By about 8,000 B.C., at the trail end of the last ice age, the weather had warmed enough to help cause the extinction of the large game (overhunting also contributed) on which the Paleo hunters had relied. Over the course of the early Archaic, American Indians became versatile, efficient hunter-gatherers, drawing on all the resources of forest and river. To that end their tools became steadily more varied and specialized. Bone and antler were shaped into an array of implements. Stone tools, long in use, were being ground and polished by the late Archaic. The mortar and pestle for milling, the fishhook, the drill, woodworking tools-all were used in the Archaic period. |
Last updated: April 14, 2015