How Do I
America before Columbus
See also: Native Americans and Archaeology/Anthropology.
Selected Books
Adovasio, James
The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery
E61.A36 2002
James M. Adovasio, director of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, achieved world acclaim as an archaeologist in the 1970s with his excavation of Meadowcroft Rockshelter, 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Meadowcroft has been recognized as the earliest well-dated archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere, with evidence of human habitation dating to 16,000 years ago.
The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery
E61.A36 2002
James M. Adovasio, director of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, achieved world acclaim as an archaeologist in the 1970s with his excavation of Meadowcroft Rockshelter, 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Meadowcroft has been recognized as the earliest well-dated archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere, with evidence of human habitation dating to 16,000 years ago.
Chatters, James C.
Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans
E78.W3 C417 2001
The skeleton known as Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 by two young men along the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. When the skeleton was brought to Jim Chatters, a forensic anthropologist, Chatters first believed that the remains were those of a nineteenth-century pioneer and was astonished when radiocarbon dating revealed the skeleton to be approximately 9,500 years old. Despite its antiquity, Kennewick Man did not resemble modern Native Americans but Europeans.
Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans
E78.W3 C417 2001
The skeleton known as Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 by two young men along the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. When the skeleton was brought to Jim Chatters, a forensic anthropologist, Chatters first believed that the remains were those of a nineteenth-century pioneer and was astonished when radiocarbon dating revealed the skeleton to be approximately 9,500 years old. Despite its antiquity, Kennewick Man did not resemble modern Native Americans but Europeans.
Dewar, Elaine
Bones: Discovering the First Americans
E61.D463 2002x
Dewar, a Canadian investigative journalist, interviews the scientists involved in the battle over who were the first Americans.
Bones: Discovering the First Americans
E61.D463 2002x
Dewar, a Canadian investigative journalist, interviews the scientists involved in the battle over who were the first Americans.
Downey, Roger
Riddle of the Bones: Politics, Science, Race, and the Story of the Kennewick Man (2000)
From its discovery in the Columbia River shallows in 1996, reporter Roger Downey chronicles the epic adventures of the skeleton called "Kennewick Man" and the controversies over how the Americas first came to be settled & by whom.
Riddle of the Bones: Politics, Science, Race, and the Story of the Kennewick Man (2000)
From its discovery in the Columbia River shallows in 1996, reporter Roger Downey chronicles the epic adventures of the skeleton called "Kennewick Man" and the controversies over how the Americas first came to be settled & by whom.
Fagan, Brian M.
The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America
E61.F34 1987
First published in 1987, The Great Journey tells the story of the search for the first Americans--one of archaeology's great controversies. The 2004 edition is an enhanced edition beginning with an update on the debates and discoveries that have taken place since the late 1980s. Fagan presents the latest archaeological findings on both sides of the Bering Strait, new genetic and linguistic research that amplifies earlier theories, and he assesses the importance of global warming to first settlement.
The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America
E61.F34 1987
First published in 1987, The Great Journey tells the story of the search for the first Americans--one of archaeology's great controversies. The 2004 edition is an enhanced edition beginning with an update on the debates and discoveries that have taken place since the late 1980s. Fagan presents the latest archaeological findings on both sides of the Bering Strait, new genetic and linguistic research that amplifies earlier theories, and he assesses the importance of global warming to first settlement.
Josephy Jr., Alvin M.
America in 1492: The World of the Indian Peoples Before the Arrival of Columbus
E58 .A526 1993
This collection of essays by experts on the history and cultures of American Indians aims to eradicate the "misshapen collection of largely false, distorted, or half-true images" of the "primitive" Native American.
America in 1492: The World of the Indian Peoples Before the Arrival of Columbus
E58 .A526 1993
This collection of essays by experts on the history and cultures of American Indians aims to eradicate the "misshapen collection of largely false, distorted, or half-true images" of the "primitive" Native American.
Mann, Charles C.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
E61.M266 2005
A groundbreaking study that uses information from research using novel scientific techniques to alter our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. The Americas were not a vast unpopulated wilderness but may have had a larger population than Europe.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
E61.M266 2005
A groundbreaking study that uses information from research using novel scientific techniques to alter our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. The Americas were not a vast unpopulated wilderness but may have had a larger population than Europe.
Powell, Joseph F.
The First Americans: Race, Evolution, and the Origin of Native Americans
E61.P693 2005
Recent discoveries such as Washington state's 'Kennewick Man', Brazil's 'Luzia', and Alaska's 'Prince of Wales Island Man' have challenged the archaeological and geological status quo. The First Americans explores these new discoveries by using racial classifications and micro-evolutionary techniques to better understand the complex relationships between the first Americans and contemporary Native Americans.
The First Americans: Race, Evolution, and the Origin of Native Americans
E61.P693 2005
Recent discoveries such as Washington state's 'Kennewick Man', Brazil's 'Luzia', and Alaska's 'Prince of Wales Island Man' have challenged the archaeological and geological status quo. The First Americans explores these new discoveries by using racial classifications and micro-evolutionary techniques to better understand the complex relationships between the first Americans and contemporary Native Americans.
Return to the topWeb Sites
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Center for the Study of the First Americans
Located at the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University., this website offers its quarterly news magazine, the Mammoth Trumpet, to the public, reporting on all aspects of the peopling of the Americas. -
Chaco Digital Initiative
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was a major site of Pueblo culture of the American Southwest between 850 BC and AD 1250. The website currently includes an exhaustive bibliography, an image gallery, and links to other online resources. -
Columbus and the Age of Discovery
over 1100 text articles from magazines, journals, newspapers, speeches, official calendars and other sources relating to various encounter themes. Awarded the status of an "Official Project" by the U.S. Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission, Spain '92, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, CIRS and its databases are freely available to you through your Internet connection. -
The Columbus Navigation Homepage
Examining the History, Navigation, and Landfall of Christopher Columbus by Keith Pickering. -
Kennewick Man
A National Park Service site about the human skeletal remains that were found in July, 1996, along the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington. Dated at 9,500 years, the forensic anthropologist investigating them, James C. Chatters, felt that they were from a caucasoid man, not an American Indian. -
Mesoweb
Mesoamerican (Central American and Mexican) archaeology and history. -
Southeast Archaeological Center (National Park Service)
Outline of Prehistory and History of Southeastern North America and the Caribbean
Includes an overview of the PaleoIndian, Archaic and Mississipian periods of American prehistory
Pittsburgh Region
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Chatham College: Pittsburgh Teachers Institute
The Pittsburgh Teachers Institute provides online curriculum units, including many in United States history.-
A Brief Look at Meadowcroft Rockshelter with a Subsequent Focus on the
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
A lesson unit from 2005 by Lea Blumenfeld
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A Brief Look at Meadowcroft Rockshelter with a Subsequent Focus on the
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
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"Major Archaeological Site Found at Leetsdale, PA"
Learn about current excavations at the Historic Harmony Brick Works under the direction of the Pittsburgh District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The site dates back to 6000 BC when it was an island in the Ohio River. At this Corps of Engineers website you can also learn about the Lower Mon Project plans to modernize locks and dams along the Lower Monongahela River. -
Meadowcroft Rock Shelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter, located south of Pittsburgh, represents the oldest dated and longest continual human use of a particular site in eastern North America. Radiocarbon dates for the earliest human occupation levels are 12,000 B.C. and may be as far as 17,000 B.C.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania on the Eve of Colonization
This is an overview of Pennsylvania Native American tribes from the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
Nearby States
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Searching for the Great Hopewell Road
This is a website for a one-hour documentary that explores new research into the monumental earthworks of the Ohio Hopewell people - Native Americans whose culture flourished in the central Ohio Valley about 2000 years ago. The website includes information on cultural resources but without links to websites. -
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
From about 200 BC to AD 500, the Ohio River Valley was a focal point of the prehistoric Hopewell culture. The term Hopewell describes a broad network of beliefs and practices among different Native American groups over a large portion of eastern North America. The culture is characterized by the construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns, and mounds of various shapes. Visible remnants of Hopewell culture are concentrated in the Scioto River valley near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio. -
Ohio History Central: Prehistory
A fairly extensive overview of palaeolithic culture in Ohio -
Serpent Mound
This is now a National Monument and the largest and finest serpent effigy in the United States. -
Sunwatch Indian Village, Archaeological Park
Archaeological excavations at a site near the Great Miami River uncovered evidence of an 800-year-old village built by the Fort Ancient Indians. SunWatch Indian Village, a National Historic Landmark, is a reconstruction of that settlement of long ago. -
West Virginia Archaeology Index
Includes the archaeological history of West Virginia
