5,500 to 2,250 BP :
Late Archaic to Early Woodland
From about 5,500 years ago comes the earliest evidence of an elite
class. It was part
of the Hongshan culture living north of
Beijing. The famous Iceman found in the Alps on
the borders of Austria and Italy lived
between 5500 - 5000 BP. Around 5200 BP the
Egyptians began using hieroglyphics and
the Sumerians began using cuneiform to express
themselves. Over 5000 years ago, the
Egyptians were competing in running, swimming,
rowing, archery, and wrestling and the
Peruvians domesticated the alpaca. Around 5000 BP,
Minoans possessed interior plumbing,
and on the Golan Heights in Israel, observations were
being made from an astronomical
observatory.
The Late Archaic Period began here around 5000 BP. The sub-Boreal
climatic episode
from 5050-2850 BP produced diminished westerly
winds and an increase in rainfall. Eight
well-documented sites from this period
have been studied. Two of the sites are in Barry Co.,
Missouri, on Capps Creek, four in
Newton Co., Missouri, on Shoal Creek and its tributaries,
and two in Delaware Co., Oklahoma, on
Honey Creek and at the confluence of Honey Creek
and Grand River. A sense of community
has developed as the extended family settings found
around bluff shelters, have grown into
occasional villages with houses, storage pits, deep
trash middens, and burial mounds. The
cultivation of squash (Cucurbita pepo) and bottle
gourds (Lagenaria siceraria) began
around 4200 BP, which probably added enormously to
the local food supply. Table Rock
stemmed points were introduced around 4000 BP, and
around 3700 BP Stone square stemmed,
Etley, Smith, and Afton points appear. Near Afton,
Oklahoma, in northern Ottawa Co., is a
sulfur spring which was treated in a semi-religious
way in that valued implements appear to
have been entrusted to its waters. It is nearly
dried up now, but less than a hundred
years ago it had a copious flow. Fine Afton points,
knives, blades, and mastodon bones and
teeth up to 18" long have been dredged out of it.
Ground stone implements make their
appearance here during the Late Archaic, the technique
probably coming from the east. At NE
59, on a tributary to Shoal Creek, a groundstone celt,
a groundstone full groove axe, and a
pecked and ground net sinker have been found. Pecking
and grinding an implement must have
consumed much more time than knapping so this
indicates a more sedentary lifestyle
with a greater amount of free time. The production of
eccentrics also increased. These are
odd-shaped, often whimsical, pieces of well-worked
flint with no obvious use which also
consumed free time. Osceola points appear around
3500 BP, and the corner-tang knife is
also indicative of the period.
Around 4800 BP, Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt, and Hale-Bopp
returned. Egypt's
Old Kingdom existed from 4700-4150 BP.
Their first pyramid, the Step Pyramid, was built
around 4630 BP. The Great Pyramid of
Khufu was built around 4550 BP, and Khafre's pyramid
and Sphinx, around 4520 BP. Egypt's 5th
dynasty ran from 4470 to 4350 BP and built Abusir's
pyramids. Sargon built an empire of
Sumer around 4350 BP. By 4250 BP, the La Venta people
of Mexico were planting corn. The
Peruvians possessed potatoes, the oldest living bristlecone
pine had sprouted, and the Chinese
raised silkworms and wove silk fabric before 4000 BP, at
which time Abraham of the Old Testament
was born, the letter A was in use, and there were
still dwarf mammoths on Wrange Island,
Siberia. An ice core has been drawn from the South
Pole area which records events back to
this time. From around 3940 BP, Babylonia codifies
some of the worlds oldest laws under
Hammurabi. In Ireland, the Tailteann Games were
organized around 3800 BP, and a
Babylonian cookbook has come down to us from 3750 BP.
Around 3350 BP, the Hittite empire
peaks. From 3300 BP, a Bronze Age fifty foot boat has
been found at Dover, England, and the
Greeks of that time were learning to produce leavened
bread, and, 100 years later, were
fighting with the Gods at Troy. The Olmec culture in Mexico
lived from 3200-2400 BP, during which
time they built monuments, made pottery, and played
games with latex balls. Around 3020 BP
Saul became the first king of Israel. Egypt's 21st
dynasty, from around 3000 BP, left silk
with some of their mummies. The first Olympian
games were played 2,776 years ago,
probably shortly after Homer composed the Iliad and
the Odyssey. Also about that time a
meteor may have hit near Merna, Nebraska. The jury is
still out on that one, however. If in
fact, it did, and it was as large as some think, it could
have affected those in this area as
well. Romulus and Remus planted the seeds of the
Roman Empire around this time as well.
The sub-Atlantic climatic episode produced less moisture and left this
area a little
dryer between 2850-1750 BP. Motley
points first appear around 2800 BP to the east and
the style probably arrived here
hundreds of years later. The Early Woodland Period ran from
2600-2250 BP but life in general
apparently continued along Late Archaic lines around here.
The diagnostic mineral temper pottery
has not been found here, and Gary and Langtry points
were the most common specific type.
Around 2600 BP, people in the Alps were
domesticating chickens. Darius I was
king of Persia 2,521 years ago, and by 2500 BP they
were invading Egypt, at about the same
time as Buddha died. Socrates was born around
2470 BP, and by 2400 BP, Athens was
experiencing its Golden Age and Hale-Bopp returned.
______________________
REFERENCES
Adams, L.M., 1958, Archaeological Investigations of Southwest Missouri.
Missouri
Archaeologist, v.20, p.1-199
Asimov, I., 1987, Beginnings, The Story of Origins - of Mankind, Life,
the Earth,
the Universe. Walker & Co.
Baerreis, D.A., 1955, Further
Material from the Huffaker Site, Delaware Co., Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Anthropological Society
Bulletin, v.3, p.53-70
Baerreis, D.A., Freeman, J.E., Wright, J.V., 1958, The Contracting Stem
Projectile Point
in Eastern Oklahoma. Oklahoma
Anthropological Society Bulletin, v.6, p.61-82
Baerreis, D.A., 1959, The Archaic as seen from the Ozark Region.
American Antiquity,
v.24, no.3, p.270-275
Chapman, C.H., 1975, The Archaeology of Missouri, Part 1.
Gregory, J., Towns, S., 1966, The Afton Point. Central States
Archaeological Journal,
v.13, no.3, p.116-119
History of Ottawa County, 1983
National Geographic
O'Brien, M.J., 1996, Paradigms of the Past, Missouri Archaeology.
O'Brien, M.J., Wood, W.R., 1998, The Prehistory of Missouri. University
of Missouri Press
Overstreet, R.M., 1997, The Overstreet Indian Arrowheads Identification
and Price
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Perino, G., 1985, v.1, Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the
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