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Pre Columbian Wisconsin. Paleolithic Period 10,000 BCE – 6500 BCE. First Human Settlement. Between 45,000 & 12,000 BCE Paleo Indians migrate across Bering Land Bridge These peoples migrated along with herds of megafauna (Mammoths, Mastodons, bison, etc)
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Paleolithic Period 10,000 BCE – 6500 BCE
First Human Settlement • Between 45,000 & 12,000 BCE Paleo Indians migrate across Bering Land Bridge These peoples migrated along with herds of megafauna(Mammoths, Mastodons, bison, etc) • 10,000 BCE – Paleo Indians reach Wisconsin
Paleo Indians: Clovis Culture • Semi-nomadic. Followed mega-fauna seasonally • Made stone tools and spear points • Cached tools and frozen meat for later use, and to reduce the amount necessary to carry while moving
Paleo Indians: Clovis Culture • With an atlatl, spear-thrower, Clovis spears could penetrate more than a foot into a mammoth
Clovis artifacts in Wisconsin • In 1897, the Dosch family in Boaz, Wisconsin discovered a mammoth skeleton and Clovis spear points on their farm • Clovis peoples lived in Wisconsin at the end of last Ice Age
Clovis Period • Clovis Period lasted from 10,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE • Three hypotheses on why it ended • Overkill Hypothesis: Clovis peoples hunted the megafauna to extinction • Younger-Dryas Cold Shock Hypothesis: 1500 years of cold temperatures ended Clovis culture • Younger-Dryas Impact Hypothesis: An impact, or near impact of a comet or meteor changed climates abruptly
Paleo Indians: Plano Culture • Hunter-gatherers, predominantly on the Great Plains, but remnants of Plano culture have been found on Atlantic and Pacific coasts and as far north as the Northwest Territories
Plano Culture • Hunted bison antiquus, much larger than today's bison • Preserved meat with berries and fats • Also stampeded herds over cliffs or into corrals • May have used circular teepees and earthen lodges
Plano Period • Plano Period lasted from 7,000 BCE to 4,000 BCE • Plano Period ends when bison antiquus is hunted to extinction and new culture emerges
Archaic Period 6,000 BCE –1,000 BCE
Boreal Archaic Period • Water vapor from melting glaciers created a greenhouse effect that sped up the process • As the land warmed up, megafauna migrated north • Boreal Archaic peoples began to hunt smaller animals
Boreal Archaic Culture • Boreal Archaic peoples were semi-nomadic, moving through locations in cycle with the seasons • Made greater use of stone tools, such as the adze • Evidence of dugout canoes • Also evidence of elaborate burial rituals
Boreal Archaic Culture • Lasted from around 6000 BCE to about 4000 BCE • Boreal period is considered to have ended with the appearance and use of copper artifacts
Old Copper Culture • Lasted from around 4000 BCE to about 500 BCE • Peoples mined copper along shores of Lake Superior • Made tools, jewelry, etc from copper
Old Copper Culture • Tools, spearpoints, fish hooks, etc
Old Copper Culture • Copper Culture artifacts were mined in limited area, Keweenaw Peninsula in modern Michigan • Artifacts found in large area indicates existence of trade
Old Copper Culture • Copper Cultures in Wisconsin performed elaborate burial rituals, indicating a degree of spiritualism • Artifacts show extensive trade across continent • In Eastern Wisconsin sites, archaeologists have found: Freshwater clam shells from the Mississippi River Whelk shells from Gulf of Mexico Oconto County Burial Site
Early Woodland Period • 500 BCE – 100 BCE • Hunting and gathering. Wild plants: hickory nuts, blackberries wild rice, etc. Small game, fish and shellfish • They did plant some crops such as squash, sunflowers, tubers and herbs
Early Woodland Period • First North Americans we know that made pottery and other clay artifacts
Early Woodland Period • Tools, jewelry, pipes, weapons, etc
Early Woodland Period • Tee-Pees/Wigwams, covered with reeds/grass, hides • As farming develops, settlements become permanent
Hopewell Period • 200 BCE to 500 CE • Similar cultures spread across Eastern United States • Built Large Complex Mounds Uncertain Purposes: Burial, Astronomy, etc • Extensive trade between different regions
Hopewell Period • 200 BCE to 500 CE • Explosion of Art, Ritual & Ceremonial Architecture • Elaborate burial customs • Effigy Mounds in the shape of animals
Hopewell Period • There are several Hopewell era sites in Wisconsin • Mostly in Southern and Southwestern Wisconsin • Hopewell peoples came from Illinois and Ohio and lived alongside other tribes • Nicholls Mound in Trempealeau
Hopewell Culture • Hopewell peoples settled on rivers and waterways • They practiced agriculture: nuts, seeds & grasses • They did make use of pottery • Dwellings were round or oval, using posts and mats of reed or bark
Hopewell Period • End of the Hopewell Period is not well understood • Archaeological evidence suggests that Late Woodland peoples moved away from great mounds and settled in large wood-walled villages • Conflict between tribes? • Over farming of land caused starvation?
Mississippian-Late Woodland • 400-500 CE until European Contact in 1500-1700s • Similar cultures stretched from Mississippi to Atlantic & from Wisconsin to Mexico • Extensive trade between regions
Mississippian-Late Woodland • 400-500 CE until European Contact in 1500-1700s • Large plazas around two central mounds: one for ceremonial purposes, one for the “chief”’s residence • Largest settlement near Cahokia in Illinois
Mississippian-Late Woodland • Between 1000-1200 CE Cahokia had a population that varied between 10,000-40,000. Larger than London, Paris and Rome at the time • Culture was based on the cultivation of maize (corn) • Cahokian society spread north into Wisconsin up the Mississippi and Rock River Valleys
Aztalan • Mississippian peoples blended with descendants of older peoples. • Major center at Aztalan on the Crawfish River
Aztalan • Aztalan site discovered in 1830s near Lake Mills • Village and mounds surrounded by log stockade • Several archaeological digs there since
Aztalan • Archaeologists believe Aztalan thrived between 900-1200 CE • Site was abandoned; reasons unclear • Stockade partially burned. War? Accident?
Late Woodlands: Mounds • Dates uncertain • Hopewell? • Earlier? • Mississippian? • Blends of cultures? • Most mounds in Wisconsin date after 500
Effigy Mounds: Waupaca County • Sanders-Steiger Site: Fremont; Privately Owned • NE Shore of Taylor Lake Mounds