Further information: Lithic stage and List of archaeological periods (North America)

Articles relating to the Paleo-Indians, the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. The term "Paleo-Indians" applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term "Paleolithic".

The population of the era consisted of small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers, who are thought to have crossed the Bering Strait from North Asia. It is likely that there were multiple such crossings between 45,000 to 12,000 BCE.