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    • Collections
      • Search Our Collection
      • Collection Scope
    • Permanent Exhibitions
      • Tennessee Time Tunnel
      • Natural History
      • First Peoples
      • Forging a Nation
      • The Civil War and Reconstruction
      • Change and Challenge
      • Tennessee Transforms
    • Temporary Exhibitions
      • A Better Life for Their Children (Opens Feb. 24, 2023)
      • STARS: Elementary Visual Art Exhibition 2023
      • Early Expressions: Art in Tennessee Before 1900
      • In Search of the New: Art in Tennessee Since 1900
      • Why Do Museums Collect
    • Online Exhibitions
      • Tennessee at 225
      • Ratified! Statewide!
      • Canvassing Tennessee: Artists and Their Environments
    • Past Exhibitions
      • Painting the Smokies
      • Tennessee at 225
      • Best of Tennessee Craft
      • Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote
      • Tennessee and the Great War: A Centennial Exhibition
      • STARS: Elementary Art Exhibition 2022
      • Cordell Hull: Tennessee's Father of the United Nations
      • Lets Eat! Origins and Evolutions of Tennessee Food
      • The State of Sound: Tennessee’s Musical Heritage
      • Red Grooms: A Retrospective
      • Between The Layers: Art and Story in Tennessee Quilts
    • Children's Gallery
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • On-Site Field Trips
      • On-Site Field Trip Request Form
      • Virtual Field Trips
      • Virtual Field Trips Request Form
    • Traveling Trunks & Reservations
      • Reserve a Trunk
      • From Barter to Budget, Financial Literacy in Tennessee
      • The Life and Times of the First Tennesseans
      • Daily Life on the Tennessee Frontier
      • Cherokee in Tennessee: Their Life, Culture, and Removal
      • The Age of Jackson and Tennessee’s Legendary Leaders
      • The Life of a Civil War Soldier
      • The Lives of Three Tennessee Slaves and Their Journey Towards Freedom
      • The Three Rs of Reconstruction: Rights, Restrictions and Resistance.
      • Understanding Women's Suffrage: Tennessee's Perfect 36
      • Transforming America: Tennessee on the World War II Homefront
      • The Modern Movement for Civil Rights in Tennessee
      • Tennessee: Its Land & People
    • Professional Development
    • Tennessee4Me
  • Programs & Events
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    • Videos
    • TN Writers | TN Stories
    • Passport to Tennessee History
    • Newsletter Signup
  • TSM Kids
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    • Children's Gallery
    • Junior Curators Blog
    • Storytime
    • Color Our Collection
    • Jigsaw Puzzles
    • Girl Scout Patch
  • Donate
  • Blogs and More
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    • Your Story Our Story
    • Junior Curators
    • Quarterly Newsletters

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Permanent Exhibitions

Forging a Nation

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First Peoples

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First Peoples (13,000 BCE to 1760 CE)

The first peoples of Tennessee arrived at the end of the Ice Age. Groups adapted as the climate changed, shifting from small hunting and gathering bands to complex farming societies. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers became the first Europeans to encounter the native peoples living in Tennessee. Cultures collided as more Europeans continued coming into the area. Learn how the First Peoples of Tennessee lived, about their culture, and how they defended their homelands against the European encroachment.

 

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