List of archaeological periods (North America)
North American archaeological periods divides the history of pre-Columbian North America into a number of named successive eras or periods, from the earliest-known human habitation through to the early Colonial period which followed the European colonization of the Americas.
Stage classification
One of the most enduring classifications of archaeological periods and cultures was established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into 5 phases, only three of which applied to North America.[1] The use of these divisions has diminished in most of North America due to the development of local classifications with more elaborate breakdowns of times.[2]
- 1. The Paleo-Indians stage and/or Lithic stage
- 2. The Archaic stage
- 3. Post-archaic stage - At this point the North American classifications system differs from the rest of the Americas.
For more details on the five major stages, still used in Mesoamerican archaeology, see Mesoamerican chronology and Archaeology of the Americas.
Table of archaeological periods North America
Paleo Indians (Lithic stage) (18,000 BC - 8000 BC) |
Clovis culture | c. 13,500 BC - 11,000 BC | ||
Western Fluted Point Tradition | c. 11,200 BC - 9000 BC, California | |||
Post Pattern | c. 11,000 BC - 7000 BC, NW California | |||
Folsom tradition | c. 9000 BC - 8000 BC | |||
Dalton Tradition | c. 8500 BC - 7900 BC | |||
Archaic period, (Archaic stage) (8000 BC - 1000 BC) |
by Time Period | Early Archaic 8000 BC - 6000 BC |
Plano cultures | |
Paleo-Arctic Tradition | 8000 BC - 5000 BC | |||
Maritime Archaic | ||||
Red Paint People | ||||
Middle Archaic 6000 BC - 3000 BC |
Chihuahua tradition | c. 6000 BC - c. 250 AD | ||
Watson Brake and Lower Mississippi Valley sites | c. 3500 BC - 2800 BC | |||
Late Archaic 3000 BCE - 1000 BC |
Arctic Small Tool tradition | 2500 BC - 800 BC | ||
Aleutian tradition | 2500 BC - 1800 BC | |||
Poverty Point culture | 2200 BC - 700 BC | |||
by Location | Great Basin | Desert Archaic | ||
Middle Archaic | ||||
Late Archaic | ||||
Great Lakes | Old Copper Complex | c. 4000 BC - c. 1000 BC | ||
Red Ochre people | c. 1000 BC - 100 BC | |||
Glacial Kame Culture | c. 8000 BC - 1000 BC | |||
Mesoamerica | Mexican Archaic | |||
Southwest: Southwestern Archaic Traditions | Archaic – Early Basketmaker Era | c. 7000 BC - c. 1500 BC | ||
San Dieguito-Pinto tradition | c. 6500 BC - c. 200 AD | |||
Chihuahua (Southeastern) Tradition | c. 6000 BC - c. 250 AD | |||
Oshara (Northern) Tradition | c. 5500 BC - c. 600 AD | |||
Cochise Tradition | 5000 BC - 200 BC | |||
California | Millingstone Horizon (or Encinitas Tradition) | c. 5500 BC - 1500 BC | ||
Intermediate Horizon (or Campbell Tradition) | c. 1500 BC - 1000 AD | |||
Southeast | Elliott's Point complex | 2000 BC - 700 BC | ||
Mount Royal culture | 5000 BC - 2000 BC | |||
Norwood culture | 2000 BC - 500 BC | |||
Orange culture | 2000 BC - 500 BC | |||
Poverty Point culture | 2200 BC - 700 BC | |||
Stallings Island (St. Simons) culture | 2500 BC - 1000 BC | |||
Thoms Creek culture | 2500 BC - 1000 BC | |||
Post-archaic period, (incorporating Formative, Classic and post-Classic stages) (1000 BC - present) |
in North | Norton tradition | Choris Stage | c. 1000 BC - 500 BC |
Norton | 500 BC - 800 AD | |||
Ipiutak Stage | 1 AD - 800 AD | |||
Dorset culture | 500 BC - 1500 AD | |||
Thule people | 1000 AD - 1600 AD | |||
in Southwest and by Pecos Classification |
Early Basketmaker II Era | 1200 BC - 50 AD | ||
Late Basketmaker II Era | 50 AD - 500 AD | |||
Basketmaker III Era | 500 AD - 750 AD | |||
Pueblo I Era | 750 AD - 900 AD | |||
Pueblo II Era | 900 AD - 1150 AD | |||
Pueblo III Era | 1150 AD - 1350 AD | |||
Pueblo IV Era | 1350 AD - 1600 AD | |||
Pueblo V Era | 1600 AD - present | |||
in Southwest and by peoples |
Ancient Pueblo Peoples (Anasazi) | 1 AD - 1300 AD | ||
Hohokam | 200 AD - 1450 AD | |||
Fremont | 400 AD - 1350 AD | |||
Patayan | 700 AD - 1550 AD | |||
Mogollon | 700 AD - 1400 AD | |||
in East and by peoples |
Early Woodland Period 1000 BCE - 1 CE |
Adena culture | 1000 BC - 100 BC | |
Deptford culture - Atlantic region | 800 BC - 700 AD | |||
Deptford culture - Gulf region | 500 BC - 200 AD | |||
Middle Woodland Period 1 - 500 |
Hopewell culture | 200 BC - 400 AD | ||
Havana Hopewell culture (a Hopewellian culture) | 200 BC to 400 AD | |||
Kansas City Hopewell (a Hopewellian culture) | 100 BC – 700 AD | |||
Swift Creek culture (a Hopewellian culture) | 100–500 AD | |||
Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture (a Hopewellian culture) | 100–300 AD | |||
Marksville culture (a Hopewellian culture) | 1 - 400 CE | |||
Fourche Maline culture | 300 BC to 800 AD | |||
Copena culture (a Hopewellian culture) | 1 - 500 CE | |||
Late Woodland Period 500–1000 |
Baytown culture | 300–700 CE | ||
Plum Bayou culture | 400–900 CE | |||
Troyville culture | 300–700 CE | |||
Coles Creek culture | 700–1100 CE | |||
Mississippian culture 900–1500 (ending with European contact) |
Early Mississippian culture | 1000 - 1200 CE | ||
Middle Mississippian culture | 1200–1400 CE | |||
Late Mississippian culture | 1400–1500 CE (or European contact) | |||
Fort Ancient (a non-Mississippian culture) | 1000 - 1550 CE | |||
Oneota [3] | 900 - 1650 CE | |||
in Florida and adjacent parts of Alabama and Georgia, by culture | Belle Glade culture | 1050 BCE - European contact | ||
Glades culture | 550 BCE - European contact | |||
Manasota culture | 550 BCE - 800 CE | |||
St. Johns culture | 550 BCE - European contact | |||
Caloosahatchee culture | 500 BCE - European contact | |||
Weeden Island culture 100–1000 CE |
Weeden Island I, including | 100–750 CE | ||
- Cades Pond culture | 100–600 CE | |||
- Kolomaki culture | 350–750 CE | |||
- McKeithen Weeden Island culture | 200–750 CE | |||
Weeden Island II, including | 750–1000 CE | |||
- Wakulla culture | 750–1000 CE | |||
Alachua culture | 600 - European contact | |||
Suwannee Valley culture | 750 - European contact | |||
Safety Harbor culture | 800 - European contact | |||
Fort Walton culture a Mississippian culture | 1000 - European contact | |||
Pensacola culture | 1250 - European contact | |||
Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
Lower Mississippi Periods | Lower Yazoo Phases | Lower Yazoo Dates | Tensas/Natchez Phases | Cahokia Phases | Cahokia Dates | Ohio/Miss. River Confluence Phases | Ohio/Miss. Dates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Historic | Russell | 1650–1750 CE | Tensas / Natchez | Vacant Quarter |
1350 CE - European Contact |
Jackson | 1500-1650 CE |
Plaquemine Mississippian culture Late Plaquemine/Mississippian Middle Plaquemine/Mississippian Early Plaquemine/Mississippian |
Wasp Lake | 1400-1650 CE | Transylvania / Emerald | ||||
Lake George | 1300-1400 CE | Fitzhugh / Foster | Sand Prairie | 1275-1350 CE | Medley Phase | 1300-1500 CE | |
Winterville | 1200-1300 CE | Routh / Anna | Moorehead | 1200-1275 CE | Dorena | 1100-1300 CE | |
Transitional Coles Creek | Crippen Point | 1050-1200 CE | Preston / Gordon | Lohmann Sterling |
1050-1200 CE | ||
Coles Creek culture Late Coles Creek Middle Coles Creek Early Coles Creek |
Kings Crossing | 950-1050 CE | Balmoral | Terminal Late Woodland |
900–1050 CE | James Bayou | 900-1100 CE |
Aden | 800-950 CE | Ballina | |||||
Bayland | 600-800 CE | Sundown | Late Woodland |
400–900 CE | Cane Hills Berkley |
600–900 CE 400–600 CE | |
Baytown/Troyville Baytown 2 Baytown 1 |
Deasonville | 500-600 CE | Marsden | ||||
Little Sunflower | 400-500 CE | Indian Bayou | |||||
Marksville culture Late Marksville Early Marksville |
Issaquena | 200-400 CE | Issaquena | Middle Woodland |
200 BCE - 400 CE | La Plant Burkett |
100 BCE-400 CE 550-100 BCE |
Anderson Landing |
0-200 CE | Point Lake/ Grand Gulf | |||||
Tchefuncte culture | Tuscola | 400 BCE-0 CE | Panther Lake | ||||
Jaketown | Poverty Point | 700- 400 BCE | Frasier | Early Woodland | 700-200 BCE | O'Bryan Ridge | 700-550 BCE |
- | 1000-700 BCE | - | Late Archaic | 1000 - 200 BCE | |||
See also
- Archaeogenetics
- Archaeological culture
- Archaeology of the Americas
- List of archaeological periods
- Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Notes
- Lower Mississippi, Lower Yazoo, and Tensas/Natchez table taken from "Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project", by Martha Ann Rolingson, 1982, Pg-66.[4]
- Cahokia phases and dates taken from "Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians", by Pauketat, Timothy R., 2004, Pp-6.[5]
- Ohio and Mississippi River Confluence Phases and dates taken from "Kentucky Archaeology", edited by R. Barry Lewis, 1996, Pg - 16.[6]
References
- ↑ Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips (1957). Method and Theory in American Archaeology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-89888-9.
- ↑ Gibbon, Guy E; Ames, Kenneth M (1998). Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 638–639. ISBN 0-8153-0725-X.
- ↑ Willey and Phillips, Op. cit., p. 167
- ↑ Rolingson, Martha Ann (1982). Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project. Arkansas Archaeological Survey. p. 66. ISBN 1-56349-042-0.
- ↑ Pauketat, Timothy R. (2004). Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. Cambridge University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-521-52066-5.
- ↑ Lewis, R. Barry (1996). Kentucky Archaeology. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1907-3.
Bibliography
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1995). Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. Gainesville, Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1360-2.
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1990). "State of Florida Office of Cultural and Historical Programs. Florida Historical Contexts" (PDF). Florida Historical Contexts. Retrieved 2006-03-28.
- Milanich, Jerald T. & Claudine Payne (ed.) (September 27, 1993). "State of Florida Office of Cultural and Historical Programs. Historic Contexts (in full)" (DOC). Florida Historical Contexts. Retrieved 2006-03-27.
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1998) Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1599-5
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1994) Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1273-2
- "National Park Service Southeast Archaeological Center - The Woodland Period (ca. 2000 B.C.- A.D. 1000)". Outline of Prehistory and History. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
- Philip Phillips (1970). Archaeological Survey In The Lower Yazoo Basin, Mississippi, 1949-1955(Part One). Published by the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 77-80028.