| WOODLAND PERIOD of eastern North America continues 1000BC-1000CE. A developmental stage without significant changes, except that POTTERY begins. Continuous development in stone and bone tools, leather working, textile manufacture, tool production, cultivation, and shelter construction. Hunting and gathering remains primary. Some Woodland peoples use spears and atlatls until the end of the period when they are replaced by bows and arrows. EARLY WOODLAND period (Burial Mound-I) continues 1000-0. True agriculture is absent in much of the Southeast for a couple thousand years after the introduction of pottery. |
| ADENA culture (part of Woodland culture) centered in Ohio valley continues 1000-200. Rich burial mounds. People live in small, scattered villages with round houses, wattle for walls, and thatched roofs. Similar areas exist from Canada thru Minnesota down to the Louisiana-Texas border. |
 ANCESTRAL PUEBLO culture continues 1200BC-1300CE in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico. They live in a range of structures including small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, and cliff-dwellings. They are called Anasazi "ancestors of enemies" by the Navajo. |
map Yuchitown |
| Early Basketmaker-II Era continues 1500BC-50CE. |
| TCHEFUNCTE culture continues 1000BC-200CE. Hunter-gatherers who lived in small hamlets in the Lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast. They live in coastal areas and lowlands, usually near slow-moving streams. Food includes clams, alligators, fish but surprisingly not crabs or crawfish which were likely to have been abundant. They also hunt deer, raccoons, and some migratory birds. |
 Point Peninsula Complex continues 600BC-700CE: An indigenous Hopewell culture in Ontario and New York. Influenced by the Hopewell traditions of the Ohio River valley until 250CE, its ceramics are first introduced in Canada. Thinner and more decorated than existing ceramics, this new pottery has superior clay modeling, is better fired, and contains finer grit temper. |
map: Heironymous Rowe |
| MANASOTA culture continues 550BC-800CE in Florida. Each settlement contains a few related families. Dead are buried near their home or in nearby cemeteries. No grave goods or indication of differential treatment in death. |
 DEPTFORD CULTURE continues 800BC-200CE near Savannah, Georgia. Elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and political complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, increasing reliance on cultigens. |
at peak: 500BC-200CE (changed): Donald Albury |
| MESO-AMERICA: : PRE-CLASSIC Age continues 2000BC-200CE. Manufacture of ceramics is widespread, cultivation of maize and other vegetables becomes well-established, society starts to become socially stratified. Capacha culture civilizes Mesoamerica, and its pottery spreads widely. Heavy concentration of pottery on Pacific Coast. Maise and pottery in Panama. Unknown culture in La Blanca and Ujuxte, Monte Alto culture, Mokaya culture |
| c.500 | NORTON Tradition in Western Arctic 1000BC-800CE:
CHORIS Stage from 1000 ends. Consists of coastal sites containing a wide variety of fiber-tempered pottery with linear stamps decorating outsides of vessels. NORTON Stage begins until 1 BC. Has more refined pottery including Choris-style stamps, plus check stamps applied using ivory paddles. New technology includes drills, stone lamps, stone working, asymmetrical knives, and ground slate projectile points. |
500 wikAP, wikNT |
| c.500 | DORSET Culture in Arctic begins until 1300CE:
Unrelated to Norton and Thule people. Dorset people have no drills, but bone needles are common. Needles have long narrow holes that have been carefully carved or gouged. EARLY Period begins until 800CE. People hunt mainly sea mammals thru holes in the ice. |
500 wikDC |
| c.500 | NORWOOD Culture in the Apalachee region of north Florida from 2000 ends. Triangular projectile point knives with notches for attaching stone implements to shafts. Archaic cultures began using hand held spears to atlatls. | 500 wikAPNA no date: wikNC |
| c.500 | TCHEFUNCTE site in a marsh in east Louisiana occupied primarily by Tchefuncte cultural groups until 1 BC. Contains 2 oval-shaped shell middens (no longer extant). | 500 wikTS |
| c.500 | Hieroglyphic Λ Writings made by Zapotecs at Monte Alban, Oaxaca. (See Greek 750, Latin 620, Mesopotamia 500, Oscan 480) |
800 PW 15 500 PW 16, TAWH 17, wikO, wikHW, wikZ |
| c.500 | PYRAMIDS built by Zapotecs near Oaxaca, notably one 500m high at Monte Alban. | 500 TTT, rcNA |
| c.500 | Monte Alban is established on a defensible hill above the Valley of Oaxaca, and grows rapidly into the major regional center. The populations of valley-floor villages such as San Jose Mogote from 1400 are diminished and soon fade out. | 500 bk, eah, wikMA |
| c.500 | ZAPOTECS "Cloud People" emerge in 3 competing societies in Valley of Oaxaca. | 700 wikZC 500 whZC, wikZP |
| CHORRERA Culture in Ecuador continues 1300-300. Spans Pacific lowlands to Andean highlands, and into south Colombia. Noted for ceramics. |
| CHAVIN civilization of Peru continues 900-300 in the Mosna. Establishes a trade network and developed agriculture. Chavin cultural revolution is obsessed with religion. The Urabarriu ceramic phase begins until 500 showing influence of other cultures. People hunt mainly cervid and begin to hunt and use camelids. They grow maize and potatoes, and also eat shellfish, guinea pigs, and birds. This phase has the most animal diversity. |
 Chavin de Huantar New Temple Both photos by Dtarazona |
 Model of temple area Old Temple is right of New Temple. |
| c.500 | Chavin de Huantar Peru, occupied 3000-400: Used as a ceremonial center from 750, no longer used so. | 500 wikCdH |
| c.500 | CUPISNIQUE Culture on north coast of Peru from 1500, ends. Had a distinctive adobe architecture, but shares artistic styles, gods, and religious symbols with the later Chavin culture. | 500 wikCps, wikPCP |
| c.500 | New Temple built at Chavin de Huantar. Same U-shaped ceremonial center with a sunken circular plaza, but much expanded. | 500 wikCdH 400 jqj |
| c.500 | CHAVIN culture of Peru 1000-250 begins an art phase called "New Temple" until 200. Chavin art decorates the walls of the temple and includes carvings, sculptures and pottery. Art is intricately complex and deliberately cryptic, to be understood only by priests. Eagles are common. | 500 wikC, wikCdH |
| c.500 | Urabarriu stage of CHAVIN culture from 900 ends. Chakinani stage begins until 400. Residents migrate to surround the ceremonial center. Llama domestication, reduced deer hunting, increased exchange with outside civilizations. | 500 wikC |
| c.500 |  Chavin de Huantar Peru, a ceremonial center from at least 750, no longer used as such. The Circular Plaza, which had been occupied by a succession of cultural groups, is replaced by a small village. Residents salvaged building stones and stone carvings to use in house walls. |
photo CyArk no later than 500 wikCdH |
| c.500 | Casma Valley shows decorated cylindrical columns, an architectural element from the northern highlands. | 500 jqj |
| c.450 | 
Meso-American CALENDARS first appear. Besides keeping time, they are used in religious observances and social rituals, such as divination. Stela 12 & 13 from Monte Alban shown here are thought to be one of the earliest calendric representations. |
drawing GNU FDL 500-400 wikMsCl |
| c.400 | RED OCHRE People in the Upper Great Lakes, Greater Illinois River Valley, and Ohio River Valley from 1000 end. Shallow burials in sandy ridges along river valleys, covered in red ochre or hydrated iron oxide, contain artifacts including flint points, turkey-tails, and various forms of worked copper. They are believed to have spoken a proto-Algonquian language. | 400 wikROP |
| c.400 | Artistic and cultural dominance of the Gulf Coast wanes. | 400 eah |
| c.400 | Meso-America: FORMATIVE PERIOD ends. Began 1500. | 400 wikO |
| c.400 | OLMEC civilization disappears. Existed from 1400, at Veracruz from 1200, at La Venta from 900. Perhaps they passed on their knowledge to the Mayas who begin to occupy some of the same territory. | 500 mxfld 400 B76 X-14, wikHA, wikO |
| c.400 | 2 Λ Mayan Calendar invented in Yucatan: a 365-day solar calendar and a 260-day ritual calendar. Solar year = 365.24 days. (See Cleostratos 520, Chinese 444, Zoroastrian 441, Metonic 432, Babylonian 380, Eudoxos 370) Lunar month = 29.52 days. Many large carved stone sculptures and monuments at La Venta are damaged; the city loses political power and population, and is gradually deserted. | 400 eah |
 Monte Alban, seen from the northern platform. Photo Eke |
| c.400 | Zapotec MONTE ALBAN culture begins until 1521. Phase 1 begins until 100. | 500 wikMA 400 wikZC |
 Monte Alban, seen from the southern platform. Photo Matt Saunders |
| PARACAS culture continues 800-100 in the Paracas Peninsula of Peru. Known for shaft tombs containing elongated human skulls, knowledge of irrigation and water management. Ceramics include incised polychrome. Textiles include many complex weave structures and elaborate plaiting and knotting techniques. Necropolis of Wari Kayan contains 2 clusters of hundreds of burials set closely together inside and around abandoned buildings on the steep north slope of Cerro Colorado. Burials here continue until 250CE. |
| c.400 | Chakinani stage of CHAVIN culture from 500 ends. Jarabarriu (final) stage begins to 250. Proto-urban settlement pattern, consisting of a center of lowland valley peoples and smaller satellite communities in higher altitude areas. Cultural specialization and social differentiation. | 400 wikC |
| c.400 | Occupation of Chavin de Huantar Peru ends. Began 3000. Social instability and upheaval begins. Larger Chavín civilization begins decline. Large ceremonial sites abandoned, some unfinished, and replaced by villages and agricultural land. | 5-400 wikCdH
400 PW 16 200 jqj |
| c.400 | Chavin has sophisticated economic systems with roads and distant trading. The monument is remodeled and greatly expanded. | 400 jqj |
| c.350 | 
In the Early Horizon phase (900-200) of the Casma/Sechin culture 3600-200 of Peru, CHANKILLO is founded, and lasts until 100. Chankillo has a fortress, solar observatory, and ceremonial areas. The observatory, called the Thirteen Towers, permits an observer to determine a precise date by observing the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset on the towers. |
photo David Edgar 350 wikCSc |
| c.310 | HOPEWELL culture begins in eastern North America until 400CE. Burials more impressive, chiefdoms, long distance trade. | 500 B76 V-126 310 PW 16 200 wikAP |
| c.300 | Mexico: Cuicuilco, now the largest center on the high plateau of the Basin of Mexico, has substantial public architecture, including a circular, stone-faced pyramid. In western Mexico, deeply buried tombs at the bottom of shafts are in use. Located in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima, the tombs contain ceramic figures and vessels in great quantity. Stylistic names assigned to the ceramics correspond to the names of the modern states. | 300 eah |
| c.300 | Classic Maya cities of Tikal, Uaxactun, and Seibal, begin growth. | 300 wikMC |
| c.300 | Teotihuacan, first settled. | 300 wikPCe |
Americas 300-201
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