The peopling of the Americas Research Papers (original) (raw)

The dynamic environmental history and relative sea level (RSL) changes experienced on the Northwest Coast of North America during the early post-glacial period and the early Holocene resulted in significant archaeological visibility... more

The dynamic environmental history and relative sea level (RSL) changes experienced on the Northwest Coast of North America during the early post-glacial period and the early Holocene resulted in significant archaeological visibility challenges for prospection of early coastal archaeological sites. This study offers an integrated methodological approach in support of locating palaeo-coastal sites by combining: (1) geomorphic interpretation of landscape attributes captured by LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping; (2) GIS-based archaeological site potential mapping; and (3) local RSL history. The RSL history for the study site (Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada) shows notable regression over the past 14,300 years from a highstand of at least 197 m resulting from post-glacial isostatic rebound. Late Pleistocene and early Holocene palaeo-shorelines are found inland from, and elevated above, modern sea level and represent key areas for archaeological prospecting. Bare-earth D...

If belief drives behavior, what did first nations peoples believe? Though a material approach attempts to bridge the gap, other disciplines such as philology may be of assistance and compatible with a strict material diagnostic. This... more

If belief drives behavior, what did first nations peoples believe? Though a material approach attempts to bridge the gap, other disciplines such as philology may be of assistance and compatible with a strict material diagnostic. This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus.

La question du premier peuplement préhistorique du continent américain a toujours fait l'objet de vifs débats. L'une des controverses actuelles concerne la possibilité d'une présence humaine antérieure à ca. 20 000 ans (avant ou pendant... more

La question du premier peuplement préhistorique du continent américain a toujours fait l'objet de vifs débats. L'une des controverses actuelles concerne la possibilité d'une présence humaine antérieure à ca. 20 000 ans (avant ou pendant le Dernier Maximum Glaciaire). Bien que la grande majorité des chercheurs reste sceptique quant à la présence d'occupations humaines si anciennes, faute de preuves considérées comme tangibles, certains travaux récents défendent cette hypothèse à partir de cas sud-américains parmi lesquels le site de Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Brésil) tient une place centrale. Le caractère anthropique des assemblages qu'a livré ce gisement a été jusqu'à présent considéré comme très ambigu : les outils présumés, essentiellement des galets aménagés, sont identiques à ceux tombant naturellement du mur et du plateau de la falaise adossée au site. Malgré ces réticences basées sur un contexte géologique favorisant théoriquement la production de géofacts, l'équipe d'É. Boëda tend à considérer que tout chercheur non convaincu par les preuves aujourd'hui publiées l'est pour de simples raisons idéologiques et non scientifiques. Une analyse comparée et critique des nombreuses publications consacrées aux sites anciens de la région de Piauí.

This article is a response to Dillehay [2019. “Un ensayo sobre genética, arqueología y movilidad humana temprana.” Mundo de Antes 13 (2): 13–65] and Dillehay, Pino, and Ocampo [2020. “Comments on Archaeological Remains at the Monte Verde... more

This article is a response to Dillehay [2019. “Un ensayo sobre genética, arqueología y movilidad humana temprana.” Mundo de Antes 13 (2): 13–65] and Dillehay, Pino, and Ocampo [2020. “Comments on Archaeological Remains at the Monte Verde Site Complex, Chile.” PaleoAmerica. https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2020.1762399], who criticized our comments about Monte Verde-I and Chinchihuapi-I as well as our suggestion of the tightening of the age of Monte Verde-II [Politis, G. G., and L. Prates. 2018. “Clocking the Arrival of Homo sapiens in the Southern Cone of South America.” In New Perspectives on the Peopling of the Americas, edited by K. Harvati, G. Jäger, and H. Reyes Centeno, 79–106. Tübingen: Kerns Verlag]. They claimed that we purposefully ignored pertinent data to support our opinions, and that we made several mistakes when analyzing the evidence. In this article we demonstrate that we did not ignore any relevant data, and that the putative errors are in fact alternative interpretations based on the available data and recent studies about site formation processes.

This issue aims to explore the diversity of historical and political articulations of institutional racism and their antagonists in the Americas, and why it is now, under the difficult circumstances of lockdown during the Covid-19... more

This issue aims to explore the diversity of historical and political articulations of institutional racism and their antagonists in the Americas, and why it is now, under the difficult circumstances of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, the anti-racism movements have erupted into the public sphere in the North. How does the Covid 19 pandemic shape anti-racist and indigenous rights struggles? We invite in-depth empirical, historical and theoretical analyses, case studies and regional explorations, reports, opinion pieces, relevant interviews and other significant material, short contributions centred on ‘events’ of collective action against racism primarily in the Americas. Reflections on racism and anti-racism from other parts of the world that do not relate to the Americas will be covered by the ‘open section’ of this issue.
The issue has now been published.

Sophisticated diagnostics have allowed archaeologists to make great inroads in understanding America's First people. At the same time, modern archaeology has assumptions about reality that have limited its scope and ability to integrate... more

Sophisticated diagnostics have allowed archaeologists to make great inroads in understanding America's First people. At the same time, modern archaeology has assumptions about reality that have limited its scope and ability to integrate other disciplines into its theories, disciplines that would clarify and cement a harmony of the disparate and isolated work sites into a model of global proportions. If beliefs determine behavior, it runs near impossible to paint a holistic picture as to what drove the complex peopling of America from the material record alone. This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus. This paper was originally submitted for scholastic review in 2014.

Humans first peopled the North American Arctic (northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland) around 6000 years ago, leaving behind a complex archaeological record that consisted of different cultural units and distinct ways of life, including... more

Humans first peopled the North American Arctic (northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland) around 6000 years ago, leaving behind a complex archaeological record that consisted of different cultural units and distinct ways of life, including the Early Paleo-Eskimos (Pre-Dorset/Saqqaq), the Late Paleo-Eskimos (Early Dorset, Middle Dorset, and Late Dorset), and the Thule cultures.

Fishbone and Crypt caves, located in the eastern Winnemucca Lake basin, may be the oldest sites in the Lahontan basin, and the only occupations dating to at least the Clovis Period. In the 1950’s Phil Orr excavated portions of the caves,... more

Fishbone and Crypt caves, located in the eastern Winnemucca Lake basin, may be the oldest sites in the Lahontan basin, and the only occupations dating to at least the Clovis Period. In the 1950’s Phil Orr excavated portions of the caves, discovering a rich inventory of articles. Extinct Pleistocene fauna was recovered; two horse mandibles from Fishbone Cave date to ca. 13,230 and 13,110 cal BP, while a possible cache of grasshoppers found in lakebed sediments within Crypt Cave date to 14,150 cal BP. The Center for the Study of the First Americans surveyed the eastern Winnemucca caves in 2016 to assess their condition and attempt to determine if intact Pleistocene deposits remain. Preliminary examination of the caves indicates that despite large scale looting, artifacts as well as intact deposits are present in all of the caves. Future testing of these intact sediments could verify the antiquity of the sites.

Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA have begun to reveal the population histories of both people and dogs. Over the last 10,000 y, the genetic signatures of ancient dog remains have been linked with known human... more

Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA have begun to reveal the population histories of
both people and dogs. Over the last 10,000 y, the genetic signatures of ancient dog remains have been
linked with known human dispersals in regions such as the Arctic and the remote Pacific. It is suspected,
however, that this relationship has a much deeper antiquity, and that the tandem movement of people and
dogs may have begun soon after the domestication of the dog from a gray wolf ancestor in the late
Pleistocene. Here, by comparing population genetic results of humans and dogs from Siberia, Beringia,
and North America, we show that there is a close correlation in the movement and divergences of their
respective lineages. This evidence places constraints on when and where dog domestication took place.
Most significantly, it suggests that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by ∼23,000 y ago, possibly while
both people and wolves were isolated during the harsh climate of the Last Glacial Maximum. Dogs then
accompanied the first people into the Americas and traveled with them as humans rapidly dispersed into
the continent beginning ∼15,000 y ago.

Publicado en la revista Anales de la Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala, tomo XCI (2016): 7-27. 2017.

Profile of Bonnie Pitblado in "Mammoth Trumpet," Volume 32, Number 3, pp. 15-20. Author: Martha Deeringer.

Ancient hair and remnant plant DNA are important environmental proxies that preserve for millennia in specific archaeological contexts. However, recovery has been rare from late Pleistocene sites and more may be found if deliberately... more

Ancient hair and remnant plant DNA are important environmental proxies that preserve for millennia in specific archaeological contexts. However, recovery has been rare from late Pleistocene sites and more may be found if deliberately sought. Once discovered, singular hair fragments are not easily identified to taxa through comparative analyses and environmental DNA (eDNA) extraction can be difficult depending on preservation or contamination. In this paper, we present our methods for the combined recovery of ancient hair specimens and eDNA from sediments to improve our understanding of late Pleistocene environments from the Holzman site along Shaw Creek in interior Alaska. The approach serves as a useful case study for learning more about local environmental changes.

América del Sur fue durante mucho tiempo un continente isla y si bien durante la última gran glaciación ya estaba unido a América Central, continúa hasta el presente siendo un continente netamente marítimo, rodeado por los océanos... more

América del Sur fue durante mucho tiempo un continente isla y si bien durante la última gran glaciación ya estaba unido a América Central, continúa hasta el presente siendo un continente netamente marítimo, rodeado por los océanos Pacífico, Atlántico y el mar Caribe. Durante la
transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno (ca. 13–8.5 ka ap) las condiciones climáticas y ambientales
fueron profundas y altamente cambiantes, las mismas involucraron sensibles cambios en los
niveles del mar, acompañados con breves pero dramáticos episodios de expansiones glaciarias, que se conocen como el Episodio de Enfriamiento Reverso Antártico. Este evento registrado en diferentes sectores de Patagonia, Andes centrales, Amazonia, y Puna de Atacama, sería equivalente al Younger Dryas (11-10 ka ap) del hemisferio Norte. Este cuadro paleoambiental sugiere diferencias mayores entre ambos hemisferios en cuanto a la disponibilidad espacial y de recursos para las primeras ocupaciones humanas del Nuevo Mundo. En este marco es que el modelo de las adaptaciones acuáticas cobra mayor sentido como herramienta teórica para reevaluar las proposiciones vigentes sobre la colonización humana de América del Sur. En este trabajo se discuten las implicancias interpretativas del modelo de adaptaciones acuáticas junto con la información arqueológica, paleoambiental y cronológica de Sudamérica con el fin de
presentar una alternativa acerca del ingreso y la dispersión en el último sector del planeta colonizado por los humanos. Especial atención merecrá la información producida en el Cono
Sur de Sudamérica.

Engraved and carved bone and stone artifacts capture our imaginations and are known worldwide from archaeological contexts, but they are seemingly rare and oftentimes difficult to recognize. While preservation issues play a role in the... more

Engraved and carved bone and stone artifacts capture our imaginations and are known worldwide from archaeological
contexts, but they are seemingly rare and oftentimes difficult to recognize. While preservation issues play a role in the limited
recovery of early art objects, research on incised stones and bone from the Gault site in Texas demonstrates that an
expectation to find such artifacts plays a key role in their identification and recovery. The presence of incised stones found by collectors at Gault alerted archaeologists to the potential for finding early art in systematic excavations. To date, 11 incised stones and one engraved bone of Paleoindian age (13,000–9,000 calibrated years before present) have been
recovered and of these, the Clovis artifacts are among the earliest portable art objects from secure context in North America. The presence of incised stone and bone at Gault led to the development of an examination protocol for identifying and analyzing engraved and incised artifacts that can be applied to a wide variety of archaeological contexts.

This research aims to present a diachronic model of linguistic diversity in the tropical region of South America, as well as to map the interaction spheres that arose therein during prehistory. For this purpose the Archaeo-Ecolinguistics... more

This research aims to present a diachronic model of linguistic diversity in the tropical region of South America, as well as to map the interaction spheres that arose therein during prehistory. For this purpose the Archaeo-Ecolinguistics approach was chosen, which is characterized by compiling and integrating linguistic, archaeological, anthropological, (ethno)-historical and genetic data representative of the study area, so that the evidences used to support this explanatory model are multidimensional and hence less susceptible to interpretative ambiguity. In addition, this study attempts to deepen the theoretical foundations of the field of research known as Ecolinguistics and by focusing on its diachronic dimension, proposes the incorporation of an archaeological interface this investigative platform. This new discipline was, then, called Archaeo-Ecolinguistics. The dissertation contains three parts and five chapters. Part I, consisting of two chapters, is a breakdown of the theoretical and epistemological foundations. In §1 non-linguistic concepts underlying Ecolinguistics studies are presented and in §2 a comprehensive description of the linguistic concepts underlying this emergent field of research is presented. Part II, consisting of three chapters, focuses on the presentation of the aforementioned diachronic model. §3 is an archaeo-ecolinguistic characterization of the study area by its physical and human geographies. To portray the human geography in its diachronic dimension, a reconstruction of the ethno-linguistic diversity at the time of European invasion is offered in association with a detailed archaeological panorama. In §4 the data and the linguistic analyses are presented, highlighting the ethnolinguistic groups that have been in contact for some time in prehistory and §5 encloses the formalization of the aforementioned archaeo-ecolinguistic model along with the mapping of the interaction spheres that have emerged during that period. Finally, Part III presents some additional conclusions based on the aforementioned results. These results show a wide range of contact situations and point that two opposite tendencies developed respectively in the Andes and in the tropical Lowlands east of the Andes: while in the Andes there was a trend towards linguistic homogenization, in the Lowlands east of the Andes the observed trend was towards an acceleration of linguistic diversification. By combining the multidisciplinary data it was concluded (i) that the opposite evolutionary behaviors detected in these two areas were directly motivated by distinctive features observed in the three ranges (physical, social and mental) of the reconstructed linguistic ecosystems circumscribed in each of these regions and (ii) that this opposite tendency was strengthened by the synergetic effect caused by the continuous feedback of such peculiarities. These observations, in short, prove the veracity of the multidimensional nature of the EFL and that linguistic evolution is intrinsically dependent and effectively motivated by the conjuncture of all the dimensions of reality.

This paper argues that the Rocky Mountains played a significantly more important role in the process of the peopling of the New World than archaeologists have traditionally recognized. Although First Americans did not reach the Rockies... more

This paper argues that the Rocky Mountains played a significantly more important role in the process of the peopling of the New World than archaeologists have traditionally recognized. Although First Americans did not reach the Rockies before they set foot in any other New World regiondthey could not have, regardless of their point of entrydby Clovis time, evidence suggests that Clovis people knew the Rocky Mountain landscape intimately. Archaeologists should have long anticipated this, given the many resources the Rocky Mountains offer that adjacent, albeit archaeologically better-known regions such as the Plains and some parts of the Far West do not; at least not as ubiquitously. These include plentiful water in the form of streams, lakes, snowpack, and glaciers; high-quality sources of obsidian, chert, quartzite and other knappable stone; and a vertically oriented landscape that maximizes floral and faunal diversity within comparatively condensed space. Two other non-economic characteristics likely contributed significantly to the appeal of the Rocky Mountains to some First Americans: the power and sanctity nearly all humans attribute to mountains, and the seemingly little-recognized fact that northeast Asian Upper Paleolithic people who populated the New World during the terminal Pleistocene occupied mountainous landscapes for some 45,000 years prior to their departure. For many First Americans, mountainsdnot the flat, windswept tundra of Si-berian stereotypesdhad always been home. Evidence for the familiarity of Clovis groups with the Rocky Mountain landscapes comes principally from three Clovis caches: Anzick, Fenn, and Mahaffy. All three caches are located in the Rockies, collectively contain artifacts made from ten of the highest-quality stone raw materials available in the Southern, Central and Northern Rockies, and at least one of the caches accompanies the burial of a young child who appears to have been interred intentionally on a prominent and likely sacred landform in a mountain valley. Bringing the paper's argument full circle, that same child's genetic profile shows a direct link to that of another youngster buried thousands of years earlier at the Late Glacial Maximum Mal'ta site in the mountainous Trans-Baikal region of Siberia.

BOOK SUMMARY Complete book, libro completo Traditionally Mexico is identified as a significant region for understanding the colonization of the continent, his territory is shape as a funnel, if the first Americans move inland from... more

BOOK SUMMARY Complete book, libro completo
Traditionally Mexico is identified as a significant region for understanding the colonization of the continent, his territory is shape as a funnel, if the first Americans move inland from Beringa to South America they had to cross Mexico. The archaeological record of the first people of Mexico -with the exception of the state of Sonora- is scarce and the information generated until today is confusing and little systematic. A synthesis of the current archaeological data of the people of Mexico is presented here. The state of Sonora presents a remarkably pristine setting for studying the late Pleistocene occupation of North America. The early archaeological record in Sonora is stunning in terms of its relative abundance and only within the past ten years has this fact become evident. The Paleo-Indian sites are concentrated in north-central Sonora on and surrounding, the Llanos de Hermosillo; here a summary of the sites studied is presented. A large collection of Clovis artifacts were collected from the sites and a lithic technological study is presented. The settlement pattern appears to indicate that the Sonoran Clovis groups depended and exploited a wide range of environments, and their diet was based upon a wide variety of foodstuffs. The Clovis groups of Sonora developed a sophisticated settlement pattern and land use determined largely on the water resources, the location of lithic sources for tool making, large prey animals and a mosaic of edible plants and small animals. Exploiting an extensive territory probably permitted them to remain in the same region for longer periods of time. The presence of only few late Paleo-Indian diagnostic points could represent the decrease of population density in Sonora, but most likely it is an indication that after Clovis a regionalization of the hunter and gather groups took place in Sonora. The Sonoran Clovis occupation is a testimony that multiple regional Clovis adaptations emerged each with specific responses to plants, animals and diverse regional resources.

This paper reviews the published information, uncertainties about claims, and possible technological and cultural relationships of a sample of sites which have older-than-Clovis dates in North America. The goal is to trace the origins of... more

This paper reviews the published information, uncertainties about claims, and possible technological and cultural relationships of a sample of sites which have older-than-Clovis dates in North America. The goal is to trace the origins of “Classic” Clovis techno-cultural patterns. Some sites in the sample contain lithic artifacts and some do not. Production technology and artifact characteristics in a number of the lithic sites (such as Debra Friedkin and possibly Page-Ladsen) may be evidence of Clovis ancestry, but the lithic materials in most pre-Clovis sites cannot be explicitly linked to Clovis. A few nonlithics sites (such as Manis, Firelands, and Lindsay) may indicate a pre-Clovis pattern of large-mammal exploitation foreshadowing a later Clovis trait. Overall, the available data are incomplete or ambiguous, and, as a result, individual interpretations have produced incompatible models of Clovis origins.

The Great Basin has traditionally not featured prominently in discussions of how and when the New World was colonized; however, in recent years work at Oregon's Paisley Five Mile Point Caves and other sites has highlighted the region's... more

The Great Basin has traditionally not featured prominently in discussions of how and when the New World was colonized; however, in recent years work at Oregon's Paisley Five Mile Point Caves and other sites has highlighted the region's importance to ongoing debates about the peopling of the Americas. In this paper, we outline our current understanding of Paleoindian lifeways in the northwestern Great Basin, focusing primarily on developments in the past 20 years. We highlight several potential biases that have shaped traditional interpretations of Paleoindian lifeways and suggest that the foundations of ethnographically-documented behavior were present in the earliest period of human history in the region.

The present publication consists of four manuscripts (included as chapters one through four). Initially, six chapters were planned but two authors could not meet the time constraints. Hopefully, they will be included in a subsequent... more

The present publication consists of four
manuscripts (included as chapters one through
four). Initially, six chapters were planned but
two authors could not meet the time constraints.
Hopefully, they will be included in a subsequent
TULARG publication.
Briefly, Chapter 1 surveys and identifies a
flaked stone assemblage of time-diagnostic artifacts
from Tulare Lake. This is the first published
attempt to categorize and describe Tulare
Lake’s Paleoindian tool kit. Chapter 2 presents
the initial attempts at obsidian tracing and hydration
dating of Tulare Lake’s ancient artifacts
as well as providing a small sample from China
Lake in eastern California. Chapter 3 critically
reevaluates the number of reported Clovis-like
projectile point discoveries from Tulare Lake
and finally, Chapter 4 describes a unique ground
stone “butterfly” crescent from the study area
and discusses its possible meaning, function, and
significance.
Tulare Lake, located in California’s southern
San Joaquin Valley midway between the San
Francisco Bay and the Los Angeles Basin, was
formed sometime during the later part of the
Pleistocene epoch and, over millennia, expanded
to cover about 760 square miles before it was
drained and reclaimed for agricultural crops. Artifacts
collected from early shorelines suggest
the lake supported Paleoindian people for a considerable
amount of time before the earliest
Yokuts occupation.

Uno de los fenómenos que más repercusión ha tenido en el devenir musical de los distintos países que hoy conforman las Américas ha sido el intenso movimiento migratorio que se inició hace siglos y se mantiene en la actualidad. Los... more

Uno de los fenómenos que más repercusión ha tenido en el devenir musical de los distintos países que hoy conforman las Américas ha sido el intenso movimiento migratorio que se inició hace siglos y se mantiene en la actualidad. Los continuos flujos migratorios en, desde y hacia el continente americano no han sido homogéneos en el tiempo ni en el espacio y han estado provocados por factores diversos: desarrollos tecnológicos, motivaciones económicas y sociopolíticas, circunstancias personales o intereses artísticos, entre otros. El II Congreso Internacional MUSAM aspira a promover nuevas perspectivas sobre el estudio del fenómeno migratorio en música hacia, desde y en las Américas, contemplando la continua circulación no solo de personas, textos y objetos materiales, sino también de prácticas, ideas, símbolos y discursos, con todo lo que ello implica en términos de imposición, apropiación y/o negociación cultural. En el estudio de estos fenómenos se incidirá en aspectos a los que se ha prestado poca atención desde la perspectiva musicológica, tales como la creación de comunidades transnacionales por medio de la música (en las sociedades de origen y destino), la utilización de fuentes orales (u otras a caballo entre escritura y oralidad como la correspondencia privada) y los procesos de construcción de la memoria individual y colectiva, que afectan de manera directa al modo en que la música americana y su historia son escritas, transmitidas y recordadas.

The original peopling of the Americas has puzzled researchers for decades. While some evidence points to a single wave of migration, still other data suggests two or more waves. Their reasonable estimated arrival dates range from 14,500... more

The original peopling of the Americas has puzzled researchers for decades. While some evidence points to a single wave of migration, still other data suggests two or more waves. Their reasonable estimated arrival dates range from 14,500 to over 20,000 BP, although some scholars push back their arrival even farther. Drawing from archaeology, genetics, historical linguistics, and physical anthropology, the peopling of the Americas debate encompasses research from a wide range of experts. In this study, craniometric data is examined through the means of the cranial index, defined as the ratio calculated by multiplying the maximum width (XCB) of the head by 100, then dividing by the maximum length of the head (GOL). Cranial indices are known to vary between different regions of the world, suggesting that different ratios represent different geographic affinities of peoples. I examine cranial indices from 112 individuals dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene found throughout the Americas. These indices are then compared to the 2,524 indices from 30 populations examined in the Howells Craniometric Data Set using basic statistical functions. Results of these tests suggest morphological affinities between certain ancient and modern groups, offering insight into possible links between the two populations.

Human use of watercraft dates back at least thirty thousand years and some researchers propose that this technology enabled the peopling of Australia closer to fifty thousand years ago. Due to the vagaries of preservation across... more

Human use of watercraft dates back at least thirty thousand years and some researchers propose that this technology enabled the peopling of Australia closer to fifty thousand years ago. Due to the vagaries of preservation across millennia, direct evidence of Paleolithic rafts or boats is lacking despite other data substantiating their use. Archeologists iner the existence of Paleolithic watercraft from indirect evidence such as the transport of stone across bodies of water that separate locations where raw stone was acquired from places where it was used and discarded (i.e. obsidian gathered from islands inaccessible from the mainland without the use of boats). This article takes as its starting position the likelihood that watercraft technologies were among transportation and mobility options employed during early explorations and settlements of the Americas. While early colonization models increasingly envision possible maritime travel, they are relatively mute on possible uses for watercraft as aids in inland exploration, mobility, and settlement. This paper draws ideas from examinations of ethnographic and archaeological records to provide a springboard for expanding mobility models beyond their present tendency to view pedestrian travel as the dominant, if not nearly exclusive, mode of inland movement in late Pleistocene America.

The relationship between climate change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary (ca. 12,600-10,200 cal B.P.) and cultural responses to attendant shifts in the environment remains a vexing issue for archaeologists. This study compiles and... more

The relationship between climate change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary (ca. 12,600-10,200 cal B.P.) and cultural responses to attendant shifts in the environment remains a vexing issue for archaeologists. This study compiles and analyzes glacial, palynological, faunal, and stratigraphic/geomorphological proxy datasets for climate change in the Pacific Northwest of North America and compares them to the coeval archaeological record. The primary purpose of this exercise is to consider the potential ways in which climate change at the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary affected cultural development for Late Paleoindian-Early Archaic peoples in the Pacific Northwest. Results indicate that climatic and environmental change at this interval was rapid or abrupt, and of a magnitude that likely produced varying adaptational responses by peoples of different cultural traditions who appear across the region at this period. Transformations in tools and technology, shifts in dietary habits, migration and regionalization, and trade intensification are all elements of Late Paleoindian-Early Archaic cultural responses to rapid climate change.

This paper synthesizes primarily 2000s-era “peopling of the Americas” data drawn from the fields of molecular biology, osteology, and archaeology. Collectively, they suggest that colonization proceeded in two pulses, both originating in... more

This paper synthesizes primarily 2000s-era “peopling of the Americas” data drawn from the fields of molecular biology, osteology, and archaeology. Collectively, they suggest that colonization proceeded in two pulses, both originating in Western Beringia and before that, south-central and southeastern Siberia. The first occurred ca. 16k – 15k cal. B.P. by watercraft along the coast of Beringia and western North and South America. The second took place 1,000 years later and involved proto-Clovis hunter-gatherers who used the ice-free corridor (IFC) as a conduit south. In addition, at least eight North American sites dating back as far as the last glacial maximum (LGM) suggest that the peopling picture may eventually need to change to accommodate an earlier-than-previously thought IFC migration. For now, the data are not strong enough to support this scenario, but they are tantalizingly close.

"Scattered sporadically across much of the American interior are tight clusters of Clovis artifacts identified as material caches. Clovis caches consist of bifaces, projectile points, blades, flakes, cores, bone and ivory rods, and... more

"Scattered sporadically across much of the American interior are tight clusters of Clovis artifacts identified as material caches. Clovis caches consist of bifaces, projectile points, blades, flakes, cores, bone and ivory rods, and occasionally other items that appear to have been carefully set aside rather than discarded or lost. As the defining attributes of Clovis caches have become clearer, caches are recognized and reported with increasing frequency, in the form of new discoveries in the field and among existing collections. The first section of this paper provides an overview of currently known Clovis caches, ranging from assemblages discovered as much as 50 years ago to less familiar collections just coming to light, with the goal of presenting an up-to-date synopsis for every reported cache attributed to Clovis. A second section reviews our current understanding of the temporal and spatial distribution of Clovis caching and caching behavior, along with some proposed explanations for those patterns. A final section provides an overview of contemporary perspectives on Clovis caches, with special consideration given to their relationships to other assemblages and to Clovis migration and mobility, along with a summary of current and future directions for research involving Clovis caches."

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of... more

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate
rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and
Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs confirms earlier findings of geneticists which identified South Siberia as the Old World homeland of the main wave of the peopling of the New World (the diffusion of the respective populations in the New World turns out to be associated with the spread of Clovis and para-Clovis archaeological cultures). Indeed, this is just South Siberia where the highest concentration of the Amerindian folklore-mythological motifs in Eurasia is observed.
On the other hand, it turns out to be possible to connect the penetration of
mtDNA HG C and NRY HG Q > Q3 to the New World with this migration wave.
The spatial distribution of the ‘Circumgobi-Amerindian’ folklore-mythological
motifs follows rather closely the distribution of mtDNA HG C in the New World.
This makes it possible to re-construct up to a considerable detail the mythology brought to the New World from South Siberia by this migration wave. Another migration wave turns out to be associated with the distribution of mtDNA HG B and motifs of ‘Melazonian’ mythological complex whose highest concentration is observed in Melanesia, on the one hand, and Amazonia, on the other. These motifs form a few connected sets, which suggest certain possibilities for the reconstruction of some features of ‘proto-Melazonian’ mythology brought to
the New World by the bearers of mtDNA HG B. MtDNA HG A frequencies in
Siberian and American populations display a rather strong and statistically
significant correlation with the number of the ‘Raven Cycle’ motifs in respect
of folklore-mythological traditions. There are certain grounds to believe that
both these motifs and the respective genetic marker (‘Arctic A’) were brought
to the extreme American North-West and extreme North-East Asia (‘Transberingia’) later than both maternal lines B+C and Circumgobi-Amerindian, Melazonian and Ural-Amerindian motifs had been brought to the New World. The presence of a relatively homogenous Transberingian ‘genetic-mythological’ zone characterized by high frequencies of both mtDNA HG A and the Transberingian motifs seems to be accounted for, first of all, by the fact that they were brought to this zone relatively later with the migrations apparently
corresponding to the movement to this area of Dene, Esko-Aleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan language speakers and replaced to a considerable extent earlier
genetic markers and folklore-mythological motifs. But, on the other hand, the
same fact seems to be additionally accounted for by the functioning up to
the Modern Age of the Transberingian communicative network, as in the Holocene
the communication through the Bering straits does not appear to have
ever interrupted, and led to additional homogenization of the zone. And the
movement through the Bering straits definitely went in both directions, in
the framework of which their way to the Old World appears to have been found by both some New World genetic markers (e.g., NRY HG Q3), and apparently
some folklore-mythological motifs which were developed already in the New
World (the possibility of the migration of some Transberingian motifs from the
New World to the NE Asia [suggested {in a bit exaggerated way} already by
the members of the Jesup Expedition] seems to be supported by a higher concentration
of these motifs in the New World part of this zone). The analyzed
evidence suggests that the Ural-Amerindian mythological complex was brought to the New World by a wave of migration which took place between 10,000 and 13,000, i.e. not long after the main wave of the peopling of Americas.

The migratory route for the Pleistocene colonization of the Americas by humans has been debated among North American archaeologists and antiquarians since before the Revolutionary War. It remains the most contentious question in... more

The migratory route for the Pleistocene colonization of the Americas by humans has been debated among North American archaeologists and antiquarians since before the Revolutionary War. It remains the most contentious question in archaeology today. When and by what path did the first people spread throughout the continent? Here, we report updated results from the middle Susitna Valley in southcen-tral Alaska near the community of Trapper Creek. The region is significant because it lies at the heart of what was a piedmont glacier that blocked the first Alaskans from accessing the rich resources of Alaska's southern coasts during the late glacial period. Deglaciation and human colonization of the heavily glaci-ated southeasternmost Beringia is relevant to our understanding of the timing and geographical origin of the first small-scale foraging societies to explore and eventually settle the rivers and coasts of southcentral Alaska, British Columbia, and the greater Pacific Northwest. Results suggests an interior-to-coastal migration occurred following deglaciation with no current evidence of a reverse scenario.

late 1920s, peopling archaeology has sought to understand the earliest human occupants of the Western Hemisphere. Three generations of practitioners have made great strides in the techno-environmental arena. However, we have largely... more

late 1920s, peopling archaeology has sought to understand the earliest human occupants of the Western Hemisphere. Three generations of practitioners have made great strides in the techno-environmental arena. However, we have largely failed to tap into PaleoIndigenous intellectual, emotional, and social lives-the very domains that made Ice Age people as fully human as we are. As a result, our interpretations of those pioneering populations could often apply as readily to a colony of ants or a herd of wildebeest as they do to living, breathing, thinking, dreaming, loving, striving human ancestors. This article first explores the reasons for our failure to fully actualize First Peoples, identifying and implicating a feedback loop that includes practitioner homogeneity (we have always been and continue to be disproportionately white men of European descent); our predominantly positivist worldview; our language, training, and practice; and even the limited nature of the material record we study. This article also, however, highlights the ways that an important minority of peopling scholars have sought to access the humanity of PaleoIndigenous people. By more consistently mobilizing our own human capacity to creatively interrogate the deep past, we will produce scholarship that more consistently recognizes the capacity of the people who lived it and, just as importantly, respects those living today.

The Southern Cone of South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Southeastern Brazil) was the last continental mass colonized by humans. Until recently, the discussion about the peopling of the Americas revolved around the Clovis... more

The Southern Cone of South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Southeastern Brazil) was the last continental mass colonized by humans. Until recently, the discussion about the peopling of the Americas revolved around the Clovis First-Pre-Clovis debate. Nowadays, the axis of this debate has changed (it has been consistently proved that there were people in the Americas before Clovis) and the central debate is if humans were South of the Laurentide/Cordilleran Ice Sheet after or before the onset of deglaciation (ca. 18 to 19 ky) of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, while several models have been proposed to uphold the first hypothesis, the second one is only supported by isolated site reports and sparse data. With very few exceptions, no coherent models have been proposed to integrate the few suggested pre-LGM sites sprawled in the continent. In this scenario, a fine-grain study of the timing of the arrival and the spatial occupation sequences of the expansion process is significant to understand the pattern of colonization of Homo sapiens in the Americas. In this chapter, we summarize and discuss the evidence from some key sites in the Southern Cone with pre-and post-onset of LGM deglaciation ages. We present a compilation of the earliest 14 C dates as a proxy of human presence in the Southern Cone, both from samples (charcoal, faunal remains, etc.) associated with human presence as well from human skeletons. Based this data, we analyze the main chronological trends and spatial sequences in the region. Finally, we contrast our results from the Southern Cone with the new continental scale models of peopling of the Americas, based on ancient DNA. Resumen El Cono Sur de Sudamérica (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay y el sureste de Brasil) fue la última masa continental colonizada por los humanos. Hasta hace poco, la dis-cusión sobre el poblamiento de América giró en torno al debate Clovis-Primero vs. Pre-Clovis. Actualmente el eje del debate ha cambiado ya que ha sido acepta-do consistentemente que hubo gente en el continente americano antes de Clovis), concentrándose en si los humanos estuvieron en el sur de la escudo gla-cial Laurentino/Cordillerano antes o después del comienzo de desglaciación New Perspectives on the Peopling of the Americas, ed.

Clovis-era subsistence was variable from site to site and region to region, but large mammals numerically dominate at archeological sites with food remains. Plant remains are extremely scarce in Clovis sites. The lack of specialized... more

Clovis-era subsistence was variable from site to site and region to region, but large mammals numerically dominate at archeological sites with food remains. Plant remains are extremely scarce in Clovis sites. The lack of specialized processing and storage technology suggests seeds and nuts were not prominent in the diet, as they became in later times. Sites dated to a possible proto-Clovis phase, 1,000—3,000 years older than the generally accepted age of Clovis, also contain mostly or exclusively large-mammal remains. Many (perhaps most or all) of the largest animals were probably killed and butchered by Late Glacial foragers; they were not found dead and scavenged by people. Proboscidean carcass utilization by Clovis butchers was often incomplete, because Clovis foraging bands were small in number, very mobile, and most likely could predict where to find vulnerable prey.

Excavations at the Sudden Flats site on the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) revealed a dense, single-component shell midden dating around 10,725 calibrated years before present. Subsistence remains indicate a focus on shellfish,... more

Excavations at the Sudden Flats site on the coast of Vandenberg Air
Force Base (AFB) revealed a dense, single-component shell midden dating
around 10,725 calibrated years before present. Subsistence remains indicate a
focus on shellfish, marine fish, and small mammals. Contrary to expectations,
the emphasis on marine resources is not unusual compared to later shell
middens on the Vandenberg coast. Surprisingly, however, the lithic assemblage
includes burins, burin spalls, and microblades—all items not found in
Vandenberg AFB assemblages later in time. The site also yielded much higher proportions of obsidian than found during subsequent time periods, suggesting
that exchange networks were active and extensive during these very early times.

The early peopling of the New World has been a topic of intense research since the early twentieth century. We contend that the exclusive focus of research on a Beringian entry point has not been productive. Evidence has accumulated over... more

The early peopling of the New World has been a topic of intense research since the early twentieth century. We contend that the exclusive focus of research on a Beringian entry point has not been productive. Evidence has accumulated over the past two decades indicating that the earliest origin of people in North America may have been from southwestern Europe during the last glacial maximum. In this summary we outline a theory of a Solutrean origin for Clovis culture and briefly present the archaeological data supporting this assertion.

C.G. Turner II made dental morphological observations on thousands of Eskimo-Aleuts and American Indians and concluded they were derived from ancestral populations in northeast Asia during the last stages of the Pleistocene. He further... more

C.G. Turner II made dental morphological observations on thousands of Eskimo-Aleuts and American Indians and concluded they were derived from ancestral populations in northeast Asia during the last stages of the Pleistocene. He further distinguished two dental patterns in Asia. In East Asia, populations exhibit Sinodonty, a specialized dentition with intensified trait expressions. Southeast Asians exhibit Sundadonty, a more generalized dentition for crown and root traits. Turner argued all New World groups were derived from Sinodonts. Recent work has led some researchers to conclude there is evidence for the Sundadont pattern in Native American populations, an observation in accord with craniometric research that argues for an early migration of a generalized Asian population, followed by an influx of more specialized northeast Asians. A reanalysis of Turner's dataset fails to reveal evidence for a Sundadont component in the settlement of the Americas, but it does provide support for the Beringian Standstill model proposed by geneticists.

This article describes, classifies, and provides the calculated ages of 14 basally thinned and fluted points of obsidian in the Borden collection from Rose Valley in southern Inyo County, California. With the exception of one item of Fish... more

This article describes, classifies, and provides the calculated ages of 14 basally thinned and fluted points of obsidian in the Borden collection from Rose Valley in southern Inyo County, California. With the exception of one item of Fish Springs obsidian, the specimens are all made of glass from geologic subsources in the Coso Volcanic Field. Typologically, the fragmentary and reworked artifacts appear to represent Clovis, or perhaps Clovis-derived, concave-base lanceolate points. Obsidian hydration measurements permit age calculations that range between approximately 13,793 and 11,308 calendar years ago. The calculated ages of the Borden artifacts are consistent with their discovery on landforms associated with Younger Dryas and very early Holocene wetlands. Our research results also suggest that Clovis technology may have persisted longer in California than it did in the southeastern, central, and southwestern United States.

This chapter focuses on a field of research in narrative studies that is central to multicultural education: how can we advance our understanding of the traditional narrative genres? Continuing work in the partnership between researchers... more

This chapter focuses on a field of research in narrative studies that is central to multicultural education: how can we advance our understanding of the traditional narrative genres? Continuing work in the partnership between researchers and communities is of great importance because of a unique circumstance: much of the cultural and artistic inheritance in this realm of literature is endangered. However, within the academy itself, the growing popularity of a version of relativism has placed this work in jeopardy. The relativist position denies that objective evidence can be brought to bear on scientific proposals because the validity of the evidence, it is claimed, is relative to the beliefs, worldview or political interests of social groups. In the present case, the denial of objectivity is directed against new findings in evolutionary science and population genetics. The new findings are consistent with the established consensus on human evolution. But it has now been questioned by relativist theories, reflecting a selective and in effect discriminatory down-grading of the centrality of science education.

During the late Pleistocene, Warner Valley (Oregon, USA) was filled by Lake Warner; however, little is known about its rise and fall and how its changing lake levels effected the distribution of the valley's earliest occupants. The... more

During the late Pleistocene, Warner Valley (Oregon, USA) was filled by Lake Warner; however, little is known about its rise and fall and how its changing lake levels effected the distribution of the valley's earliest occupants. The discovery of Paleoindian projectile points along ancient shorelines of the lake spurred us to examine them for geochronological controls to aid in constructing the lake's history. We found that Lake Warner filled the valley floor between ca. 30,000 and 10,300 cal yr BP, probably reaching its maximum ca. 17,000–16,100 cal yr BP before it began to recede. People arrived with Clovis and Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) projectile points before ca. 12,800 cal yr BP, around the time the lake stalled in its retreat. When the lake continued its decline, people using WST points followed it southward into the valley floor, where dune-and-slough topography began developing ca. 10,300 cal yr BP in response to episodic wetting and drying during the early Holocene. By the time Mazama tephra fell, ca. 7600 cal yr BP, the once large lake was divided into a series of small lakes, ponds, and sloughs that attracted people to their abundant resources of endemic fish and marsh plants.

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of folklore... more

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of folklore mythological motifs confirms earlier findings of geneticists which identified South Siberia as the Old World homeland of the main wave of the peopling of the New World (the diffusion of the respective populations in the New World turns out to be associated with the spread of Clovis and para-Clovis archaeological cultures). Indeed, this is just South Siberia where the highest concentration of the Amerindian folklore-mythological motifs in Eurasia is observed. On the other hand, it turns out to be possible to connect the penetration of mtDNA HG C and NRY HG Q > Q3 to the New World with this migration wave. The spatial distribution of the 'Circumgobi-Amerindian' folklore-mythological motifs follows rather closely the distribution of mtDNA HG C in the New World. This makes it possible to reconstruct up to a considerable detail the mythology brought to the New World from South Siberia by this migration wave. Another migration wave turns out to be associated with the distribution of mtDNA HG B and motifs of 'Melazonian' mythological complex whose highest concentration is observed in Melanesia, on the one hand, and Amazonia, on the other. These motifs form a few connected sets, which suggest certain possibilities for the *