North America Ancient Origins

Gorgeous Collector's Edition. In this new history, James Ball gathers together the ancient story of North American History, tracing it to today's many still-thriving native cultures. Records of the pre-Columbian era rely heavily on archeological evidence, showing the migrations across the Bering Strait from Asia, over 30,000 years ago when mammoth, then bison roamed freely across the continent. By 12000 BCE there are traces of people from Alaska to Mexico and by 3000 BCE, corn was cultivated in Arizona and Mexico.

Early mounds (some in the shape of animals), and agricultural irrigation can be found from 300 BCE, as the Adenans were superseded by the Hopewellians, then the Mississippians after 500 CE, who, also called Temple Mound culture inhabited settlements of up to 20,000 people. Stone pueblos (dwellings) have been discovered in cliff faces, notably Mesa Verde in Colorado, from around 900 CE as people across the North American continent developed their cultures in concert with nature and the cycles of life. With no tradition of writing, such peoples brought to life their landscape and lives through oral traditions, and the re-telling of dreams, brought to an abrupt decline by the arrival of the Europeans with their diseases, and their desire for territory.