Early Peoples and Indian Civilizations

Most anthropologists believe that the original inhabitants of the United States arrived in the Western Hemisphere about 20,000 years ago. They crossed from the Eastern Hemisphere into the Western by using a land bridge between Siberia to Alaska. It was eventually covered by water and became the Bering Sea. The prehistoric Indians traveled south through Alaska. Then, they spread out over most areas of North, Central and South America, including today’s Oklahoma. They were part of what anthropologists call the Paleo (or Clovis) Culture. They were nomadic hunters and gatherers. They did not know how to farm. They hunted huge woolly mammoths and mastodons for their main source of food. They used long spears with points made of flint to hunt. The early Indians also used these animals’ furs and skins for clothing, blankets and other parts of the animals, such as bones, for picks and spears. 

About 7,000 B.C., these large animals became extinct, probably because of a change in climate. Consequently, a new era known as the Archaic (or Folsom) Culture developed. Now, the Indians hunted smaller animals like modern-day antelopes and buffaloes. They used a spears with a more sophisticated point. They continued to be gatherers and picked berries, other wild fruit and seeds.

The "agricultural revolution" occurred in the Western Hemisphere around 5,000 B.C., or about 7,000 years ago. Indian women learned how to cultivate plants. The first cultivated plants were corn, potatoes and several varieties of beans. They are called the "American Triad." They were indigenous to the New World (meaning that they grew nowhere else in the world). After learning to grow such plants, the nomadic wanderers had a stable source of food. They became sedentary (meaning that they could now settle down and live in one place). Sedentary living is the first step in modern civilization as we know it. It allows people to become social; that is, they started living together in small villages.

Caddoans were good farmers. They also engaged in trade with other Indians as far away as Wisconsin to the north and Florida to the east. Archaeologists have identified the sites of more than two hundred small settlements of the plains village farmers. They lived along the Washita River and its tributaries. They were excellent farmers. But they continued to hunt and gather for variety in their food.

Additional Resources

Study Guide Questions

1. When do most anthropologists believe the earliest people reached the Western Hemisphere?
2. Explain what the word "nomadic" means. How did this term relate to the earliest people?
3. Why was the agricultural "revolution" important?
4. What is the "American Triad"?
5. Name two of the Southern Plains village complexes in Oklahoma.
6. Who were the mound builders? Identify Spiro Mound.
7. Where did the Caddo Mound Builders live?
8. For what objects are the Caddo Indians known?

[ Help ] [ Table of Contents ] [ Biographies ] [ Oklahoma Today ] [ Resources ] [ Search ] [ Sights and Sounds ] [ Timelines ] [ Student Activities ] [ Crossword Puzzles ] [ Quizzes ]