North American archaeological periods divides the history of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

North America into a number of named successive eras or periods, from the earliest-known human habitation through to the early Colonial period which followed the

European colonization of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short ter ...

Stage classification

One of the most enduring classifications of archaeological periods and cultures was established in

Gordon Willey Gordon Randolph Willey (7 March 1913 – 28 April 2002) was an American archaeologist who was described by colleagues as the "dean" of New World archaeology.Sabloff 2004, p.406 Willey performed fieldwork at excavations in South America, Central A ...

and Philip Phillips' 1958 book ''Method and Theory in American Archaeology.'' They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into 5 phases, only three of which applied to North America. The use of these divisions has diminished in most of North America due to the development of local classifications with more elaborate breakdowns of times. :1. The Paleo-Indians stage and/or

Lithic stage In the sequence of cultural stages first proposed for the archaeology of the Americas by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958, the Lithic stage was the earliest period of human occupation in the Americas, as post-glacial hunter gatherers s ...

:2. The

Archaic stage Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include an Archaic Period or Archaic stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late", or alternatively "Lower" and "Upper", stages. The dates, and the char ...

:3.

Formative stage Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages. The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Gord ...

or Post-archaic stage - At this point the North American classifications system differs from the rest of the Americas. For more details on the five major stages, still used in Mesoamerican archaeology, see

Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...

and

Archaeology of the Americas The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of the Western Hemisphere, including North America (Mesoamerica), Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and histor ...

Table of archaeological periods North America

Culture, phase, and chronological table for the
Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * *Milanich, Jerald T. (1998) ''Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present.'' University Press of Florida. *Milanich, Jerald T. (1994) ''Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida.'' University Press of Florida. * * 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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological periods (North America) * Periods History of indigenous peoples of North America North America, Archaeological Periods North America, Archaeological Periods Archaeology, North America, Periods North America, Archaeological Periods North America-related lists United States history-related lists * *

Stage classification

Table of archaeological periods North America

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography