10,000-3000 BC Archaic

During the period 9000-2000 BC people in this region changed from a nomadic existence to a more settled life, and from being hunters and gatherers to farmers. This took place very slowly over thousands of years at different times and regions of Mexico, Central America and the West Indies.

By 6000 BC there were more permanent settlements in places such as the Valley of Mexico where people exploited the variety of forest resources, wild grasses, fruits, fish, reptiles and animals. Other settlements specialised, such as coastal communities in Chiapas, Mexico who fished and collected shellfish. This period saw new tools of ground stone used for clearing land and preparing seeds.

People were farming domesticated plants by 5000 BC including maize, avocado, bottle gourds for containers and later chilli peppers, and cotton for textiles. The root, manioc, originally from South America was also an important food crop in southern Central America and the West Indies. Around 5000 BC the first humans migrated either from Belize or the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula to the Greater Antilles in the West Indies.

They were nomadic hunters, gatherers and collectors of shellfish. A second migration to the West Indies about 400 BC brought farmers from South America.