General Anthropological History of this Region
Information provided to the Museum
by Anne Rogers, Professor of Anthropology at WCUThe Southern Appalachian Mountains have been inhabited for more that 10,000 years. The first people to come were the Native Americans, who found the area rich in natural resources. They hunted the game and collected many plants for food and medicine.
The Paleo Period (12,000 BC to 8, 000 BC)
The first inhabitants are known as Paleo-Indians. They moved through the mountains in small groups, hunting animals and gathering wild plants for food. Little is known of these early people. As they exhausted the food supplies in one area, they would move to a new area. They did not establish permanent settlements, which means they did not leave behind collections of artifacts for us to find and study. At that time the weather was cooler than it is now, and the vegetation was different -more like that found in Canada today than what we see around us here. The animals that were around back then include the ones that are still here, plus elk and wood bison, which are now extinct here.The Archaic Period (8,000 BC to 1,500 BC)
The beginning of this period is marked by a global warming trend, in which the climate became like it is today. Before, the mountains had been covered with evergreen trees. Now, these began to be replaced with deciduous trees, the hardwoods. Many of these trees were nut-bearing species and they introduced a new source of food for animals and people. Nuts are nourishing and they can be stored through the winter. With plenty of nuts to eat, people could stay in a single place for longer periods of time. They began to use the forest resources more fully. With plenty to eat, the children thrived and the population increased.The Woodland Period (1,500 BC to 900 AD)
During this time, people began to plant food and to live in established villages. This was when they started to grow and eat corn. They also continued to hunt and gather many foods. Gradually, as they farmed more and more, they needed to decide which land belonged to which people. (When you are hunting animals and plants, you take what you can find, wherever you can find it. However, if you have planted a big garden for food to help you through the winter, you don’t want strangers to take your harvest). So the people began to establish territorial boundaries and to defend those boundaries from intruders. Groups of people now stayed in one place, their own territory. They no longer roamed freely about. A problem with staying in one place is that sometimes not all the plants and animals you need are within your territory. So groups of people began to trade with other groups. They established trade networks. These trade networks eventually extended across the eastern part of much of what is now the United States.The Mississippian Period (900 AD to about 15,000 AD)
During this period, the people here began to interact more with other tribes and to learn and introduce new ways. They began to construct earthen mounds. They used these as foundations for the buildings/structures used by their leaders when they met for political or ceremonial purposes. The people still hunted and gathered in the forest, but they started farming even more. They began planting beans, which are especially nutritious when combined with corn. With better nutrition, the population increased more. Villages became larger. Political and social activities became more complex.The Modern Period (1,500 AD to….)
In this period, the Europeans arrived.Copyright ©2000 Anne Rogers
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