Download The Peopling of the Americas Notes

The Peopling of the Americas
Two Views of Origins:
A) Archaeological perspectives:
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Pre-1990’s – predominant theory was that the first Americans arrived from Asia sometime
between 50,000 and 13,500 BP across the Bering Strait land bridge
No agreement on when, whether there was only one migration or many, and what
technologies/cultures they brought
Many unanswered questions and mysteries remain
B) Aboriginal perspectives:
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Many native peoples believe that North America is their homeland – the land of their
ancestors’ origins, as told in their creation myths and legends.
While varied, Aboriginal creation stories share a common world view about their
relationship to the environment and send a strong message about their origins –
Aboriginal peoples have no connection or bond with any other place.
Gathering Archaeological Evidence:
Archaeologists employ a number of methods in gathering data on which to base conclusions:
1. radiocarbon dating of artifacts, if they are carbon-based (i.e., material that at one time
was part of a “living organism”).
2. Tools, utensils and weapons that have been left behind by early humans. For example,
the earliest American inhabitants – known as Paleoindians – left behind much evidence
for study in the form of their unique stone tools – projectiles, knives with fluted (rounded)
grooves along the shafts.
3. DNA analysis of human remains, as well as present-day ethnic/racial groups.
Traditional Archaeological Evidence:
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Early evidence, discovered in 1927 in Folsom, New Mexico, revealed spear points carbon
dated to 11,000 – 10,000 BP, found in ribs of fossilized bison. They provide evidence
that early humans relied on big game hunting for survival.
The Clovis model originates with the 1935 discovery of projectile points dated 11,500 to
11,000 BP, uncovered at Clovis, New Mexico. These discoveries were once thought to
represent the earliest era of human life in North America, so much so that many
archaeologists simply stopped examining soil layers deeper than Clovis artifacts.
The textbook refers to this as a paradigm bias – that is, an assumption that predetermined the researchers’ outlook in favor of the Clovis model, and therefore
discouraged any pursuit of alternative models/explanations of early human origins in
North America.
For instance, the Monte Verde, Chile site, first uncovered in the 1970s and 1000 years
older than Clovis, was not formally accepted as “authentic” and verifiable until 1997.
Another recent site at Cactus Hill, Virginia, may be even older than the Monte Verde
location, with artifacts that may date to 16,000 BP
Plano Period:
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Archaeological term that refers to a time period from 10,000 to 7,000 BP, when the
disappearance of “big game” mammals (i.e., mammoth, mastodon and camel) was
replaced by bison hunting
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Dramatic change in projectile point technology occurred, as the unique fluted projectile
points of the Paleoindians was replaced with a distinctive method of stone-chipping along
the blades of projectiles and knives
Plano artifacts are found as far west as British Columbia and as far east as the Maritimes
and Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula, as far north as the Yukon and NWT, and as far south as
the Gulf of Mexico’
Their greatest concentration, however, is in the plains of the central and western
provinces where bison herds were most plentiful
By 7500 BP, Plano technology had all but vanished from North America, with the
exception of the Subarctic (6900 BP) and northern Ontario (5000 BP).
Linguistic Evidence:
Other sources provide useful information in learning more about the early origins of humans in
North America – physical anthropology, geology, mythology, DNA testing, oral traditions and
linguistics, for example.
Linguistics:
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Study of the structure of languages
Language diversification takes a considerable amount of time. The more diverse the
languages, the longer the time required for diversification.
North American native people’s linguistic diversity is amongst the most extensive in the
world – it is unlikely that it occurred in the 12,000 years since the Clovis culture, leading
linguists to support the arrival of humans much earlier than the Clovis era.
An estimated 50,000 years would be required for American native languages to emerge
from one ancestral language.
Canadian native peoples have been divided into three major linguistic families:
A) Algonquian – southern part of Canada east of the Pacific Coast mountains;
B) Athapaskan – from Alaska across much of northwestern Canada and the SubArctic interior;
C) Eskaleut (Inuit-speaking peoples) – from Greenland to Siberia – much less
diverse linguistically, with conclusive links to Europe and Asia.
Physical Anthropology:
Physical anthropologists study past societies by analyzing human remains. This study is closely
related to biology and genetics. On the basis of the evidence available, many physical
anthropologists support the argument that there have been several waves of migration to North
America:
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Oldest remains discovered are more similar to the Ainu (Japan) or Polynesian people,
even to Europeans than to modern native peoples
Early peoples of North America likely came from different places at different times.
Theory of First Peoples’ Origins:
A) A Land Route:
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Bering Strait is only 90 kilometers wide, dotted with islands in between
Can be crossed in winter when it is largely frozen
During the last Ice Age – the Pleistocene Era – sea levels were low enough to create a
land bridge – a grassy plain called Beringia – between Alaska and Siberia.
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Bands of hunter families may have followed herds of animals that migrated across this
grassy plain from Siberia to Alaska.
A gap in the northern ice sheet is unlikely before 13020 BP, making passage overland
virtually impossible.
Possibility of a coastal route along the Pacific Coast to southern parts of North America,
and there have been discoveries indicating evidence of coastal settlement.
B) Pacific Route:
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Early Americans may have crossed the Pacific by water, using a boat of some kind.
There were sufficient resources on the Pacific coast (land and sea mammals) to sustain
human life by 16,800 BP.
Some argue that humans crossed the Pacific and inhabited South America first, long
before coming to North America.
Two sites – Monte Verde, Chile and Tiama-Tiama, Venezuela – are believed to be older
than any known North American sites.
Biological evidence also suggests that the peoples of South America share genetic
characteristics with the indigenous peoples of Polynesia and Australia, but not with the
peoples of northeastern Asia.
Indigenous peoples of northwestern North America have a closer genetic link to the
peoples of Siberia than to South Americans.
C) Atlantic Route:
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Some critics have suggested that there is little connection between the early Asian and
Clovis (North American) stone technologies.
These critics claim greater similarity to Solutrean points (16,500 – 20,000 years BP)
found along the northern coast of Spain.
A genetic marker discovered through DNA analysis is the same in some native North
Americans and Europeans, but is not found in Asians.
People from the same region of Spain had navigated the seas to reach islands in the
Mediterranean as early as 14,000 years ago – this navigational skill makes an Atlantic
crossing a possibility.
None of these three routes can be eliminated as impossible. It is also possible that several
groups of people may have arrived over time, by more than one route. The debate over routes
and origins is far from over. Hopefully, future research and discoveries will shed more light on the
mysterious origin(s) of North America’s first human inhabitants.
Impact of First Wave of Globalization:
What do we know for certain, based on our studies?
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By 11,000 BP, humans were living across the entire North and South American
continents.
Although widely dispersed, the population was denser along the marine-rich west coast
and south-central lowlands of North America, as a result of fertile climate and soil for
agriculture.
Several typical North American animal species – such as the giant mammoth –
disappeared from over-hunting, causing dramatic change to the lifestyle of the early
inhabitants.
Some vegetation was also domesticated, again causing changes in lifestyle for some
North American native peoples.