United States History to 1877

Exploration to Revolution: Pre-Columbian Times to the 1770s

USI.3

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how early cultures developed in North America by

a) describing how archaeologists have recovered material evidence of ancient settlements including Cactus Hill;
b) locating where the American Indians lived, with emphasis on Arctic (Inuit), Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plains ((Lakota), Southwest (Pueblo), and Eastern Woodland (Iroquois);
c) describing how the American Indians used the resources in their environment to obtain food, clothing, and shelter.

NOTE: The Virginia Board of Education adopted the revised 2008 History and Social Science Standards of Learning at the January 10, 2008, meeting. Full implementation of these documents is scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year, as outlined in Superintendent’s Memorandum Informational Number 49.

WEB SITE

http://iceage.pwnet.org
Recent archaeological digs have provided compelling evidence that humans inhabited Virginia at least 18,000 years ago, well before the Clovis culture and thousands of years before previously thought. For many years, evidence indicated that people arrived in North America approximately 13,500 years ago, but digs along the Nottoway River, at a site called Cactus Hill, in south-central Virginia provide clues about earlier habitation in the Americas

top of page