Fig. 4. Drawing of a Paleo-Indian fluted point (Clovis type).
The Archaic Stage
(8000 B.C. to A.D. 1?)
Following the Paleo-Indian stage of cultural development, we know that population continued to grow steadily over thousands of years. We know this trend occurred because we find many more [sites]. In the project area, for example, we find that about half of all [prehistoric sites] that can be related to a cultural stage are from the Archaic stage (over 300 prehistoric sites were recorded during 1980-81). Even though these sites were occupied over thousands of years, they are a striking contrast to the scanty evidence of Paleo-Indian groups.
Another thing that makes it easier to find Archaic stage [sites] is that the Archaic peoples’ way of life had changed from that of the Paleo-Indians. The hallmark of Archaic culture was a round of occupation from one site to another in a regular cycle timed to the changing seasons. We suspect, for example, that during the fall, families moved to camps on river terraces where they could gather acorns and other nuts for winter food and hunt deer. In the spring and summer, they may have moved to camps on streams, where they could fish and gather roots, berries and mussels. By coming back to their sites again and again over hundreds or thousands of years, a great deal of waste materials was deposited leaving evidence to be found by archaeologists.
At present, only the barest outline of this culture is understood. Yet through study of their burial patterns, discarded food materials and many other aspects of the archaeological [sites] they left behind, we can come to a much fuller understanding of their culture ([Figure 5]).
The Woodland Stage
(A.D. 1 to A.D. 800?)
Throughout much of eastern North America we know that tremendous cultural changes occurred in the few centuries before and after the time of Christ. The society of simple hunters and gatherers in Archaic times gave way to a much more advanced type of society for reasons that are not entirely understood at present. We do know that Woodland stage peoples began building huge earthworks; sometimes as burial mounds, sometimes in the forms of animals such as snakes. From a social point of view, big changes occurred. We find the first evidence of social ranking in which a few powerful people were buried in mounds with great wealth and ceremony. In certain respects, this development was a clear step toward the eventual emergence of civilizations. We know that this kind of change has occurred independently in many parts of the world but we do not yet know why. It is clearly an important development with consequences for all human societies.
Fig. 5. Projectile points excavated from an Archaic stage [site] in the Richland project. Some of the stone from which these points were made was imported by the Indians from many miles away from the project.
The Woodland stage also saw major technological advances. It was in this period that the bow and arrow, making of pottery ([Figure 6]) and agriculture (though this may have occurred during Archaic times, too) make their appearance.