In what ways did early native American societies leave their mark upon the landscape?

Answer 1

Although it is difficult to comprehend looking through modern eyes, all native American cultures prior to contact with white Europeans were essentially Neolithic. This did notmean that everything was made out of stone - it simply meant that everything that was needed was sourced from whatever was available locally. Therefore, people living in dense woodland areas were entirely dependent on the animals and plants living in that environment, while desert-dwellers had a much harsher climate, fewer types of foodstuffs and very little wood for construction.

Similarly, dense woodlands with no easy land routes made travel very difficult on foot - but the many lakes and waterways in the eastern and north-eastern parts of North America made travel by canoe and obvious solution.

This is simple logic; if you have access to millions of trees, then making longhouses or wigwams of tree saplings and covering them with bark sheets was an obvious solution to the housing need. Desert or Plains people had no such resource and had to come up with alternatives, based on what was available locally or nearby.

In South America, the rainforest environment presented its own problems - and its own set of resources for solving those problems.

Answer 2

These societies excelled at trade and at building massive earthen mounds as tomb aand as platforms for temples and other building...