List of archaeological periods (North America)

North American archaeological periods divides the history of pre-Columbian North America into a number of named successive eras or periods, from the earliest evidence of human habitation through to the early Colonial period which followed the European colonization of the Americas.

Stage Classification
Table of archaeological periods North America
Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
Notes
References
Bibliography
See also

Stage Classification

One of the most enduring classifications of archaeological periods & cultures was established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into 5 phases.^[1] However this divisions have been replaced in most of North America by more local classifications with a more elaborate time breakdown.^[2]

1. The Paleo-Indians stage and/or Lithic stage

2. The Archaic stage

3. Post-archaic stage - At this point the North America classifications system differs from the rest of the Americas.

For more detail on the five major stages, which are still in use in Mesoamerican archaeology, see Mesoamerican chronology and Archaeology of the Americas.

Table of archaeological periods North America

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Paleo Indians (Lithic stage) (18000 BCE - 8000 BCE)		Clovis culture
		Western Fluted Point Tradition		c. 11200 BCE - 9000 BCE, California
		Post Pattern		c. 11000 BCE - 7000 BCE, NW California
		Folsom tradition		c. 9000 BCE - 8000 BCE
		Dalton Tradition		c. 8500 BCE - 7900 BCE
Archaic period, (Archaic stage) (8000 BCE - 1000 BCE)	by Time Period	Early Archaic8000 BCE - 6000 BCE	Plano cultures
			Paleo-Arctic Tradition	8000 BCE - 5000 BCE
			Maritime Archaic
			Red Paint People
		Middle Archaic6000 BCE - 3000 BCE	Chihuahua tradition	c. 6000 BCE - c. 250 CE
		Late Archaic3000 BCE - 1000 BCE	Arctic Small Tool tradition	2500 BCE - 800 BCE
			Aleutian tradition	2500 BCE - 1800 BCE
	by location	Great Basin	Desert Archaic
			Middle Archaic
			Late Archaic
		Great Lakes	Old Copper Complex	c. 4000 BCE - c. 1000 BCE
		Mesoamerica	Mexican Archaic
		Southwest: Southwestern Archaic Traditions	San Dieguito-Pinto tradition	c. 6500 BCE - c. 200 CE
			Chihuahua (Southeastern) Tradition	c. 6000 BCE - c. 250 CE
			Oshara (Northern) Tradition	c. 5500 BCE - c. 600 CE
			Cochise Tradition	5000 BCE - 200 BCE
		California	Millingstone Horizon (or Encinitas Tradition)	c. 5500 BCE - 1500 BCE
			Intermediate Horizon (or Campbell Tradition)	c. 1500 BCE - 1000 CE
Post-archaic period, (Post-archaic stage) (1000 BCE - Present)	in North	Norton tradition	Choris Stage	c. 1000 BCE - 500 BCE
			Norton	500 BCE - 800 CE
			Ipiutak Stage	1 CE - 800 CE
		Dorset culture		500 BCE - 1500 CE
		Thule people		1000 CE - 1600 CE
	in Southwestand by Pecos Classification	Early Basketmaker II Era		1200 BCE - 50 CE
		Late Basketmaker II Era		50 CE - 500 CE
		Basketmaker III Era		500 CE - 750 CE
		Pueblo I Era		750 CE - 900 CE
		Pueblo II Era		900 CE - 1150 CE
		Pueblo III Era		1150 CE - 1350 CE
		Pueblo IV Era		1350 CE - 1600 CE
		Pueblo V Era		1600 CE - Present
	in Southwestand by peoples	Ancient Pueblo Peoples (Anasazi)		1 CE - 1300 CE
		Hohokam		200 CE - 1450 CE
		Fremont		400 CE - 1350 CE
		Patayan		700 CE - 1550 CE
		Mogollon		700 CE - 1400 CE
	in Eastand by peoples	Early Woodland Period 1000 BCE - 1 CE	Adena culture	1000 BCE - 100 BCE
			Deptford culture	800 BCE - 200 CE
		Middle Woodland Period 1 - 500	Hopewell culture	200 BCE - 400 CE
			Havana Hopewell culture (a Hopewellian culture)	200 BCE to 400 CE
			Kansas City Hopewell (a Hopewellian culture)	100 BCE – 700 CE
			Swift Creek culture (a Hopewellian culture)	100 - 500
			Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture (a Hopewellian culture)	100 - 300
			Marksville culture (a Hopewellian culture)	1 - 400 CE
			Fourche Maline culture	300 BCE to 800 CE
			Copena culture (a Hopewellian culture)	1 - 500 CE
		Late Woodland Period 500 - 1000	Baytown culture	300 - 700 CE
			Coles Creek culture	700 - 1100 CE
			Plum Bayou culture	400 - 900 CE
		Mississippian culture900 - 1500(ending with European contact)	Early Mississippian culture	1000 - 1200 CE
			Middle Mississippian culture	1200 - 1400 CE
			Late Mississippian culture	1400 - 1500 CE(or European contact)
		Fort Ancient (a non-Mississippian culture)		1000 - 1550 CE
	in Florida and adjacent parts of Alabama and Georgia, by culture	Weeden Island culture 100 - 1000 CE	Cades Pond culture	100 - 700 CE
			Kolomaki culture	350 - 750
			McKeithen Weeden Island culture	200 - 700
			Weeden Island I	200 - 750
			Weeden Island II	750 - 1000
		Wakulla culture		750 - 1000
		Fort Walton culture a Mississippian culture		1000 - European contact
		Pensacola culture		1250 - European contact
		Suwannee Valley culture		750 - European contact
		Alachua culture		700 - European contact
		Manasota culture		550 BCE - 800 CE
		Safety Harbor culture		800 - European contact
		Caloosahatchee culture		500 BCE - European contact
		St. Johns culture		550 BCE - European contact
		Belle Glade culture		1050 BCE - European contact
		Glades culture		550 BCE - European contact

Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley

Lower Mississippi Periods	Lower Yazoo Phases	Lower Yazoo Dates	Tensas/Natchez Phases	Cahokia Phases	Cahokia Dates	Ohio/Miss. River Confluence Phases	Ohio/Miss.Dates
Historic	Russell	1650 - 1750 CE	Tensas/Natchez	Vacant Quarter	1350 CE - European Contact	Jackson Phase	1500-1650 CE
Plaquemine/Mississippian culture Late Plaquemine/Mississippian Middle Plaquemine/Mississippian Early Plaquemine/Mississippian	Wasp Lake	1400-1650 CE	Translyvania/Emerald	Vacant Quarter	1350 CE - European Contact	Jackson Phase	1500-1650 CE
	Lake George	1300-1400 CE	Fitzhugh/Foster	Sand Prairie	1275-1350 CE	Medley Phase	1300-1500 CE
	Winterville	1200-1300 CE	Routh/Anna	Moorehead	1200-1275 CE	Dorena Phase	1100-1300 CE
Transitional Coles Creek	Crippen Point	1050-1200 CE	Preston/Gordon	Lohmann Sterling	1050-1200 CE	Dorena Phase	1100-1300 CE
Coles Creek culture Late Coles Creek Middle Coles Creek Early Coles Creek	Kings Crossing	950-1050 CE	Balmoral	Terminal Late Woodland	900 - 1050 CE	James Bayou Phase	900-1100 CE
	Aden	800-950 CE	Ballina	Terminal Late Woodland	900 - 1050 CE	James Bayou Phase	900-1100 CE
	Bayland	600-800 CE	Sundown	Late Woodland	400 - 900 CE	Cane Hills Phase Berkley Phase	600 - 900 CE 400 - 600 CE
Baytown culture Baytown 2 Baytown 1	Deasonville	500-600 CE	Marsden
Baytown culture Baytown 2 Baytown 1	Little Sunflower	400-500 CE	Indian Bayou
Marksville culture Late Marksville Early Marksville	Issaquena	200-400 CE	Issaquena	Middle Woodland	200 BCE - 400 CE	La Plant Burkett	100 BCE-400 CE 550-100 BCE
Marksville culture Late Marksville Early Marksville	Anderson Landing	0-200 CE	Point Lake/ Grand Gulf
Tchefuncte culture	Tuscola	400 BCE-0 CE	Panther Lake
Jaketown	Poverty Point	700- 400 BCE	Frasier	Early Woodland	700-200 BCE	O'Bryan Ridge	700-550 BCE
-	Poverty Point	1000-700 BCE		Late Archaic	1000 - 200 BCE	O'Bryan Ridge	700-550 BCE

Notes

Lower Mississippi, Lower Yazoo, and Tensas/Natchez table taken from "Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project", by Martha Ann Rolingson, 1982, Pg-66.^[3]
Cahokia phases and dates taken from "Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians", by Pauketat, Timothy R., 2004, Pp-6.^[4].
Ohio and Mississippi River Confluence Phases and dates taken from "Kentucky Archaeology", edited by R. Barry Lewis, 1996, Pg - 16.^[5]

References

↑ Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips (1957). . University of Chicago Press. .
↑ Gibbon, Guy E; Ames, Kenneth M (1998). . pp. 638–639. .
↑ Rolingson, Martha Ann (1982). . Arkansas Archaeological Survey. p. 66. .
↑ Pauketat, Timothy R. (2004). . Cambridge University Press. p. 6. .
↑ Lewis, R. Barry (1996). . University Press of Kentucky. .

Bibliography

Milanich, Jerald T. (1995). . Gainesville, Florida. .
Milanich, Jerald T. (1990). (PDF). . http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/reports/contexts/. Retrieved 2006-03-28.
Milanich, Jerald T. & Claudine Payne (ed.) (September 27, 1993). (DOC). . http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/reports/contexts/comp_plan.doc. Retrieved 2006-03-27.
Milanich, Jerald T. (1998) Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present. University Press of Florida. ISBN 1-8130-1599-5
Milanich, Jerald T. (1994) Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. University Press of Florida. ISBN 1-8130-1273-2
. . http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/woodland.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
Philip Phillips (1970). Archaeological Survey In The Lower Yazoo Basin, Mississippi, 1949-1955(Part One). Published by the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 77-80028.

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This box: [[\|view]] · [[\|talk]] · editPre-Columbian civilizations and cultures
Americas	Paleo-Indians · Genetic history · Archaeology of the Americas · Indigenous peoples of the Americas
North America	North American pre-Columbian cultures · Chichimeca · Hopewell tradition · Mississippian culture ·
Mesoamerica	Mesoamerican pre-Columbian chronology – Capacha – Cholula – Coclé – Epi-Olmec – Huastec – Izapa – Mixtec – Olmec – Pipil – Quelepa – Shaft tomb tradition – Teuchitlan – Tarascan – Teotihuacan – Tlatilco – Toltec – Totonac – Veracruz – Xochipala – Zapotec
South America	South American Indigenous people – pre-Columbian chronology – Cañaris – Chachapoya – Chancay – Chavín – Chimu – El Abra – Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia) – Las Vegas – Lima – La Tolita (Tumaco) – Manteño-Guancavilca – Mapuche – Moche – Mollo – Muisca (Chibchas) – Nariño – Nazca – Norte Chico – Quimbaya – San Agustin – Shuar – Sican – Taino – Tairona – Tiwanaku – Tierradentro – Valdivia – Wari
	The Aztec Empire	The Maya civilization	The Inca Empire (Inca civilization)
Language	Nahuatl language	Mayan languages	Quechua
Writing	Aztec writing	Mayan writing	Quipu
Religion	Aztec religion	Maya religion	Inca religion
Mythology	Aztec mythology	Maya mythology	Inca mythology
Calendar	Aztec calendar	Maya calendar
Society	Aztec society	Maya society	Inca society
Infrastructure	Chinampas	Maya architecture	Inca architecture (road system) Incan agriculture
History	Aztec history		Inca history
People	Moctezuma I Moctezuma II Cuitlahuac Cuauhtémoc	K'inich Janaab' Pakal Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil Jasaw Chan K'awiil I	Manco Capac Pachacutec Atahualpa Manco Inca
Conquest	Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (Hernán Cortés)	Spanish conquest of Yucatán (Francisco de Montejo) Spanish conquest of Guatemala (Pedro de Alvarado)	Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire (Francisco Pizarro)
See also
Portal:Indigenous peoples of North America – Columbian exchange – Mesoamerican writing systems – Native American cuisine – Native American pottery – Population history of American indigenous peoples – Pre-Columbian art – Painting in the Americas before Colonization

List of archaeological periods (North America)

Contents

Stage Classification

Table of archaeological periods North America

Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley

Notes

References

Bibliography

See also