Tennessee

The first inhabitants of Tennessee were Paleo-Indians who arrived about 12,000 years ago at the
end of the Last Glacial Period. Archaeological excavations indicate that the lower Tennessee Valley
was heavily populated by Ice Age hunter-gatherers, and Middle Tennessee is believed to have been
rich with game animals such as mastodons.[23] The names of the cultural groups who inhabited the
area before European contact are unknown, but archaeologists have named several distinct cultural
phases, including the Archaic (8000–1000 BC), Woodland (1000 BC–1000 AD),
and Mississippian (1000–1600 AD) periods.[24]The Archaic peoples first domesticated dogs, and
plants such as squash, corn, gourds, and sunflowers were first grown in Tennessee during the
Woodland period.[25] Later generations of Woodland peoples constructed the first mounds. Rapid
civilizational development occurred during the Mississippian period, when Indigenous peoples
developed organized chiefdomsand constructed numerous ceremonial structures throughout the
state.[26]