T
he origins of the indigenous peoples of the Americas are still uncertain. Sometime no later than
30,000 to 10,000 BCE, these first Americans probably crossed the now-submerged land bridge called
Beringia, which connected the shores of the Bering Strait between Asia and North America. Some mi-
grants may have reached the Western Hemisphere via boats traveling along the Pacific coast of North
America. These Stone Age nomads were hunter-gatherers. They made tools only of bone, pressure-flaked
stone, and wood. They had no knowledge of agriculture but possibly some of basketry. They could con-
trol fire and probably build simple shelters. For many centuries, they spread out until they occupied the
two American continents. But they were always few in number. When the first Europeans arrived at the
end of the 15th century (see Chapter 32), the total population of the Western Hemisphere probably did
not exceed 40 million.
Between 8000 and 2000 BCE, a number of the migrants learned to fish, farm cotton, and domesticate
plants such as squash and maize (corn). The nomads settled in villages and learned to make ceramic
utensils and figurines. Metal technology, although extremely sophisticated when it existed, developed
only in the Andean region of South America (eventually spreading north into present-day Mexico) and
generally met only the need for ornamentation, not for tools. With these skills as a base, many cultures
rose and fell over long periods.
Several of the peoples of North, Central, and South America had already reached a high level of so-
cial complexity and technological achievement by the early centuries CE. Although most relied on stone
tools, did not use the wheel (except for toys), and had no pack animals but the llama (in South America),
the early Americans developed complex agricultural techniques and excelled in the engineering arts as-
sociated with the planning and construction of cities, civic and domestic buildings, roads and bridges,
and irrigation and drainage systems. They carved monumental stone statues and reliefs, painted exten-
sive murals, and mastered the arts of weaving, pottery, and metalwork. In Mesoamerica, the Maya and
other cultural groups even had a highly developed writing system and knowledge of mathematical cal-
culation that allowed them to keep precise records and create a sophisticated calendar and a highly accu-
rate astronomy.
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