LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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Quick study: Archaic Period
A “cheat sheet” covering basic information about the Archaic Period and its key characteristics.
Coastal Plain cultures graphic organizer
In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.5
As students read the article "Peoples of the Coastal Plain," this graphic organizer will help them develop an understanding of the cultures that existed in North Carolina's Coastal Plain hundreds of years ago.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Piedmont cultures graphic organizer
In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 2.3
This activity will assist students in understanding Piedmont cultures as they read the article "Peoples of the Piedmont."
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Archaeobotany
In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.6
Students will use pictures of seeds, an activity sheet, and a graph to identify seven seeds and the conditions in which they grow. They will also infer ancient plant use by interpreting archaeobotanical samples and determine changing plant use by Native North Carolinians by interpreting a graph of seed frequency over time.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 and 8 Science and Social Studies)
Quick study: Woodland Period
A “cheat sheet” covering basic information about the Woodland Period and its key characteristics.
Peoples of the Coastal Plain
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 2.6
When Europeans arrived in the late 1500s, North Carolina’s northern Coastal Plain was home to two different cultures. Speakers of Algonkian languages lived closest to the Atlantic edge, in the Outer Coastal Plain or Tidewater. Iroquoian speakers lived more inland, on the Inner Coastal Plain. Based on the distinctive items each group left, archaeologists call the Algonkian speakers Colington and the Iroquoian speakers Cashie.
Format: article
Peoples of the mountains
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 2.5
During the Mississippian period, corn agriculture became more important in the mountains of North Carolina. More productive agriculture supported larger populations and provided opportunities for accumulating wealth. This brought about increased social ranking and political centralization. The Mountain region was creating its own identity -- an identity that archaeologists tie to the modern-day Cherokee. Archaeologists have given the names Pisgah and Qualla to these Cherokee ancestors.
Format: article
Artifact classification
In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.4
Students will use pictures of artifacts or objects from a teaching kit to classify artifacts and answer questions about the lifeways of a group of historic Native Americans.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Social Studies)
Peoples of the Piedmont
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 2.4
In the years between 1000 and 1200 CE, Native life in the north and central Piedmont hadn’t changed much from prior Woodland times. People still lived in small hamlets whose houses strung out along river and stream banks. At times, the hamlets sat empty when people left to hunt and gather wild foods. But times were about to change. Around 900 CE, corn agriculture began. As a result, population began to grow, people began gathering in larger villages, and conflicts erupted.
Format: article
Intrigue of the Past
Lesson plans and essays for teachers and students explore North Carolina's past before European contact. Designed for grades four through eight, the web edition of this book covers fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, and describes the peoples and cultures of the Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.
Format: book (multiple pages)
The forest people
In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.3
Paleoindian culture died out across North America by 8000 BC. Archaeologists say this was bound to happen. The Ice Age had ended, the megafauna were extinct, and the boreal forests faded as deciduous ones spread across the East in the warmer climate. Faced with significant environmental changes, the Native Americans adapted. Archaeologists call their way of life and the time in which they lived Archaic.
The village farmers
In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.5
North Carolina sat on a crossroads by AD 1000. Cultural ideas from other places breezed through it and around it: how to decorate pottery, how to orient political and social life, how to honor the dead, how to structure towns.
The pottery makers
In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.4
Archaeologists do a bit of shrugging when asked about the Woodland—that time and lifeway tucked between 1000 BC and AD 1000. Some things they readily understand, but others leave them wondering.
The pathfinders
In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.2
An essay covering the pathfinders of the Paleoindian Period. Learn about the trek across Beringia and the lifeways of these early American Indians.