click here to return to the Hopewell index
What Do We Know About How They Lived?
|
Environment of Michigan
|
Animals
|
Social Structure
|
Religion
|
Economy
|
Material Culture
|
Trade
|
|
| Paleo-Indian 12,000 B.C.E. to 8,000 B.C.E. |
Tundra with little vegetation. Cool short summers, very cold long winters. Waterlogged land with permafrost. |
Barren-ground caribou, artic hare, mastodon and mammoth, peccary, musk oxen, giant beaver and giant moose. | Bands of 20 to 40 persons led by a headman, chosen by consensus based on superior social and hunting skills. | A shaman or medicine man met spiritual needs. A belief in the presence of spirits everywhere usually called animism. Principal burial technique was cremation. Belief in an afterlife. | Hunted large game animals and gathered plants for food and medicine. Small animals hunted and trapped by women and children. All members of the band participated in large hunts. | Stone tools and tools made from bone and antlers like spears, scrapers, gravers, and bone needles. Used spears and tools with fluted flint points. | The source of many flint points were hundreds of miles from Michigan, indicating trade with bands in Ontario, New York and Ohio. |
| Early Archaic 8,000 B.C.E. to 6,000 B.C.E. |
Climate more moderate; presence of conifers and mixed hardwoods. The weight of the glaciers depressed the land so that drainage patterns are very different from today; the Great Lakes are much smaller because of lower water levels. | Paleo-Indian period animals retreat north and new species come in from the south like whitetail deer and black bear | Bands of 20 to 40 persons led by a headman chosen by consensus based on superior social and hunting skills | A shaman or medicine man met spiritual needs. A belief in animism. Principal burial technique was cremation with the inclusion of tools or ornaments. Belief in an afterlife. | Hunted large game animals and gathered plants for food and medicine. Small animals hunted and trapped by women and children. All members of the band participated in large hunts. New hunting techniques were developed to hunt new species. | Atlatl-or throwing stick- was introduced, polished stone tools very minor use of native copper. Flint points were stemmed notched, bifurcated or lanceolate instead of fluted. |
Trade with bands in Ontario, New York and Ohio. |
|
Environment of Michigan
|
Animals
|
Social Structure
|
Religion
|
Economy
|
Material Culture
|
Trade
|
|
| Middle Archaic 6,000 B.C.E. to 3,000 B.C.E. |
Climate and vegetation is like today. | Whitetail deer, black bear, beaver, rabbits and other modern animals are now native to Michigan. | Beginnings of craft specialization. Clan relationships are developed where descent from a common ancestor is acknowledged. | Belief systems and major spirit beings of the Historic Period Indians like thunderbirds, and underwater panthers are in evidence. | A mixed hunting and gathering economy focused on the whitetail deer. The beginning of fishing with a hook. | Ground and polished stone tools, use of copper is widespread. Projectile points are corner-notched and stemmed. | Trade with bands in Ontario, New York and Ohio is increasingly more formalized. |
| Late Archaic 3,000 B.C.E. to 1,000 B.C.E. |
The Great Lakes have stabilized and are about the size they are at present. | All modern native plants and animals present. | Bands are still present but the population of each band is much larger than in the past because of increased knowledge and techniques. | Ceremonies are performed at death. Both cremation and burial are used. People of the highest status were given the most elaborate burials | Highly developed hunting and gathering practices. Certain wild plants with large seeds are being encouraged to grow in some areas. |
Atlatl weights, called birdstones, gorgets- flat decorative pieces covering the neck- and pendants were all common. Wide variety of projectile points. Many ground stone tools, Extensive use of native copper. | Trade networks cover the whole eastern half of North America. |
|
Environment of Michigan
|
Animals
|
Social Structure
|
Religion
|
Economy
|
Material Culture
|
Trade
|
|
| Early Woodland 1,000 B.C.E. to 300 C.E. |
Modern: Michigan essentially looks like it does today. | All modern native plants and animals present. | Society is increasingly more stratified with the first burial mounds built around 600 B.C.E. Now, not only are a relatively few people given a status burial, but the group erects a permanent memorial. | The same as in the late archaic period with some refinements. | Introduction of cultivated plants, especially sunflowers, squash, gourds and pumpkins. | Large thick walled vessels with flat bottoms, large straight-stem, square-based, or contracting projectile points. Copper used for beads, small celts- sharp tool shaped like a chisel or axe head- and awls that were used as grave offerings. | Continuity from the Late Archaic with close cultural relationships with cultures in Ontario and New York. |
| Middle Woodland 300 C.E. to 500 C.E. |
Modern | All modern native plants and animals present | In some parts of Michigan, participation in a belief system and trade network known as Hopewell. Hopewell ideas and trading structure spans the eastern half of North America. Some people have superior status. Adults and children are interred in large burial mounds with quantities of grave goods* made of non-local (exotic) materials. *Grave goods would include clothing, food, tools, and ornaments specifically made for the purpose of being part of a burial ceremony. |
There is a continuation of earlier traditions for non-Hopewell bands. In the Upper Peninsula, non- Hopewell cultures developed magic based beliefs around hunting which included practices such as shooting projectiles into a sacred cave. In the parts of Michigan participating in Hopewellian mound construction and the burial of artifacts, more meaning is ascribed to these activities. Interpretations of Hopewellian ideas from Illinois and Ohio about death and rebirth and the ongoing relationship between the underworld of the dead and the upper world of the living are developed. |
Highly developed hunting and gathering throughout Michigan. In southern Michigan the addition of garden sized plots for growing corn, squash and possibly beans. Heavy dependence on fishing in the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula. | Hunters use medium to large corner-notched projectile points. Potters are making a variety of conical based ceramic vessels with stamped decoration. Copper is used only for status items such as large celts and beads. | The most extensive trade network seen in prehistoric Michigan. |
|
Environment of Michigan
|
Animals
|
Social Structure
|
Religion
|
Economy
|
Material Culture
|
Trade
|
|
| Late Woodland 500 C.E. to 1620 C.E. |
Modern | All modern native plants and animals present. | eople live in seasonal villages. Headmen are still the principal source of leadership. Extensive and intensive cooperation is required for activities such as harvesting seasonally spawning fish using nets in the Great Lakes. Mound building declines and eventually disappears. Earthwork forts and palisaded villages protect groups from their enemies. | A rich well-developed mythology. Shamans are still the principal means of connecting with the spirit world. | Highly developed hunting and gathering supplemented by domesticated crops in areas where the growing season is long enough. Corn is a well-established part of the economy. | The bow and arrow comes into widespread use. Small, unnotched triangular points are common as well as small side notched and corner notched points are used as arrow points. Antler harpoons are made for fishing. A wide range of thin walled pots decorated with cord impressions are made for cooking and storage. | Trade changes from trade of non- local (exotic) goods to trade in perishable goods such as food and furs. |