Archaic period in the Americas

E42135

The Archaic period in the Americas was a long prehistoric era marked by hunter-gatherer societies gradually adopting more settled lifeways, regional diversification, and early plant domestication before the rise of complex agricultural civilizations.


Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf archaeological culture period
prehistoric period
appliesToTerritory Mesoamerica
North America
South America
associatedWith development of fishing technologies
domestication of beans in the Americas
domestication of chili peppers in the Americas
domestication of gourds in the Americas
domestication of maize in Mesoamerica
domestication of squash in the Americas
ground stone milling stones
increased use of plant foods
regional trade networks
rock shelters and open-air campsites
shell middens in coastal areas
use of atlatl
characterizedBy broad-spectrum foraging
development of ground stone tools
early plant domestication
emergence of more complex social organization
hunter-gatherer lifeways
increased storage technologies
increasing sedentism
intensive use of local environments
regional cultural diversification
seasonal mobility patterns
definedBy changes in subsistence and settlement patterns
follows Paleoindian period in the Americas
hasAlternativeName Archaic stage in the Americas
Archaic tradition in the Americas
hasEndTime circa 2000 BCE
later in some regions
hasPart Archaic period in Mesoamerica
Archaic period in North America
Archaic period in South America
Early Archaic period in the Americas
Late Archaic period in the Americas
Middle Archaic period in the Americas
hasStartTime circa 8000 BCE
knownFor experimentation with cultivation
foundation for later agricultural civilizations
transition from highly mobile bands to more settled communities
partOf pre-Columbian era
precedes Formative period in the Americas
Preclassic period in Mesoamerica
studiedInDiscipline anthropology
archaeology
temporalOverlapWith Holocene epoch

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Pre-Columbian era
hasSubperiod

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