America In The Beginning Who were the first Americans? How and why did they come here? 30,000 years ago During a period of low temperatures called an ice age The world was covered in glaciers or sheets of ice. This caused ocean levels to drop and expose land. In the Bering straight, a land bridge appeared connecting Siberia & the Americas This land bridge is known as Beringia. Animals like mammoths crossed the bridge or migration to the America's.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
America In The Beginning
Who were the first Americans?
How and why did they come here?
30,000 years ago During a period of low temperatures
called an ice ageThe world was covered in glaciers or sheets of ice.
This caused ocean levels to
drop and expose land.
In the Bering straight, a land bridge appeared connecting Siberia & the Americas
This land bridge is known as Beringia.
Animals like mammoths crossed the bridge or migration to the America's.
Hunter's in Asia who moved from place to place to
find food or nomads followed the mammoths and spread out or migrated to the America's
The ice age ended
warming up glaciers
causing water levels to rise covering up
the land bridge.
Some animals died off like mammoths.
Living in many different parts of the Americas the Natives needed
to adjust or adapt to every
thing in the new surrounds that
made up each of their own
environmentsin order to survive.
What happened when they came to America?
How did they meet their new needs?
America In The Beginning
America In The Beginning
Living in many different parts of the Americas the Natives used the different natural resources their own different environments for food, clothing, and shelter.
Different groups in different
environments developed their own beliefs and ways of life or
culture. Groups in the same
environments adapted similar life styles, and
language creating cultural region .
Many Native American have these things in common.1. Nature has a spirit & believes in many gods.2. No one can own land.3. Only use what is needed.4. Trade was important to most societies
How did Native Americans adjust to the new environments?
What did they have in common?
8 Cultural Regions
North West Coast
California
Plateau
Great Basin
South West
Great Plains
Eastern Woodlands
South East
8 Cultural Regions
North West Coast Weather:long cold winterscool summersheavy rainfall
Natural Resources:ocean/beachesthick forests of fir, spruce, and cedarrugged mountainsseafood/salmondeer, moose, bear, elk, beaver, mountain goats
Culture:
Tools: Used cedar to huntFenced in salmon laying eggsUsed cedar to make ropes, mats and baskets, shells neededUsed wedges, sledge hammers, drills and knifes to carve wooden masks.
Clothing: Cedar waterproof clothing like capes with decorative shells buttons
Shelter: Lived near coast Cedar Long Houses with cedar roof
California Weather: rainy wintershot dry summers
Natural Resources:ocean/coastfoothillsvalley'sdesertsmountainsacorns, oak treesgrass, and plantsredwood trees
salmon/seafood/shellfishdeer, rabbits, ducks, roots berries, pine nuts
Culture:
Tools: Used bows and arrows, snares, and netsused cooking stones to heat acorn meal tools from antlers
Clothing: grass/leather aprons and skirtsShelter: Cone shaped made of redwood bark, pole, and reeds woven into mats
Shelter: Cone shaped made of redwood bark, pole, and reeds woven into mats.
Great Basin Weather:little rainhot during the day cold at nightNatural Resources:
mostly dessertlow areas surrounded by mountains at the edgeswith valleys that had seasonal lakes and streams
plants that need little water likegrasses, sagebrush, pinon trees, at the outer edges pine trees, and willow
small animals rabbits, lizards, grasshoppers, snakes sometimes ducks , duck eggs during certain seasons seeds,berries pine nuts, roots, cattail
Culture:
Tools:Water baskets filled with tree sap.Floating duck decoys, nets, sharp sticks, flat baskets for catching seeds
Clothing: rabbit robes in winter
Shelter:Nomadic territory cone shelters of willow, bush and reeds
Houses: made of bricks of adobe (sun baked clay). Up to 4 stories and had hundreds of rooms. Clothes: Made of cotton. Using plants to dye the fabric.
Tools: Lived in flooded areas. Men dug irrigation ditches, and dams to hold summer rain. Women were grinding corn kernels into cornmeal. They used clay pots to cook chili pepper stews.
Eastern Woodlands
Weather:snowy winters , rain
Natural Resources:rivers, ocean/coastlots of lakes and streams
House: Long house sturdy, log-framed houses covered with elm bark, about 20 feet wide and over 100 feet long. Several related families live in sections of the house
Clothing: Skirts, capes, and moccasins made of deer skins
Tools: Ground corn with wooden sticks , used wooden canoes, speared fish.For farming land, men burnt small sections of trees and underbrush. Women used hoes for planting. Made maple syrup and wooden storage canisters
South EastWeather:long warm humid summersmild winters
Houses: made from strips of young trees woven into a rectangular frame, then plastered with clay. These houses had pointed roofs made of leaves.Towns included many mounds which as burial sights and used as platforms for temples.
Clothing: made of deer skin. Jewelry made of stones, shells, feathers, pearls, bones, and clay.
Tools: used hoes made of stone, shell or animal shoulder blades. Hunted using small blow guns, bows and arrows.