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

2. What Is History?
History relates to events that have occurred in the past and are important.
In order to study history, you need to use Primary Sources – firsthand accounts of a historical event, which are in writing.

3. Examples of a Primary Source
Some examples of a primary source are newspapers, diaries/journals, autobiographies, and government reports.

4. What is Prehistory
Prehistory refers to the period of time before written records were kept.
Means before history began
No written records were kept during prehistoric times.

5. How can we study prehistory?
We study prehistory with the use of artifacts and ecofacts.
Artifacts are objects made by humans (arrowheads, tools, pottery).
Ecofacts are natural objects relating to living matter (bones, teeth, skulls, shells).

6. Who Studies Prehistory?
Archeologists study prehistory.
An archeologist learns about previous societies by studying the artifacts and ecofacts left behind by that society.

7. The First Americans
Human beings originated on the Continent of Africa around five million years ago.
In order to survive, they had to hunt and gather all of their food.

8. The First Americans Cont.
12,000 years ago the first humans reached North America.
A band of humans crossed an ice bridge called Beringia.
The bridge connected Siberia and Alaska.
1,300 miles wide and four times the length of Georgia

9. Picture of Early Humans Crossing Beringia
Was this trip planned, and do you think that they had directions to N. America?

10. 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?

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Paleo-Indian Period

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

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

25. 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

26. 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

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