I'm barbecuing in my backyard in central CA. Our summers can reach 115F sometimes and I've experienced the rough humid summers of the American east. How did pre Columbian civilizations stay cool? Would they call it a day around 2pm like I do when I'm working outside? I know that I'm asking about a very wide range of cultures, so I suppose I'm curious about any California based groups, any major groups in the South eastern United States where it gets crazy humid, and even the Aztecs who lived in Mexico.
Native Americans would do many of the things we do today like avoiding working in the heat or finding a cooler place to stay.
Focusing in on California, there were a number of ways Native Americans handled the heat. Some did move seasonally to avoid the heat. According to the Maidu Museum, "Summer time for the Nisenan [a Sacramento Valley tribe] meant leaving their hometowns and heading to higher elevations to follow the seasonal flora and fauna. Towns were not abandoned though as the elderly and young remained."
Many other groups, especially in the Central Valley, were able to design their homes and other structures to beat the heat. Some built their dwellings partially underground, between two and four feet deep, which provided some comfort. In Tribes of California (1877), ethnographer Stephen Powers commented on the Maidu who built their dwellings partially underground. "All through the long sweltering days there is not a sound in the hamlet...Within the heavily-earthen assembly-house it is cool and dark..."
In the Central Valley, the Yokuts would build a tule-thatch awning-like structure to cover their homes and provide shade. An image taken from Tribes of California can be seen here.
So there were a few ways to keep cool during the hot California summers. Another source that may be interesting to look at is California Indians and Their Environment by Kent G. Lightfoot and Otis Parrish, they break down some the specific natural resources California Indians used in not only construction, but food and medicine.
Greetings. Not to discourage further responses, but do check out this older answer :
How did Native Americans in the American Southwest, where it regularly exceeds 100 degrees in the summer, stay cool? by u/AlotOfReading
