When the glaciers last receded from the North American continent 20,000 years ago, I bet we'll soon learn that it was all the fault of those early Campfire Girls and their open fossil fuel cooking and nightlife.
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Even Al Gore's home state of Tennessee wasn't much of a haven for Native Americans until the area began to warm up.
About 12,000 years ago, the region's climate began to warm and the predominant vegetation changed from conifer to our modern deciduous forest. ... During what is known as the Archaic period, descendants of the Paleo-Indians began to settle on river terraces, where they gathered wild plant food and shellfish in addition to hunting game.Sometime between 3,000 and 900 B.C., natives took the crucial step of cultivating edible plants such as squash and gourds—the first glimmerings of agriculture. Archaic Indians thereby ensured a dependable food supply and freed themselves from seasonal shortages of wild plant foods and game. With a more secure food supply, populations expanded rapidly and scattered bands combined to form larger villages.
The next major stage of Tennessee pre-history, lasting almost 2,000 years, is known as the Woodland period. This era saw the introduction of pottery, the beginnings of settled farming communities, the construction of burial mounds and the growing stratification of Indian society....
The peak of prehistoric cultural development in Tennessee occurred during the Mississippian period (900-1,600 A.D.). Cultivation of new and improved strains of corn and beans fueled another large jump in population.