PRE COLUMBIAN CULTURES

PRE-COLUMBIAN CULTURES
The Incas, the Mayas and the Aztecs were not the only people who developed important cultures in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
I. The Chinchorro people were fishermen-hunters-gatherers (chinchorro means “small boat”) who lived along the coast of the Atacama Desert of northern-most Chile from about 5,000 BC to 500 BC. There were many ancient cultures of people who lived simply among the arid river valleys of the Andes, but the Chinchorro made themselves unique by their dedicated preservation of the dead. People of the Chinchorro culture developed elaborate methods of mummification. The Chinchorro would prepare their mummies by removing the internal organs and replacing them with vegetable fibers or animal hair. In some cases an embalmer would remove the skin and flesh form the dead body and replace them with clay.
II. The Nazca culture flourished in the Nazca region between 300 BC and 800 AD. Their astronomers created the famous Nazca Lines and built an impressive system of underground aqueducts that still function today. The Nazca Lines are the most attractive feature in this culture. These large geoglyphs, drawings on the earth’s surface, make no sense on the ground. We can recognize the features only from the air. There are several kinds of figures, such as fish, birds, monkeys, a whale, spiders and plants. These lines spread on the ground more than 1,300 km. Since these lines are on a flat surface and the climate in the area is extremely dry, nearly all geoglyphs remain completely intact.
III. The Native Americans were living in America long before the arrival of white man on American soil. When the Europeans came, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating the North American continent. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last ice-age, approximately 20,000-30,000 years ago through a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from north-eastern Siberia into Alaska. The name Indian was first applied to them by Christopher Columbus, who believed that the land he had discovered was India. The North American Indians were nomads who would hunt the buffalo for food and dress and would move around the land according to the weather.

Vocabulary

Pre-columbian
Arrival
Arid river valleys
Unique
Internal organs
Embalmer
Flesh
Clay
Flourish
Aqueducts
Feature
Spread
Flat
Surface
Intact
Soil
Ice-age
Land bridge
Bering sound
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Questionnaire

1. What kind of people were the Chinchorro?
2. What does “chinchorro” mean?
3. When and where did they live?
4. Why did the Chinchorro make themselves unique?
5. How did they prepare their mummies?
6. What did the embalmer do?
7. When and where did the Nazca culture live?
8. What did the astronomers create?
9. What kind of figures can we see?
10. Why are the lines and geoglyphs intact?
11. How long were the Native Americans living in America?
12. When did the first Native American arrive in America and how?
13. Who gave this name to them and why?
14. What kind of life did the Native Americans have?