Native American Cultures before European Contact

These vocabulary flashcards cover major peoples, places, practices, and artifacts discussed in the lecture notes on pre-contact Native American cultures across the Southwest, West, Northeast, Southeast, and Plains regions.

Ancestral Pueblos (Anasazi)

Early farming peoples of the Southwest who built stone-and-adobe pueblos and cultivated corn, beans, and squash.

Mogollon

One of the three main Ancestral Pueblo groups, centered in today’s southwestern New Mexico, known for early pottery and farming.

Hohokam

Ancestral Pueblo group of southern Arizona that engineered extensive irrigation canals and grew corn, beans, and squash by 800 CE.

Four Corners Region

Area where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet; heartland of the Anasazi / Ancestral Pueblos.

Pueblo

Spanish word for “town”; refers both to the permanent, multistory stone-and-mud buildings and to the Southwest peoples who lived in them.

Chaco Canyon

Anasazi center in New Mexico with massive pueblos, 400-plus miles of roads, and far-flung turquoise-based trade networks.

Pueblo Bonito

Largest great house in Chaco Canyon; a multistory, D-shaped complex that once contained 600+ rooms.

Hohokam Canals

Large irrigation network in Arizona, among the biggest in pre-contact North America, enabling desert agriculture.

Kiva

Subterranean or semi-subterranean ceremonial chamber used by Ancestral and modern Pueblos for religious rituals.

Hogan

Traditional Navajo round or octagonal house of mud, wood, and bark, oriented eastward for spiritual reasons.

Apache

Athabaskan-speaking hunter-gatherers who migrated into the Southwest around 1200 CE, distinct from the farming Pueblos.

Navajo

Athabaskan-speaking people arriving in the Southwest c. 1200 CE; practiced hunting and gathering and later sheep herding.

Three Sisters

Companion crops—corn, beans, and squash—grown together for mutual soil and nutritional benefits across Native America.

Hopewellian Culture

Middle Woodland tradition (200 BCE–500 CE) in the Ohio River Valley noted for mound-building and early large-scale agriculture.

Hopewell Mounds

Earthworks built for burial and ceremonial purposes by Hopewell peoples, some in geometric or animal shapes.

Iroquois League (Great League of Peace)

Confederation of five Iroquoian nations formed between 1100–1400 CE to curb intertribal warfare and coordinate diplomacy.

Longhouse

Large, multi-family wooden structure up to 100 ft long, typical of Iroquoian agricultural villages.

Wigwam

Small, dome-shaped dwelling of bent poles and bark mats used by Algonquian peoples who combined farming with hunting.

Mississippian Culture

Mound-building, agriculture-based civilization (c. 1000 CE onward) dominating the Southeast and lower Mississippi Valley.

Cahokia

Largest Mississippian city (near modern St. Louis) with ~40,000 residents and monumental Monk’s Mound at its center.

Monk’s Mound

Massive earthwork at Cahokia—955 ft long and 100 ft high—largest pre-contact mound in North America.

Poverty Point

Louisiana mound complex (c. 1700–1100 BCE) that served as a major trade and ceremonial center along the Mississippi.

Chickee

Thatched-roof, open-sided structure built by Seminoles and other Florida peoples for ventilation in humid climates.

Five Civilized Tribes

Southeastern nations—Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles—noted for complex governments and later alliances with Europeans.

Cherokee

Major Southeastern tribe; women farmed extensive cornfields, while communities practiced mound-centered chiefdoms.

Clovis Points

Distinctive fluted stone spearpoints (c. 13,000 BCE) used across North America to hunt large Pleistocene animals.

Earth Lodge

Semi-subterranean, timber-framed Plains dwelling with earth covering, used by sedentary Mandan, Hidatsa, and others.

Bull Boat

Circular watercraft of bison hide stretched over a willow frame, employed by Plains peoples for river trade.

Teepee

Cone-shaped, easily portable tent of buffalo hide and wood poles, enabling nomadic life on the Plains.

Sun Dance

Plains ceremonial rite, especially among Cheyennes and Lakotas, involving personal sacrifice for communal benefit.

Band

Small, flexible social unit (dozens to hundreds) of Plains peoples that hunted, traveled, and lived together.

Horse Introduction (1519+)

Arrival of Spanish horses that revolutionized Plains life, boosting buffalo hunting and escalating intertribal warfare.

Turquoise Trade (Chacoans)

Exchange network in which Chaco Canyon peoples traded local turquoise for seashells, exotic birds, and ores.

Irrigation Canal

Man-made waterway guiding river flow to desert fields; key to Southwest agriculture, especially for Hohokam.

Wikiup

Light, dome-shaped shelter of brushwood used by many Californian and Great Basin groups for easy mobility.

Tribelet

Small Western kin-based political unit of several hundred to a thousand people sharing culture but foraging in smaller groups.

Acorn Economy

Californian practice in which women processed acorns into toxin-free flour, providing a staple food and trade item.

The Dalles

Major salmon-trade crossroads on the Columbia River linking Western, Plains, and Pacific networks.

Great Basin Peoples

Groups such as the Shoshone, Paiute, and Ute who lived between the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, relying on fishing and foraging.

Chumash

Pacific-coast Californian traders known for maritime fairs exchanging marine goods, shells, and hides.

Salmon Harpoons & Weirs

Large spears and elaborate traps used by Northwest and Great Basin peoples to catch migrating salmon.

Chinookan Slavery

Practice among Columbia River societies of owning captives to process abundant fish and game resources.