo
Vespucci (1451-1512 AD). The
German geographer Martin Waldseemüller
in his popular account of his travels first used the name in 1507. It
originally referred only South America and the West
Indies. “America”
now refers to the United States of America
(USA or US).
“The Americas”
includes the entire western hemisphere, which in some parts of the world is
viewed as a single continent. However, in the US North and South
America are considered separate continents. In addition, North American archaeologists
customarily divide lands of the western hemisphere into three broad
regions: North America,
Central or Mesoamerica, and South America.
North and South America together make up more than
46% of the earth’s land. North America is the
third largest continent with 24 235 280 square kilometers
(km2). By comparison Europe is less than half
the size or 10 530 750 km2. For this reason, the
primary focus of this chronology is, at least for the moment, the continental US
archaeology, which includes adjacent parts of Canada
and Mexico.
The Culture Areas
Given the vast area, North American Archaeologists subdivide North
America into archaeological culture areas (Map), ranging from the Arctic
and Subarctic in Canada
and Alaska to the Mesoamerican
culture area in the south. This culture area approach is a useful (but perhaps
somewhat oversimplified) way to organize the numerous cultures and people of America’s
past. Therefore, the chronological table below follows the culture area
approach as delineated by Willey (1966). However, the Arctic,
Subarctic, and Meso or Central America are not included
here.
Table 1: Chronology of North American
Archaeology by Culture Area (Click on green
bold text for link for more information, including photos of archaeological
sites. Note that the Paleo-Indian Period is the same link for all regions.)
|
Eastern Woodlands
|
Plains
|
Southwest
|
Great Basin
|
California
|
Interior
Plateau
|
Northwest
Coast
|
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
11 000 – 7500 B.C.
|
Paleo-Indian
10 000
– 8000
B.C.
|
|
Archaic
7500
– 900 B C.
|
Archaic
7500
B.C. – A.D. 500
|
Archaic
7500
B.C. – 200 B.C.
|
Archaic
7500
B.C. – A.D. 1700
|
Archaic
7500
B.C. – AD. 1700
|
Cascade
7500 – 4000 B.C.
|
Early
Archaic
8000
B.C. – 4000 B.C.
|
|
Woodland
900 B.C.
– A.D. 900
|
Prehistoric
A.D.
500 – 1550
|
Basketmaker
200 B.C. – A.D. 700
|
Prehistoric
A.D.
1700 – 1850
|
Proto
Historic
A.D.
1700 - 1850
|
Tucannon
4000
B.C. – A.D. 500
|
Middle
Archaic
4000
B.C. – A.D. 500
|
|
Mississippian
A.D.
900 – 1600
|
Proto
Historic
A.D.
1550 – 1750
|
Pueblo
A.D. 700 – 1850
|
|
|
Harder
A.D. 500 – 1800 A.D.
|
Late
Archaic
AD
500 – 1800
|
Dating the Epochs or Periods
The dates in Table 1 are only rough estimation for each epoch or period.
They come from different sources, including the references below. This is
especially the case for the Paleo-Indian period. The traditional view sees the
first existence of man in the US
and adjacent regions around 10 000 calibrated (cal) BC, ending the Paleo-Indian
period shortly after 6000 cal. BC. Due to regional variation of the evidence,
different calibration approaches, the dates of 11 000 – 7500 cal BC have temporarily been
chosen for all regions. The temporal baseline for the earliest clearly accepted
American culture called Clovis is
11,500 rcbp (13,500 cal BP) according to Stuart
J. Fiedel
(1999).
This does not account for possible, but controversial, earlier human
occupations of the American continent (see the Paleo-Indian
period).
The Epochs and their Meaning
The period names used in Table 1 are an attempt to standardize the
terminology, without infringing too heavily on the traditional, regional
nomenclature. However, there are some
compromises, particularly for California
and to some extent for the Eastern Woodlands, where much greater regional
variation exists than is apparent from the artificial, generalized categories.
From the standpoint of comparative archaeology, the problem with the US
nomenclature is similar to that of archaeology throughout the world. For
example, in the Near East and Europe it was initially thought that the Paleolithic
(Old Stone Age) consisted of big game hunters; the Mesolithic
(Middle Stone Age) of hunters of medium to small game, fishers and gatherers;
and the Neolithic (New Stone Age) of sedentary, pottery using
agriculturists, relying primarily on domesticated grains and animal husbandry.
Yet there are regions, which have a Pre-pottery Neolithic as well
as areas where a Late Mesolithic uses pottery, domesticated
grains and cattle.
Similarly, in North America the Paleo-Indian
period (usually spelled Paleoindian)
is roughly equivalent to the Late Paleolithic in Europe
and adjacent regions. Both were traditionally characterized by big game
hunting. However, archaeologists have become increasingly aware of the fact
that the Paleo-Indians also used small game and a large array of plants.
The periods end at about the same time and exhibit a time lag, in which the
following periods a generally later in the North than in the South.
The following American period is called the Archaic It is nearly
the same as the European Mesolithic, but it lasts much longer
than the Mesolithic in Europe. The main economic
activities are hunting, fishing and gathering. Yet it includes the beginning of
the domestication of locally available plants (cultigens) and monumental
architecture (mounds) in some areas. In European and Near Eastern archaeology,
such activities are viewed as part of the Neolithic, which is
usually also characterized by the use of pottery. The heavy use of copper
during the Archaic is surprising from the European perspective,
because it does not occur in North Europe until the
Middle Neolithic, which actually is already part of the Copper age in Central
and Southeast Europe.
The Woodland period of the eastern US is similar to the Neolithic
with its use of pottery and wide spread construction of monumental
architecture. But the lack of solid evidence for sedentary, year-round villages
and the limited use of non-native domesticated plants in most areas of the US
makes this period more like the late transition from the Mesolithic
to the Neolithic in southern Scandinavia
and Northern Germany. On the other hand, the Basketmaker
period of the US Southwest, with its reliance of domesticated maize (corn) from
south of the US
border is closer to the Early Neolithic, with its dependence on
grains, that were first domesticated in the Near East.
Domesticated animals (with the exception of the dog and the turkey) and the
invention of the wheel are noticeably lacking in the US
during the Woodland
and even the following Mississippian,
as well as the Pueblo
period of the Southwest. Still, the reliance on domesticated grains, pottery
and the use of monumental architecture implies a way of life similar to the
Neolithic of Europe
and the Near East. It lasted until contact with
Europeans was well established.
References
Anderson, David G. and Michael K. Faught
2000? A North American Paleoindian Projectile Point
Database
Jennings,
Jesse D.
1989 Prehistory of North America. Third Edition. Mayfield Publishing, Mountain View, CA.
Kehoe, Alice B.
1992 North American Indians: A
Comprehensive Account. Second Edition. Prentice-Hall, Simon and Schuster / Viacom, Upper Saddle River, N. J.
Maslowski,
Robert F., Charles M. Niquette and Derek M. Wingfield
1996? The Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia Radiocarbon Database.
(http://www.crai-ky.com/reports/c14database-report.htm Accessed 2001. Now
abandoned.)
Willey, Gordon R.
1966 An Introduction to American
Archaeology. Volume 1: North and Middle America. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J.
Please send comments or questions to Max
Baldia.
