Pictured above is a stone tool found at the Allendale dig in South Carolina. It is believed the tool is 12,000 to 18,000 years old.
It is believed that over 12,000 years ago, the first Native people began moving southward from the Canadian Rockies into the Great Plains of the United States. From the plains, they spread out across the southwest and eventually entered the southeast. By 1000 A.D., these early ancestors of today's Native Americans had reached the tip of South America. Recent discoveries may prove that native people migrated across America even earlier in history.
The population of Native Americans before European colonization (16th century) is estimated at over 20 million people. Today, census estimates show the population to be around two million
Courtesy of: S.C. Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Tourism
