Early History of Virginia Indians

By Inez Ramsey

How Did the Early People Come to the Americas?
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How Did the Early People Come to the Americas?

Ancestors are people in your family who lived before you, like great-great-grandparents. You are a descendant of your ancestors. The long ago ancestors of our Native Americans, including the Eskimos, may have come from Asia by crossing the Bering Sea at a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Thousands of years ago this was dry land. They may have followed animals like mastodons or woolly mammoths which they hunted for food. We call these early people PaleoIndians. Paleo- means "long ago".

When did this happen? We don't know. Scientists think it could have been anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. Over thousands of years, the descendants of the PaleoIndians spread across the continents into North, Central and South America. The world at that time was in the ice ages. The last great ice age lasted more than 2,500,000 years and ended about 10,000 years ago. There were many plants, insects, birds and animals which do not exist today. At times, glaciers covered almost 30% of the earth. The land which is now the state of Virginia was not covered by the ice sheet. States such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey were.

End of the Ice Ages

Schematic of melting ice sheet, courtesy of Dr. Ulf Carlberg Swedish Museum of Natural HistoryThe Mammoth Saga

During the ice ages, life was harsh for many of the PaleoIndians. As the ice ages ended about 10,000 years ago, the glaciers retreated. Many forms of life died out. Horses and camels which had lived in the Americas were among the animals which did not survive. Still even after the ice ages ended, the climate was cooler and wetter than it is today. To learn more about this time, visit The Mammoth Saga. As forests spread across the North American continent and animal life increased, life for the people of North America became easier since food and other resources became more plentiful. The culture of the native peoples of North America began to advance.

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Virginia After the Ice Ages