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A cross-legged man from Spiro Mound (modern Oklahoma), 900-1450 AD

Native American creation myths – A cross-legged man from Spiro Mound (modern Oklahoma), 900-1450 AD

Where did Native people come from?

Each group of people in North America had their own story about where the world came from and where they came from. Native American creation myths are very different from each other.

Here are some examples:

When did they start to tell these stories?

Nobody really knows whether people brought these stories with them from Asia when they came to North America about 15000 BC. Maybe people created these stories after they got to North America. Probably some of both.

Compare and contrast

You might want to compare these creation stories to similar stories from other cultures like these:

What do these stories have in common? What do they think needs explaining?

Bibliography and further reading about North American creation myths:

  

Native American religion
Native American Stories
More about Native Americans
South and Central America
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