Formative stage
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The Formative Stage or "Neo-Indian period" is a theoretical archaeological term applied to North and Meso-American societies that existed between 1000 BCE and 500 CE. It is the third of five stages defined by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. There are alternative classification systems, and this ranking would overlap what others classify as the Woodland_period cultures.