Many thousands of years ago, much of the earth was very cold and covered with ice. This time was known as the Ice Age. The Ice Age was a long, cold time when thick sheets of ice, called glaciers, covered most of America. Groups of wandering people called nomads, moved from place to place in search of food. They followed the large animals into the New World about twenty thousand years ago.

Stuck in the New World

        About twelve thousand years ago, much of the ice that covered the earth melted. The oceans rose and the land bridge was covered by water. No more people could come to the New World on foot. When the big Ice Age animals died out, the hunters had to find other things to eat. Some began hunting smaller animals. Others became gatherers who traveled the land in search of food. They ate seeds, nuts, wild fruits, and roots.

Staying Home

        About seven thousand years ago, people in what is today Mexico, began to experiment with planting seed. When people stayed in one place to grow crops, they started building houses and villages.

Ancient Cultures

        The ancient Indians moved all over North and South America. Over a period of time, a number of great civilizations grew up in the Americas. These cultures built cities, invented written languages, and had their own religious beliefs and customs. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca people built great temples and pyramids. The Aztecs built a very great civilization. They had laws for everything. They had a caste system, which means each person’s place in life was planned for him or her. Their place in society depended on the family they were born into. There were even laws about what clothes each caste could wear, and the way they could wear their hair. The Anasazi carved whole cities in the desert cliffs of the American West. The Mississippian people of the Eastern United States built great mound cities.

Archeologists at Work

        Archeologists, people who study the remains of ancient people, learn about these ancient Indians by carefully digging, layer by layer, where these people had lived, hunted, and died. The age of these temple, mounds, graves, and artifacts can by found by carbon dating. Artifacts (objects found in a dig) give us clues to the way that these people lived. Graves tell us a lot about their religious beliefs about death and life after death. Hieroglyphics are a kind of writing using pictures for words. When archeologists found out how to read these hieroglyphics, they learned a lot more about these ancient peoples.