![]() ![]() ![]() Although the term “Neolithic” is not used in North American prehistory, these were the first steps toward the same major subsistence changes that took place during the Neolithic (8,000-2,000 B.C.) period elsewhere in the world. ![]() The earliest cultivation seems to have taken place along the river valleys of the Midwest and the Southeast, with experimentation beginning as early as 7,000 years ago and domestication beginning 4,000 to 2,000 years ago. These provided seeds that were important sources of carbohydrates and fat in the diet. By the end of the Archaic era, people in eastern North America had domesticated certain native plants, including sunflowers weeds called goosefoot, sumpweed, or marsh elder and squash or gourds of some kind. In both areas, there was a well-established ground stone tool technology, a method of pounding and grinding nuts and other plant foods, that could be adapted to newly cultivated foods. Both in what is now the eastern and the southwestern United States, the peoples of the Archaic era (8,000-1,000 B.C) were, in a way, already adapted to beginnings of cultivation through their intensive gathering and processing of wild plant foods. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |