1. Prehistoric Cultures

2. Bering Land Bridge From this map you can see where a strip of land across the Bering Sea connected Asia and North America during the last Ice Age. The first humans came to the Americas from Asia across this land bridge, perhaps in search of large game animals. Scholars estimate that this migration took place somewhere between 14,000 and 50,000 years ago. When the Ice Age ended around 7000 B.C., melting glaciers raised the level of the seas so that water covered the land bridge.

4. Process of Movement

6. Pal eolithic Era About 11,000 B.C. – 6,000 B.C.
Followed mammoths and giant bison (nomadic – moved around)
Used spears made with flint to hunt

7. Archaic Era 6,000 B.C. – A.D. 700 Ice Age ended by this time
Used atlatl, a hand-held spear thrower to hunt (more force/power to kill)
Traveled in small groups called bands (hunter-gatherers)
Had more tools than Paleo-Indians
Developed use of the bow and arrow at the end of the era

8. Late Prehistoric/Formative Era
A.D. 700 – A.D. 1500’s
Many cultures now developed
Some lived in permanent villages and farmed
Some still hunter-gatherers
Plains Indians mastered the bow and arrow
Europeans arrived in Texas

9. Terms To Know
Hunter-gatherers: people who survive searching for wild plants and animals
Prehistory: time before written records
Artifacts: objects made by humans that show how they once lived
Pictographs: pictures drawn or painted on cave walls, ledges, or cliffs
Petroglyphs: carvings made in rock

10. More Terms
Archaeologist: Scientist who study and learn about past cultures from the artifacts they find
Carbon-14 dating: used to determine the age of bones, firewood, and seed found at ancient campsites (formerly living things)
DNA testing: genetic testing on ancient bones and tissue samples (age, gender, height, even disease or cause of death)

11. Notes Summary
Using the words to know list you will create a narrative about prehistoric culture. You will need to use at least 5 words from the list and any other information from your notes that you would like to use.