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Timeline / Era of First Nations / 10,000–8000 BC: Early North American lifestyles

10,000–8000 BC: Early North American lifestyles

Ancestors of American Indians hunt large mammals, catch fish, and gather fruits and nuts. Archaeological evidence found in middens (garbage dumps) from the Paleo-Indian period includes mammoth bones and tools made from bone and stone.

At Marmes, an archaeological site in eastern Washington state, a single cremation burial, dated to 9500 BC, contained the remains of five persons and grave goods including bone tools, cobbles and chipped stone tools, and olivella (sea snail) shells from hundreds of miles away on the Pacific coast.

Theme
Land and Water
Region
California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest

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The entrance to the Marmes Rock, a Native American archaeological site in eastern Washington state, dwarfs unidentified individuals, 1967

Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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View of Marmes Rock Shelter, a Native American archaeological site in eastern Washington state, prior to excavation of the site, 1960s

Courtesy The Museum of Antropology at Washington State University

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Fishhook made of yellow cedar, spruce root, and ivory

Courtesy Alaska Native Heritage Center