Early History of Virginia Indians

By Inez Ramsey

Development of Early Indian Cultures
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Development of Early Indian Culture

We use the word culture to describe a group of people's customs, religion, family and community life. We ask questions like how did they make their tools and clothing? What did they eat? Did they have a religion? How did they make decisions which affected the tribe? What did they do with the bodies of people who died? How did they educate their children? How did they pass down the history of their people to their children? Culture also includes people's dance, art and music. Just as you live in a modern American culture, young Native Americans before the English came to Viriginia were part of the culture of their own peoples.

Archaeologists who study prehistoric peoples give names to different periods of time so they can compare the culture of groups of people across thousands of years. They study artifacts, such as tools made of stone or bone, to see how people's ability to make different kinds of tools and better quality tools has changed. They try to find out everything they can about a people's culture. What do they study? You might say they study people's garbage. They look at what people left at camp sites, like shells, seeds, bones, broken pottery and stone tools. They look to see what people built which have survived, such as lined fire pits. They also look at graves where people have been buried.

How people get their food is important to their development. Imagine if there were no supermarkets. How would your life change if you had to go out to hunt for your food? What would happen if there was not enough food where you lived? Control of food supply and the ability to make good tools are important factors in human development. Remember too that Virginia's native peoples walked or used canoes to travel wherever they went. They had no animals, called pack animals, to carry supplies or heavy loads when they traveled.

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Virginia Indians Before 10,000 Years Ago

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans

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Related Sites

Rock Art: Prehistoric Petroglyphs from the Alps Examples of petroglyphs from various prehistoric time periods; many links

Upper Midwest Research Rock Art Association. Glossary of rock art terms; pictures; links

South Carolina Petroglyphs Report; pictures.

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