There can be little question but that the first Paleolithic immigrants to the New World brought with them such basic skills as fire-making, flint chipping and at least a basic competency in food processing, clothes making and shelter construction. There is evidence that early man possessed these skills in Asia and Siberia before coming to North America.
The physical environment in which a group exists plays a vital role in determining how the group will live. If the immediate environment did not for some reason afford early man what he required for survival, he would of necessity move on or perish.
Because of the absence of edible food plants in many locations and at different seasons of the year, early man was in most cases an eater of animal flesh and consequently a hunter. Because he was a hunter he was also a wanderer, following the herds of wooly mammoth, giant sloth, bison and big horn elk. His weapons and tools were of stone, bone and wood. (lesson I)
At the hunting stage of his culture the Paleo-Indian was of necessity a competent naturalist and zoologist. To hunt or trap any mammal larger and faster moving than he requires a considerable knowledge of the animals habits, physical features and weaknesses. (lesson II) Each year the animal supply dwindled as a consequence of overkill and changes in the climate, and the hunter was obliged to push further and further south and east in search of game.
DRAWING I—WEAPONS OF EARLY MAN
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DRAWING II—TOOLS AND WEAPONS OF EARLY MAN
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Some events in the history of t he animal life of prehistoric America which remain a great mystery had a direct relationship on the cultural development of man. This event eventually transformed man from the Paleo-Indian, the hunter wanderer, to the more permanent settlers of the Archaic Woodland culture.
As the long Pleistocene Age drew to a close, many of the highly successful mammal families became extinct. Horse and camel had grazed in tremendous herds in North America. Then suddenly about 10,000 B.C. they were no more. A change in plant life may have had something to do with the extinction. The ice age undoubtedly brought some animals to extinction by destroying the plants on which they lived. When the Southwest became a semi-desert, the great herds of grazing animals could no longer exist. The growth of thick forests along the eastern seaboard was equally unfavorable to large game animals. (chart III) As the environment changed ever hundreds of years so did the culture of man.
In piecing together the picture puzzle of the development of early man archaeologists work with artifacts, the tangible evidence, left by men at their occupation sites. By putting together all the facts and some speculation they can give a generalized impression and explanation of prehistoric culture and society. There are many archaeological sites in North
America giving evidence of prehistoric culture and society but one site is unique-Russell Cave in Alabama. No other site in North America has revealed so detailed a record of occupation for so long a period of time— 9,000 B.C. to 1650 A.D.. The material cultural remains lie where the occupants left them, layer upon layer a record that reads like the pages of a book.
In the cave the archaeologists uncovered stone implements, tools of bone and wood, jewelry, fashioned from shells and bone, such as rings and ear plugs as well as bear teeth necklaces. They also uncovered fragments of baskets, pottery, seeds, a human skeleton and charcoal remains. (Lesson III)
Many of the tools and weapons uncovered resemble objects associated with cultures found to the west and north. Just how and why they came to be in this cave in Alabama is open to speculation. One of the theories put forth deals with the migration routes of early man. During the last ice age, the Wisconsin Glacier, there was a slow but steady movement of Paleo-Indians across North America, from west to east. Later there was the movement of people of Archaic culture both north and south along the Appalachian ridge. These people traveling in either direction, for whatever reason, carried their material culture with them. Can this be why the jointed fish hook associated with northern cultures was found in the cave or why the atlath—a primitive spear throwing device associated with the Aztec culture was also found in the lower levels of the cave? It has been suggested that the area around Russell Cace was an ancient meeting ground. If so, this site offers the promise of a greater understanding of the migration patterns of early man in North America. (diagram I)
CHART III—ENVIRONMENT IN CONNECTICUT AND ITS EFFECT ON THE CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN
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As the great ice masses finally melted and released billions of gallons of trapped water into the world’s oceans, the bridge from Asia to America was covered up and the sea level was raised to its present light. The newly formed
Bering Strait isolated the continent of North America from further land migration from Asia. Groups of people remained in the Western Hemisphere, spreading into widely divergent climates as the last stages of the ice age trickled to a halt. In a few centuries the entire Western Hemisphere, From Alaska to the southern tip of South America was transversed and occupied by people who much later in time would erroneously be called Indians.
RUSSELL CAVE OCCUPIED FROM 9,000 BC.-1650 A.D.
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