INTRODUCTION

  Prehistoric Cultures of North America refers to the development of Native American cultures before the onslaught of immigrants after A.D. 1492 and the course title can reveal various biases due to the view that only the European has a history and that North America is the primary interest to students in the U.S. Ancient Americans might be more inclusive, but America is a label given by Europeans. This begs the question, 'What did Native Americans call America  before? ' Commonly the response is 'ours' or 'Turtle Island'. Much of this seemly nonsensical banter is based upon the fact that Europeans and other recent immigrants have been baffled by the very existence of America and its indigenous peoples; and have ignored the sovereignty of contemporary Native American people.  Europeans distorted reality further by referring to the Americas as the 'New World' vs. the 'Old World'. Contact or explorations before A.D. 1492 are discounted or ignored and prehistoric equate to pre-Columbian. Norse contact and exploration after ~A.D. 982 is certain but reliable archaeological data indicates  minimal colonization in the harsh conditions around Greenland, the Labrador Coast and Newfoundland. If the Norse explored any further into the interior of North America, the archaeological evidence is meager and unreliable. Further, speculation of any other contacts before A.D. 1000 via the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean has not been substantiated by solid or reliable data. Similarities of artifacts and cultures between the ancient Americans and some 'Old World'  cultures are tantalizing, but support for Trans-Oceanic journeys by ancient Egyptians or Chinese to be substantiated. The issue of independent invention vs. diffusion is still worth exploring, especially with later innovations like the bow and arrow or domestic cotton.

     Europeans after A.D. 1492 were in search of a route or strait to Asia and ran into a continent that initially thought was part of Asia. That is what historians conclude from early chronicles. The existence of another continent or 'New World' became evident by A.D. 1600, but Europeans continued to be baffled by the ' New People' that were being called 'Indians'. Some Europeans thought that American Indians to be one of the 'Lost Tribes'; others provided early speculation of origins from Asia, especially for the Eskimo (Inuit) and Aleut peoples. Strange legends about 'Lost' cities or civilizations were popular among early European explorers and usually were coupled with the possibility of vast amounts of gold and other riches.

How Europeans became confused and ignorant about an entire hemisphere is an amazing prospect. Did Native Americans know of the rest of the world? Unfortunately two great libraries were destroyed and they may have had better clues as to the relative awareness of the world in ancient times.

The text for this course, Ancient North America by B. Fagan, is a comprehensive survey of archaeological finds and refers to many sites, cultural traditions and culture periods north of Mexico. Native Americans were present in all the Americas and civilizations were extent throughout the continent. At Palomar we have a course on Meso-America taught by A. Guerra and  History of the Americas taught by M. Arguello that both covers the other ancient Native American civilizations. In effect the true picture of  ancient Native American cultures is incomplete and lacking. In part this is due to the immensity of data, but also a European American bias favoring North America.

Copyright © by S. J. Crouthamel