The Earliest Civilizations in America

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​to learn about people living during prehistory archaeologists study artifacts.

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​Artifacts are tools, clothing, and decorations that prehistoric people used.

​Archaeologists are scientists who study the history of humans by looking at what man-made objects were left behind

​Life focused on finding food and shelter.

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​People were hunter-gatherers -- hunted food and gathered plants.

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​People had no permanent home -- they were nomads.

Learning to farm helped people settle, or stay in one place, by creating a lot more food for people to eat. This meant that more people could live in one place rather than travel in search of food.

​Farming created more food for people to eat. This meant that people could live in one place.

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​Many people settled and stayed in places where they could raise food crops and hunt on lands near their farms.

​Corn, Tomatoes, pumpkins, and beans were other early crops grown in the Americas

​Some early people must have seen seeds like these growing plants and then made the connection that a plant grows from a seed. Explain that this was one of the most important scientific discoveries ever made.

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​When humans did not have to hunt and gather all day, they had more time. They started forming groups that worked together -- this was the beginning of ancient civilizations.

​Because farming required staying in one place, settlements of a few families grew in size as the population grew. With a steady diet and better food, people were living longer and having more children.

​Because people spent less time producing food, they had time to develop crafts, such as creating pottery, making blankets, and weaving baskets. There was also more reason to acquire goods like pots and extra blankets because people no longer had to carry them around.

​After people started to record events, first by drawing symbols (called pictographs) and then by writing, it became much easier to tell what happened, and history started. These records can tell us the names of leaders (such as Kings and Queens), important events like floods and wars, and the things people did in their daily lives.