1. The first inhabitants of Georgia
Prehistoric Georgia
The first inhabitants of Georgia

2. Prehistoric Native Americans
Who were they?
When did they arrive?
Where was their original home?
Why did they come?
What did they eat?
What kind of animals did they find here?
Where did they live?

3. Vocabulary Terms Define: Archeologist Anthropologist Shale Artifact
Culture
Tribes
Antiquities

4. Understanding through Artifacts
Oral Tradition: Elders repeated the narrative of events often until younger generations had memorized them
Archeologists dig into earth to find artifacts (items made by people) that tell us about early inhabitants
Shale: layered rock that can encase animals or birds

5. Understanding through Culture
Anthropologists use artifacts, cave drawings, well-traveled pathways, and oral history to study a group’s culture
Culture: shared beliefs, traditions, music, art, and social institutions of a group of people

6. Who, When, and How did Native Americans Arrive?
During the Ice Age
Approximately 12,000 years ago
Original Native Americans arrived on foot from Asia
Used passage known as Beringia
Served as “land bridge”
Possibly as wide as 1,300 miles

7. Who, When, and How? Migration unplanned
Nomads wandered looking for food
as they traveled, others followed
Climate warmer, more food
Found woolly mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, etc.
All Native Americans descended from these Nomads

8. Who, When, and How?
By 10,000 B.C. humans had arrived in what is now the Southeastern United States
The following 11,700 years of history are divided into four traditions:
Paleo
Archaic
Woodland
Mississippian

9. Paleo-Indian Period Before 10,000 years ago
“Paleo” means “very old”
Also called Old Stone Age
Mainly ate large animals such as mammoths, bison, mastodons, & ground sloths

10. Paleo Indians Nomadic (roaming) hunters
Most tools and spear points made of stone
Used “atlatl”: stone, sling-like implement that threw darts from a longer distance

11. Paleo-Indian Period

12. Paleo-Indian Period
Early Indians never stayed in one place for long – no evidence of fixed shelter
Camped in the open
Sometimes dug pits or built shelters to protect against weather
Followed herds of large animals

13. Archaic Period 8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. Archaic means “old”
Three time spans
Early (8000 B.C B.C.)
Middle (began around 5000 B.C.)
Late (4000 B.C B.C.)
Crude shelters; stayed in one place longer

14. Archaic Hunted large animals and small game
Invented tools from deer antlers
Moved with each season to find best food resources
Water levels moved back along rivers & coastal areas
People began making hooks from animal bones
Shellfish became a more common food
Food became easier to find and there was less movement

15. Archaic Created grooved axes to clear trees and bushes
Began saving and planting seeds for planting (horticulture)
Made and used pottery for cooking and storing food

16. Woodland Period 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1000
Tribe: group of people sharing common ancestry, name, and way of living
Hundreds of families formed tribes
Built domed-shaped huts with trees
Used bow and arrows to hunt
Held religious ceremonies

17. Woodland Period Improved pottery making techniques
Ate small game, fish, nuts, and berries
Also planted crops such as squash & sunflowers

18. Mississippian Period 700 A.D. to 1600 A.D.
Also called the Temple Mound Period
Farmed with homemade tools and grew most of their own food
Crops (maize, beans, pumpkins, squash)
Thousands lived in single settlement, protected by fences and moats
Very religious; used jewelry and body art

19. Mississippian Period
Ancient middens (garbage piles) show what people ate, how they used fire, what they used for cooking
Ocmulgee National Monument near Macon reveals a large ceremonial area with benches and platforms
Similar tools as Woodland period: stone hoes, copper headdresses

20. Mississippian Period Kolomoki Mounds Rock Eagle Mounds Blakely County
Near Social Circle

21. Native Americans in Georgia
Who were they?
Creeks (Muscogee)
Cherokee

22. The Creek Indians Originally from American southwest Spoke Muskogean
Discovered by European Explorers who called them Creeks
Lived along Ocheese Creek (today’s Ocmulgee River)
Lived in italwa and talofa (large villages surrounded by smaller villages (similar to cities & suburbs today)

23. Creek Lifestyle Village center featured plaza & rotunda
Games & ceremonies held in plaza
Rotunda used for council meetings
Wooden huts or log cabins with chimneys surrounded the plaza
Villages, split from larger villages, helped form a confederacy
Raised livestock; were successful farmers

24. The Cherokee Lived in northwestern mountain region of the state
Called themselves the Awi-yum-wija, which meant the “real people” or “principal people”
Tribal clans: groups of people who believed themselves to be related by Cherokee blood
Two tribal chiefs: one for making wartime decisions, and one for making peace time decisions
Clans governed on the local level

25. The Cherokee Family Family lines were traced through the mother
The mother’s brothers were responsible for raising the children
Mothers handled most of the domestic chores, fathers often left home to hunt or trade
Children played games that prepared them for adulthood

26. Cherokee Lifestyle
Built homes on high banks or hills along rivers and streams
Shelters were built from available materials, often plastered on the exterior to keep out rain & cold
Log cabins built for winter living
Fishing and raising crops including maize (corn)
Barter: trading goods and services without exchange of money was economic system

27. Cherokee Homes

28. Cherokee Religion Believed earth was a large island resting on water
This World: Tribe was at center of earth
Upper World: Clean & pure world; Sun & Moon were chief gods
Under World: waters below this world; disorder & change
Deer and birds were honored, bears were not

29. Other Cherokee Practices
Drank ginseng to stop bleeding or shortness of breath
Smoked tobacco during ceremonial occasions when seeking gods’ blessings
Green Corn Ceremony held to give thanks for corn, their most important source of food
Followed “Law of Retaliation”-took revenge to get even
This law prevented feuds within the tribes