Periods in North American prehistory
Lithic stage before 8500 BC Archaic period 8000 – 1000 BC Formative stage 1000 BC – AD 500 Woodland period 1000 BC – AD 1000 Classic stage AD 500 – 1200 Post-Classic stage after 1200 See also List of archaeological periods (Mesoamerica)

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

In the classification of the archaeological cultures of North America, the Archaic period in North America, taken to last from around 8000 to 1000 BC^[1] in the sequence of North American pre-Columbian cultural stages, is a period defined by the archaic stage of cultural development. The Archaic stage is characterized by subsistence economies supported through the exploitation of nuts, seeds, and shellfish.^[2] As its ending is defined by the adoption of sedentary farming, this date can vary significantly across the Americas.

The rest of the Americas also have an Archaic Period.^[2]

Classifications

This classification system was first proposed by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in the widely accepted 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology.

In the organization of the system, the Archaic period followed the Lithic stage and is superseded by the Formative stage.^[3]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

Numerous local variations have been identified within the cultural rankings. The period has been subdivided by region and then time. For instance, the Archaic Southwest tradition is subdivided into the San 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 has challenged traditional models of development. In these areas, hunter-gatherer societies in the Lower Mississippi Valley organized to build monumental earthwork mound complexes as early as 3500 BC (confirmed at Watson Brake), with building continuing over a period of 500 years. Early mound sites such as Frenchman's Bend and Hedgepeth were of this time period; all were constructed by localized societies. Watson Brake is now considered to be the oldest mound complex in the Americas.^[5] It precedes that built at Poverty Point by nearly 2,000 years (both are in northern Louisiana). 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 the Southeastern Woodlands, starting around 4000 BC, people exploited wetland resources, creating large shell middens. Middens developed where the people lived along rivers, but there is limited evidence of Archaic peoples along the coastlines prior to 3000 BC. Archaic sites on the coast may have been inundated by rising sea levels (one site in 15 to 20 feet of water off St. Lucie County, Florida, has been dated to 2800 BC). Starting around 3000 BC, evidence of large-scale exploitation of oysters appears. During the period 3000 BC to 1000 BC, shell rings, large shell middens that more or less surround open centers, were developed along the coast. These shell rings are numerous in South Carolina and Georgia but are also found scattered around the Florida Peninsula and along the Gulf of Mexico coast as far west as 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 or sand mounds on Horr's Island have been dated to between 2900 and 2300 BC.^[6][7]

Timeline

Late Archaic

Simplified map of subsistence methods in the Americas at 1000 BC

  hunter-gatherers

  simple farming societies

  complex farming societies

• 3000 BC: Cultivation of the sunflower and marsh elder begins in the American South; northeastern natives cultivate amaranth and marsh elder. After harvesting these plants, the people grind their seeds into flour.
• 3000 BC: The Cochise tradition of the American Southwest begin cultivating a primitive form of maize imported from Mesoamerica; common beans and squash follow later.
• 3000 BC: Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest begin to exploit shellfish resources.
• 3000 BC: Fishing in the Northwestern Plateau increases.
• 3000 BC: Natives speaking the Algonquian languages arrive in the Northeastern Woodlands from the south.
• Shell ornaments and copper items at Indian Knoll, Kentucky evidence an extensive trade system over several millennia.
• 2888 BC: People of the Stallings culture on the Savannah River begin making pottery, at a time that pottery making was spreading in South America, but had not reached Mesoamerica.^[11]
• 2500–800 BC: The Arctic Small Tool tradition develops on the Alaska Peninsula, near Bristol Bay, and on the eastern shores of the Bering Strait in Alaska.
• 2500–1800 BC: Aleutian tradition emerges in Alaska.
• 2500 BC: Independence I people enter Greenland from North America. The last archaeological evidence of Independence I is from 1730 BC.^[12]
• 2400 BC: Saqqaq people enter Greenland from Siberia and live there until 400 BC.^[12]
• 2500 BC: The Cochise tradition become skilled farmers of the American Southwest.
• 2100 BC: Maize cultivation begins in Aridoamerica.^[13]
• 2000–1000 BC: Poverty Point culture in northeastern Louisiana features stonework, flintknapping, earthenware, and effigy, conical, and platform mounds, as well as planned settlements on concentric earthen ridges^[14]
• 1500 BC: Salishan speakers arrive in Northwestern Plateau region.
• 1500 BC–1000 AD: Intermediate Horizon (or Campbell tradition) emerged among Indigenous peoples of California
• 1000 BC: Athapaskan-speaking natives arrive in the North American Arctic, possibly from Siberia.
• 1000 BC: Pottery making widespread in the Eastern woodlands.

Shield Archaic

The Shield Archaic was a distinct regional tradition which existed during the climatic optimum, starting around 6,500 years ago. During this warm period, forests advanced northward and temperatures were warmer than they were in the late 20th century. It is associated with the northern frontier and transition area between boreal forest and tundra in what is now northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, near Lake Athabasca. However, the Late Shield Archaic phase (3,500–4,450 BP) has sites as far as Manitoba,^[9] and archaeologists have investigated suspected Shield Archaic sites as far away as Killarney Provincial Park near Georgian Bay in Ontario.^[15]

The prominent Canadian archaeologist J. V. Wright argued in 1976 that the Shield Archaic had emerged from the Northern Plano tradition, but this was questioned by Bryan C. Gordon in a 1996 publication.^[16] Shield Archaic tools differed in design between "forest" and "tundra" sites.^[17] Pushplanes have been found, which would have been used for planing wood, bone, or antler.^[18] Shield Archaic people hunted caribou, with a focus on water crossings as hunting places.^[19]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Archaic period in North America.

• 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

Footnotes

References

Further reading

• Claassen, Cheryl (2010). Feasting with Shellfish in the Southern Ohio Valley: Archaic Sacred Sites and Rituals. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P. ISBN 978-1-5723-3733-6.