First Americans and Native American Societies

Vocabulary flashcards covering early human migration, Paleo Indian societies, Mesoamerican empires, and regional Native American cultures prior to European contact.

Pangaea

The single connected landmass of all earth continents that scientists believe existed prior to continental drift.

Homo erectus

The first human species believed to have appeared in Africa approximately $1,000,000$ years ago.

Homo sapiens

Modern humans who evolved in Africa more than $1,500,000$ years after Homo erectus and began migrating into Europe and Asia over a million years ago.

Beringia

A land bridge composed of ice formed during the Ice Age that enabled Homo sapiens to cross from Asia into North America.

Paleo Indians

The name given by archaeologists to Siberian hunters and their descendants who crossed Beringia and arrived in present-day United States around $15,000\text{ BP}$ (before present).

Clovis point

A distinctively shaped spearhead used by Paleo Indians between $13,500$ and $13,000\text{ BP}$, named for artifacts discovered in areas surrounding present-day New Mexico.

Archaic hunters and gatherers

The designation for Paleo Indians after they adapted to a major large-mammal food shortage around $11,000\text{ BP}$ by foraging wild plant foods and hunting small game with traps, nets, hooks, and grinding stones.

Pueblos

Agricultural dwellings constructed by Southwest archaic cultures in present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.

Tenochtitlan

The capital of the Aztec Empire, established in $1325\text{ AD}$ on an island in Lake Texcoco, which grew to a population of over $300,000$ by the $1520\text{s}$.

Sun Pyramid

A major Mesoamerican capital and construction founded around $300\text{ BC}$ that served as a center for trade and religion, standing as the largest building in the region until European arrival.

Anasasi Indians

A powerful Southwestern tribe centered in Chaco Canyon whose culture peaked between $900$ and $1150\text{ AD}$ and specialized in processing turquoise.

Pueblo Bonito

A prominent Anasasi community located in Chaco Canyon with an estimated population of $1,200$.

Cahokia Mounds

The largest Mississippian cultural center located near present-day Saint Louis, covering $124\text{ square miles}$ with roughly $20,000$ residents and featuring large platform mounds.

Iroquois Confederacy

A political alliance formed before European contact among five Northeast tribes: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.

Hiawatha

A Mohawk sage who received a spiritual vision around $1450\text{ AD}$ after fasting in the woods, prompting him to organize the Iroquois Confederacy to end internal warfare.

Matrilineal descent

The social organization structure of the Iroquois where ancestry and inheritance were traced through mothers, who also headed longhouses and chose delegates for the tribal council.

Three sisters of agriculture

The practice of planting corn, beans, and squash together in the same field to optimize crop production, used widely by Southern New England tribes.

Pacific Northwest Indians

Native groups along the Pacific coast from Southern Alaska to Northern California who maintained great wealth from abundant salmon and cedar resources and formed a highly stratified society with free and slave classes.