US History: History In The Making

The history of the country that will eventually come to be called the
United States begins long before the birth of the nation. Native Americans
first inhabited the North American continent some 14,000 years ago, if
not earlier. This earliest era is known as the Paleo-Indian era; it is closely
identified with one of the most famous archaeological artifacts in the
Americas, the Clovis point, which was used to hunt megafauna, the giant
animals of the Pleistocene era, such as mammoth or mastodon. The eras
following, the Archaic and Woodland, were marked by the development of
plant domestication and incipient agriculture, one of the most important
developments in human history. Two of the earliest centers for plant
domestication were in Mesoamerica and the modern-day Southeastern
United States. Finally, the period just before European contact is
characterized by the development of many rich and diverse cultures. In the
region that was to become the United States, there were some 500 groups,
each with its own language, culture, and religion.