North America

Northeast & Great Lakes

Where native copper outcrops pure enough to hammer without smelting, making Great Lakes communities among the earliest metalworkers anywhere. Later, the heart of the fur trade and its reworked brass.

Chronology here

The periods whose terminology is used in the Northeast & Great Lakes.

Early Paleoindianc. 13,000 – 10,900 BCE
Middle Paleoindianc. 10,900 – 10,200 BCE
Late Paleoindianc. 10,200 – 8,000 BCE
Early Archaicc. 8,000 – 6,000 BCE
Middle Archaicc. 6,000 – 3,000 BCE
Late Archaicc. 3,000 – 1,200 BCE
Transitional Archaicc. 1,500 – 1,000 BCE
Early Woodlandc. 1,200 – 200 BCE
Middle Woodlandc. 200 BCE – 500 CE
Late Woodlandc. 500 – 1,000 CE
Early Mississippianc. 1,000 – 1,200 CE
Late Mississippianc. 1,200 – 1,500 CE
Contactc. 1,500 – 1,750 CE
Historicc. 1,750 CE onward

Lessons from this period

Artifacts the Academy examines from the Northeast & Great Lakes.

Grooved AxeArchaic · Illinois ground-stone axe

Quiz on the Northeast & Great Lakes

Chronology here

Lessons from this period