# Formative stage > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Formative_stage > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Formative_stage.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_stage > Source revision: 1353462104 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Prehistoric period in the Americas}} {{Periods in North American history}} {{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center | align = right | total_width = 400 | image1 = | width1 = 300 | height1 = 350 | caption1 = Middle Formative, Olmec style, ''Kneeling lord with incised toad on his head'', 900–500 B.C. | image2 = | width2 = 500 | height2 = 350 | caption2 = Late Formative, Xochipala, ''Seated adult and youth'', 400 B.C. – A.D. 200 | footer_align = center | footer = in the [Princeton University Art Museum](/source/Princeton_University_Art_Museum) }} Several chronologies in the [archaeology of the Americas](/source/archaeology_of_the_Americas) include a '''Formative Period''' or '''Formative stage''' etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages. The Formative is the third of five stages defined by [Gordon Willey](/source/Gordon_Willey) and [Philip Phillips](/source/Philip_Phillips_(archaeologist)) in their 1958 book ''Method and Theory in American Archaeology''.{{cite book |author=Willey, Gordon R. |year=1989 |chapter=Gordon Willey |title=The Pastmasters: Eleven Modern Pioneers of Archaeology: V. Gordon Childe, Stuart Piggott, Charles Phillips, Christopher Hawkes, Seton Lloyd, Robert J. Braidwood, Gordon R. Willey, C.J. Becker, Sigfried J. De Laet, J. Desmond Clark, D.J. Mulvaney |editor=[Glyn Edmund Daniel](/source/Glyn_Edmund_Daniel) and [Christopher Chippindale](/source/Christopher_Chippindale) |location=New York |publisher=[Thames & Hudson](/source/Thames_%26_Hudson) |isbn=0-500-05051-1 |oclc=19750309}} Cultures of the Formative Stage are supposed to possess the technologies of [pottery](/source/pottery), [weaving](/source/weaving), and developed [food production](/source/food_production); normally they are very largely reliant on [agriculture](/source/agriculture). Social organization is supposed to involve permanent towns and villages, as well as the first ceremonial centers. Ideologically, an early priestly class or [theocracy](/source/theocracy) is often present or in development.Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips (1957). ''Method and Theory in American Archaeology''. University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-89888-9}}. Sometimes also referred to as the "Pre-Classic stage", it followed the [Archaic stage](/source/Archaic_stage) and was superseded by the [Classic stage](/source/Classic_stage).{{cite web |title=Method and Theory in American Archaeology |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6136197 |work=[Gordon Willey](/source/Gordon_Willey) and [Philip Phillips](/source/Philip_Phillips_(archaeologist)) |publisher=University of Chicago |year=1958 |format= |access-date= |archive-date=2012-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628025551/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6136197 |url-status=dead }} # The [Lithic stage](/source/Lithic_stage) # The [Archaic stage](/source/Archaic_period_(North_America)) # The '''Formative stage''' # The [Classic stage](/source/Classic_stage) # The [Post-Classic stage](/source/Post-Classic_stage) The dates, and the characteristics of the period called "Formative" vary considerably between different parts of the Americas. The typical broad use of the terms is as follows below. ==North America== In the classification of [North American chronology](/source/List_of_archaeological_periods_(North_America)), the Formative Stage or "Neo-Indian period" is a term applied to theoretical North American [culture](/source/culture)s that existed between 1000 BC and 500 AD. There are alternative classification systems, and this ranking would overlap what others classify as the [Woodland period](/source/Woodland_period) cultures. The Formative, Classic and post-Classic stages are sometimes incorporated together as the Post-archaic period, which runs from 1000 BC to the present. Sites and cultures include: [Adena](/source/Adena_culture), [Old Copper](/source/Old_Copper_Complex), [Oasisamerica](/source/Oasisamerica), [Woodland](/source/Woodland_period), [Fort Ancient](/source/Fort_Ancient), [Hopewell tradition](/source/Hopewell_tradition) and [Mississippian culture](/source/Mississippian_culture)s. ==Mesoamerica== {{main|Formative period in Mesoamerica}} thumb|Zapotec art. In [Mesoamerican chronology](/source/List_of_archaeological_periods_(Mesoamerica)) the Preclassic or Formative runs from about 2000 BC to 250 AD, covering all the [Olmec culture](/source/Olmec_culture), and the early stages of the [Maya culture](/source/Maya_culture) and [Zapotec civilization](/source/Zapotec_civilization). ==South America== In the [periodization of pre-Columbian Peru](/source/periodization_of_pre-Columbian_Peru) the Formative Period divides into 1) the Initial Period, from 1800 BC – 900 BC (sites & cultures: [Early Chiripa](/source/Chiripa_culture), [Kotosh culture](/source/Kotosh_culture), [Cupisnique](/source/Cupisnique), [Las Haldas](/source/Las_Haldas), [Sechin Alto](/source/Sechin_Alto)), and 2) the Early Horizon or Formative Period, 900 BC – 200 BC, ([Chavín](/source/Chav%C3%ADn_culture), [Late Chiripa](/source/Chiripa_culture), [Paracas](/source/Paracas_culture), [Chankillo](/source/Chankillo)). ==See also== '''Elsewhere''' *[Formative period in Belize](/source/Formative_period_in_Belize) '''Other''' *[:Category:Archaeology in the Americas](/source/%3ACategory%3AArchaeology_in_the_Americas) *[Mound Builders](/source/Mound_Builders) *[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex](/source/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{Commonscatinline|Formative period in the Americas}} {{Pre-Columbian}} {{Pre-Columbian North America}} {{Indigenous peoples of the Americas}} {{Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Formative Stage}} Category:Formative period in the Americas Category:1958 introductions Category:1950s neologisms +3 +3 Category:2nd millennium BC Category:1st millennium BC Category:1st century Category:20th-century BC establishments Category:5th-century disestablishments --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Formative stage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_stage) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_stage?action=history)). 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