Prehistoric Cultures

The American Southwest has been home to a diversity of cultures for as much as 13,000 years. The earliest people lived during the terminal years of the Pleistocene, a time when megafauna such as mammoths still populated the region. More recent prehistoric cultures were the immediate ancestors of modern Native American tribes in the Southwest, for whom archeological sites show the paths of ancient migrations and the roots of modern traditions.

Browse Stories

• 

  Salado

  The origins and disappearance of the Salado inhabitants of the Tonto Basin has perplexed archaeologists for many years.

• 

  Ancestral Puebloan

  Ancestral Puebloan peoples lived across the northern areas of the Southwest beginning about 7,000 years ago.