(Text that appears in red indicates basic characteristics of the various
culture periods. Text in blue denotes important additional details.)
Although there is increasing evidence that human occupation of the Mojave
Desert may have taken place much earlier, it is known that the Antelope
Valley has been inhabited for at least the past twelve to thirteen thousand
years. From the Early Prehistoric period to the present time, the Antelope
Valley has been home to many different groups of Native Americans.
Inhabitants of Antelope Valley who arrived as the Ice Age (Pleistocene
era) was ending are referred to by anthropologists as PaleoIndians.
These peoples were believed to have been hunters of
the large game animals (such as mammoths and mastodons)
that had become extinct by around 10,000 to 9,000 BCE. Few traces of
these groups remain, but scattered evidence
implies that their quests for food resources may have
required frequent or continuous moving over sizable distances.
Among these hunting people's weapons were spears
with large "fluted" flaked
stone projectile points such as the Clovis and Folsom points shown here.
The atlatl, a special spear-throwing device that greatly increased the
projectile's thrust and force, was of great strategic
importance during this period. Its use, in fact, continued over the next
several thousand
years.
To find related artifacts, SEARCH the collections
database. Antelope Valley Native American Peoples
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Settlers
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