The earliest people to populate the Americas, who lived by means of hunting prey animals and gathering food that grew naturally were Paleolithic hunters and foragers. A pre-agricultural people, the earliest Native Americans did not plant crops but were nomadic, wandering from place to place in search of food.Initially game and food were so plentiful that planting crops was unnecessary.Only after humans hunted large game to extinction did agriculture become necessary.

Native American hunters used three basic hunting weapons. The first was a thrusting spear, a long shaft with a stone projectile point. Such weapons were used only at close range. Hunters often held the spear and thrust it into the animal or threw it a short distance. The atlatl, a device that allowed the hunter to throw the projectile much farther and faster, made him a more effective hunter. However, the bow and arrow was by far the most effective weapon of the hunt due to its superior range and accuracy. When united with spear or arrow heads the Indians developed, the result was devastating.

Among Native Americans, gathering was usually done by women. Although Native American women collected nuts, seeds, and berries, they also “gathered” small animals and insects as food. In some cases, gathering was a complicated process, involving the entire group. Gathering pine nuts, a staple food among Native Americans of the Great Basin (a cool desert in what is now Nevada, Utah, and Arizona), required considerable work and the participation of many people, including men. Men harvested pinecones from trees, and women and children carried the cones back to camp in baskets. Women roasted the cones until the nuts could be easily removed, then roasted the nuts again to remove the shells. Then they either stored the nuts whole or ground them into flour.

Material possessions hindered the mobility of hunting and gathering groups, so people in such societies did not accumulate more than could be easily transported. Because social stratification is based on the accumulation of wealth, hunter-gatherer societies tended not to be hierarchical. The best hunter or best gatherer or one wise in the ways of nature was often the leader as opposed to those with the most possessions. And women could lead. In addition, because the groups were small (numbering from 30 to 60), they did not require complex social structures.

Although some groups in Mesoamericabegan planting crops as early as 3000 B.C.E.,many Native American peoples practiced hunting and gathering until long after the time of European arrival. By about 2000 B.C.E., culture groups in the American Southwest had also begun to farm and live in permanent settlements, as did people along the upper Missouri River. Many Native American groups, continued to live by hunting and gathering, even in places where they were aware of farming.

Whereas farming is highly labor-intensive, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle allows people free hours daily to enjoy games, conversation, and other leisure activities. Thus, successful hunter-gatherer societies tend not to take up farming. Even when Native American cultures adopted farming, the hunt was still an important event, and the meat that hunters killed was an important source of protein and animal skins. This was true of the Mississippian Mound Builders perhaps the first urbanized American Indian culture. Rather than herd domesticated animals as had Afro-Eurasian Neolithic peoples, these Amerindians continued to hunt deer and fish extensively. While there were few large mammals to domesticate as they had been hunted to extinction, buffalo and deer could have beenwith some difficulty domesticated.

In recent years, several previously unknown hunter-gatherer groups have been discovered in the Americas, including the Nukak of central Colombia. First contacted by outsiders in 1988, the Nukak have begun to leave their native rainforest habitat. In 2006, some 80 Nukak arrived in the city of San Josédel Guaviare, possibly as refugees from civil violence in Colombia. Today however the modern world and technology have rendered most hunter-gatherers extinct.

NAME: ______PERIOD: ______DATE: ______

  1. The main idea of this reading is most nearly:
  1. The earliest people to populate the Americas, who lived by means of hunting prey animals and gathering naturally-growing foodswere Paleolithic hunters and foragers.
  2. Although some groups in Mesoamericabegan planting crops as early as 3000 B.C.E.,many Native American peoples practiced hunting and gathering until long after the time of European arrival.
  3. Whereas farming is highly labor-intensive, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle allows people free hours daily to enjoy games, conversation, and other leisure activities.
  4. Because social stratification is based on the accumulation of wealth, hunter-gatherer societies tended not to be hierarchical.
  1. Which of these results is a valid consequence of the underlined statement in the first paragraph?
  1. American Indians continued to hunt game and fish long after the arrival of the Europeans.
  2. American Indians domesticated animals in order to provide reliable food sources.
  3. American Indians developed sophisticated technologies in order to better hunt the game.
  4. American Indians domesticated crops and began to farm in order to survive.
  1. The likely reason that the Nukak remained Paleolithic hunter and foraging Indians so long was:
  1. They had no need for contact with sedentary peoples, had plentiful food, and were protected by the expanse of the jungle.
  2. The AndesMountains are inaccessible and cut off from contact with surrounding regions.
  3. The Indians lived on a large island in the middle of the Amazon river basin.
  4. The Nukak were so warlike and aggressive that people left them alone.
  1. You may deduce that social stratification in society is likely the direct result of
  1. Age.
  2. Knowledge.
  3. Wealth and property.
  4. Gender.
  1. The cause of the mass extinction of large game animals seems to be the likely result of
  1. Improvements in technologies associated with spear and arrow heads.
  2. Overpopulation of humans.
  3. Environmental changes.
  4. The rise of cities and civilizations.