Some of the most common questions asked about local history concern the people who originally lived in this region. The answers hinge on who was where and when.

Archaeologist James Adavasio maintains that Paleolithic people arrived in Pennsylvania shortly after the last glaciers began retreating northward. His work at Meadowcroft Rockshelter, west of Pittsburgh - said to be the most thoroughly analyzed site in the Western Hemisphere - has documented everything imaginable over 15,000 years: from levels of pollen and rainfall to human artifacts.

The cool marshlands at Bear Meadows, south of Boalsburg, are a rare vestige of an Ice Age environment and provide a glimpse into the inhospitable landscape these people faced. They hunted migrating herds of antelope, elk and deer by roving over hundreds of miles in small bands and throwing stone-tipped spears.

Large numbers of spear points at a specific location are not evidence of pitched battles. On the contrary, archaeologists believe these are probably traditional camp sites or quarry sites. Most of the larger points found in this region - usually of gray rhyolite, black chert, and red or yellow jasper - were made about 4,000 to 8,000 years ago. (Bows and arrows, with fingernail-sized points, were not introduced until much later.)

Not long ago, researchers compared the effects of different weapons on a two-inch thick oak plank. The results were astounding. An arrow shot from a bow stuck fast. A 30.06 bullet passed through the board. But one of these spears, hurled with an extension called an atlatl, shattered the board.

From studies done on early hunting societies, anthropologists have concluded that women then played a significant role in hunting and decision-making. Gender-based tasks were "luxuries" that people could not afford when everyone's daily survival was at stake.

As the climate warmed, more species of plants and animals entered the region. New sources of protein from fish, chestnuts, and hickory nuts allowed people to live longer. But to farm large fields of corn, beans and squash, they had to move down into and burn off plains in the fertile river valleys.

Families and clans developed into full-fledged political units. Whether we call the original people Indians, Native Americans, or First Nations, everyone finds something offensive. No approach does justice to a society's complexity if it ignores the different ways people adapt to environmental and political change.

Somehow calling the Polish, German, English, Italian, or French people "tribes" doesn't ring quite right in our ears. Why not avoid meaningless generic terms and use the names they called themselves?

Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas made up the Haudenosaunee, or Five Nations. These People of the Long House lived in northern Pennsylvania and New York. They used their common Iroquoian language base to create a political union about 800 years ago. The Tuscaroras, plagued by effects of the illegal liquor trade, joined their linguistic cousins in the early 1700s to form the sixth nation.

Algonquian-speaking people - fleeing population pressures, land swindles, and the ravages of smallpox - swarmed into central Pennsylvania in the 1720s. The Lenape (Europeans called them Delawares) came from the east and scattered throughout the valleys of the West Branch's tributaries. Shawnees settled slightly south of here.

Place names not only offer clues to who lived where, they also illustrate differing mindsets. "Pittsburgh," "Bedford," and "Lancaster" only tell us that these locations were named after some faraway person or place.

Original names were more useful and descriptive. Juniata and Kishacoquillas were corruptions of the Shawnee words for "standing stone" and ""snake den." Susquehanna, Tobyhanna, Kittanning, and Loyalhanna all derive from the Lenape root word for "stream." Punxsutawney meant "place of gnats." A "Mahanoy," or salt lick, would have been a likely place for deer to congregate. Waupelani was the name for Bald Eagle, a Lenape sachem.

By satisfying the European demand for animal pelts, younger generations succumbed to the market economy's temptations; in doing so, they lost self-sufficiency. Why bother tanning hides when you can buy blankets? Why hunt with spears when rifles are more efficient? All was well as long as the gunpowder and bullets were available.

War was no longer limited to isolated skirmishes fueled by vengeance. Enemies were to be totally annihilated. Spreading disease deliberately was cheaper and more effective than firing bullets, so General Jeffrey Amherst encouraged traders to sell smallpox-infected blankets.

Over 90 per cent of the indigenous population was dead within a century after Penn's arrival. As the invaders moved west, they continued to find, in Francis Jennings' memorable phrase, "....not a virgin land, but a widowed one."

Collective memories can play self-serving tricks on all of us, sort of an existential version of "Whispering Down the Lane."

Revising history may challenge our visions of the past and make us feel uncomfortable. But learning something new and changing our behavior accordingly usually does.

Bruce Teeple is a free-lance writer, speaker and local historian and is writing a book about Prince Farrington. He lives in Aaronsburg, Centre County and can be reached at mongopawn44@hotmail.com