2nd millennium BC in North American history

3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC

The 2nd millennium BC in North American history provides a timeline of events occurring within the North American continent from 2000 BC through 1001 BC in the Gregorian calendar. This time period (from 2000 BC–1001 BC) is known as the Late Archaic. Although this timeline segment may include some European or other world events that profoundly influenced later American life, it focuses on developments within Native American communities. The archaeological records supplements indigenous recorded and oral history.

Because of the inaccuracies inherent in radiocarbon dating and in interpreting other elements of the archaeological record, most dates in this timeline represent approximations that may vary a century or more from source to source. The assumptions implicit in archaeological dating methods also may yield a general bias in the dating in this timeline.

List of events

• 2000-1000 BC: Poverty Point culture in northeastern Louisiana features stone work, flintknapping, earthenware, and effigy, conical, and platform mounds, as well as pre-planned settlements on concentric earthen ridges

• 1500 BC: Salishan speakers arrive in Northwestern Plateau region.

• 1500 BC: Natives of the eastern woodlands begin making pottery, a practice originated in Mesoamerica.

• 1500 BC–1000 AD: Intermediate Horizon (or Campbell Tradition) emerged among Indigenous peoples of California

• Shell ornaments and copper items at Indian Knoll, Kentucky evidence an extensive trade system over several millennia.

• 1001 BC: Athapaskan-speaking natives arrive in Alaska and western Canada, possibly from Siberia.

• 1001 BC: Pottery making widespread in the Eastern woodlands.

See also

• Archaic period in the Americas
• List of archaeological periods (North America)