Artifact News

Tens of thousands of radiocarbon dates track different regions’ population history before European arrival

Obsidian tools in Alberta reveal prehistoric Indigenous trade routes stretching from Texas to Canada, highlighting ancient mobility, bison hunts, and cultural exchange.

New dates show people worked pure ore nearly 10,000 years ago around the Great Lakes

Stone Age - Prehistoric Americas, Tools, Artifacts: The prehistoric sequence in the so-called New World shares many essential developmental features with the Old World and provides a test for generalizations about cultural development based upon Old World materials. In the New World there is evidence for an early horizon of early food collectors, followed by an increasing specialization of food collecting based primarily upon differences in localized resources. These specialized collectors were followed by a tradition of food production independent of the Old World. With food production came gradual increases in centers of population; villages were succeeded by towns and finally by centers of urban civilizations. The

Indigenous peoples of the Americas - Prehistoric Cultures, Tribes, Artifacts: Parts of South America supported permanent settlements; especially in the highlands, many of these communities raised cotton, tomatoes, llamas, and alpacas. The peoples of the Caribbean and the northern Andes developed complex societies based on military and ritual leadership. Warfare was important among these nations as a vehicle for social advancement within the tribe and as a means of supplying individuals for enslavement and ritual sacrifices. Preliminary forms of centralized rule also distinguished these societies from the relatively egalitarian communities of the forests. Civilizations began to develop in the central Andes by approximately 2300 bce and became increasingly elaborate, culturally