American Chronology
This document uses the terms "before current era" and "current era" expressed as "BCE" and "CE." Some examples are:
10,000 BCE = 10,000 BC
2,500 BCE = 2,500 BC
0 BCE = 0 CE
500 CE = 500 AD
2,000 CE = 2,000 AD
A. Archaic Period [also PaleoIndian, preColumbian, precontact]
1. pre 1,500 BC
a. California
i. Tommy Tucker Cave, oldest remain
ii. Windmiller, city six miles in diameter near Sacramento
iii. Channel Islands, steatite workers - 9,000 BP
iv. Coso Range, 6,000 year petroglyph record.
v. San Dieguito I, II and La Jollan, skeletal remains.
vi. many, many more.
b. Woodlands.
i. Meadowcroft, PA, 19,000 BP
ii. Cahokia, IL, solar oriented buildings.
iii. Spiro, OK, charnel houses.
iv. Etowah, GA, advanced ceramics.
v. Moundville, AL, largest site.
vi. many, many more.
c. Southwest.
i. Betatakin, AZ, largest cliff city.
ii. Canyon de Chelly, AZ, Hopi holy place.
iii. Chaco Canyon, NM, largest kiva found.
iv. Mesa Verde, CO, densest occupation.
v. Acoma, NM , oldest continuously inhabited town in America (1000 BCE)?
vi. many, many more.
d. Mexico and points south.
i. Olmec, Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1,400 - 400 BCE.
ii. Palenque, 600 - 900 CE.
iii. Cuicuilco, Mexico, 800 BCE - 200 CE.
iv. Teotihuacan, Mexico, 100 - 700 CE.
2. bone, stone, pottery, shell, pictographs, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, ivory, copper, silver, asphaltum, pitch, red ocher, and mica are typically the only things preserved.
a. Desert areas too alkaline for survival of organics, wet areas too conducive to rot.
b. Dry caves hold the best preserved artifacts.
i. baskets, sandals, mats, herbs, arrow shafts, bows, wooden handles, decoys, mummies are the exceptions common in dry caves, not entombed, packrat nests.
c. anaerobic entombment by mud or tar or pitch.
i. Ozette, a Makah settlement in northwest Washington.
3. designs reflect activities and things in the natural environment.
a. big horn sheep, people, cactus, unknown symbols.
B. Historic Period [also Colonial]
1. 1500 CE - 1890 CE
a. Many locations, No and So.
2. all Archaic materials plus steel, glass, porcelain, paper, pencil, cloth, wool, tin.
a. much in collections.
b. old forms but also knives, glasses, kettles, plates, crates, coins, buttons.
3. designs old forms plus horseback riders, English, Spanish language, floral designs
C. Contemporary Era [also Victorian, Modern, Mid-Century, Post-Modern].
1. post-1890 CE. Why is this date important?
a. locations where Native people may live diminish, then reservations expand.
b. Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek. Ghost Dance Religion ends.
c. Bessemer process invented. Factories make steel and every other imaginable thing.
2. Many diverse materials, but more new and fewer ancient ones
a. private and public collecting - baskets, masks, clothing, Ghost Dance items, shoes, jewelry, pottery, beading, ledger art, bronze casting, carving.
b. almost everything in the world is available to those who want it.