Paleo-Indian (11000 B.C. – 9000 B.C.)

• Crossed Bering Straight from Asia into what is now Alaska
• No Chesapeake Bay at this time
• Paleo-Indian was a master at making tools 
• Over 100 fluted projectile points (spear points) made from chert (stone) have been found in Maryland
• Other tools included hammerstones, knives and scrapers
• Hunted mammoth, bison and caribou
• Also fished for food
• Gathered wild berries, seeds, roots and bird eggs for food
• Clothing made out of animal hides
• Semi-nomadic culture as they had to follow the animals for food

 Archaic (8000 B.C. – 1000 B.C.)

• Wisconsin glacier melted eventually forming the Chesapeake Bay
• Trees started growing, creating forests and providing new foods like acorns and nuts
• Forests created shelter for small animals like rabbits, squirrels and deer
• Spear points were smaller because Archaic people were hunting smaller animals
• New tools included axes, gouges and drills
• Began gathering and eating oysters and other shellfish
• Archaic hunters stayed in one place longer, settling into small family groups called bands
• Built fiswiers to catch many fish at one time
• Used mortars and pestles to grind food

Woodland (1000 B.C – 1600 A.D.)

• Learned to use clay to make pottery
• Learned to plant seeds and grow crops adding corn and beans to their diet
• Projectile points (arrowheads) were smaller
• Discovered smoking, making their pipes out of clay or stone
• Evidence that tribes traded and communicated with other tribes in other states like Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
• Adena people (from Ohio) visited Maryland for awhile bringing tools, beads and pendants made from stone  
• Lived in larger groups than the Archaic hunters and gatherers
• In Late Woodland sites people lived in villages of about 10 - 30 houses with a central plaza
• Late Woodland also developed a new way of hunting - with bow and arrow
• Beads, bones and shells were used in necklaces or to decorate clothing