Archaeologists believe the first people to inhabit North America, known as Paleo-Indians, migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska between 16,000-8,000 BC. Paleo-Indians followed animal herds and were hunter-gatherers who hunted large game like mastodons and deer and gathered plants like berries and nuts. Around 7,000 BC, native peoples in North America began farming crops like corn, beans, and avocados, leading to more permanent agricultural settlements with specialized labor and early political hierarchies.

1. United States History I The First Americans: Origins and Migrations

2. Migratory Patterns Archaeologists and anthropolgists believe the first peoples to inhabit the Americas, also known as Paleo-Indians , migrated from Asia to North America via a land bridge, called Beringia Paleo-Indians migrated to the Americas during the last Ice Age about 1.6 mil B.C. to about 8000 B.C. Paleo-Indians were hunters-and-gatherers and may have migrated to the Americas following animals

3. Beringia, or the land bridge theory of First American migration

4. MIGRATIONS OF THE FIRST AMERICANS INTO NORTH AMERICA

5. Pre-contact Cultural Groups

6. Native American Linguistic Groups

7. A study of skulls excavated in Baja California, Mexico, suggests that the first Americans may have come from Southeast Asia and the southern Pacific area. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

8. hunting-and-gathering societies discovery of spearheads and charred bones at Paleo-Indian sites supports the thesis that the First Americans were hunters-and-gatherers Early Americans hunted deer, mastadon, and rabbits Paleo-Indians also fished and gathered fruits, nuts, roots, and berries

9. Neolithic Settlement about 7000 B.C. native peoples began settling on the land and farming by 5000 B.C. maize (corn), beans, and avocados were being grown with agriculture comes permanent settlement on land and the proliferation of agrarian practices and techniques

10. Characteristics of Agrarian Settlement division of labor specialization of tasks emergence of class, or caste, distinctions development of political hierarchy population growth development of more highly advanced culture, economics, politics, society, and technology

11. MOUND BUILDERS

12. First Encounters: Champlain and the American Indians