The Early People of

North America:

Anasazi, Adena,

Hopewell, Pueblo

& Mississippian cultures

6-4.4: Explain the contributions, features, and rise and fall of the

North American ancestors of the numerous Native American tribes.

Emergence of Agriculture Spreads to North America

• The knowledge of farming

spreads from Mesoamerica

to Southwest America, along

the Gulf of Mexico, and into

the valleys of the Mississippi

River

• Modern Day area of Arizona,

New Mexico, Utah, and

Colorado

Anasazi Culture

• Lived in the cliffs of the Chaco

Canyon between 500-1200 AD

• Early group of farming Indians

• Anasazi is a Navajo word for

“old ones”

• Lived in the Four Corners area of

the southwest. Arizona, New

Mexico, Colorado, Utah

• Descendants of the Pueblo

people

Anasazi Culture

• Cultivated land though

dams, ditches, & canals

that captured rain from the

top of the mesas &

channeled it to the canyon

floor where the garden

were located.

Anasazi Culture• Multi-storied homes made

of adobe & stone

• Looked like apartment

buildings

• Built into or along the walls

of protective cliffs or

around large plazas

• Spanish later called these

structures, pueblos, or

“villages”

Pueblo Bonita in Chaco Canyon

• Heart of the civilization

• Massive complex with over

800 rooms that housed

more than 1,000 people

• Built extensive road

networks from there for

trade

Anasazi Craftsmanship

• Known for turquoise jewelry

• Intricate woven baskets

• Black-on-white pottery with

elaborate designs

Anasazi Decline • Eventually abandon Pueblo

Bonito & other sites in the region

• Believed that years of draught was the cause

• Their architecture & art influences later cultures- the Hopi & Zuni; two of the largest Pueblo groups today

• Foundation of civilization in the Southwest

Video: 8:53

Mississippian Culture (Adena)• Mississippian culture was influenced by

the Adena and the Hopewell people

• By 700 BC, the spread of agriculture reached the Adena in the Ohio River Valley region

• They were the first in the region to grow squash, sunflowers, gourds, and barley

• Produced exquisite copper jewelry & fine pottery

• Most known for their burial mounds made of log structures covered by massive piles or dirt (earth)

Mississippian Culture (Hopewell)

• by 300 BC, the Hopewell people

arrived in the Ohio River Valley

• They began building mounds 40

ft high & 100 feet wide

• Artifacts found suggest they

were extensive traders with

areas stretched west to

Wyoming, south to the Gulf of

Mexico, east to the Atlantic, &

north to the Great Lakes

Mississippian Agriculture

• Around 800 AD, a group people rose up along the Mississippi River

• They grew maize & beans in the fertile flood plains, along with native crops already grown there

• More food production resulted in population growth

• This led to the need for more land & to the expansion in the southeast

Mississippian Cities

• Large-scale farming gave

rise to the creation of

many cities that was home

to 10,000 people

• These cities were centered

around large, pyramid-

shaped mounds, often

topped by temples or

house for the elite

The City of Cahokia• The largest of the Mississippian

cities was Cahokia- near present day St. Louis

• The center was a massive mound, 100 ft high with a base of more than 14 acres- larger that the Great Pyramid in Egypt

• Surrounding this were 120 smaller mounds

• Believed that in 1250 AD, Cahokia had a greater population than both Paris & London

Mississippian Decline

• The Mississippian culture

collapsed by the early 1300s AD

• The reason is still a mystery

• This culture influenced later

Eastern Woodlands people

through spreading agricultural

practices of large-scale farming

of corn & beans, as well as the

practice of mound building

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