INDIANS OF PREHISTORIC LOUISIANA
NEO-INDIAN 1,500 1,000 CADDO/PLAQUEMINE-MISSISSIPPIAN 500 TROYVILLE-COLES CREEK A.D. MARKSVILLE B.C. 500 TCHEFUNCTE 1,000 POVERTY POINT 1,500 2,000 MESO-INDIAN 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 PALEO-INDIAN 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500 8,000 8,500 9,000 9,500 10,000 10,500 ?
INTRODUCTION
Tens of thousands of years ago, when the world was in the midst of the Ice Age, the first humans made their way into North America. At that time, thick sheets of ice covering the polar regions had tied up so much of the earth’s water that the oceans were approximately 400 feet lower than they are today. All around the world sections of land that are now underwater were then above sea level. An extensive land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska across what is now the Bering Strait and people from Asia used this route for their passage into North America.
The land bridge between the two continents was clear of ice for thousands of years, and vegetation from both sides intermixed. Grazing animals, and the people who hunted them, gradually wandered from Asia into North America, probably without ever realizing they were moving into a new region. Although the earliest immigrants may have reached North America over 40,000 years ago, most of the present evidence dates from between 23,000 and 8,000 years ago.
Much of Canada was covered with ice during this time, but periodically, ice-free corridors of land connected Alaska with the Great Plains of the United States. Over hundreds of generations nomadic people spread throughout southern North America, Central America, and South America. At least by 12,000 years ago, the first Indians lived in the southeastern United States. The prehistoric era in Louisiana begins with these first inhabitants and concludes with the arrival of the Europeans. The chart at the left outlines the long, rich prehistory of Louisiana.
PALEO-INDIAN
Twelve thousand years ago, the average temperature in the southeastern United States was five to 10 degrees cooler than it is now, and the climate was drier. The landscape was covered with oak and pine forests mixed with open grasslands. Some familiar animals such as rabbits and deer lived in the area, but many other animals that have become extinct in North America, were also common then. Included were the camel, giant armadillo, short-faced bear, long-horned bison, mastodon, tapir, ground sloth, saber-toothed tiger, mammoth, dire wolf, and horse (the horse was later reintroduced by the Spanish).
The earliest Indians in Louisiana, called Paleo-Indians, hunted these animals with spears tipped with stone points. The points were two to six inches long, and lanceolate, with bases that were either straight or rounded inward. The Paleo-Indians in Louisiana made their points from carefully selected varieties of stones that appear to have come from neighboring regions in Texas and Arkansas.
The first step in making a point was to strike a selected stone from a strategic angle with another stone, detaching a relatively large, flat, oval piece called a flake. The second step was to shape the large flake by chipping off smaller flakes with a rock, bone fragment, or antler tip. The final steps were to remove the delicate finishing flakes by firmly pressing against the edge of the point with an antler or bone tool, and then to grind the base of the point smooth with a stone. The point then was fastened directly to a wooden shaft with hide, fiber or an adhesive substance, or it was attached to a bone section that was connected to the spear shaft.