After having read the chapter and listened to this podcast, students should be able to

• Appreciate the various theories about how, when, and from where the first Americans arrived in the Western Hemisphere.

• Identify the main characteristics of religious belief in early Mesoamerica.

• Understand the role the environment played in the evolution of American civilizations.

• Grasp the main characteristics of stateless societies in the Americas, and how they resembled and differed from American civilizations.