Early Native American Societies

S.W.B.A.TExplain how many diverse

Native American cultures developed

across different regions of North America by completing a graphic

organizer

Word of the DayNomad

A member of a group of people who have no fixed home and

move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water, and grazing land.

Early SocietiesAnasazi

(ah-nuh-SAH-zee)

• One of the early farm cultures in the Southwest.

• Lived where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet.

Early SocietiesAnasazi

(ah-nuh-SAH-zee)

• Grew maize, beans, and squash.

• Used irrigation to increase food production.

• Skilled basket and pottery makers.

Early SocietiesAnasazi

(ah-nuh-SAH-zee)

• Built pueblos, or aboveground houses made of heavy clay called adobe.

• Built them on top of each other.

• Some had several hundred rooms and could house 1,000 people.

Early SocietiesAnasazi

(ah-nuh-SAH-zee)

• Also built kivas, underground ceremonial chambers, at the center of each community.

• Sacred areas used for religious ceremonies.

Early SocietiesMississippian

• Skilled farmers and traders who built large settlements.

• Their largest city, Cahokia, was located near present-day St. Louis, Missouri.

Early SocietiesMississippian

• Build hundreds of mounds for religious ceremonies.

• Mounds had flat tops, and temples were built on the top of the mounds.

• Some mounds were shaped like birds and snakes and were over 100 feet high.