Definition: The Archaic period is the name given to generalized hunter-gatherer societies in the American continents from approximately 8,000 to 2000 years BC.
Archaic lifestyles includes a dependence on elk, deer, and bison depending on where the site is, and a wide range of plant materials. In coastal areas, shellfish and marine mammals were important food sources, and fish weirs were an important technological advance.
Archaic Advances
Important advances of the later Archaic period include earthworks at sites such as Poverty Point and Watson Brake (both in Louisiana), and the first pottery in the Americas, a fiber-tempered ware named after Stallings Island South Carolina were an important invention. During the Altithermal, Archaic peoples dug wells to stay alive in the high plains of west Texas and eastern New Mexico.
The Archaic period people are also responsible for the domestication of such important New World plants as bottle gourd, maize and cassava, the use of which plants would flourish in later periods.
Regional Archaic
The term Archaic is quite broad, and covers an enormous area of North and South America. As a result, several regional archaic groups have been recognized.
Regional Archaic Traditions: Plains Archaic, Oshara Tradition, Maritime Archaic, Shield Archaic, Ortoiroid, Piedmont Tradition, Pinto Culture, San Dieguito, Orange Culture, Mount Albion
Archaic Period Archaeological Sites
Sources
See the Guide to the Mesolithic for information about the roughly parallel period in the Old World.
Paleoindian and Archaic Burials Bibliography
Plains Archaic Bibliography
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
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