1. EARLY CULTURES
What was the Influence of Native Americans on the History and Development of Georgia?

2. From Where Did They Come ?
Where did the people to be called “Native Americans” come from?
Scientists believe that they came from Asia and crossed the Bering Straits during the last ice age. Massive glaciers removed so much water from the seas that a “land bridge” between the Asian and North American continents appeared.
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3. Prehistoric Indians of Georgia
There were four time periods of Indian life in prehistoric Georgia:
Paleo Period – 10,000 BC to 8000 BC
Archaic Period – 8000 BC to 1000 BC
Woodland Period – 1000 BC to 1000 AD
Mississippian Period – 1000 to 1600 AD

4. Paleo Indians 10,000 B.C. to 8000 B. C.

5. Weapons of the Paleo Indians
Made from antlers and rocks
Knives, spearheads, and axes
Used cane or tree trunks for shafts
Clovis Points were the earliest known spear points of the Paleo Indians

6. Clovis Point
These points were made from flint rocks using a technique called ‘flint knapping’.
Clovis point found at Ocmulgee site in Georgia

7. Clovis Spear Points These are other examples of Clovis Points.
Notice that the back of several are plain.
Later Paleo Indians began to notch the ends of the points to better tie them to their spears.

8. Paleo Food Sources Primarily ate fruit and berries
Hunted large game such as the mammoth, the mastodon, giant bison, giant sloths, and other large mammals.
They hunted in groups and had to get very close to their game in order to kill it (they were using spears, see picture on page 43).

9. Wooly Mammoths Over 9 feet tall at the shoulder
Over 15 feet long from tusk to tail
The longest tusks found were over 17 feet in length.
Heavier than the mastodons.

10. Mastodon Stood from 6 to 9 feet tall at the shoulder.
Were up to 15 feet long from tusk to tail.
Weighed from 4 to 6 tons.
Evolved from the wooly mammoth.

11. Paleo Indians Attacking a Mammoth
Mammoths could weight 8,000 to 10,000 pounds.
The spears used by the Paleo Indians were crude weapons, the men had to get very close to their game to kill it. They risk injury or death trying to kill one of these beasts.
If injured, there were no doctors or hospitals.

12. Ground Sloth The giant sloths weighed about 100 pounds.
They became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
Hunting pressure and environmental changes due to climate changes.

13. Giant Bison They were about twice as big as our modern day buffalo.
Their horns could be seven feet from tip to tip (modern buffalo will reach about 2 feet).
They may have weighed as much as 4,000 pounds.

14. Shelter of the Paleo Indians
Paleo Indians were nomadic, they moved from place to place, following animals they killed for food.
They did not build permanent houses, but rather lived in shallow pits, rock shelters, or crude shelters covered with animal skins or tree bark.

15. Religion and the Paleo Indian
There is only limited evidence of religious practices of the Paleo Indians living in Georgia.
Two skeletons were found buried with several artifacts and covered with a red powder.
This suggested that they practiced some form of burial ceremony.

16. Lifestyle of the Paleo Indians
They lived in small family groups, usually no more than 20 to 30 people per group.
The family groups were small because they could not get enough food (animals they killed plus nuts and berries they gathered) to support larger numbers.
They usually only lived to be 30 to 40 years old due to disease and accidental death (for example - being stepped on by a mastodon).
LIVED DURING THE END OF THE ICE AGE

17. Prehistoric Indians of Georgia
There were four time periods of Indian life in prehistoric Georgia:
Paleo Period – 10,000 BC to 8000 BC
Archaic Period – 8000 BC to 1000 BC
Woodland Period – 1000 BC to 1000 AD
Mississippian Period – 1000 to 1600 AD

18. Archaic Period Indians 8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.
FIRST CULTURE OF GEORGIA
About 7000 B.C. the climate began to change. Large mammals such as the mammoth, mastodon, giant sloth, and giant bison died out.
A new tradition of Native Americans, known as the Archaic Indians adapted to the warming climate of Georgia.

19. Archaic Weapons and Tools
Archaic points were more defined and often had a barb on the end. This helped hold the point on the spear shaft.
The stone axe was not just used as a weapon but also used to cut down trees, hollow out holes for storage, etc.

20. Weapons/Hunting Tools, Archaic Period
The atlatl became the weapon of choice for the Archaic Period Indians.
They still used spears to kill their game, but since the large mammals had disappeared, the spear was not as effective as a hunting tool.

21. Atlatl (pronounced – (at/lat/l)
An atlatl was a stick about two feet long with a notch on the back.
It would throw a spear about six feet long.

22. Animals Hunted by Archaic Indians

23. Lifestyle of the Archaic Indians
Small villages of people living together was possible because they used more variety in their diet, eating more vegetables.
They also ate shellfish and used barbed hooks to catch fish.
Grinding stones and large storage pits for food were common.

24. Archaic Indian Pottery
The first use of pottery was found at the end of the Archaic Period.
Pottery allowed the people to store food, cook with oils, and water.
Primitive markings and symbols were used to decorate the outside of some pottery pieces. /

25. Evidence of Religion – Archaic Indians
There is evidence that the Archaic Indians believed in life after death.
They buried tools, weapons, body ornaments and food with the dead person.

26. Lifestyles of the Archaic Indians
They were the first to make fiber tempered pottery.
There is evidence that they were primitive mound builders.
There is evidence that they traded with other native peoples
Traded bowls for utensils and tools
They moved in limited areas, often spending a lifetime within a small area.
They invented new ways of hunting and fishing, using barbed fishhooks and fish traps.
Lived in rock shelters and pithouses

27. Prehistoric Indians of Georgia
There were four time periods of Indian life in prehistoric Georgia:
Paleo Period – 10,000 BC to 8000 BC
Archaic Period – 8000 BC to 1000 BC
Woodland Period – 1000 BC to 1000 AD
Mississippian Period – 1000 to 1600 AD

28. Woodland/Mississippian Foods

29. Woodland Period Shelter
Sometimes referred to as “longhouses” these were often permanent locations.
Covered with tree bark or often animal skins.
In the later part of the period they also used “wattle and daub” constructed houses.
Wattle and daub houses were constructed from interwoven sticks and twigs and covered with mud and allowed to dry.

30. Lifestyle of the Woodland
Woodland Indians began to build permanent settlements a long stream valleys
BUILT PROTECTIVE WALLS AROUND VILLAGES AND STORAGE FACILITIES
DEVELOPED AGRICULTURE maize (corn) and squash/ gourds would harvest grains, beans,
Stored foods for winter and early spring

31. Woodland Period Pottery
The early Woodland pottery had markings and designs which varied from area to area

32. Woodland Hunting The Woodland Indians developed the bow and arrow.
It replaced the spear and atlatl as the primary hunting weapon.

33. WOODLAND MOUNDS
Best know structures left by Woodland Indians were mounds
Contain skeletons, jewelry, pottery, beads
Several mounds in Georgia:
Kolomoki Mounds
Rock Eagle

34. Kolomoki Mound
Burial Mound at Kolomoki The largest burial mound at Kolomoki Mounds is seen here foot high Temple Mound.

35. Rock Eagle
Rock Eagle effigy mound is the next oldest Indian mound site in Georgia after the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex. This Indian mound is an effigy in the shape of a bird with its wings spread. It is believed to have been constructed by a Native American group around 2,000 years ago

36. Mounds and Indian Religious Beliefs
Both Woodland Indians and Mississippian Indians believed in life after death.
This was demonstrated by the great mounds they built.
The effigy mound at Rock Eagle and the seven mounds built near the present city of Cartersville are examples of their skills.

37. Prehistoric Indians of Georgia
There were four time periods of Indian life in prehistoric Georgia:
Paleo Period – 10,000 BC to 8000 BC
Archaic Period – 8000 BC to 1000 BC
Woodland Period – 1000 BC to 1000 AD
Mississippian Period – 1000 to 1600 AD

38. COMPLEX CULTURE had political, social, religious structures
DEVELOPED CIVILIZATION
had political, social, religious structures
1. cities were centers of trade
2. specialized jobs for different people
3. organized forms of government and religion
4. system of record keeping
5. advanced tools

39. Mississippian Indians became permanent residents of the areas due to improved agriculture: HORTICULTURALISTS
Warm climate and longer growing seasons made permanent settlements possible.
Villages often surrounded by wooden palisade and a moat on the outside.

40. Foods Tools Weapons Deer Turkeys Small animals Shellfish Fish turtles
Corn
Beans
Squash
Sunflowers
Nuts
fruits
Stone axes
Digging sticks
Fire
Weapons
Spears
Bow and Arrows
Atlatl

41. Mississippian Period Warrior
The Mississippian warrior presented a very interesting figure.
Notice the tattoos on his body, meant to scare his opponents.
The bow and arrow became the weapon of choice, it was accurate and could kill at great distances.
The warrior would carry 15 to 20 arrows in a quaver on his back.
He could fire about 4 to 5 arrows per minute in a battle situation.

42. Mississippian Mounds & Villages
The Mississippian Period Indians were prolific mound builders.
The mounds were generally used for worship or for an elevated area for the chief-priest to live on.
Towns had flat-topped temple mounds with ceremonial buildings/ public structures on top

43. Mounds stood as tall as 100 feet
Were built in stages/over a century or more
Various shapes/most rectangular
Purposes:
Platforms for buildings
Stages for religious activities
Stages for social activities
cemeteries
Plaza in center of town- religious and social gathering place
Houses were built around Plaza in courtyards that served the households of several related households

44. Spent most of their lives outdoors
Houses- shelters from inclement weather
Rectangular or circular pole structures
Walls- weaving saplings and cane around poles
Sun-baked clay (daub)
Roofs- thatched – small hole for smoke to escape

45. Travels and Contacts
Buildings resemble those found in Mexico and Guatemala
Mississippian had to have traveled
Some crops were brought back from Central America and introduced into their agriculture

46. Lifestyle Commoners Hard labor Elite Higher social standing
Grew the food
Made crafts
Served as warriors
Laborers for public work projects
Elite
Higher social standing
Chiefs/family were descended from the sun- important god and they could influence the supernatural world / giving them the ability to influence rising of the sun, spring rains, fall harvest
-Received special treatment
Larger houses
Special clothing and food
Exempt from hard work

47. Mississippian Period Pottery
The Mississippian Indians made beautiful pottery and ceremonial and decorative pieces.
They not only drew intricate figures but also used coloring such as ochre colored clays to decorate them.

48. Art
Some of the most impressive achievements of the Mississippian people are the finely crafted objects made of stone, marine shell, pottery, and native copper.
Created: decorative collar pieces, cups, pendants, and beads made of marine shells/many with elaborate designs

49. One of the Etowah Mounds Found at Cartersville, Georgia

50. End of the Mississippian Era
Indians that Hernando de Soto encountered when he began to explore Georgia in FIRST GROUP TO BE DEVASTATED BY VIOLENCE & INFECTIOUS DISEASES BROUGHT BY EUROPEANS (measles, tuberculosis, smallpox)
Survivors became the Creek and Cherokee Indian tribes- played such an influential role in development of Georgia history.