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| ## THE EARLIEST AMERICANS         | ## Ar                             |
|                                   | cheology and Ethnography Program  |
| ## \<[**http://www.cr.            |                                   |
| nps.gov/aad/eam/**](http://www.cr | ## National Park Service          |
| .nps.gov/aad/eam/landmarks.htm)\> |                                   |
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#  The Southeast

# Southern Migrants

For the past few days they wake to filtered light among the massive tree
trunks. The silent giants stretch far into the forest's shadows, to the
limit of the human eye. The footing is easy here, where lack of sun
holds the underbrush at bay. The thick bed of needles is a welcome
retreat at the end of a long day's walk.

The small band of travelers descends from generations of south-migrating
ancestors. They gather their equipment in a morning that is temperate
and still. In contrast to the inhabitants of the Midwest and
Northeast---who struggle in a harsh and icy world---they walk where food
is plentiful, as is material for tools, shelter, and clothing. Coming
down from the Appalachians, the travelers enter a flat expanse of
wetlands. Their world is largely defined by water, as the northern
glaciers melt and the Mississippi and its tributaries claim mile after
mile of floodplain.

# 

# Those who continue south emerge on a savannah extending far into what is now the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. In waterside settlements, they perfect devices to trap fish and test the buoyancy of logs hollowed by burning. Those who turn west, into the interior, establish a woodland culture, thriving on an abundance of now-extinct bison as well as deer, bear, raccoon, and innumerable plants.

# 

# As small groups move through the region, they stop frequently in forest clearings or on the edge of marshes to manufacture items for daily existence. Almost from birth, they toughen their hands in this pursuit, fashioning hides, bone, stone, and sinew into the means of survival.

### A Promising Future

Whether driven by curiosity or the possibility of better prospects, the
first people in the Southeast entered a world with a promising future.
From mountainous interior to coastal plain, they encountered perhaps the
continent's most abundant plant and animal life.

They came from generations who may have first emerged on the continent
around the massive glaciers to the north, although archeologists remain
uncertain about the exact route they followed. The earliest
southeasterners needed skill and resourcefulness to cross the
snow-capped Appalachians to the north or the flood plains inundated with
glacial meltwaters to the west.

# 

Today, the Southeast is critical to understanding early human occupation
of America. Many artifacts have been discovered at a wide range of
sites. The diversity of projectile points is so great, in fact, the
Southeast was almost certainly a center of technological and social
innovation. Several areas show evidence of continuous habitation.

By the time of early European contact, the area hosted a number of
societies whose similarities were believed due, in part, to the
environment, the geography, and shared history. How true this was in the
Ice Age is uncertain, but worthy of study.

# Picturing Culture

Settlement of the Southeast falls into three intervals: an apparently
sparse colonization, followed by widespread exploration and settlement,
and finally the development of distinct local traditions as people
settled into territories.

The few sites that appear more than 13,500 years old---such as
Virginia's Cactus Hill and Florida's Little Salt Spring---are something
of an enigma. Such sites are called "pre-Clovis," meaning older than the
fluted projectile points discovered in Clovis, New Mexico (for many
years the earliest clues of human presence in the New World). The
evidence at Cactus Hill, though tentative, suggests that small blades
and triangular points may become signature tools of the pre-Clovis
period.

Between 11,500 to 10,800 years ago, Clovis points appear widely over the
Southeast. Populations seem to have expanded rapidly, settling
permanently in a number of places. These people were highly mobile,
exploiting a range of plants and animals. They favored areas that were
probably rich in game, plants, and other resources, particularly parts
of Florida, the Atlantic coast, and along the major rivers of the
Midsouth and Midwest, such as the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, and
Tennessee.

The environment was very different from the Southeast of today, says
National Park Service archeologist David Anderson. That said, some
current-day sites--such as the Thunderbird Archeological District--still
give an idea of the environment during Paleoindian times.

Where the people settled appears to have been influenced, to some
extent, by outcrops of high quality chert, which they preferred for
their tools. Finds at these sites are characterized by fluted Clovis and
Clovis-like points, blades, and blade cores, along with worked animal
bone and ivory.

Between 10,800 and 9,200 years ago, the population grew dramatically as
cultures evolved to accommodate essentially modern-era climate and
resources, which had developed by this time. Sites from the period are
spread widely over the landscape, including rock shelters. Well-made
tools continued to be produced, though increasingly made of local, lower
grade materials.

# On the Record

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.7916666666666665in"
height="3.90625in"}National Historic Landmarks and sites on the National
Register of Historic Places. Stars indicate landmarks.

1.  **Thunderbird Archeological District:** One of the most extensive
    (and intensively tested) Paleoindian sites in North America.
    Thunderbird contains habitations, workshops, and quarries, along
    with post molds offering evidence of perhaps the oldest structure on
    the continent. Designated a National Historic Landmark 1977.

2.  **Hardaway Archeological Site:** A 37-acre quarry crucial to
    defining artifact types and cultural sequences. Designated a
    National Historic Landmark 1990.

3.  **Hester-Standifer Creek Site:** Artifacts from the site have helped
    clarify the sequence of the area\'s cultural development. Unusually
    well-preserved soil strata. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1975.

4.  **LaGrange Rock Shelter:** Charcoal samples from the lowest strata
    date to about 11,280 years ago. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1974.

5.  **Youngblood Site:** This small site yielded an extensive collection
    of late Paleoindian tools, along with well-preserved charred plant
    remains. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1986.

6.  **Big Bone Lick:** Many archeologists believe the bones of mammoths,
    mastodons, and other animals in and around the site\'s salt springs
    indicate Paleoindian occupation. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1971.

7.  **Noland\'s Ferry I Site:** Habitation site used continuously into
    historic times. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
    1985.

8.  **Flint Run Archeological District:** Quarries, workshops, and
    living areas spread over 2,000 acres-encompassing the Thunderbird
    archeological district, documenting the extensive use of Virginia\'s
    Shenandoah Valley by the earliest Americans. Listed on the National
    Register of Historic Places 1976.

9.  **Williamson Site:** On a plateau overlooking a creek, this
    quarry-workshop yielded projectile points, scrapers, knives,
    hammers, and workshop debris. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1969.

10. **Conover Archeological District:** A small habitation in
    Virginia\'s uplands. Also appears to have been a tool-making area.
    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1985.

11. **Nipper Creek Site:** This environmentally diverse site promises to
    clarify the sequence of southeastern cultures. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1986.

12. **Taylor Site:** Multi-use site with one of South Carolina\'s most
    extensive collections of Paleoindian artifacts. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1974.

13. **Manning Archeological Site:** On a ridge near a host of
    microenvironments, the site was used for millennia. Listed on the
    National Register of Historic Places 1978.

14. **Allendale Chert Quarries:** Quarries, workshops, and habitation
    areas spanning over 1,500 acres. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1984.

15. **Windover Archeological Site:** Artifacts and human remains were
    found in peat deposits near a pond. Listed on the National Register
    of Historic Places 1987.

16. **Little Salt Springs:** Underwater site with human remains as well
    as those of ground sloth, mammoth, mastodon, and giant land
    tortoise. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1979.

17. **Warm Mineral Springs:** Submerged human remains were discovered on
    a ledge in this sinkhole. Listed on the National Register of
    Historic Places 1977.

18. **Thomas Creek Archeological District:** This watershed of the
    Escambia River served a host of purposes for the first Americans.
    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1985.