American Indians

Many indigenous peoples assert that, from time immemorial, they have lived in the Americas and they and the land are one. Oral histories, mythologies, and creation stories convey a founding principle of many modern American Indian cultures that they are part of, and created from, the land.

Although there's disagreement concerning when and how the peopling of the Americans took place, archeologists and Native peoples generally agree that a sustainable population lived in the Americas by the end of the last ice age, or 15,000 years BP (before the present). They developed technologies and cultural practices that helped them to thrive.

Mid-Atlantic: Paleoindian through Woodland Periods
Midwest: Ohio's Prehistoric Past, Home of the Ojibwe
Southeast: Paleo-Indian Period - 10,000 to 14,500 Years Ago, Archaic Period - 3,200 to 11,450 Years Ago, Mississippian Period - 500 to 1,000 Years Ago, Woodland Period - 1,000 to 3,200 Years Ago
Southwest: Archaic Period in the Southwest, Salado Peoples, Sinagua Culture, Hohokam Culture

Learn more: American Indian Heritage, Telling All Americans' Stories: Indigenous Heritage, Travel America's Diverse Cultures: American Indian Sites, Visit Archeology: Indigenous Landscapes