Who were the first people to live on mojve national desert?
Human Settlement: Early Peoples of the Mojave Desert Recently, Mojave Desert petroglyphs (rock pictures) have played an important role in debates about the age of the first human occupation of the New World. New dating results show that Paleoindians may have reached this area as long as 15,500 years ago. No associated habitation sites have yet been discovered in the Mojave, however, which suggests that these prehistoric peoples moved from place to place. Over time human settlement patterns became increasingly organized, with more complex rituals and a subsistence reliant on seeds, plants, and farming. Small-game hunting contributed meat protein to the peoples’ diet. Several tribal groups have lived in the Mojave Desert within the past 2,000 years. The northern and eastern portions, for example, were occupied by the Kawaiisu, Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Koso, and Southern Paiute bands, including the Chemehuevi. Culturally distinct, these groups nevertheless spoke related languages and had s
