Archaic

The Archaic period in the Southwest begins with the end of the Paleoindian period and ends with the adoption of agriculture in the north and the advent of pottery in the south. Dates for the Archaic are variable, with the earliest dates around 8,500 B.C. and end dates as late as the first few centuries A.D. in some places.
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  • White Sands National Park

    The Hearth Mounds of White Sands National Monument

    • Locations: White Sands National Park
    A map of the hearth mound site distribution

    White Sands National Monument has been visited by human groups intermittently over the past 11,000 years. Due to the physical properties of gypsum, remnants of some of those occupations are preserved in a unique form.

  • Archaic Period

    Hafted knife blade provides evidence of the way people lived over 5,000 years ago.

    Archaic people were descendants of the Paleoindians, but were generalists, rather than specialists, meaning they focused on a broad range of food sources, including wild game and a wide variety of plant foods, and ultimately, toward the end of the period, cultivated and domesticated plants.

Tags: archaic swscience american southwest
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Last updated: March 27, 2018

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