So there's this common mindset that anthropologists hate and we have to work hard to not fall into it. We just kind of assume there's a goal of technological supremacy and all cultures should be taking steps to get there. Naturally, the model of the ideal culture looks like western cultures. We assume that when westerners interacted with a new, different culture, that they'd have this epiphany that our way is the obviously superior way and they'd change to be like us. There was a lot of really awful, racist writings about 100 years ago about how cultures evolve through stages, like savagery and barbarism before getting to civilization.

But cultures don't have a goal, outside of surviving and thriving in their local environment. The ultimate goal of humanity is not to develop technology. And while technology and the western lifestyle in general is convenient, comfortable, and easier, because we've automated so much work and install a/c and drive cars to travel faster, it's not superior. A lot of negative things come with our technological innovations. Climate change and pollution are two obvious ones. Cultural values like equating money with happiness is another. We work jobs we don't really like because our culture is obsessed with rampant consumerism. We've stopped valuing things like nature. We're out of touch with the planet in a way that no other species is. We're obsessed with owning land, which is a pretty specifically western concept.

Obviously, cultures outside of Europe and most of North America vary widely, and even more so before the colonial age. But on the whole, cultural activities and technologies more or less reflect their values. Maybe they continued to farm with manual labor because they can tell how healthy the earth is by how it feels. There's a few different cultures who value generosity, so they created boats to travel to neighboring islands to trade and exchange gifts. Polynesians, for example, were crossing the oceans thousands of years before Europeans. Cultures in South America built monumental architecture and cities with fountains and running water while Europeans were still shitting in their water sources and blaming witches for the resulting illness. Westerners value convenience and comfort, so we built cars and houses.

Basically what it boils down to is that our way isn't necessarily the right way. A more technologically advanced culture than ours might live in sealed cities, where everyone gets exactly the right amount of UV exposure, exercise, calories, and nutrients every day and are in peak health, but that doesn't really sound good to most of us. The cultures we essentially destroyed with colonization were different from ours, but not any more or less advanced. Specifically in answer to your question, indigenous North Americans (who differ widely from one another, so I'm talking about very broad generalizations) continued to live in the way they thought was best, which most closely mirrored their values. They continued to do so until Europeans mixed them up, uprooted them, sterilized the adults, and kidnapped children to effectively westernize them and eradicate their previous way of life.

While there’s always more to say on the subject, we have a section of the FAQ with previous answers to similar questions by u/RioAbajo and u/The_Alaskan.