North American Natives
Mary Kahler
Anasazi
The Anasazi are the ancestors of the Pueblo. They lived from 500 through the 1200 AD. Their houses were made of adobe and stone. They had many different levels or stories. This made them look like apartments that were along walls of cliffs or large plazas. Anasazi made dams, ditches, and canals. This helped them to trap rain from the tops mesa and then it channeled to gardens, which were on the canyon floor. The heart of civilization was Pueblo Bonito. There lived more than 1000 people. From here roads for trading were built. Craftsmen made turquoise jewelry, woven baskets and pottery. The Anasazi were influenced by art and architecture, which came from groups like Hopi and Zuni. These were the two largest Pueblo groups. Maybe left from droughts.
Adena
The Adena, also known as as the Eastern Woodlands people, lived in Ohio valley around 700 BC. They grew squash, sunflowers, gourds, and barley. The Adena also made beautiful copper jewelry and very fin pottery. Their burial mounds were long structures that were covered by dirt.
Hopewell
The Hopewell, or the Eastern Woodlands people, started in Ohio valley in 300 BC. That was 400 years before the Adena arrived in Ohio valley, too. The Hopewell people built mounds. These mounds were about 40 feet and about 100 feet wide. The artifact that were found were from extensive trade networks. The Hopewell and the Adena were called "mound builders."
Mississippians
The Mississippian arrived in Mississippi in 800 AD. They had many plant that they used for food. Later the Mississippians started growing maize (corn) and beans. This increased their population. Since the Mississippian's population started to increase the people needed more land. More land meant more people, and more people in the new land meant big cities. These cities got up to 10,000 people! The largest of these cities was Cahokia, now East St. Louis. In the middle of Cahokia was a massive mound, which was proximity 100 feet high and the base was more than 14 acres. That is bigger than the Great Pyramid in Egypt! Around this mound were about 120 smaller mounds.