new hunters and gatherers an ade language arts...

Arizona Department of Education 1 Language Arts Grade 6 Week 3 1

Hunters and Gatherers An ADE Language Arts Lesson

Week 3

Author ADE Content Specialists Grade Level 6th grade Duration Five sessions

Aligns To Connects To Reading: Strand 1: Reading Process Concept 4: Vocabulary PO 1. Determine the effect of affixes on root words. Concept 6: Comprehension Strategies PO 1. Predict text content using prior knowledge and text features (e.g., illustrations, titles, topic sentences, key words). PO 6. Apply knowledge of the organizational structures (e.g., chronological order, time-sequence order, cause and effect relationships) of text to aid comprehension. PO 7. Use reading strategies (e.g., drawing conclusions, determining cause and effect, making inferences, sequencing) to comprehend text. Strand 3: Comprehending Informational Text Concept 1: Expository Text PO 1. Restate the main idea (explicit or implicit) and supporting details in expository text. PO 7. Interpret graphic features (e.g., charts, maps, diagrams, illustrations, tables, timelines, graphs) of expository text. PO 8. Identify the organizational structures (e.g., chronological order, comparison and contrast, cause and effect relationships, logical order) of expository text. Writing: Strand 1: Writing Process Concept 1: Prewriting Concept 2: Drafting Concept 3: Revising Concept 4: Editing Concept 5: Publishing

Social Studies: Strand 1: American History Concept 1: Research Skills for History PO 3. Construct timelines of the historical era being studied (e.g.., presidents/world leaders, key events, people). Concept 2: Early Civilizations PO 1. Describe the characteristics of hunting and gathering societies in the Americas. PO 2. Describe how farming methods and domestication of animals led to the development of cultures and civilizations from hunting and gathering societies. Strand 4: Geography Concept 5: Environment and Society PO 1. Describe ways that human dependence on natural resources influences economic development, settlement, trade, and migration.


Strand 2: Writing Components Concept 6: Conventions PO 13. Use subject/verb agreement in simple and compound sentences. Overview The need to understand the past, to know about our ancestors or about others who have lived on this land before us is universal. This study of how humans interacted with the environment in the past in Arizona can lead not only to a greater understanding of the past but can also help to understand the present. Purpose In these five sessions, you will use articles about hunting and gathering groups in prehistoric Arizona to support comprehension of expository text, vocabulary development, and to practice writing a newspaper article. Materials

• Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? reading passage • Shopping in Nature’s Supermarket reading passage • Worksheets for the daily sessions • Black marker or crayon (optional) • Brown paper or paper grocery sack (optional)

Objectives Students will:

• Read the article, Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? • Read the article, Shopping in Nature’s Supermarket. • Check your comprehension of reading passages. • Apply the skill of reading a nonfiction article. • Apply knowledge of Latin roots to identify the meaning of unfamiliar words. • Create a rock art drawing of prehistoric life. • Apply knowledge of the /s/ sound spelled with -c when reading and writing. • Apply knowledge of subject-verb agreement in reading and writing. • Write a newspaper article.

Lesson Components Prerequisite skills: The 5 Steps of the Writing Process have been used since Grade 1. Writing Elements have been used since Kindergarten. You should be familiar with these processes. You should be familiar with the format of a newspaper article. All reading and grammar skills should have been introduced in prior grades. They are reintroduced in the sessions and practiced. All social studies topics mentioned in the passages are fully introduced and explained in the articles.


Session 1: Reading Comprehension

1. Review article vocabulary prior to reading. 2. As a strategy to use during reading, review how to read a nonfiction article. This skill is

applied while reading the article, Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? 3. After reading the article, check your comprehension by answering questions about the

text.

Session 2: Vocabulary and Writing 1. Increase your vocabulary through a review of the use of Latin roots to identify unfamiliar

words while reading. 2. Using the meaning of Latin roots, identify the meaning of unfamiliar words in the article

you read and use the words in sentences of your own. 3. Identify additional words containing Latin roots, explain their meaning, and use the words

in sentences of your own.

Session 3: Phonics/Decoding and Writing 1. Strengthen your Reading Skills by recognize when the letter –c- spells the /s/ sound in

words and how this applies to your reading comprehension. 2. Reread the story Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? and locate words with

the /s/ sound spelled with -c-. 3. Read about rock art as a method of expression in prehistoric North America. 4. Create a rock art drawing for an important event in the life of an Archaic person and

share the drawing with a family member. Session 4: Grammar and Writing

1. Review subject and verb agreement in your writing. 2. Practice the use of subject and verb agreement in sentences. 3. Pretend to be a newspaper writer in the Archaic period and write a news article about an

important event you learned about in the Session 1 reading. 4. Plan the article with the use of a chart and then write a draft article.

Session 5: Reading Comprehension and Writing

1. Review story vocabulary prior to reading an expository passage titled, Shopping in Nature’s Supermarket: The Diet and Nutrition of Ancient Arizonans.

2. After reading the passage, check your comprehension by answering questions about the text.

3. Compare the diets of the early groups in Arizona by using the USDA Food Pyramid. 4. Revise, proofread, and create a final copy of their news article in newspaper format.

Assessment There is an assessment activity for each session that will help you check your understanding before moving on to the next session.


Session 1 – Reading Comprehension Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers?

Vocabulary: Please review these words before you read the passage. These words will help you comprehend the passage you will be reading. archaeologist – a scientist who works in the field of archeology; an archaeologist digs up and

then studies objects such as pottery, tools, and buildings Archaic – ancient, old or surviving from an earlier people; people who lived in the

Southwest after the Paleo-Indians are called the Archaic or Desert Archaic people domesticated – made tame or usable for humans teosinte – (tay-oh-seen′-tay) a tall, wild grass of Mexico and central America that is considered

to be an early form of maize or corn maize – corn; first developed as a natural food crop by native people in Mexico and is the only

cereal native to the New World resist – to fight against or oppose something Pleistocene – (Ply′-stoh-seen) the Ice Ages(s) and period in the world’s history from about one

million years ago until about 10,000 years ago; during the Pleistocene, much of the Earth was covered with ice

hunter-gatherers – people who survive by depending on wild animals and gathering pants for food

obsidian – (ob-sid′-ee-uhn) a hard, dark, glossy volcanic rock that is formed when lava cools amaranth – a plant with coarse leaves and clusters of small purplish flowers cultivate – to raise crops Skill to use while reading: How to read a nonfiction article You will be reading a nonfiction social studies article. When you read nonfiction, you need to pay close attention to facts and ideas. Here are some points that will help you read the article. Before you read:

• Skim each page. Look at headings, drawings and captions to get a feel for what the article is about.

• Predict what you will be learning about to set a purpose for reading. While you read:

• Identify the main ideas and supporting details. • Remember that authors sometimes give the most important ideas first and then the

details. • Look for words that signal sequence or cause and effect. • If you read something you don’t understand, ask questions about the text and reread to

find out the answers. Think about reading a nonfiction article as you read Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers?


Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? By Kathleen Henderson

Archaic Period (8,000 – 2,000 Years Ago) Archaeologists call the time from about 8,000 to 2,000 years ago the Archaic period. The Archaic people in Arizona lived by hunting animals like rabbit and deer and gathering plants like wild seeds, fruits, and nuts. In fact, plant foods were so important that archaeologists can tell where Archaic people lived and worked by finding the tools they used to crush and grind their seeds and nuts for eating. The Archaic people used small hand stones, or manos (mah′-nos), and large grinding stones, or metates (meh-tah′-taz), to crush and grind their seeds and nuts. The manos were round stones that fit in one hand. The larger metates were flat or basin- shaped slabs of stone. Seeds were put on the large stone slab surface and were crushed by rubbing the manos over them across the larger stone slab. This crushed the seeds and nuts into flour.

Archaeologists also know plant foods were important to the Archaic people because of where Archaic sites are found. These Archaic sites show up almost everywhere-near rivers and streams, in desert areas, and on mountain slopes. Can you guess why Archaic sites are located in so many places? We know that Archaic people were constantly moving from place to place to find food. They moved from place to place to collect plant foods when they were ripe. During the spring, Archaic people picked green leaves from sprouting plants near rivers and streams. In the summers, they moved to the desert to pick cactus fruit and gather mesquite bean pods. In the fall, they went to the mountains to gather nuts and acorns. Around 3,000 years ago, these people’s lifeways began to change. They started to live in small villages and to use a new type of food that they could grow: corn. This changed their way of life forever.

The Origins of Corn Did you know that corn is not an ordinary plant? It does not grow wild anywhere in the world. Corn has been changed so that it can be farmed - or domesticated - instead of gathered like wild plants.


People in what is now Mexico first domesticated corn by picking the largest seeds from a wild grass called Teosinte and planting the seeds. When the plants grew up, they again picked the largest seeds and planted them. These early experimenters did this year after year, and eventually (by around 5,000 years ago) a new plant - corn or maize - was produced.

Teosinte Grass and Corn

Can you think of other plants that were once wild and are now domesticated as crops? Imagine how the earliest farmers experimented with plants until they got a food that everyone in their village like to eat and could grow. Some archaeologists think of these early farmers as our earliest scientists. Because corn cannot grow by itself in the wild, someone has to plant the seeds. Knowing this, archaeologists can tell that when corn is found in Archaic sites that people had become farmers. Adapting to Change People who have lived one way all their lives usually do not like to make sudden changes in the way they live. Today, some older people resist learning how to use VCR’s, computers, or calculators. They resist the change. The Archaic people were probably no different. They had been hunters and gatherers for over 5,000 years. After all that time, they were probably happy with the way they lived. Why, then, do you think the Archaic people became farmers? One answer may have to do with the weather and climate. During the Ice Ages or Pleistocene, it was colder and wetter in Arizona than it is now. Although the last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago, the weather continued to be cool and rainy until about 4,000 years ago. Then it became warmer and drier, more like Arizona is today. There were greater differences in


the weather from year to year. Some summers were very hot and dry, while others were cool and wet. If you live in Flagstaff or Winslow, you know that winters can be very harsh. Winters in the southern deserts can be very different from year to year-mild and pleasant, or rainy, cold, and even snowy.

These differences in the weather affect growing plants. When there is rain, most plants grow and produce seeds and fruits. However, when there is not rain or a freeze, most plants die or never grow. When plants die or don’t grow, there are not seeds to gather. If there are no seeds, there will be little to eat. If there is not enough to eat, some people will starve. This was the problem for the Archaic hunter-gatherers. Because they never knew what the weather would be like from year to year, they had to find ways to make sure there was always enough to eat or they would die. Can you think of ways to make sure you have enough food? Archaeologists have learned that the Archaic people changed their lifeway to adapt to the changing weather. We know that before 3,500 years ago, people moved over great distances to look for food. Archaeologists know they traveled great distances and traded with


others because they found volcanic glass, called obsidian, from New Mexico, on Archaic sites in Arizona. Obsidian was a valuable material used to make sharp stone tools like knives and spear points. On more recent Archaic sites, archaeologists found that tools were made from stones that occurred naturally around the areas where the Archaic people lived and worked. These more recent sites also have many more tools, storage pits, and even small houses than the early sites. These clues tell archaeologists that since 3,500 years ago, people no longer wandered over great distances looking for food.

Instead, the Archaic people stayed mostly in one area, though they still moved around, they journeyed to the same places in the valleys and nearby mountain slopes year after year. They learned where seeds, fruits, and nuts could be found, even when the weather was not very good. They knew exactly where to find everything in their areas, just as you know exactly where to find things in your local supermarket. Some archaeologists have another idea about why people stopped traveling great distances every year. They think that when the population increased, more and more people tried to use the same sources for food. People had to compete with each other for food. At one time, a group of people could go to a good place to gather nuts and then move on to a good place to find mesquite beans. They could gather all the beans they needed and then move on to more places where they knew they could find good fruit. The next season, they could return to the same places and again gather nuts, mesquite beans, or fruit. However, when more people lived in the same area, this changed. When a group of people left their nut-gathering area to go gather mesquite beans, a new group of people moved in behind them and took over their nut-gathering area and the remaining nuts. When the first group arrived at the place where they gathered mesquite beans, they found other groups of people already there before them. Many of the beans would already be picked and what was left had to be shared among all the people. This meant less nuts, beans, fruits, and food for everyone. Because of this, the people may have decided that, instead of moving and losing their gathering places, they would stay in a smaller area and guard it from other groups of people.


When the people looked for food, they picked from the plants with the most seeds or nuts. To make sure that there was plenty of food, they would pick as many seeds and fruit as they could find. They couldn’t eat all of these seeds, fruits, or nuts at one time. What do you think they did with the extra food? They saved the food for later when there weren’t any ripe plants or they were covered by snow. How did they save it? The people solved this problem by creating storage pits in the earth floors of their houses. The people dug the pits with hard sticks and sharp stones. The pits had small openings, so they could be covered and protected from mice and insects. Below the ground they were wider, so that lots of seed could be stored in them. In addition to storing food and staying in a smaller area, the Archaic people began to grow food plants or crops instead of eating only wild plants. This probably began by accident. Many of the wild seeds that were gathered were quite small. For example, a plant called amaranth had seeds that were an important food source for the Archaic people. The amaranth seeds are only about the size of a pinhead. When picked, some of the tiny seeds would fall to the ground. In the spring, many more new amaranth pants would come up from these dropped seeds.

Archaeologists know that more recent Indian groups scattered some of the wild seeds they picked onto the ground. New plants grew from the dropped seeds the following year. We think the Archaic people did the same thing. Learning to Cultivate Crops If the Archaic people were encouraging wild plants to grow, does that make them farmers? Yes and no. Because the plants were wild and people did not stay around to make sure they grew, they were not really farmers. However, they certainly knew how to become farmers - all they needed were the right kinds of plants. Corn was one of these first plants that the Archaic people used for farming - beans and squash were other. With just one seed from the right plant, you can get a plant that produces many, many new seeds. Most of the seeds could be used for food, but some could be saved for growing new plants. Remember that teosinte was a wild grass that people domesticated by selecting and scattering seeds.


Unfortunately, even if you plant a crop there is no guarantee that it will grow. Squirrels and birds or other animals might eat the sprouting plants. The plants might not get enough water. The temperature may change and freeze the plants or burn them. Plants, like people, can catch disease and become sick or die. What do you think the people did to make sure their pants grew? We know that after 3,500 B.C. (about 5,500 years ago) people were no longer moving over long distances to find food. When they did move, they had a pretty good idea of where they were going. Because of this, they could scatter the wild seeds and grow plants in one place to have for the next year. They could also leave some of the people at the place where they had planted crops. These people could watch over the crops such as corn and protect them from drought, animals, and birds. The New Farmers This is how archaeologists think the hunter-gatherers became farmers. They left some people at one place near a water source like a stream or spring. These people planted seeds and protected the crops while they grew. The rest of the people continued to move around the countryside, gathering wild plants and hunting animals. However, in the fall, all would return to the place with the planted crops and help harvest the ripe grain. Because they split the work, there were not only wild plants for food, but also the cultivated foods like corn. In this way, the Archaic people now had two sources of food: what they gathered or hunted and what they grew. No longer did the Archaic people have to worry so much about whether they could find enough good to feed their families throughout the year. Do you think farmers or hunter-gatherers had better diets? Why?


Check your understanding of the article, Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? You may look back at the story. Answer in complete sentences. 1. How can archaeologists tell where Archaic people lived and worked? 2. Why were Archaic sites located in so many places? 3. What steps did people in what is now Mexico take to first domesticate corn? 4. What would have happened to the corn if people had not planted it? 5. What was a reason the hunter-gatherers might have become farmers? 6. What do archaeologists know from finding more tools, storage pits and small houses at

places where Archaic people lived? 7. How were hunter-gatherers able to become farmers and have two sources of food?


8. How do the headings in the passage help you understand the information about hunter-

gatherers in the article? 9. Look at the drawing labeled “Food Preparation”. Explain what you learned about the hunter-

gatherers from looking at this drawing that you didn’t read in the article. 10. Do you think farmers or hunter-gatherers had better diets? Why?


Session 2 – Vocabulary and Writing Word Roots

A root is a word part used to make other words. These roots often come from the Latin or Greek languages. Words are made by adding prefixes and suffixes to the roots. A strategy good readers use to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words is to look for the root and identify its meaning.

This is how to use the strategy: Read this sentence from Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? and look at the underlined words. “Archaeologists call the time from about 8,000 to 2,000 years ago the Archaic

period.”

Both of these words, archaeologists and archaic• -archae/i- which means ancient or belonging to an earlier period.

, have the same root:

• For example, an archive is a collection of historical materials.

Archaeologist• -logy which means study the field of; and

has two suffixes:

• –ist which means one who. So, remembering that the root means ancient, an archaeologist is one who studies the ancient past.

Archaic

• -ic which means having to do with. has one suffix:

So, remembering that the root means ancient, the word archaic means having to do with the ancient past.

Always check to see if the meaning makes sense in the sentence and paragraph. You can always use a dictionary to confirm the word meaning. There are dictionaries available online.


Word Root Practice

Below is a chart with Latin roots for words from the article you read yesterday. (Note: some words have two roots.) Skim the article and locate the word with each root(s) and write it in the chart. Then write another word that uses the same root(s). (Hint: try adding a different suffix or prefix to the root.)

Words with Latin Roots

Root

Meaning

Example from Article

Another Example

-mons-

mountains

-domus-

home or house

-com- and –putare-

with; reckon (think)

-calculare-

reckon (think)

-volcan-

fire; from the Roman god of fire named Vulcan

-populus-

the people

-creare-

to create

-cultus-

to till

-temperatus-

temperate (moderate, mild)

-dis- and –stare-

apart; to stand

-pro- and –tegere-

before; to cover


Writing Activity

Choose five (5) of the words you wrote in the last column (Another Example) of the chart above and use each one correctly in a sentence of your own. Remember to use correct punctuation and capitalization. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Words from other languages such as Italian or Spanish can also have words with similar roots. For example, there is a word in the article you read yesterday that is from the Spanish language but has the Latin root below. Find the word and write it in the chart.

Root

Meaning

Example from Article

-man-

hand

What is the meaning of this word in the article?


In the chart below are some other common Latin roots. Think of a word that adds prefixes or suffixes to the root to put in the chart. Write what the word means.

Root

Meaning

Example Word

Meaning of the Example Word

-port-

to carry

-spec-

to see

-act-

to do

-ped-

foot

-cred-

to believe

-aud-

to hear

Now write each of your example words in a sentence below. Remember to use correct punctuation and capitalization. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.


Session 3 - Phonics/Decoding and Writing Words that have the /s/ sound spelled with -c-.

When reading, you will come across words that contain the /s/ sound spelled with the letter -c-.

• Remember that the letter -c- usually has the /s/ sound when it is followed by the letters -e- or -i- as in the words cent and cider.

Read the words below:

decide cereal glacier percent All four words have the /s/ sound. Circle the letter -e- or -i- that follows the letter -c-. Why is it important to remember the spelling pattern for the /s/ sound? When you read and see a word you don’t know, look at the word parts. If it has ce or ci, pronounce it as /s/. Pronounce the word. Does it sound like a word you know? Does it make sense in the sentence? When you write a word with the /s/ sound, it could have one of these spelling patterns. /s/ Sound Spelled with -c- Practice There are 8 words in the article Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? that have the /s/ sound spelled with the letter -c-. Reread the story and find the 8 words and write them in the correct column in the chart below. You may use a form of word only once. (For example you could not use both glacier and glaciers.)

ce

ci


Writing Activity The Archaic people that you read about did not have a written language. Yet Indian people throughout North America created rock art in prehistoric times. Rock art is found in caves, on cliff walls or on boulders. It is not a true writing system which can be “read” like Egyptian hieroglyphics or an alphabet. Its meaning is not known to us today. Whether there is a message in the designs or not, it was a way in which ancient people expressed themselves, just as we express ourselves through writing and artwork today. Below are some examples of rock art symbols.


Courtesy: Intrigue of the Past: Project Archaeology Imagine that you are living during the Archaic period in Arizona. Think about what your lifestyle would be like from what you read in the article. Sketch a rock art drawing for an important event in your life. If you have a piece of brown paper or a brown paper sack, use a black crayon or marker and make your drawing on that. If not, use your pencil and the space on this page. It will work just as well! When you are finished, share your drawing with a family member. Explain to them what important event from the Archaic period in Arizona is shown in your rock art.


Session 4 – Grammar and Writing Subject and Verb Agreement

Good writers use the correct subject and verb agreement in their writing. That means they use verbs that agree with the subjects of the sentences. As you know, verbs have forms that help tell when the action happens. Present tense

• Shows action that happens now. • Add –s or –es to most verbs if the subject is singular. • Do not add –s or –es if the subject is plural, or with the words I or you. • Example: She walks down the street.

Present participle • Shows action that happens now. • Always use with a helping verb. • Example: She is walking down the street.

Past tense • Shows action that has already happened. • Add –ed to most verbs to show the past tense. • Example: She walked down the street.

Past participle • Shows action that has already happened. • Always use with a helping verb. • Example: She has walked down the street.

Future tense • Shows action that is going to happen. • Use the helping verb will or shall with the main verb. • Example: She will walk down the street.

Some verbs are irregular and do not follow the usual rules for forming the past tense of the verb (Example: do, did). A dictionary is a good tool to use to check for correct usage of irregular verbs. Dictionaries are available online.

These are rules to use to be sure your writing has subject-verb agreement: • A present tense verb and its subject must agree in number. • Add –s or –es to a verb if the subject is singular. • Do not add –s or –es if the subject is plural or with the words I or you.

Read the sentence below. The subject is underlined and the verb is in bold. MariaIn this sentence, the verb sings ends in –s because it is used with a singular subject (Maria).

sings in the school chorus.

Now read this sentence. The subject is underlined and the verb is in bold. The studentsIn this sentence, the verb write does not ends in –s because it is used with a plural subject (students).

write their stories.

Lastly, read this sentence. The subject is underlined and the verb is in bold. You read the newspaper every day.


In this sentence, the verb read does not ends in –s because it is used with the word You. Subject and Verb Agreement Practice The verb in the sentences below must agree with the subject. Use the present tense form of a verb from the box and make it agree with its subject. Use the rules for subject-verb agreement listed above.

tell read write enjoy create 1. My class ___________________ about the Archaic people in Arizona. 2. I ___________________ learning about the history of Arizona. 3. Jose and Jeff ______________________ a report on hunter-gatherers. 4. We ____________________ drawings of rock art symbols. 5. Our teacher _______________ us about their way of life. Rewrite the following sentences, correcting the subject-verb agreement. 1. Laura practice the piano for one hour every day. 2. To prepare the cake mix, Mom add 1 egg to the batter. 3. I writes a letter to my grandmother every week. 4. At the end of the year, the school hold a musical play. 5. The boys on the team cheers for the other players.


Writing Activity

In Session 3 you learned how Indian people throughout North America created rock art in prehistoric times. It was a way they may have recorded important events. They also would have shared other news by word of mouth. Today we use newspapers and other forms of media to share important events. Think about the events that make the news headlines today. What events would have made the headlines in the past? We know that newspapers did not exist during the Archaic period, but there were newsworthy events happening at that time. Their way of life, the origins of corn, and the invention of farming are all interesting stories that would have made the news. Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter during the Archaic period. Choose an event and report on it for your newspaper. Reread the article from Session 1 to find a good subject for your article. Use a newspaper format to present your information. 1. Remember that news writers summarize the most important information first and then give

details. 2. Also remember your article must answer these questions about the event:

• Who or what your article is about? • What happened? • When the event happened? • Where the event happened? • Why the event happened or why it is important? • How the event happened?

3. Plan your article in the chart below and write a draft article on the next page.

Who: What: When: Where: Why: How:


Draft of Article


Session 5– Reading Comprehension and Writing

Vocabulary: Please review these words before you read the passage on Ancient Arizonans. diet – what people and living organisms eat nutrition – food and nourishment Paleo-Indians (Pay-lee-oh) – early people extinct – no longer existing or active, gone out agave – a plant, such as the century plant, that has tall, branched clusters of flowers and leaves with spiny edges Hohokam – a prehistoric Indian group that lived in the deserts of what is now the Southwestern United States drought – a long period of time when it doesn’t rain


Shopping in Nature’s Supermarket: The Diet and Nutrition of Ancient Arizonans

By Joseph A. Ezzo

Mammoth Hunting

Ten thousand years ago life was very different. The people of Arizona had only wild plants or animals for food. They didn’t have supermarkets like we have today, gardens to grow fruits and vegetables, or domestic animals. How did early people in Arizona find food?

The early people of Arizona, called the Paleo-Indians, hunted big game animals such as the mammoths and huge bison for food. The mammoths they hunted were even bigger and had much larger tusks than elephants you see in zoos today. You can probably imagine that hunting them was very dangerous and difficult.

One mammoth could feed several people for a long time. However, there were no refrigerators in which to put leftovers. There were also a lot of meat-eating animals around who would want to share your mammoth with you. Many of these meat-eating animals were not very friendly. Imagine ordering a hamburger at a restaurant and having a big, hungry wolf come up and want you to share it with him!

The Paleo-Indians didn’t kill mammoths every day. They didn’t even get a mammoth every week or even once a month. What do you think they ate in between mammoth kills?

Archaeologists don’t find much evidence of what the Paleo-Indians did when they weren’t hunting mammoths. We think that they collected berries, nuts, roots, and leaves of plants. We think they hunted smaller animals, too. Changing Food Habits

Mammoths became extinct when the climate of North America was becoming drier and warmer. This climate change began around 10,000 years ago.

The Paleo-Indians were the ancestors of the Archaic people. The Archaic people had to learn how to hunt smaller animals, such as deer, bighorn sheep, Pronghorn antelope, rabbit,


and squirrels. These people still had to spend a lot of time searching for food. When the climate became warmer, there were many new types of plants available providing them with fruits, nuts, vegetables, and leafy greens.

In order to survive, the Archaic people had to know a lot about the world around them. They had to know where to find bushes with ripe berries or nuts. They had to know about finding a cactus with ripe fruit. They had to know at what time of the year the fruit, nuts, and berries ripened. They also had to know which types of grass seeds they could eat and where to find those grasses. Could you go out in the woods or the desert and tell which plants you could eat and which ones you could not?

Like their Paleo-Indian ancestors, the Archaic people hunted for food, too. They learned about and understood how different animals behaved. This knowledge helped them hunt animals successfully.

A typical supper for Archaic people might have included roasted agave hearts, boiled yucca blossoms, Palo Verde seed pods, Tansy mustard seeds, and amaranth greens. They might stew a rabbit or roast deer meat. Many of these foods are still being eaten by people in Arizona. In fact, doctors have discovered that these ancient foods are better for us than “modern” foods like hamburgers, pizza, French fries, and soda pop.

Farming

Around 2,000 years ago, the people of Arizona learned to grow and harvest plants. The domestic plants they grew included corn, beans, and squash. They also used wild plants that grew along with their crops: we call some of those plants weed today. In the southern deserts, the Hohokam grew agave in addition to their other foods of corn, beans, and squash.

Once they grew their own crops, the people did not have to depend as much on collecting wild plants and hunting animals. They still used many wild plants and animals, but no longer did they have to depend only on them to survive.


Nutrition and Health

Take a minute and think about all the different kinds of food available in the supermarket. How many different foods do you eat in just one day? Do you know the five basic food groups to help you have good nutrition and health? Foods are grouped into five major Food Groups: (1) grains, (2) vegetables, (3) fruits, (4) milk, and (5) meat and beans* (Based on the 2005 USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion Pyramid). What we eat is called our diet.

The more farming the ancient farmers of Arizona did, the less they ate a variety of foods. The early farmers in Arizona had some nutritional and health problems because of what they ate (or didn’t eat). They were now eating fewer types of food than the earlier Archaic people did. Almost all the meals eaten by Arizona’s ancient farmers included corn and probably beans and squash.

The only animals they raised were turkeys and dogs. We don’t know if they ate dogs. They did not have cows, sheep, or pigs - those animals were brought into Arizona by the Spanish much later. Without cows, they had no milk or cheese - important sources of calcium and protein.

During some years, because of drought, their crops did not grow well. The people had little to eat. Their health suffered because of their diet. All people need protein from foods such as meat, milk, or eggs in our diets to grow big and strong. Corn by itself is not a good source of protein.

Corn does contain a lot of sugar. Sugar can get trapped in your teeth and cause tooth decay. That is why the dentist tells you to brush every day and not eat a lot of sweets. But the ancient Arizonans did not have dentists-so many of them suffered from tooth diseases and pain.

There are many vitamins and minerals we need in our diets. Corn, beans, and squash do not provide all of them. Iron and calcium are two minerals that were very hard for the prehistoric farmers to get in their diets. We get most of our iron from meat and vegetables such as spinach, eggplant and broccoli. The ancient farmers did not eat very much meat. Spinach, eggplant and broccoli were brought to Arizona by European people. Perhaps they had another source of iron, from amaranth green or other weedy plants. We get almost all of our calcium from milk, but the early farmers had no cows. Maybe the prehistoric farmers got calcium by sucking or scooping the marrow out of bones?

How do we know all these things about the diet and nutrition of the very early Arizonans? There are scientists who study animal bones and plant remains found at archaeological sites. Another important way to study diet and nutrition is by examining human skeletons. By carefully studying bones and teeth of these prehistoric people, we can find out many things about them. We can discover what kinds of disease they might have had, the kinds of foods they ate, and how old people were when they died.


One thing we have found out is that about half of prehistoric Arizonans died when they

were still children. Very few lived to be as old as some of your grandparents. Proper nutrition is very important for all of us, just as it was very important for ancient

Arizonans. Unlike us, however, these early people had no hospitals to go to when they were sick. They had no grocery stores or restaurants to go to when they were hungry. They had no vitamins to buy or doctors and dentists to help heal their problems from their diets. If you were an ancient Arizonan, what do you think you would have to learn about food to survive?


Check your understanding of the passage, Shopping in Nature’s Supermarket. You may look back at the story. Answer in complete sentences. 1. How did the diet of the Paleo-Indians differ from that of the people living in the Archaic

period? 2. What was one problem Paleo-Indians had to deal with after killing a mammoth? 3. List three items that might have been included in a typical supper for Archaic people. 4. What were the three main domestic plants grown and harvested by early farmers in the

Southwest? 5. True or False – Once the people of Arizona learned to grow their own crops, they no longer

had to collect any wild plants. Explain your answer.

6. Place the time period of three Indian groups discussed in the passage (Early farmers,

Archaic people, Paleo-Indians) correctly on the timeline below.

l l l l l l l l 12,000 B.C. 10,000 B.C. 8,000 B.C. 6,000 B.C. 4,000 B.C. 2,000 B.C. 0 A.D. 2,000


7. Below is a copy of the 2005 Food Guide Pyramid from the USDA. It suggests the amount from each food group that a person should eat.

Review the passage for foods that each early Arizona Indian group ate. List them under the correct column on the chart at the end of the Food Guide Pyramid on the next page.


GROUP GRAINS

6 oz. every day VEGETABLES 2½ cups every day

FRUITS 2 cups every day

MILK 3 cups every day

MEAT & BEANS 5½ oz. every day

Paleo- Indians

Archaic People

Early Farmers


8. Which of the three groups ate the most balanced diet? 9. Why would a group give up a way of life that was better (nutritionally) for them?

Writing Activity Revise, Proofread, and Publish – In Session 4 you created a draft of a newspaper story on an important event that occurred during the Archaic period. Today you will review your news story and put it into a final copy. Remember that you will use a newspaper format to present your information. That means your story should look like an article in a newspaper. It should have a headline. You may also want to add an illustration to your article to make it more interesting. Perhaps you learned some additional details from today’s passage that you want to include in your article. Also check for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. Did you remember to use correct subject-verb agreement? Make any changes and create your final news story in the space below.


Extensions Think of the resources available to Early Arizonans. Invent a game that could have been played using only the materials available to them during this time period. Share your game idea with family members. Keep a record of your diet for a few days and compare it to the USDA Food Guide. How does your diet compare? How does it compare to that of the prehistoric peoples of Arizona? Choose a food group from the pyramid. Do research in the library or the Internet for wild foods found in Arizona in that food group. What can happen if you don’t get enough foods from this group? Sources Why Did Hunter-Gatherers Become Farmers? By Kathleen Henderson Courtesy: Intrigue of the Past: Discovering Archaeology in Arizona. U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management. Intrigue of the Past: Discovering Archaeology in Arizona. A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth through Seventh Grades. U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management.

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