Traveling Resource Trunks

Lifestyle Changes Over Time: 640 yo 480 B.C.

Suggested Adaptations for Puzzles from the Past: Problem Solving Through Archeology

This time period is represented on the green stratigraphy cards. Additional information for each is available on the card itself. Use the following objects from the trunk:

Digging stick tip - This bone tool was widely used for gardening and ceased being used with the introduction of metal tools that became available through trade.

Stone dart point - The atlatl and dart were introduced around 7000 B.C. and gradually were replaced by the bow and arrow.

Stone scraper - The scraper was used by the earliest Native Americans and continued until game was no longer available in adequate numbers.

Bone fragments - Nutrition was extracted from bones by the earliest Native Americans and continued until game was no longer available in adequate numbers.

Hearth - (This is a photograph on the card. No object is available for this card.) Fires were used for cooking and heating. Wood in the hearth can be dated using a radiocarbon process. This can help tell how old the burned wood is.

The people living at this site between 640 and 480 B.C. worked hard to provide for their needs. Most of their food was obtained through hunting and gathering. While these people may have planted some wild plant seeds, they did not plant and cultivate crops to supply a large, consistent source of food. Hunting with an atlatl and dart was easier than the spear used by their predecessors, but it still took strength and skill to use these weapons effectively. Bison, deer, rabbits, and other small game provided meat, hides for clothing and shelter, bones for tools and additional nutrition. Skilled in working with wood, bone, shell, and stone, these people created their tools from the materials in their surrounding environment. They did not yet have the knowledge to make pottery. They cooked with methods that did not require a fire-resistant container such as placing meat on sticks over the fire or hanging the stomach of a large animal over the fire to cook in and then eating the stomach as well as the food cooked in it. During the years before A.D. 1, changes took place, but they happened slowly.

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Lifestyle Changes Over Time

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