Archaic period in North America

Copper knife, spearpoints, awls, and spud, from the Late Archaic period, Wisconsin, 3000 BC-1000 BC

The Archaic period in North America is a period defined by the archaic stage of cultural development.

Archaic stage

In the sequence of North American pre-Columbian cultural stages first proposed by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958,^[1] the Archaic stage or "Meso-Indian period"^[2] was the second period of human occupation in the Americas, from around 8000 to 2000 BCE. As its ending is defined by the adoption of sedentary farming, this date can vary "significantly across the Americas".

The Archaic period followed the Lithic stage and was superseded by the Formative stage.^[3]

1. The Lithic stage
2. The Archaic stage
3. The Formative stage
4. The Classic stage
5. The Post-Classic stage

The Archaic stage is characterized by subsistence economies supported through the exploitation of nuts, seeds, and shellfish. Numerous local variations have been identified. The period has been subdivided by region and then time. For instance, the Archaic Southwest tradition is subdivided into the Dieguito-Pinto, Oshara, Cochise and Chihuahua cultures.^[4]

Archaic stage in North America

Since the 1990s, secure dating of multiple Middle Archaic sites in northern Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida have challenged traditional models of development, as hunter-gatherer societies in the Watson Brake), with building continuing over a period of 500 years. Such early mound sites as Frenchman's Bend and Hedgepeth were of this time period; all were localized societies. Watson Brake is now considered the oldest mound complex in the Americas,^[5] preceding that built at Poverty Point (both are in northern Louisiana) by nearly 2,000 years. More than 100 sites have been identified as associated with the regional Poverty Point culture of the Late Archaic period, and it was part of a regional trading network across the Southeast.

Across what is now the Pearl River. In some places, such as Horr's Island in Southwest Florida, resources were rich enough to support sizable mound-building communities year-round. Four shell and/or sand mounds on Horr's Island have been dated to between 4870 and 4270 Before Present (BP).^[6][7]

Archaeological artefacts and sites dated at approximately 5,000 BP, provides evidence that the first residents of what is now the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung National Historic Site of Canada were Archaic people. The site which is considered to be one of the "most significant centres of early habitation and ceremonial burial in Canada," is located on the north side Rainy River in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It became part of a continent-wide trading network because of its strategic location at the centre of major North American waterways.^[8] Their mounds remain visible today.^[9]

See also

• Archaeology of the Americas
• Archaic–Early Basketmaker Era
• List of pre-Columbian cultures
• List of archaeological periods (North America)
• Prehistoric Southwestern Cultural Divisions (North America)
• Pre-Columbian South America
• Mesolithic

References

Further reading

• Claassen, Cheryl (2010). Feasting with Shellfish in the Southern Ohio Valley: Archaic Sacred Sites and Rituals. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P.  
• Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville, Florida: The University Press of Florida.  

Pre-Columbian North America Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic Archaeological cultures Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glades Glacial Kame Hopewell List of Hopewell sites Hohokam Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Chaco Canyon Casa Grande Coso Rock Art District Eaker Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Manitou Cliff Dwellings Marksville Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Winterville Miscellaneous Black drink Buhl Woman Calumet Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kennewick Man Kiva Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Medicine wheel Mound builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Stickball Norse colonization of the Americas Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Related Genetic history Indigenous Portal of North America Pre-Columbian era

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