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> Life without schools, stores and offices doesn't sound that difficult, but I can't imagine how people managed to live without homes. Did they just settle under trees to avoid the rain and the snow?

I'm old, but not old enough to remember back that far. Years ago I went through a period when I studied the Indian cultures that lived in this area before our time. Mainly they were the Cherokees, and a culture that we call the Early Woodland Indians. The Cherokees built houses that were like a big basket upside down. They had a dirt floor and a hole in the roof intended to vent smoke. The earlier tribes probably built some kind of houses, but many of them lived in caves. I have seen flint and bone along with pottery shards in the entrance of caves in this area. I still have a bone awl, some flint points and a few bits of pottery. Back then I was more interested in exploring caves than Indian cultures. I guess that led me to read a few books about the Indians.

I don't refer to those Early Americans as Native Americans, because the term is too general. I am a native of America, but my ancestors came from the British Isles about nine generations back. "Indians" is not a good choice either, but old habits are hard to break. I think it is best to refer to them by their specific tribe, if we know what tribe it is.

The Seminole Indians lived in Florida when I was there about half a century ago. They built a thatch roof supported by poles. It was good enough to shelter them from rain and sun. Cold weather is a minor problem in Florida. The worst thing about those open-air shelters was mosquitoes. When I go to Florida now, I see a few Seminoles, but they live in houses like everybody else.

The western USA has a variety of Indian cultures. Some lived in teepees, others in houses built of adobe or stone. The best builders among the Indians were the cliff dweller of the Southwest. I get dizzy just looking up at them. I'd feel safer going into space that I would climbing up to a cliff dwelling.

Early people at first took shelter under trees and overhanging rocks, but with a better brain than other animals, they eventually learned to construct their own shelters. It was not instinct, but learned behavior based on their own comfort.
Howard