Texas History
Fort Burrows
Native Texans - 1200 - 1800
2.1 - Prehistoric Cultures
READ pgs 28 – 31
Caddo
Kiowa
The Twelve Native American tribes of Texas: ( see map on page 27 )
Concho
Wichita
Karankawa
Tonkawa
Lipan Apache
Jumano
Tigua
Comanche
Atakapan
Coahuiltecan
Timeline:
2300 BC - Texas Indians begin living in villages
1000 AD - Texas Indians begin Farming
1200s – Jumanos build villages along the Rio Grande
1455 – Books printed in Europe
1492 – Christopher Columbus makes 1st voyage to America
1528 – Cabeza de Vaca ( our new daddy ), explores the Texas Gulf Coast
1542 – Spanish bring horses to Texas
1776 – United States of America declares Independence from Great Britain
1790 – Kiowas and Comanches become Allies
Main Idea:
The first people to live in Texas probably descended from people who migrated from Asia.
Vocabulary:
hunter-gatherers - People that survived by searching for wild plants and animals to eat
prehistory - the time before written records
artifacts - objects made by humans that show how they once lived
archaeologists - scientists who study and learn about past cultures from the artifacts
they find
pictographs - pictures drawn or painted on cave walls, ledges, and cliffs
petroglyphs – carvings made in rock
carbon dating - measuring the amount of carbon-14 in a former living object to
determine the age
DNA testing – DNA is a long narrow string-like object, full of cells, that governs
inheritance of eye color, hair color, bone density, etc, of human and animal
traits, and is unique to each individual
pemmican – ( PEM-i-kan) dried meat mixed with animal fat and berries
atlatl – ( at-lan-tic ) 2ft stick with a wooden hook to hold the spear’s shaft; a weapon
used to increase the thrower’s force
primary source – original document from a particular time in the past.
(Such as photographs, letters, newspaper articles, cartoons, posters, maps, political, documents)
Setting the Scene:
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Texas History
Fort Burrows
“ They talk quietly as they pick wild berries. The group of men, women, and children number fewer
than 20. They have been there only a few days. Like their parents and grandparents, they have spent
their lives wandering and living off the land. Because they are on foot, their only possessions are
what they can carry. They follow the seasons and the ripening of the wild plants they eat. One day,
people will call their descendants Indians. People will call this land Texas.”
The First People in the Americas
Scientists believe the first people arrived in North America from Asia. Freezing temperatures of the
Ice Age create huge glaciers. Ocean levels fell. Bering Strait becomes dry, forming a land bridge
from Asia to Alaska. Early Asian people cross the land bridge.

By A.D. 1400, Indians in East Texas and far West Texas lived in permanent villages and
farmed. Because they no longer had to travel so much in search of food, they had time to make
pottery and to develop ideas about society and religion
 On the dry plains of South Texas, people remained hunter-gatherers
 In the Panhandle and Central Texas, people hunted buffalo. They hunted on foot with bows and
arrows
European People settle in North America
 Christopher Columbus sailed into the Caribbean Sea in 1492
 He thought he was in the Indies, so he named the people ‘Indians’
 Today we, politically correctly, refer to them as Native Americans
Early Peoples in Texas
Indians of the Paleolithic Era
Indians of the Archaic Era
The Paleolithic Era lasted until about
The Archaic Era lasted from about 6000 B.C. to about
6000 B.C.
A.D. 700
The earliest Texans followed mammoths The Ice Age ended. The Indians’ way of life changed
into Texas They lived in small groups
Major buffalo-hunting cultures lived on the plains &
and traveled on foot. ( No horses until plateaus of the Panhandle and Central Texas and used
the Europeans brought them in 1542 )
bow & arrows
They hunted with spears tipped with
They lived in permanent settlements and grew crops
flint
To preserve meat, they created
They used atlatls, hand-held spear throwers, to hunt with
pemmican, a mixture of animal fat and
greater precision
berries
They had better tools, such as flint knives, scrapers, and
awls
Learning About the Prehistoric Past
Archaeologists have learned much about early Native American life by studying the ancient
campsites found throughout Texas. The tools, animal bones, and other objects they find provide clues
about how the people lived. A process called carbon dating helps archeologists determine the age of
the artifacts they find. Scientists also use DNA testing to study prehistoric people.
Lifestyles of Native Peoples
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Texas History
Fort Burrows
Group
ATAKAPAN
KARANKAWA
CADDOES
Environment
Near Galveston Bay:
San Jacinto River area,
marshy, swamp-land not
suitable for farming
Piney Woods:
fertile soil
Southern Coastal Plains:
COAHUILTECANS harsh environment
COMANCHES
KIOWAS &
LIPAN APACHES
Great Plains:
Grasslands where large
herds of buffalo roamed
JUMANOS
TIGUA
CONCHO
West Texas:
Dry region with little rain
TONKAWAS
WICHITA
1.
Originally – on Edwards
Plateau: grasslands
Later – farther East: not
much grass, few buffalo
North Central Plains, were
we live
Red River to Brazos River
(Waco area)
Way Of Life
Depends on hunting and gathering
Summer – lived on coast and fished
Winter – lived inland and hunted
Farmed to grow corn, beans, squash, &
sunflower seeds in land cleared out of the forest
Had permanent villages
Wore few clothes in summer,
warm buffalo hides in winter
Few large animals in area, so they hunted
smaller animals and gathered plant foods
Lived in homes that could be moved easily from
one camp to another
Hunted buffalo, which was their main food and
the source of their clothing
Had tipis – homes that could easily be moved
Grew beans, corn, & squash
and gathered wild plants
Lived in settled communities near rivers and
streams, which supplied water
Built homes of sun-dried mud bricks
Originally – lived by hunting buffalo
Later – hunted small animals and gathered
nuts, seeds, & fruit
For protection – they joined three tribes
together, Tawakonis, Wacos, & Wichita
Shorter, darker skin, tattoos around their eyes
Farmers – corn, pumpkin, squash, melons,
plum trees
Lived in tipis
What makes scientists believe that Asians were the first people to reach America ?
A. they found writings to support that theory
B. early Native American life closely resembled early Asian life
C. there was a “land bridge” between Asia and Alaska
D. they used carbon dating to support that theory
2.
How do we learn about prehistoric cultures ?
A. early clothing and furniture give scientists much information
B. Archaeologists study artifacts
C. the hunter-gatherers left written records
D. Archaeologists study weather patterns
3.
When did the first people arrive in Texas ?
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