Paleo-Indian

(noun)

A classification term given to the peoples who inhabited the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period.

Related Terms

  • Quaternary glaciation
  • knapping
  • Last Glacial Maximum (LGM
  • Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
  • Clovis culture
  • flora
  • megafauna
  • Mexica
  • Last Glacial Maximum

(noun)

A classification term given to the first peoples that inhabited the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period.

Related Terms

  • Quaternary glaciation
  • knapping
  • Last Glacial Maximum (LGM
  • Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
  • Clovis culture
  • flora
  • megafauna
  • Mexica
  • Last Glacial Maximum

Examples of Paleo-Indian in the following topics:

  • Early Lifestyles

    • Paleo-Indians subsisted as small, mobile groups of big game hunters, traveling light and frequently to find new sources of food.
    • Paleo-Indians, or Paleo-Americans, were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the American continent.
    • The Paleo-Indian would eventually flourish all over the Americas, creating regional variations in lifestyles.
    • During much of the Early and Middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna. 
    • The Lithic peoples, or Paleo-Indians, were nomadic hunter-gatherers and are the earliest known humans of the Americas.
  • Migration to North America

    • Civilization in America began during the last Ice Age when nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated across Beringia.
    • The archeological evidence suggests that the Paleo-Indians' first dispersal into the Americas occurred near the end of the LGM. 
    • As early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, they diversified into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes.
    • Paleo-Indian adaptation across North America was likely characterized by small, highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family.
    • It is believed that a small Paleo-Indian population of a few thousand survived the Last Glacial Maximum in Beringia.
  • Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

    • Many separate indigenous cultures developed and prospered in North America after the first waves of nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated to the continent across Beringia near the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.
    • Civilization in America began during the last Ice Age when nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated across Beringia.
    • Some genetic research indicates that secondary waves of migration occurred after the initial Paleo-Indian colonization, but prior to modern Inuit, Inupiat, and Yupik expansions.
    • The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas, creating regional variations in lifestyles while sharing a common style of stone tool production.
    • Three of the major cultural traditions that impacted the Southwest region include the Paleo-Indian tradition, the Southwestern Archaic tradition, and the Post-Archaic cultures tradition.
  • African and Asian Origins

    • Genetic studies, archaeological evidence, and scientific dating methods suggest that Paleo-Indians originated out of Africa and Asia.
    • Genetic evidence found in Paleo-Indians' mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia.
    • Early Paleo-Indian groups could have readily replenished their food supplies, repaired clothing and tents, and replaced broken or lost tools.
    • Coastal or "watercraft" theories have broad implications, one being that Paleo-Indians in North America may not have been purely terrestrial big-game hunters, but instead were already adapted to maritime or semi-maritime lifestyles.
    • The route then crossed into the Arabian Peninsula, settling in places like the present-day United Arab Emirates and Oman, and then possibly going into the Indian Subcontinent.
  • Archaeology and History

    • A number of scientific studies into genetics, time-dating, and paleo-environmental data have been conducted to test these theories.
    • Genetic evidence found in Amer-Indians' mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple, distinct genetic populations migrating from Asia.
    • Over the course of millennia, these Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America.
    • The Lithic stage or Paleo-Indian period is defined initially as a big-game period.
  • The New World

    • Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaskan Natives.
    • These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the continent, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally-distinct nations and tribes.
  • Great Basin Culture

    • Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low during this time.
    • Ute religious beliefs borrowed heavily from Plains Indians after the arrival of the horse.
  • Innovation and Limitation

    • These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.
  • Southwestern Culture

    • Three of the major cultural traditions that impacted the region include the Paleo-Indian tradition, the Southwestern Archaic tradition, and the Post-Archaic cultures tradition.
    • The American Indian Archaic culture eventually evolved into two major prehistoric archaeological culture areas in the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
    • For the Pueblos and other Southwest American Indian communities, the transition from a hunting-gathering, nomadic experience to more permanent agricultural settlements meant more firmly established families and communities.
  • The Indian National Congress

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