for most of the archaic period, people did not change the land in any big way. the groups outside the area, particularly in mesoamerica, started major inventions. these inventions would include growing maize. other groups in north america also started growing maize as well. some archaic groups stopped being food gatherers (people who look for food). instead, they started being food producers (people who grow food) around 3,000 years ago. they also had many of the cultural things that are seen with semi-sedentary agricultural life: storage containers, permanent housing, bigger settlements, and cemeteries or burial grounds. people in the northern part of kansas lived in small buildings made out of dirt; they were shaped like a rectangle. people in the southern part of kansas lived in houses with thatched grass all over them. there were more people being born, and they lived in villages. el quartelejo was an indian pueblo that was the farthest north. this settlement is the only pueblo in kansas from which archaeologists have found anything.