Archaeological traditions have both a spatial and a temporal dimension and are largely defined on the basis of common subsistence practices, socio-politicial organization, and material industries. Most traditions encompass geographical areas of at least 100,000 square kilometers and exist for five centuries. Under the direction of Peter Peregrine, a Board of Advisors has compiled a list of the world's major traditions in the Outline of Archaeological Traditions (forthcoming).

Click to see the traditions included in a particular world area (first five years).

Eastern Arctic Small Tool
Years  BP: 4000-2700
Location: Eastern arctic regions of North America and Greenland.
Description: Early hunter-fishers of the eastern Arctic and Greenland.
OAT code: 1035
OWC code: N050

Proto-Athapaskans
Years  BP: 2000-150
Location: Central portions of contemporary Canadian provinces of Yukon and British Columbia and adjacent areas of central Alaska--the areas inhabited historically by Northern Athapaskans.
Description: Seasonally-sedentary hunter-gatherers of the western Sub-arctic.
OAT code: 1070
OWC code: ND50

Eastern North America Middle Archaic
Years  BP: 8000-6000
Location: Eastern Woodlands of the United States.
Description: Nomadic bands with a broad-spectrum hunting and gathering economy which included riverine resources and the extensive use of ground stone tools.
OAT code: 1080
OWC code: NN50

Late Southern California
Years  BP: 3000-150
Location: Coastal regions of southern California, from Santa Barbara to Baja.
Description: Hunter-gatherers living in large, sedentary communities.  Economy focused on marine resources including mammals, fish, and shellfish.  Long-distance exchange and complex political structures present.
OAT code: 1370
OWC code: NS50

Cascade
Years  BP: 8000-5000
Location: Plateau region of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in the United States.
Description: Semi-sedentary hunter-fisher-gatherers, with an economy focused on salmon during the Fall, and otherwise diverse.
OAT code: 1400
OWC code: NR50

Norton
Years  BP: 3000-1000
Location: Western arctic regions of North America.
Description: Semi-sedentary hunter-fishers.
OAT code: 1025
OWC code: NA50

Initial Shield Woodland
Years  BP: 3000-600
Location: The eastern sub-arctic region of North America.
Description: Seasonally nomadic hunter / gatherers with a diverse economy.
OAT code: 1050
OWC code: NC54

Late Tundra
Years  BP: 8000- 6000
Location: Aleutians, western and southwestern Alaska.
Description: Early nomadic hunter-gatherers of the western sub-arctic tundra.
OAT code: 1013
OWC code: NA45

Huatabampo
Years  BP: 900-500
Location: Northwestern Mexico (Sonora region).
Description: Sedentary or semi-sedentary horticulturalists of the coastal and desert regions of the Sonora region of northwestern Mexico.
OAT code: 1480
OWC code: NU75

Lowland Mesoamerican Archaic
Years  BP: 7000-3800
Location: Lowland Mesoamerica in Belize and Mexico.
Description: Semi-sedentary hunter / gatherers with some domesticated plants used seasonally. Reliance on domesticates increases during this tradition, as does sedentism.
OAT code: 1512
OWC code: NY50

Preclassic Maya
Years  BP: 3800-1850
Location: Lowland Mesoamerica in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.
Description: Sedentary horticulturalists living in villages and small cities. Political centralization increases during the period. Ranking and / or stratification is present.
OAT code: 1522
OWC code: NY52

Classic Maya
Years  BP: 2100-1100
Location: Lowland Mesoamerica in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Description: Localized but interacting states based on sophisticated lowland agriculture.
OAT code: 1550
OWC code: NY53

Postclassic Maya
Years  BP: 1100-400
Location: Lowland Mesoamerica in Honduras, Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.
Description: Small militaristic states.
OAT code: 1560
OWC code: NY54

West Mexico Postclassic
Years  BP: 1100-480
Location: Western Mexico.
Description: Small, militaristic regional states, many unified by the Tarascan empire.
OAT code: 1565
OWC code: NU76

Late Caribbean
Years  BP: 1000-500
Location: Coastal Colombia and Venezuela, islands of the West Indies.
Description: Sedentary horticulturalists and fishers living in politically centralized societies with ranking or stratification.
OAT code: 2045
OWC code: S051

Manteño
Years  BP: 1500-500
Location: Coastal Ecuador.
Description: Complex, centralized polities with large towns and large populations. Inter-polity interaction continuous. Stone architecture present including ceremonial buildings and palaces. Complex metallurgy is present.
OAT code: 2120
OWC code: SD50

Andean Regional Development
Years  BP: 2200-1300
Location: Andes region from Ecuador to northern Chile.
Description: Localized but interacting states with complex ideologies, symbol systems, and social forms.  Highly developed ceramics, metallurgy, and weaving.
OAT code: 2235
OWC code: S050

Aymara Kingdoms
Years  BP: 900-530
Location: Andes in southern Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile.
Description: Related and interacting sedentary agricultural kingdoms of the high Andes.
OAT code: 2270
OWC code: SF50

Early Northwest South American Littoral
Years  BP: 9000-5500
Location: Coastal regions of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama.
Description: Nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples with an economy focused on fish and shellfish. Lack chipped stone projectile points.
OAT code: 2030
OWC code: S060

Tiahuanaco
Years  BP: 1600-900
Location: Lake Titicaca region of highland Peru. Expands into western Bolivia and northern Chile by 1400 BP.
Description: A sedentary agricultural empire of the highland Andes.
OAT code: 2250
OWC code: SF45

Highland Andean Archaic
Years  BP: 3500-7000
Location: High Andes from Ecuador to northern Chile.
Description: The Early Archaic (7000 to 4500 B.P) is characterized by nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, but with domesticated llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs and some domesticated plants. This changes in the Late Archaic (to 3500 B.P.) to sedentary village dwellers, relying in part on domesticated plants and animals supplemented by seasonal exploitation of wild resources.
OAT code: 0000
OWC code: SE47

Highland Andean Formative
Years  BP: 2200-3500
Location: High Andes from Ecuador to northern Chile.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists with a reliance on maize and domesticated animals, living in large villages and ceremonial centers. Ranking or stratification is present, as is pottery manufacture and metallurgy.
OAT code: 2225
OWC code: SE48

Andean Regional States
Years  BP: 530-900
Location: Andes from Ecuador to northern Chile.
Description: Localized but interacting states with complex ideologies, symbol systems, and social forms. Highly developed ceramics, metallurgy, and weaving.
OAT code: 2260
OWC code: SE70

Huari
Years  BP: 900-1200
Location: Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Chile.
Description: A sedentary agricultural empire which expanded to encompass virtually all of the central and northern Andes.
OAT code: 2255
OWC code: SE65

Impressed Ware
Years  BP: 6800-6000
Location: Northern coast of the Mediterranean.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists with supplementary animal husbandry living in small villages.
OAT code: 3060
OWC code: E051

Bell Beaker
Years  BP: 4500-3800
Location: Western Europe.
Description: The Bell Beaker Tradition includes sedentary agriculturalists with supplemental animal husbandry living in the temperate areas of Western Europe between roughly 4500 BP and 3800 BP. The Bell Beaker peoples lived in small villages and developed a chiefdom form of political organization.
OAT code: 3085
OWC code:  E050

Southeastern Europe Late Chalcolithic
Years  BP: 5500-4500
Location: Greece, Turkey, and Southern Italy, Islands of the eastern Mediterranean.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists living in large villages with a stratified form of social organization.
OAT code: 3131
OWC code: E075

Scandinavian Iron Age
Years  BP: 2500-1500
Location: Extreme northern Europe.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists living in complex chiefdoms and simple states.  Continues into the historic period.
OAT code: 3155
OWC code: E087

Dawenkou
Years  BP: 7000-5000
Location: Lower Yellow River valley.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists living in large villages. Socio-political organization possibly based on ranked descent groups. Lower Yellow River valley.
OAT code: 4030
OWC code: AF50

Scythian-Sarmatian
Years  BP: 4000-1700
Location: Steppes north of the Black Sea from the Don River to the Urals.
Description: Nomadic and militaristic pastoralists living in a state society.
OAT code: 4430
OWC code: MA51

Ganges Neolithic
Years  BP: 4000-2500
Location: Ganges River valley and tributaries.
Description: Settled village agriculturalists living in small-scale societies with minimal social differentiation.
OAT code: 5520
OWC code: AQ50

Early Nomad
Years  BP: 2800-2300
Location: Steppes of east Central and Eastern Asia.
Description: Nomadic pastoralists living in stratified societies.
OAT code: 4420
OWC code: RL60

Eastern Central Asia Neolithic and Bronze Age
Years  BP: 6000-500
Location: Western China, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Description: Semi-nomadic pastoralist / hunters, some sedentary communities in river valleys, but all small and egalitarian.
OAT code: 4510
OWC code: AJ50

Central Indian Neolithic
Years  BP: 5000-3100
Location: Central Indian subcontinent south of the Thar Desert, west of the central Ganges River, and north of the Ghat Mountains.
Description: Settled village agriculturalists living in regionally-distinct, stratified societies.
OAT code: 5540
OWC code: AQ63

Hawaiian
Years  BP:  800-200
Location: Hawaiian Islands.
Description: Sedentary horticulturalists and fishers living in complex chiefdoms. Ancestral to historic Hawaiian culture.  First clear evidence of agriculture at 800 BP, first clear evidence of chiefs at 600 BP. Political centralization appears to increase through time.
OAT code: 5035
OWC code: OV50

New Guinea Neolithic
Years  BP: 10000-100
Location: Central highlands of New Guinea.
Description: Sedentary horticulturalists and pig herders living in small egalitarian communities. Ancestral to historic peoples of highland New Guinea.
OAT code: 5070
OWC code: OJ50

Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Maghreb
Years  BP: 20000-7500
Location: Mediterranean coast of Northern Africa.
Description: Nomadic or semi-nomadic hunter / gatherers living in small, egalitarian communities.
OAT code: 6010
OWC code: M050

Khartoum Neolithic
Years  BP: 5700-3550
Location: Nile valley in Nubia and the Sudan.
Description: Sedentary pastoralists and agriculturalists living in villages, integrated into regional chiefdoms or states, particularly late in the tradition. Integrated into Egyptian empire by the end of the time period.
OAT code: 6100
OWC code: MS50

West African Iron Age
Years  BP: 2500-1200
Location: Western Africa south of the Sahara and north of the Congo basin.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists living in small to moderate communities, some linked into regional chiefdoms or simple states.
OAT code: 6185
OWC code: FA75

Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
Years  BP: 4900-4334
Location: Mesopotamia.
Description: Unification of Mesopotamian city states into the Sumerian empire by the end of the tradition.
OAT code: 6265
OWC code: MH64

Iranian Bronze Age
Years  BP: 5000-3500
Location: Iran.
Description: Sedentary agriculturalists living in villages and cities, some very large, and with a state form of political organization.  Pastoral nomads from the north begin spreading into the region ca. 4000 BP.
OAT code: 6365
OWC code: MA50

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