Georgia Georgia and the American Experienceand the American Experience

Chapter 3:Chapter 3:

The Land And Its Early The Land And Its Early PeoplePeople

Study Presentation Study Presentation

Georgia Georgia and the American Experienceand the American Experience

Section 1: Section 1: How Did We Learn About the Earliest Peoples?

Section 2: Section 2: Indian Nations in Georgia

Section 1: How Did We Section 1: How Did We Learn About the Earliest Learn About the Earliest

Peoples?Peoples?

• Essential Question – How did Georgia’s prehistoric Indian

tribes live?

Section 1: What is Section 1: What is Geography?Geography?

• What words do I need to know?– archeologist– anthropologist– shale– artifact– culture– tribe– antiquities

Understanding Ancient Understanding Ancient Peoples Through ArtifactsPeoples Through Artifacts

• Oral Tradition: Elders repeated narratives of events often until the younger generations memorized them

• Archeologists dig into earth to find artifacts (items made by people) that tell us about early inhabitants

• Shale: Layered rock that can encase ancient animals or birds

Understanding Ancient Understanding Ancient Peoples Through CulturePeoples Through Culture

• Anthropologists use artifacts, cave drawings, well-traveled pathways, and oral history to study a group’s culture

• Culture: shared beliefs, traditions, music, art, and social institutions of a group of people

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: Paleo History: Paleo

• Paleo (from Greek, “Very Old”)• Also called Old Stone Age• Lasted about 10,000 years• Nomadic (roaming) hunters• Most tools and spear points made of

stone • Used an “atlatl”: stone sling-like

implement that threw darts from a longer distance

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: Early ArchaicHistory: Early Archaic

• Archaic (means “Old”)• Three time spans: Early, Middle, Late • Early Archaic period: 8,000 B.C. to

5,000 B.C.• Hunted large animals and small game• Invented tools from deer antlers• Moved with each season to find best

food resources

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: Middle ArchaicHistory: Middle Archaic

• Began around 5,000 B.C. • Water levels moved back along rivers

and coastal areas• People began making hooks from

animal bones• Shellfish was a more common food • Food was easier to find; people moved

around less

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: Late ArchaicHistory: Late Archaic

• 4,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C.• Created grooved axes to clear trees

and bushes • Began saving and planting seeds for

plants and seeds for growing seasons (horticulture)

• Made and used pottery for storing, cooking, and serving food

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: WoodlandHistory: Woodland

• 1,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D.• Tribe: group of people sharing common

ancestry, name, and way of living• Hundreds of families formed tribes• Built domed-shaped huts with trees • Used bow and arrows to hunt• Held religious ceremonies• Improved pottery-making techniques

Cultural Periods in Georgia Cultural Periods in Georgia History: Mississippian History: Mississippian

• Also called the Temple Mound period• Farmed with homemade tools and grew

most of their food• Thousands might live in a single

settlement, protected by fences and moats

• Very religious; used jewelry and body art

Archeological FindsArcheological Finds • Ancient middens (garbage piles) show what

people ate, how they used fire, what they used for cooking

• Ocmulgee National Monument near Macon reveals a large ceremonial area with benches and platforms

• There are large temple mounds in Early, Bartow, and Bibb counties

• Stallings Island near Augusta is a large shell midden Click to return to Table of Contents.

Section 2:Section 2: Indian Nations in Indian Nations in

GeorgiaGeorgia• ESSENTIAL QUESTION

– Which Indian nations lived in Georgia and how did they live?

Section 2:Section 2: Indian Nations in Indian Nations in

GeorgiaGeorgia

• What peoples do I need to know? – Creek (Muscogee)

– Cherokee

The Creeks (Muscogee)The Creeks (Muscogee)

• Originally from American southwest• Spoke Muskogean• Discovered by early European explorers who

called them Creeks• Lived along Ocheese Creek (today’s

Ocmulgee River)• Lived in italwa and talofa (large villages

surrounded by smaller villages) similar to today’s large city and surrounding suburbs

Creek (Muscogee) LifestyleCreek (Muscogee) Lifestyle • Village center featured a plaza and

rotunda• Games and ceremonies held in plaza• Rotunda was used for council meetings• Wooden huts or log cabins with

chimneys surrounded the plaza• Villages, split from larger villages,

helped form a confederacy• Raised livestock and successful farmers

The CherokeeThe Cherokee • Lived in northwestern mountain region of

the state • Called themselves Awi-yum-wija, which

meant “real people” or “principal people”• Tribal Clans: groups of Cherokee who

believed themselves related by blood• Two tribal chiefs: one for making war and

one for making peacetime decisions• Clans governed on the local level

The Cherokee Family The Cherokee Family

• Family lines were traced through the mother, not the father

• The mother’s brothers took responsibility for raising her children

• Mothers handled most domestic chores; fathers often left home to hunt or trade

• Children played games that prepared them for adulthood

Cherokee LifestyleCherokee Lifestyle • Built homes on high banks or hills along rivers

and streams• Shelters were built from available materials,

often plastered on the exterior to keep out rain and cold

• Log cabins built for winter living • Fishing and raising crops including maize

(corn)• Barter: trading goods and services without

use of money was an economic system

Cherokee Religious BeliefsCherokee Religious Beliefs

• Believed Earth was large island resting on water

• “This World”: tribe was at center of the earth

• “Upper World”: above This World; clean and pure world; Sun and Moon chief gods

• “Under World”: in waters below This World; disorder and change

• Deer and birds were honored; bears were not

Other Cherokee Lifestyle Other Cherokee Lifestyle PracticesPractices

• Drank ginseng potion to shop bleeding or shortness of breath

• Smoked tobacco on ceremonial occasions when seeking the gods’ blessings

• Green Corn Ceremony held to give thanks for corn, the most important food source

• Followed “Law of Retaliation,” avenging a wrong by getting even; this law helped prevent feuds within a tribe

Click to return to Table of Contents.

Click to return to Table of Contents.