8th millennium BC in North American history

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9th millennium BC - 8th millennium BC - 7th millennium BC

The 8th millennium BC in North American history provides a time line of events occurring within the present political boundaries of United States (including territories) from 8000 BC through 7001 BC in the Gregorian calendar. Although this time line segment may include some European or other world events that profoundly influenced later American life, it focuses on developments within Native American (and Polynesian) communities. Because the indigenous peoples of these regions lacked a written language, we must glean events from the admittedly very incomplete archaeological record and place them in time through radiocarbon dating techniques.

Because of the inaccuracies inherent in radiocarbon dating and in interpreting other elements of the archaeological record, most dates in this time line represent approximations that may vary a century or more from source to source. The assumptions implicit in archaeological dating methods also may yield a general bias in the dating in this time line.

  • 8000 BC: The last glacial ends, causing sea levels to rise and flood the Beringia land bridge, closing the primary migration route from Siberia.
Drawing of a mastodon skeleton by Rembrandt Peale
Drawing of a mastodon skeleton by Rembrandt Peale
  • 8000 BC: Sufficient rain falls on the American Southwest to support many large mammal species--mammoth, mastodon, and a bison species-—that soon go extinct.
  • 8000 BC: Native Americans leave documented traces of their presence in every habitable corner of the New World, including the American Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, and a cave on Prince of Wales Island in the Alexander archipelago of southeast Alaska, possibly following these game animals.
  • 8000 BC: Hunters in southwest Europe and the American Southwest both use the atlatl.
  • 7500 BC: Early basketry originates in America.
  • after 7500 BC: Kennewick Man dies along the shore of the Columbia River in Washington State, leaving one of the most complete early Native American skeletons.
  • 7001 BC: Northeastern peoples depend increasingly on deer, nuts, and wild grains as the climate warms.
  • 7001 BC: Native Americans in Lahontan Basin, Nevada mummify their dead to give them honor and respect, evidencing deep concern about their treatment and condition.