there was a lot of history prior to the 1700's. As Vernon said, the vast majority of native Americans lived a very "low environmental impact" lifestyle. About the only remaining evidence of their inhabitance is stone artifacts.
I live in the midwest. In our area it is a relatively simple process to find "points" (arrowheads). The key is permanent water, say, a river for example. The first step is to figure out the floodplain. The Indians were way too smart to build their villages where it might flood (unlike the idiots who built New Orleans below sea level). By searching the area slightly above the floodplain it is fairly easy to find artifacts. The worst problem at this point is to find bare ground. The best situation is to hunt plowed fields after it has rained several times.
I have been lucky enough to identify several villages or campsites. Also, a very few times, I've found where the flint knapper actually sat making points. There will be shards of flint and gobs of tiny flakes left from the process. You'll also usually find unfinished rejects and pieces that broke in the final stages. (I've often wondered if Indians had cuss words suitable for such occasions?????)
Anyone who searches for artifacts will soon realize that there were far more points made than they could have ever hope to use in hunting. The Indians used points as a medium of exchange, much as we use money. Likewise, there was extensive trade in flint and other premium point material. Our local flint is pretty poor for point making. Most points from local flint will be very old. I've found some that likely date back as far as 10,000 years. The majority of points I've found are from flint that came from elsewhere and are much newer. Settlers first came into our area in about 1830 - 1840 and recorded that there were many Indian villages in our area. There were large villages just a few miles from my home and a trading post stood there for about 50 years.
One more point about points - most of what people call arrowheads are actually spear points or knife points. Actual arrowheads were quite small. I mean, think about it. How far would an arrow go with a 1/4 lb. rock tied to it.
There were a very few exceptions to the "low impact" native Americans. Probably the most notable was the Mississippian culture, more commonly known as the "mound builders". As one might gather, they flourished along the Mississippi river, but branched out to the east from there. They left earthworks from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf. The largest site is across the river from St. Louis in Illinois, called the Cahokia Mounds. These was a city here with an estimated population of 20,000 to 25,000. Here's a picture of what's left of the largest mound.
[attachment 142410 aaaaa.jpg]
Believe me, it is FAR more impressive when viewed from ground level.
And, here's an artist's rendering of what the entire area looked like.
[attachment 142411 Cahokia-TownsendMural.jpg]
The mound builders left their work in literally thousands of sites. Often the smaller mounds blend in to the landscape and are unrocognized. There are several sites with earthworks in the shape of animals. Some aren't apparent until viewed from the air. It's a pretty safe bet that anyone living in the eastern half of the US has documented mound builder's sites within a couple hundred miles. Anyone interested can find lots of info on the internet.
In addition to the mound builders there were some pretty highly organized cultures in the southwest states. Most notable was the Anasazi. They developed a pretty amazing civilization in the desert country.
Hope this answered some of your questions and is of interest to others.
Bob in (cold, wet, dreary) MIZZU
