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 C.M.S., I.C.M. (Her other name)


3rd Grade

                At approximately 3650 BCE, the people that lived in the region that is now called New Mexico and Mexico invented the food now known as popcorn because they had already domesticated corn. Most of the early civilizations here in North America were or started in Mexico. Some of those people lived in an area called Tehuacan Valley which is near modern day Mexico city,  most of the food that they ate before  5000 BCE they ate with chili peppers. Because the people of North America were simple it starts to show why they were some of last indigenous people to form civilizations.

            By 3000 BCE the people of Tehuacan Valley had not yet domesticated goats, sheep, or cattle. This is simply because they did not have them or know they existed. What they did possess were dogs, llamas, and turkeys. Also the bison, moose, and antelopes that are common in other regions of the world were not found here because they had not migrated to Mexico yet. In the winter the people of Tehuacan Valley hunted the deer that they found and in the summer they hunted the jackrabbits instead of the deer that they hunt in the winter.

          A culture that is also in Mexico is called the Olmec culture.  TheOlmecs are the earliest American civilization. The Olmecs are located around San Lorenzo. The Olmec culture is significant from other cultures and tribes that existed at the time, because they actually had their own religion, unlike most of the tribes that existed and they had their own name which was the “Olmecs”.  Olmec means “rubber people”. This is because the Olmecs often extracted latex from rubber trees. The Olmecs believed that every human had their own personal animal spirit inside of them. They also had lots of gods such as the God of Fire, the God of Rain, the God of Corn, and a god in the form of a serpent spirit. The Olmecs did complex pottery and highly worshiped jaguars.  

            

 In Blackwater Draw, an old hunters location from 3000 BCE (a place in New Mexico) a culture was recently discovered. The culture is called the Clovis culture named after the modern day Town called Clovis. The people of the Clovis culture’s spears are very distinct from other shapes of spears because of their shape which is called fluted. This is because there is a channel in the middle of the point. The sears were  made out of handsomely colored chert Jasper, Agate, and Chalcedony.

These spears were made to hunt bison. Blackwater Draw is very near water so all the surrounding animals come there to drink water. This was very good for the Clovis people, because they had better hunting with the animals there. The town Clovis has shared its own name with the people of the Clovis culture and the spears that the people used  that were called Clovis points.

              The people of Tehuacan Valley’s shelters were different depending on which season. In the winter and the rainy season they lived in side of caves. However in the rest of the year they lived outside. It was okay for the people of Tehuacan Valley spend their time outside when the weather was pleasant but any foul weather and they are in a cozy cave.

                  From before 5000 BCE The people of Tehuacan Valley ate wild plants such as corn and amaranth which the picked by hand with chili peppers. In a little while they had fully domesticated corn. And then in a little while corn started to became 10% of their full diet. Soon they started growing squash and grinding seeds for food. And the Olmecs ate cacao and avocado as some of the main food in their diet. The Olmecs also ate such asfish, turtles, snakes, mollusks, and shellfish. If considered food the Olmecs used and ate sunflower, and sunflower seeds.

             The region of South U.S.A and Mexico, in 3000 B.C.E had tribes and cultures such as the Olmec culture, the Clovis culture, and the people of Tehuacan Valley. The Olmec culture had a religion.  They believed that everyone has an animal spirit. Tehuacan valley had not domesticated sheep goats and cattle by 3000 BCE. The people of Tehuacan valley lived in caves during the winter and in the summer they lived outdoors. Before 5000 BCE the people of Tehuacan valley ate wild plants with chili peppers. The people of the Clovis culture had distinct spear shapes that were made for hunting buffalos. The people of North America were some of the last people to form civilizations form the reason that the North Americans were so simple.