Chapter 9 The Americas Section 2: Cultures of North America

1
Chapter 9 - The Americas Section 2 Cultures of
North America
2

• The Story Continues
• Although the first Americans came from Asia, they
  eventually formed many new cultures throughout
  the Americas. One Native American myth recounts
  this distribution. for a long time everyone
  spoke the same language, but suddenly people
  began to speak in different tongues. Kulsu (the
  Creator) ... sent each tribe to a different place
  to live.

3
I. Western North America

• The geography of each region in N. America
• shaped the diverse cultures that developed

4
A. The Northwest

• The northwest coast groups relied on fishing
• and were expert weavers and woodworkers

5
A. The Northwest

• They created totem poles representing family
• and community history, and held gatherings
• called potlatches

6
B. The Southwest

• The Hohokam people lived along the Gila
• River as early as 300 BC

7
B. The Southwest

• Hohokam farmers built extensive irrigation
• networks to grow beans, corn, and cotton

8
B. The Southwest

• Due to climate changes, the Hohokam
• abandoned their communities during the A.D.
• 1300s and 1400s

9
B. The Southwest

• Another southwestern group was the Pueblo,
• who built permanent adobe houses

10
Cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde, CO
11
C. The Great Plains

• Between the Rockies and the Mississippi are
• the Great Plains, where people hunted herds of
• buffalo (bison)

12
C. The Great Plains

• They hunted on foot, used the jump-kill
• method, or drove the buffalo into corrals

13
C. The Great Plains

• The Plains peoples ate the meat and used
• buffalo hides to make clothing and to build
• tepees

14
(No Transcript)
15
C. The Great Plains

• Buffalo were sacred and the Plains peoples held
• ceremonies before and after a hunt

16
C. The Great Plains

• The Plains peoples made tools from bone,
• stone, and wood made pottery and used dogs
• as pack animals

17
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• The Eastern Woodlands
• stretch from Canada
• to the Gulf of Mexico
• and from the Atlantic
• to the Mississippi

18
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• Some of North Americas most complex
• cultures developed in this region

19
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• The Hopewell settled in the Ohio Valley in
• as early as 300 B.C.

20
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• They left behind earthen mounds, some in the
• shapes of animals, which may have been used
• for burials

Hopewell Burial Mounds - CITY OF THE DEAD  
Aerial view of the Great Serpent Mound, Serpent
Mound State Memorial Ohio
21
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• Artifacts and trade goods from the mounds
• suggest the Hopewell were skilled artisans and
• traders

Portrait of a Hopewell person made from copper
Carved ceremonial pipes
Carving of a Hopewell shaman dressed as a bear
22
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• Another mound building group was the
• Mississippians, who flourished from about A.D.
• 700 to A.D. 1550

Ocmulgee Indian Mounds
23
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• Large settlements grew up around ceremonial
• mound constructions, which held temples

24
II. The Eastern Woodlands

• Between A.D. 1050 and A.D. 1250, Cahokia
• was the largest ceremonial center in
• N. America, with a population of 30,000 people

25
(No Transcript)