8000 BC: Glaciers retreat; climate changes; diets shift

At the end of the Ice Age, many large mammals become extinct. Across the Americas, people shift away from hunting big game. They take smaller animals and fish, and gather fruits, nuts, and other plants, often developing specialized ways to cook this wider variety of foods.

Diets begin to include more green plants, roots, berries, and vegetables, often cooked by placing them in finely woven, watertight baskets with heated rocks to boil water. Foods such as dried and ground root meal are fried on top of heated flat rocks. In what is now the southeastern and southwestern U.S., food is seasoned with chiles, which also kill parasites.

Theme

Land and Water

Region

California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest