Prehistoric Georgia: Chapter 3 notes
►Oral Tradition: Elders repeated the narrative of events often until younger generations had memorized them
►Archeologists dig into earth to find artifacts (items made by people) that tell us about early inhabitants
►Shale: layered rock that can encase animals or birds
►Anthropologists use artifacts, cave drawings, well-traveled pathways, and oral history to study a group’s culture
►Culture: shared beliefs, traditions, music, art, and social institutions of a group of people
See chart for notes on Pre-historic Native Americans
Native Americans in Georgia: Creek Indians & Cherokee Indians
Creek Indians:
►Originally from American southwest
►Spoke Muskogean
►Discovered by European Explorers who called them Creeks
►Lived along Ocheese Creek (today’s OcmulgeeRiver)
►Lived in italwa and talofa (large villages surrounded by smaller villages (similar to cities & suburbs today)
►Village center featured plaza & rotunda
►Games & ceremonies held in plaza
►Rotunda used for council meetings
►Wooden huts or log cabins with chimneys surrounded the plaza
►Villages, split from larger villages, helped form a confederacy
►Raised livestock; were successful farmers
Cherokee Indians:
►Lived in northwestern mountain region of the state
►Called themselves the Awi-yum-wija, which meant the “real people” or “principal people”
►Tribal clans: groups of people who believed themselves to be related by Cherokee blood
►Two tribal chiefs: one for making wartime decisions, and one for making peace time decisions
►Clans governed on the local level
Cherokee Family:
►Family lines were traced through the mother
►The mother’s brothers were responsible for raising the children
►Mothers handled most of the domestic chores, fathers often left home to hunt or trade
►Children played games that prepared them for adulthood
Cherokee Lifestyle:
►Built homes on high banks or hills along rivers and streams
►Shelters were built from available materials, often plastered on the exterior to keep out rain & cold
►Log cabins built for winter living
►Fishing and raising crops including maize (corn)
►Barter: trading goods and services without exchange of money was economic system
Cherokee Religion:
►Believed earth was a large island resting on water
►This World: Tribe was at center of earth
►Upper World: Clean & pure world; Sun & Moon were chief gods
►Under World: waters below this world; disorder & change
►Deer and birds were honored, bears were not
Other Cherokee Practices:
►Drank ginseng to stop bleeding or shortness of breath
►Smoked tobacco during ceremonial occasions when seeking gods’ blessings
► Green Corn Ceremony held to give thanks for corn, their most important source of food
►Followed “Law of Retaliation”-took revenge to get even
- This law prevented feuds within the tribes