As you read, look for: times dig throughancient garbage ...Anthropologists study artifacts, fossils, cave drawings, trails, and oral history to learn the culture of a group and how

Millions of years after the dinosaurs became extinct, the first pre-historic people (those who lived before recorded history) reachedthe Americas. Archaeologists have discovered over time many arti-facts that tell us that these first people in America came here some12,000 to 25,000 years ago. Archaeologists are scientists who studyancient cultures by examining what they have left behind.

!Archaeologists some-times dig through

ancient garbage dumps,called middens. This

“dump diving” can oftenprovide valuable cluesabout the people who

lived there.

The Earliest People

As you read, look for:

• how anthropologists and archaeologists learn aboutancient peoples,

• the various prehistoric cultures in Oklahoma,• vocabulary terms prehistoric people, archaeologist,

artifact, petroglyph, fossil, anthropologist, nomadic,atlatl, and protohistoric.

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Section1Section1

64 Chapter 3: Early Cultures in Our Land

Below: This archaeological digtook place at a Plains Village siteon a terrace above the WashitaRiver in Pauls Valley in GarvinCounty. The site is dated as beingoccupied about 1290 A.D.

Searching for CluesArtifacts can include any item made or used by people, such as

pottery, tools, bone, jewelry, and paintings. Artifacts also includepetroglyphs, pictures or symbols that convey an idea. Artifacts maybe found on the surface of the ground or near a waterway, often by alandowner or someone hunting or fish-ing. They also may be discovered in anarchaeological “dig,” the excavation ofa site where people lived or worked. Ar-chaeologists very carefully dig, docu-ment, and study any fragment of anartifact they discover. These scientistsusually spend a considerable amountof time piecing together the artifacts tohelp tell us more about the people whocame before us.

Fossils, which are traces or remainsof living things, also tell us about thelives of animals, birds, and people.When a plant or animal dies, it is usu-ally completely destroyed or it decays.If the remains were buried before theywere destroyed, and if the conditionsare just right, the remains are pre-served as fossils. Usually it is teeth,bones, or shells that are fossilized.

Archaeologists determine the age ofan artifact in various ways. They some-times use carbon dating, in which theisotope carbon 14 is analyzed to obtainage estimates on organic matter. DNAstudies, fluorine dating (testing fluorine in bones and soils to deter-mine age), and dendrochronology (counting the number of annualrings in wood to learn its age) are also methods of determining theage of an artifact. Even fossil pollen found in sediment can be a clueto learn the types of plants that were living at the time the plant oranimal died. Archaeologists are not the only scientists who studyartifacts. Experts in such various fields as zoology, geology, physics,and botany can provide valuable information. Anthropologists studyartifacts, fossils, cave drawings, trails, and oral history to learn theculture of a group and how groups of people lived.

Prehistoric people are identified by cultural periods. No twocultures were exactly alike. People learned from those who livedbefore them, discovered new things, and taught what they knew totheir children—much as we do today. Cultural changes took placeslowly and cultural periods in history overlapped, often by a thou-sand years or more.

Section 1: The Earliest People 65

Above: These artifacts are earlyhoes made from buffalo scapulas,from a Plains Village site inOklahoma.

Map 10Bering LandBridge

Map Skill: Why is theBering land bridgeimportant in understandinghow some of the earliestpeople came to America?

Prehistoric CulturesMost experts believe that the

earliest people came to Americafrom Asia. During the last IceAge, massive glaciers coveredmuch of the northern part ofEarth. The glaciers held a greatamount of ocean waters, whichmeant that the sea levels weremuch lower. Land that is now, inmodern times, covered by theoceans was at that time dry andexposed. One such area of landis believed to have joined Asiaand North America along what isnow called the Bering Strait. This“land bridge” between Siberiaand Alaska is known as Beringia.Warm ocean currents kept theland free of ice, allowing animalsand people to make their wayfrom Asia south into the heart ofNorth America.

Over 16,000 prehistoric and early American Indian sites have beenexplored in Oklahoma. Vast amounts of information have been care-fully harvested from these sites and others around the globe.

Paleo IndiansOver many years, the nomadic (wandering from place to place)

big-game hunters followed the animals, their food source, deeper intoparts of America. The part of America we now know as Oklahomahad a much more temperate climate than it does today. Summers werecooler, and the winters were milder. Rainfall was more abundant,which allowed grasses and trees and other vegetation to thrive. Manyanimals of the time were also much larger than animals of today. Theenormous game animals in prehistoric Oklahoma included giganticsix-foot tall bison, short-faced bear, camel, horse, ground sloth thesize of today’s elephant, a small-type antelope, mastodon, andColumbian and Imperial mammoths.

In 1961, scientists discovered evidence in southwestern Oklahomaof the Paleo Indian prehistoric hunters. They found the bones of aColumbian mammoth at the Cooperton site in Kiowa County. Rocksalso found at the site may have been used as hammerstones and asanvils to break the bones and retrieve the marrow, much as Africantribes still do with elephant bones.

Yet another early site has been found in Woods County in the north-western part of our state. Tiny flakes of chert (a type of sedimentary


Oklahoma MysteriesOklahoma Mysteries

How They CameMost experts believe the firstprehistoric humans migrated toNorth America some 11,500 yearsago across the Beringia landbridge that at one time connectedeastern Siberia and Alaska. Pre-historic northeastern Asians andNative Americans are similar ge-netically, which also supports thetheory.

A number of archaeologicaldiscoveries in North Americahave fit the timeline of the Clovispeople, but later findings havequestioned this timeline. Al-though they had to hunt for theirfood, members of the Clovis cul-ture may have also been explor-ing to see what the new lands had to offer. It was largely thoughtthat these people migrated to South America much later, but a mid-1970s discovery at Monte Verde in Chile has been dated to 12,500years ago. Although not conclusively dated, evidence of earlier peoplehas also been found in North America. For example, some bone piecesfound at Oklahoma’s Burnham site in Woods County were dated asbeing over 30,000 years old.

Another theory supposed that the pre-Clovis people migrated southalong the Pacific coast during the period when it would have beenfree of ice, between 14,000 and 23,000 years ago. Scientists are test-ing this theory by exploring the sea floor along the shoreline.

Other archaeologists think prehistoric Americans came from Eu-rope, crossing the North Atlantic by boat, rather than migrating fromAsia. Similarities between artifacts found here and in prehistoric Eu-rope support this theory.

Some archaeologists now believe that early humans arrived inAmerica in several migrations. As methods, knowledge, and technol-ogy continue to improve, we may learn the answers to our questions.


Above: This painting depictsearly Asians crossing the landbridge between Asia and Alaskaduring one of the Ice Ages.These are thought to be theancestors of Native Americans.

How They Came

rock) and bones from a large bison were discovered at the Burnhamsite. Soil deposits at the site date to about 30,000 years ago, althoughthe chert flakes have not been conclusively dated to that time.

Later Paleo Indian cultures include the Clovis and Folsom people.These cultures lived in Oklahoma from 8,000 to 12,000 years ago(10,000 - 6,000 B.C.).

Clovis PeopleThe mammoth-hunting Clovis people were named after the New

Mexico site where their artifacts were first reported. These peoplehad little more than spears for weapons, which meant they had to beclose to their prey. Some may have disguised themselves under ani-mal pelts, and some may have driven animals into natural traps orstampeded them over cliffs.

The Clovis spear point, usually 3-4 inches long, was made bychipping away or applying pressure to create a rough fluted (grooved)edge. It took hours of hard work to make a point, and too muchpressure could crack the stone. Great skill was required to makesuch spear points, a process known as flint knapping. The pointwas then possibly attached to a bone foreshaft and then the woodenspear shaft.


Below: Paleo Indians huntedlarge animals like the woolymammoth. Mammoths, largehairy elephants, were nativeto the New World until about6000 B.C.

An important Clovis site in Oklahoma was discovered nearStecker in Caddo County in 1961. The Domebo Canyon site re-vealed a young Columbian mammoth that was about fourteenfeet tall at the shoulder and would have weighed some ten tons.Excavators found spear points and fragments at the site, whichhad remained hidden for about eleven thousand years.

As the mammoth population dwindled, Clovis huntersturned to bison for food. Ten to fifteen bison were needed toproduce the same amount of food as did one or two mam-moths. One of the newer sites to be discovered is Jake Bluffjust north of Woodward County. Clovis points made from flintfrom the Texas panhandle were found at the bison kill site.

Folsom PeopleCulture changes happen slowly, resulting in one culture

overlapping another. Like the Clovis hunters, the hunters wecall the Folsom people continued to hunt using spears. TheFolsom spear point, however, was smaller and had a finer pointwith more delicate fluting.

Folsom sites found in Oklahoma include the Cooper Bone-bed (a bison kill in Harper County) and the Waugh site(a possible camp from this period near Laverne in HarperCounty). Three separate bison kills have been documented in the ar-royo or gully at the Cooper site. The spear points found there were madefrom stone common to Austin and Amarillo, Texas, and to northwest-ern Kansas. This suggests that the hunters were very mobile. Anotherexciting discovery was a red zigzag, probably depicting a lightning bolt,which had been painted on a bison skull. The red paint was preparedfrom local stone rich in iron, the blood-red mineral. The skull is amongthe earliest painted art found thus far in North America. Experts be-lieve the art is evidence that hunting practices of the Folsom peoplealso involved other parts of their culture, such as rituals.

The Dalton people lived some 9,000-10,000 years ago in easternOklahoma. They hunted deer and other game animals and ate wildplants. The Packard site in Mayes County in northeastern Oklahomarevealed some 9,500 years of human occupation. The first hunterscame to visit the Packard site nearly 5,000 years before the first Egyp-tian pyramid was built. Today this site is covered by the waters ofLake Hudson.

The Perry Ranch site in Jackson County also dates to about thesame time period. The spear points found at the site were made of aspecial kind of chert known as Alibates. This rock may have comefrom the Texas panhandle.

The large animals of the Great Plains died out about ten thousandyears ago for reasons that are not yet known. The climate may havechanged, or the people may have hunted the animals to extinction.The smaller animals that began to roam the area included deer,


Above: Examples of a Clovispoint (left) from the Domebo site,and a Folsom point (right) fromGreer County. These are approxi-mately life-size.

turkey, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, wolf, coyote, antelope, prairie dog,and the all-important bison, forerunner of today’s buffalo. The giantbison bull was about 30 percent larger than our modern buffalo.

Although the early people were hunters, they probably lived insmall bands of families. Some evidence suggests they built small,temporary houses with pole frames that were probably covered withhides or brush. They knew how to make and use fire. These peoplealso carved knife handles, awls, and beads from bone and wood. Theanimals they killed provided food, and the hides were made into cloth-ing, containers, and covers for shelters. They made the bison sinew(or tendon) into thread and string, and they made the bones into toolsand ornaments.

Archaic Culture ForagersThe huge ice glaciers had for the most part receded by 7,000 years

ago (5000 B.C.). A warmer climate developed and lasted until about2,500 years ago. Drier summers caused the forests to decrease.

The change in environment caused the prehistoric people to ad-just their way of life, and a new culture began to appear. The Forag-ers of the Archaic culture were still hunters, but modern types ofanimals were their prey. Dogs became domesticated during this time.


Below: After the large animalsdied out, the Archaic peoplerelied on gathering natural foodand hunting smaller animals.

Increasing populations of people and conflicts withother groups caused the Foragers to hunt in more lo-calized areas. They harvested nuts, berries, roots, andseeds. They ground hard plant foods—seeds, nuts,grains—in small sandstone basins, or metates, to crackthe grains or to make flour. They stored the grains andflours in baskets made from reeds and plants. Theyused stone axes to dig plants and to cut trees and brushfor shelters and tools. Plant fibers and roots were madeinto baskets, nets, and string, which they used to snaresmall animals and to carry things. Stone hooks andstring were used to fish or hang food. Pieces of boneand antler became spear points, needles, awls,punches, and atlatl hooks.

An important new weapon that appeared in this pe-riod was the atlatl. The atlatl was a short wooden shaftwith a hook at the end that was used to throw dartswith more force and accuracy. With this invention, thehunter could kill from a greater distance and have moretime to escape if he missed the target. The smaller dartgave the hunter an advantage in that he could carrymore darts.

The Forager people may have used shelters with poleframes to live in as they hunted in their areas. Some innortheastern Oklahoma used natural caves and bluffoverhangs along the rivers as their shelter.

A severe drought gripped our state in the middleof the Archaic period, but many of the people adapted. One groupthat endured is known as the Calf Creek culture. Evidence of thesehunter-gatherers has been found along the Washita River just northof the Arbuckle Mountains in Murray County, as well as four otherlocations in the state. This culture is distinguished by their finelymade spear points.

Forager sites have been found across the state. An early site fromthis period is Pumpkin Creek in Love County. This area was used fromabout 9,000 to 7,500 years ago. Dry sheltered caves near Kenton in thePanhandle preserved the story of one group of Foragers for almost 4,000years. The people ate buffalo, deer, antelope, elk, jack rabbit, cotton-tail, coyote, wildcat, badger, eagle, wild turkey, and mice. They mixedground pinon nuts with wild plums and berries to make round flat cakessimilar to a doughnut. They knew how to start a fire with a wood drill.They made bags from prairie dog skins, sandals of yucca leaves withsoles of cedar bark, colorful mats, rugs, baskets, and cradles.

The earliest human skeleton found in Oklahoma was discoveredin Comanche County and dates from about 7,000 years ago. Otherskeletons have been discovered in eastern Oklahoma that are be-tween 5,000 and 2,000 years old.

!Some scientists believethat the atlatl was

so effective it causedthe extinction of thewooly mammoth in

North America.

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Above: The atlatl allowedhunters to throw spears or dartsa greater distance. The huntersno longer had to get so close totheir prey.


Woodland CultureFarming began to replace foraging about 2,000 years ago as the

Woodland culture emerged. The early farmers needed to stay in oneplace so they could plant, cultivate, and harvest their crops of pig-weed, goosefoot, squash, corn, beans, and sunflowers. They beganto build better shelters and live in villages. Since they weren’t mov-ing around as much, they could make more and heavier things, suchas clay pots and heavy grinding stones.

Farming appears to have first developed in four regions of Okla-homa. These are the Grand River area in the northeast, the OuachitaMountains in the southeast, the Cimarron River area in the Panhandle,and along the Canadian and Washita rivers in the central and west-ern parts of our state. The valley areas were probably chosen becausethey were easier to plow.

The early farms were more like garden plots. Cultivating was doneby hand using wooden sticks and hoes made from flint, bone, stone,or mussel shell. Crops were planted in clusters. Most crops wereharvested in the fall after the seeds had ripened and dried. Seeds werethen ground using grinding stones and sandstone basins.

The early farming people made pottery by shaping clay that hadbeen mixed with ground bone, shell, or sand. They baked the shapedpot at a high temperature, causing it to become hard.

The bow and arrow and other new tools came into use about thistime. The bow and arrow made hunting easier. The ax, made of stone,was both a weapon and a tool. They also developed an ax with a cut-

Map 11OklahomaArchaeologicalSites, 2004

Map Skill: Whichcounties have the mostarchaeological sites?


ADAIR

ALFALFA

ATOKA

BEAVER

BECKHAM

BLAINE

BRYAN

CADDO

CANADIAN

CARTER

CHEROKEE

CHOCTAW

CIMARRON

CLEVELAND

COAL

COMANCHE

COTTON

CRAIG

CREEK

CUSTER

DELAWARE

DEWEY

ELLIS

GARFIELD

GARVIN

GRADY

GRANT

GREER

HARMON

HARPER

HASKELL

HUGHES

JACKSON

JEFFERSON

JOHNSTON

KAY

KINGFISHER

KIOWA

LATIMER LE FLORE

LINCOLN

LOGAN

LOVE

MCCLAIN

MCCURTAIN

MACINTOSH

MAJOR

MARSHALL

MAYES

MURRAY

MUSKOGEE

NOBLE

NOWATA

OKFUSKEEOKLAHOMA

OKMULGEE

OSAGE

OTTAWA

PAWNEE

PAYNE

PITTSBURG

PONTOTOC

POTTAWATOMIE

PUSHMATAHA

ROGERMILLS

ROGERS

SEMINOLE

SEQUOYAH

STEPHENS

TEXAS

TILLMAN

TULSA

WAGONER

WASHINGTON

WASHITA

WOODS

WOODWARD

Under 100101-200201-300301-400401-500Over 500

ting edge on both sides. Celts were similar to small axes and may havebeen used like wedges. The adz was similar to an ax, but it was fas-tened to a handle at a right angle and used for hollowing logs and such.

In 1900, a group of archaeologists from the Smithsonian Museumin Washington, D.C., traveled to Afton in northeastern Oklahoma toinvestigate a discovery by Dr. D. H. Harper. Dr. Harper had found 150artifacts of flint and bone in the bottom of Afton Spring. The artifactsincluded arrowheads, spear points,knives, and blades from various periodsand bones from mastodons with teeth aslong as 18 inches. One distinctive arrow-head in particular had a leaflike shapeand was made from an unusual kind offlint. The unusual arrowhead was namedthe Afton point.

Archaeological sites for this culturehave been found at the Roulston-Rogerssite in Seminole County and on the bankof the Fourche Maline Creek at theMcCutchan-McLaughlin site in LatimerCounty.


Left: This example of an Aftonpoint is from the Packard site,which is now under the waters ofLake Hudson. Below: When theWoodland people began to plantand tend crops, they built morepermanent villages. Notice thetypes of activities going on here.

Plains Village FarmersThe Plains Village farming groups lived in Oklahoma

from about 1,200 to 500 years ago. The climate was prob-ably similar to today with alternating years of good rain-fall and drought, making farming risky, but possible.These people grew corn, beans, squash, gourds, sunflow-ers, and tobacco. Women apparently tended the cropsand made the pottery, while the men were probably thehunters. They hunted bison and deer as well as manysmaller animals. Hickory nuts, walnuts, hackberry seeds,wild cherries and plums, persimmons, and other wildplants provided food, dyes, and medicine.

Villages of about 100 people were scattered along thewaterways. Square or rectangular houses were built withposts of red cedar or cottonwood. The walls were madeof sticks or cane that were covered with a clay-and-grassmixture. The entryway was a short, above-ground tun-

nel. Steep roofs were covered with prairie grass. Fireplaces for cook-ing were used both inside and outside the houses.

A Plains Village farming group in the Panhandle was similar to themore southern people, except that their houses had stone founda-tions. Artifacts found at the Roy Smith site in Beaver County suggestthat the people may have participated in a trade system that extendedto the Pacific Ocean.

The MoundbuildersAbout this same time, a differ-

ent prehistoric culture was livingin eastern Oklahoma. Thisculture’s signature mounds canbe visited today at the SpiroMounds State ArchaeologicalPark. The mounds were built bythe Caddo people. Some expertsbelieve the Caddo were ancestorsof historic Caddo and Wichitagroups who adopted the customsof the southeastern United Statesmoundbuilders. Others believethe Caddo may have been abranch of the Cahokian mound-builders from the Mississippi andOhio river valleys or linked totribes in Mexico. The unique buri-

als and artwork suggest they were part of the larger Mississippianculture. Evidence of the Caddoan culture has been found at several sitesin eastern Oklahoma in addition to the Spiro site.


Above: This Plains Village potcame from a site in GarvinCounty. Below: This engravedshell gorget was excavated fromSpiro Mounds. A gorget is anengraved shell ornament wornaround the neck.

Most of the Caddoan people lived in small farming communitiesin the nearby countryside, with one large, centrally located village.The central buildings in each village may have been used to keep trackof solar events and seasons. Houses were somewhat similar to thoseof the Plains Village farmers.

Both Spiro men and women painted themselves with colorfulpaints made from clays and ground-up rocks. Men wore flat-top hair-cuts, sometimes with Mohawk-type crests or beaded forelocks. Theywore breechcloths with sashes and moccasins. The men were finecraftsmen who worked with stone, shell, and copper. They carvedfancy stone tobacco pipes depicting people and animals. Some of theitems used in their crafts included copper, shell, and turquoise, whichwere not available in this region. This suggests that they often tradeditems with other tribes.

Women wore simple fringed skirts and aprons. Women tended thecrops, homes, and children. They gathered persimmons, nuts, acorns,pecans, and wild fruits, including a yellow maypop, the fruit from thepassionflower. The women wove cloth and lace using rabbit hair, wildhemp, wild cotton, and nettles. They made blankets of buffalo hair,rabbit fur, and feathers. All members of the clan wore jewelry thatwas made from rope and string, pearls and seeds.

The moundbuilders created Spiro’s twelve mounds in layers, onebasketload of dirt at a time. It is thought that one mound was usedfor burials, two were for temples, and nine were for houses or other

!Spiro Mounds,Oklahoma’s only

archaeological park, isconsidered one of thefour most important

prehistoric Indian siteseast of the Rocky

Mountains.

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Below: This illustration of amoundbuilder village shows atemple mound to the right rear.

buildings. In the 1930s, treasure hunters removed many of the remark-able artifacts from the site before an archaeological study could bedone. The clues those artifacts might have revealed may never beknown.

The Spiro elite were part of a chiefdom. In a chiefdom, the highest-ranking person has control over critical resources. This control wasprobably over military leadership and trade in luxury items and farm-ers’ products.

The Spiro people continued to live in the area, but moundbuildingceased. More trips were made to the western plains to hunt buffalo.

Early Plains IndiansAbout five hundred years ago, the climate became too dry in the

western part of the state for farming. This period of time is calledprotohistoric, the era between prehistoric and recorded history. Thepeople once again resorted to the more nomadic way of life as theyreturned to hunting buffalo for their food. They also hunted deer,antelope, rabbit, or whatever they could find. They foraged for wildplant foods.

Buffalo were vitally important to the Early Plains Indians. The ani-mals provided the people with food, clothing, shelter, and tools.Making jerky (dried meat) and pemmican (dried meat mixed withberries and fat) allowed the Early Plains Indians to use buffalo meatlong after the animal had been killed.


1. How do we know about prehistoric cultures?2. What is the difference between artifacts and fossils?3. What Oklahoma group built mounds? What was their

purpose?

It’s Your TurnIt’s Your Turn

Their shelters were grass houses and coni-cal tipis covered with buffalo hide. These wereeasily moved, which was necessary when fol-lowing the buffalo herds. At first, the Indianstraveled on foot, since horses were not avail-able. They used dogs as pack animals, pulling atype of sled made of two poles and a net, nowcalled a travois.

These hunters may be the ancestors of asubgroup of Caddoan-speaking people referredto as Wichitas. The American Indian cultures by this time included anumber of tribes and confederacies with different traditions, beliefs,and languages. Some of the hunters on the plains were Apache Indi-ans. Other tribes may have been ancestors of the Kiowa.


Top: This is the temple moundat Spiro Mounds. Above: Thesetwo copper masks are artifactsfrom Spiro Mounds. Oppositepage, above and below:This recreation of a house atSpiro Mounds shows the mound-builders’ construction techniques.

Documents

As you read, look for: times dig throughancient garbage ...Anthropologists study artifacts, fossils, cave drawings, trails, and oral history to learn the culture of a group and how