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60,000 to 10,000 B.C.
About 60,000 to 10,000 years ago,the first migration of Paleo-Indians in North America was by people of the Beringian subcontinent. Nomadic hunters from northeast Asia are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait land bridge into present-day Alaska. -
15,000 B.C.
Paleo-Indian hunters spread throughout the North American grasslands into the American Southwest. -
10,500 B.C.
Maine's first human population arrives, Paleo-Indians with fluted points. -
10,000 B.C.
Paleo-Indians seem to disappear from Maine. -
10,000 B.C.
Tradition develops in the Eastern Woodlands, with hunting, fishing, and gathering. In the desert regions, the Southwestern Tradition sees the domestication of maize and other crops. Other developments of this time are pitted stone hammers, spear points, plummets, stone ground tools, and pottery. -
9,500 B.C.
During the Ice Age, people migrated from Siberia across the Bering Strait into Alaska. These "Paleo-Indians" followed herds of big game into North America. By 9500 B.C., bands of hunters wandered into southern Arizona, where they found a desert grassland. The use of grinding slabs marks the beginning of the Desert Archaic tradition. In the Tucson area, the Desert Archaic tradition lasted from 7000 B.C. to about A.D. 300. -
9,000 B.C.
Alaska is settled by paleo indian hunter gatherers from Northeast Asia. -
10,500-8500 BP
Late Paleo-Indians briefly visit Maine. Most common in northern and western Maine. -
8,000 - 5,000 B.C.
Native American Communites slowly begin to develop and form around the burial sites of their ancestors in the American Southeast. -
8,500 - 3,500 B.C.
A variety of Archaic people appear in succession in Maine. -
5,000 B.C.
The Cochise culture develops in what is now southern Arizona. The Cochise people grow vegetable crops. -
5,000 - 3,800 B.C.
Maritime adaptation, including swordfish hunting, emerges on the coast. Red Paint burial sites date from this time period. -
3,700 B.C.
A new population arrives in Maine from the southeast. It is less marine-oriented and used more land resources. -
3,500 - 3,000 B.C.
Archaic people population appears to decline. -
2,800 B.C.
Ceramic people arrive and pottery makes its first appearance in Maine. Also, the first wigwams and birchbark canoes appear here. -
2,000 B.C.
People in what is now the American Southeast first make pottery. -
1,100 B.C.
The canoe comes into regular use among Native American people in the eastern and northeastern sections of the area that is now the United States. -
1,000 B.C.
In what is now the United States, mound building characterizes the Eastern and Midwestern native cultures. In the Southwest, Hohokam, Anasazi and Mogollan people build irrigation canals, agricultural villages, roads and complex ceremonial centers. On the Plains, people hunt buffalo on foot and live in fortified, semi-sedentary villages. -
Erich Spurgin
History
Native American Timeline