Paleo-Indians

Examples of Paleo-Indians in the following topics:

• Early Lifestyles

  • Paleo-Indians subsisted as small, mobile groups of big game hunters, traveling light and frequently to find new sources of food.
  • Paleo-Indians, or Paleo-Americans, were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the American continent.
  • The Paleo-Indian would eventually flourish all over the Americas, creating regional variations in lifestyles.
  • During much of the Early and Middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna. 
  • The Lithic peoples, or Paleo-Indians, were nomadic hunter-gatherers and are the earliest known humans of the Americas.

• Migration to North America

  • Civilization in America began during the last Ice Age when nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated across Beringia.
  • The archeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians' first dispersal into the Americas occurred near the end of the LGM. 
  • As early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, they diversified into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes.
  • Paleo-Indian adaptation across North America was likely characterized by small, highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family.
  • It is believed that a small Paleo-Indian population of a few thousand survived the Last Glacial Maximum in Beringia.

• Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

  • Many separate indigenous cultures developed and prospered in North America after the first waves of nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated to the continent across Beringia near the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.
  • Civilization in America began during the last Ice Age when nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated across Beringia.
  • Some genetic research indicates that secondary waves of migration occurred after the initial Paleo-Indian colonization, but prior to modern Inuit, Inupiat, and Yupik expansions.
  • The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas, creating regional variations in lifestyles while sharing a common style of stone tool production.
  • Three of the major cultural traditions that impacted the Southwest region include the Paleo-Indian tradition, the Southwestern Archaic tradition, and the Post-Archaic cultures tradition.

• African and Asian Origins

  • Genetic studies, archaeological evidence, and scientific dating methods suggest that Paleo-Indians originated out of Africa and Asia.
  • Genetic evidence found in Paleo-Indians' mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia.
  • Early Paleo-Indian groups could have readily replenished their food supplies, repaired clothing and tents, and replaced broken or lost tools.
  • Coastal or "watercraft" theories have broad implications, one being that Paleo-Indians in North America may not have been purely terrestrial big-game hunters, but instead were already adapted to maritime or semi-maritime lifestyles.
  • The route then crossed into the Arabian Peninsula, settling in places like the present-day United Arab Emirates and Oman, and then possibly going into the Indian Subcontinent.

• Archaeology and History

  • A number of scientific studies into genetics, time-dating, and paleo-environmental data have been conducted to test these theories.
  • Genetic evidence found in Amer-Indians' mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple, distinct genetic populations migrating from Asia.
  • Over the course of millennia, these Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America.
  • The Lithic stage or Paleo-Indian period is defined initially as a big-game period.

• The New World

  • Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaskan Natives.
  • These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the continent, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally-distinct nations and tribes.

• Great Basin Culture

  • Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low during this time.
  • Ute religious beliefs borrowed heavily from Plains Indians after the arrival of the horse.

• Innovation and Limitation

  • These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.

• Southwestern Culture

  • Three of the major cultural traditions that impacted the region include the Paleo-Indian tradition, the Southwestern Archaic tradition, and the Post-Archaic cultures tradition.
  • The American Indian Archaic culture eventually evolved into two major prehistoric archaeological culture areas in the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
  • For the Pueblos and other Southwest American Indian communities, the transition from a hunting-gathering, nomadic experience to more permanent agricultural settlements meant more firmly established families and communities.

• The Indian National Congress