Paleo Indians

Sometimes known as the Clovis People, the Paleo Indians were the first tribe of people who would later be known as Native Americans, originally natives from Asia, who migrated to our continent near the end of the most recent Ice Age. The word Paleo comes from a Greek word "palaios," which means "ancient." Between ten and forty thousand years ago the Paleo Indians lived in the southwestern areas of what would become the United States along with the northern fringes of Mexico.

Not much is known about the Paleo Indians because they did not leave behind many records of their lives, or even their very existence. Their religious beliefs, language, ceremonies and celebrations, even the basics of their culture, have all been lost in the thousands of years since they lived. Their familial relationships, dances, and ways of mourning are also unknown. Sadly, the Paleo Indians have been extinct for approximately 9,000 years, so only archaeological digs can give us any clues about their way of life.

Current beliefs about the Paleo Indians are that they were nomadic, just like their ancestors, and were generally hunter-gatherers who found shelter inside of caves and camped depending on where the bison and mammoths they hunted were. The tribes of the Paleo Indians are believed to have been about twenty to fifty people in size, and due to their nomadic nature they probably would have carried everything they owned on their backs. Since this means they would travel lightly, the Paleo Indians did not have many hard, heavy artifacts that would have survived all this time like many other ancient civilizations, though they are credited with having invented the first spears with stone heads.