The Ice Age Transition, Climate Change, and Native Americans in Pennsylvania continues our understanding of ecological perspective by exploring the ecology and culture of the first Pennsylvanians. Lessons span an extended length of prehistoric time and assume a global- to-local approach in scale in order to provide a “big picture” context.
Unit 2 begins with lessons on the concept of time, the use and application of timelines, and the interdisciplinary qualities of cultural ecology. You’ll learn what it means to be a human, and you’ll follow paths that humans took into the Americas and, eventually, Pennsylvania. You’ll also investigate changes in Pennsylvania’s climate and vegetation during the last ice age, before and after humans appeared.
Student Goals and Expectations
Students will:
- learn how two physically separated continents and their vastly different cultures were connected by evolving technology
- understand how living organisms introduced from one part of the world into another can disrupt life human, plant, and animal in their new habitats
- learn why geography and natural resources influenced the European settlement of eastern Pennsylvania
- learn how to develop graphic models that interpret the growth and impacts of different cultural groups, and how these groups gain and maintain sustainability through interactions with the environment and other people
Includes:
- Electronic, Interactive Textbook (PDF)
- Interactive Visual Timeline
- Unit Overview Video
Contents:
3 Curriculum Introduction
7 Unit 2 Introduction
8 Lesson 1: Time, timelines, and the meaning of cultural ecology
8 Lesson 1.1: What is time?
9 Lesson 1.2: What is a time scale?
11 Lesson 1.3: Carbon-14 dating
14 Lesson 1.4: The ecological timeline
15 Lesson 1.5: What is cultural ecology?
18 Lesson 1, Activity 1: Developing an ecological timeline
24 Lesson 2: The first Americans and Pennsylvanians: How and when did they arrive?
24 Lesson 2.1: The first modern humans
30 Lesson 2.2: Into the Americas
35 Lesson 2.3: Traveling across North America
39 Lesson 2.4: Arrival in Pennsylvania
42 Lesson 2, Activity 1: Walking and energy use
48 Lesson 2, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
50 Lesson 3: The Late Pleistocene climate and landscape in Pennsylvania
50 Lesson 3.1: Climate proxies: windows to climates past
55 Lesson 3.2: The present is the key to the past
58 Lesson 3.3: Pennsylvania’s changing climate and vegetation during the Pleistocene Epoch
61 Lesson 3.4: Ecological succession and the adaptive cycle model
65 Lesson 3.5: The large-scale adaptive cycle of glacial/interglacial periods
69 Lesson 3.6: What is a panarchy?
72 Lesson 3, Activity 1: Pollen indicators – climate proxies
76 Lesson 3, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
78 Lesson 4: The Late Pleistocene: Paleo-Indian lifestyles and the human ecosystem
78 Lesson 4.1: Follow the food
82 Lesson 4.2: Lifestyles of Paleo-Indians in Pennsylvania
94 Lesson 4.3: The human ecosystem
100 Lesson 4, Activity 1: Artifact analysis
104 Lesson 4, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
106 Lesson 5: A megafaunal extinction in Pennsylvania
106 Lesson 5.1: What are megafauna? When did a megafaunal extinction occur?
110 Lesson 5.2: Humans, climate, global megafaunal extinctions, and the Pennsylvania landscape
115 Lesson 5.3: Mammoths, mastodons, and megacarnivores
121 Lesson 5.4: Solving the mystery: An extinction scenario from an ecological perspective
131 Lesson 5, Activity 1: Modern megafauna case studies and research presentation
133 Lesson 5, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
134 Unit 2, Timeline 1: Late Pleistocene Epoch/The Paleo-Indian Cultural Period
136 Lesson 6: The Archaic and Transitional cultural periods
136 Lesson 6.1: The early Archaic Period (11,700 to 10,200 years ago)
138 Lesson 6.2: The Middle Archaic (10,200 to 6,850 years ago)
142 Lesson 6.3: The Late Archaic (6,850 to 4,850 years ago)
147 Lesson 6.4: The Transitional Period (4,850 to 2,800 years ago)
156 Lesson 6, Activity 1: Flotation
157 Lesson 6, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
160 Lesson 7: Woodland Period Part 1: Early and Middle Woodland Period (2,800 to 1,000 years ago)
160 Lesson 7.1: A Woodland Period overview
168 Lesson 7.2: Early Woodland (2,800 to 2,100 years ago) and Middle Woodland (2,100 to 1,000 years ago) periods
182 Lesson 7.3: Migrations of Early and Middle Woodland cultures in the Northeast region
188 Lesson 7, Activity 1: Making a replica pot
190 Lesson 7, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
192 Lesson 8: The Woodland Period Part 2 – Late Woodland Period (1,000 to 400 years ago)
192 Lesson 8.1: The practice of agriculture
203 Lesson 8.2: The Lenape
218 Unit 2, Timeline 2: Holocene Epoch/The Archaic, Transitional, and Woodland Cultural Periods
220 Lesson 8, Activity 1: Assessment
221 Lesson 8, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
223 Index
225 Glossary
243 Principal Sources
7 Unit 2 Introduction
8 Lesson 1: Time, timelines, and the meaning of cultural ecology
8 Lesson 1.1: What is time?
9 Lesson 1.2: What is a time scale?
11 Lesson 1.3: Carbon-14 dating
14 Lesson 1.4: The ecological timeline
15 Lesson 1.5: What is cultural ecology?
18 Lesson 1, Activity 1: Developing an ecological timeline
24 Lesson 2: The first Americans and Pennsylvanians: How and when did they arrive?
24 Lesson 2.1: The first modern humans
30 Lesson 2.2: Into the Americas
35 Lesson 2.3: Traveling across North America
39 Lesson 2.4: Arrival in Pennsylvania
42 Lesson 2, Activity 1: Walking and energy use
48 Lesson 2, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
50 Lesson 3: The Late Pleistocene climate and landscape in Pennsylvania
50 Lesson 3.1: Climate proxies: windows to climates past
55 Lesson 3.2: The present is the key to the past
58 Lesson 3.3: Pennsylvania’s changing climate and vegetation during the Pleistocene Epoch
61 Lesson 3.4: Ecological succession and the adaptive cycle model
65 Lesson 3.5: The large-scale adaptive cycle of glacial/interglacial periods
69 Lesson 3.6: What is a panarchy?
72 Lesson 3, Activity 1: Pollen indicators – climate proxies
76 Lesson 3, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
78 Lesson 4: The Late Pleistocene: Paleo-Indian lifestyles and the human ecosystem
78 Lesson 4.1: Follow the food
82 Lesson 4.2: Lifestyles of Paleo-Indians in Pennsylvania
94 Lesson 4.3: The human ecosystem
100 Lesson 4, Activity 1: Artifact analysis
104 Lesson 4, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
106 Lesson 5: A megafaunal extinction in Pennsylvania
106 Lesson 5.1: What are megafauna? When did a megafaunal extinction occur?
110 Lesson 5.2: Humans, climate, global megafaunal extinctions, and the Pennsylvania landscape
115 Lesson 5.3: Mammoths, mastodons, and megacarnivores
121 Lesson 5.4: Solving the mystery: An extinction scenario from an ecological perspective
131 Lesson 5, Activity 1: Modern megafauna case studies and research presentation
133 Lesson 5, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
134 Unit 2, Timeline 1: Late Pleistocene Epoch/The Paleo-Indian Cultural Period
136 Lesson 6: The Archaic and Transitional cultural periods
136 Lesson 6.1: The early Archaic Period (11,700 to 10,200 years ago)
138 Lesson 6.2: The Middle Archaic (10,200 to 6,850 years ago)
142 Lesson 6.3: The Late Archaic (6,850 to 4,850 years ago)
147 Lesson 6.4: The Transitional Period (4,850 to 2,800 years ago)
156 Lesson 6, Activity 1: Flotation
157 Lesson 6, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
160 Lesson 7: Woodland Period Part 1: Early and Middle Woodland Period (2,800 to 1,000 years ago)
160 Lesson 7.1: A Woodland Period overview
168 Lesson 7.2: Early Woodland (2,800 to 2,100 years ago) and Middle Woodland (2,100 to 1,000 years ago) periods
182 Lesson 7.3: Migrations of Early and Middle Woodland cultures in the Northeast region
188 Lesson 7, Activity 1: Making a replica pot
190 Lesson 7, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
192 Lesson 8: The Woodland Period Part 2 – Late Woodland Period (1,000 to 400 years ago)
192 Lesson 8.1: The practice of agriculture
203 Lesson 8.2: The Lenape
218 Unit 2, Timeline 2: Holocene Epoch/The Archaic, Transitional, and Woodland Cultural Periods
220 Lesson 8, Activity 1: Assessment
221 Lesson 8, Activity 2: Ecological timeline plots
223 Index
225 Glossary
243 Principal Sources
