6th Millennium BCE in North American History

The 6th millennium BCE in North American history provides a timeline of events occurring within the North American continent from 6000 years ago through 5001 BCE in the Gregorian calendar. This time period (from 6000–3000 BCE) is known as the Middle 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.

• 6000 BCE: Ancestors of Penutian-speaking peoples settle in the Northwestern Plateau.

• 6000 BCE: Nomadic hunting bands roam Subarctic Alaska following herds of caribou and other game animals.

• 6000 BCE: Aleuts begin to arrive in the Aleutian Islands.

• 5700 BCE: Cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama in Oregon.

• 5500 BCE–500 CE Oshara Tradition, a Southwestern Archaic Tradition, arises in north-central New Mexico, the San Juan Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, southern Colorado, and southeastern Utah.

• Natives of the Northwestern Plateau begin to rely on salmon runs.

• 5001 BCE: Early cultivation of food crops began in Mesoamerica.

• 5001 BCE: Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to California develop a fishing economy, with salmon as a staple.

• 5001 BCE: The Old Copper Culture of the Great Lakes area hammers the metal into various tools and ornaments, such as knives, axes, awls, bracelets, rings, and pendants.