Preconditions for the Initial colonization of the Americas -
Parent Population in Northeast Asia
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Dependent on configuration of circumpolar ice sheets
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Access to non-glaciated North America
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Exposure of Bergingian land connection
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dependent on advance of ice sheets and lower global sea level
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possibility of sea borne movement
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Exposure of habitable land areas in northwest North America
Expectations for Initial Colonization -
New World populations should resemble ‘parent’ populations in northeast Asia, at least initially
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Resemblance in biology and technology
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Drift in both spheres should be expected over time.
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Human impact on ecology of the New World may be striking.
Routes -
Overland Routes:
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Access via Beringia to Central Alaska refugium
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Passage South through ‘Ice Free’ Corridor
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May have been a two step process, pulsed by glacial advance and retreat
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Oversea Passage:
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Access via boats along Berring straits and down the Northwest Coast
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Less obstacles to movement, probably associated with different economy
A Hunter’s Garden of Eden? -
Effects of Human colonization in previously unoccupied environments:
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No human competitors
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Abundant ‘dumb’ animals
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Often radical disruption of existing ecological relationships
Hunters in Paradise -
No ethnographic analogy (again!)
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New ecological relationships
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potential for explosive population growth
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large, shifting and mobile group territories, linked to movement of large (‘dumb’) animals
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Potential for mass extinctions
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Situation inherently unstable
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Ecosystem will rapidly evolve toward more stable relationships
And so... -
Potential for configurations of human culture and society that are unlike those known in the ethnographic present
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Potentially rapid change in environmental and ecological conditions may make initial stage of colonization difficult to recognize and date.
Initial Colonization
Models and Chronologies
Short Chronology -
Belief that the colonization of the Americas was a relatively recent event
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Belief shattered by finds of obvious human tools in direct association with extinct Pleistocene fauna
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Folsom, New Mexico 1926-27: discovery of 23 extinct bison with 19 in situ fluted points
Clovis as Industry of Earliest Inhabitations -
Large, bifacially worked and fluted spear point as unique to the New World
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Dates for Clovis tradition points fall in the range 11-12,000 BP
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All later developments in the Americas arising from Clovis
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Dates older than 12,000 BP are problematic
Clovis Long Chronology Models -
Clovis: at an earlier date
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Pre-Clovis Industries
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Pre-projectile point model: Assumes earlier chopper/scraper industry, colonization by at least 30,000 BP
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Early Bifacial Industries: Potential connections to Duktai Tradition and precursor industries in eastern Europe and Asia (Müller-Beck)
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Very Early Man: Arrivals 50,000 BP or earlier
Müller-Beck Model -
Development of biface industries in central Europe and Asia at 35,000 BP
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associated with cold climate, big game hunting (Molodova, Kostyenki, etc.)
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~ 27,000 BP Emergence of Aurignacian Industries in Western Europe
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biface industries persist in favorable areas Europe and Asia
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~20,000 BP Glacial Maximum makes northern Siberia and Beringia uninhabitable
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16,000-12,000, Aurignacia expansion into Siberia, disappearance of biface industries
‘Elephant House’ Kostienki D’uktai Complex Beringia Model Expectations -
No occupation before about 28,000 BP
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Earliest Stone working industry should be bifacial and should resemble Kostyenki, Aldan Valley Industries
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Possible Second (later) Intrusion of assemblages with Aurignacian elements
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No ‘Crude’ Industrial Stage
Archaeological Evidence -
Northeast Asia: Aldan Valley Sites
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Ezhantsy:
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30-35,000 BP, choppers, burins, small cores associated with Mammoth, Wooly Rhino, etc.
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Verkhne-Troitskaya:
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23,500-18,300 BP, bifacial spear points, knives, burins, scrapers, associated with cold fauna [start of Diuktai tradition]
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Diuktai Cave:
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13,000 BP, large assemblage of bifacial knives and points combined with abrupt retouch (Aurignacian) scrapers. [end of Diuktai tradition]
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Alaska and the Yukon:
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Bluefish Caves (Yukon)
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collagen dates 12,000-15,000 BP
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Biface trimming flakes, micro blades, wedge-shaped scrapers
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Cold megafauna: mammoth, horse, caribou, bison
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Dry Creek Sites (Alaska)
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11,200 BP
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Cobble and flake tools, blades, bifaces, similar to Dyukhtai tradition sites in Siberia
Nenana Complex Denali Complex PalaeoIndian Industries -
South America:
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Tibitó, Columbia:
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11,740 +/- 110 BP, Mastodon, horse, deer
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Cerro La China, Argentina:
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10,720 BP, classic biface dominated assemblage with ‘fish-tail’ points
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Monte Verde, Chile:
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12,450 +/- 150 BP, flake assemblage associated with stream side huts.
Monte Verde Biological Evidence -
Dental Morphology: Sinodonty
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Argument that most New World populations share affinity with a North Asian populations
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Features not shared with Lake Baikal peoples or Stone Age Ukraine, or modern Chinese (split estimated at 20,000 years ago)
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Genetic:
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Studies of South American native populations suggest 1) groups probably arose from a single founder population, 2) initial population shared a single source in Northeast Asia
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Possibility that earliest colonists genetically more distant from modern Amerinds
Sinodonts and Sundadonts Linguistic Evidence -
Geographical Distribution and formal characteristics of Languages suggest three distinct migrations to the New World
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1. Initial Amerind language superfamilies pre- 11,000 BP
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2. Na-Dene (Athabascan, etc.) between 9,000 and 5,000 BP
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3. Aleut-Eskimo roughly 4,000 BP
Current State of the Debate -
Scarcity of unambiguous sites prior to 13,000 BP
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May be due to small numbers of initial colonists and effects of later glacial advances
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Early dates in South America
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Possible support for multiple migrations into North America
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Increased consideration of water-borne entry into North America
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Very little support for either very early occupation or for initially ‘crude’ assemblages
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although possibility of non-big game focused adaptations.
So What About Colonization from Western Europe?
The Solutrean Hypothesis
The Solutrean Solutrean Hypothesis -
Similarities in Bifacial tool working technologies of Solutrean of Western Europe and PaleoIndian Clovis.
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Migration across ice-laden northernmost Atlantic on foot or by boat
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Ritual usage of red ochre
Würm: circa. 20,000 BP Contra Arguments -
Chronology:
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Solutrean (21,000-16,500 BP) predates earliest Clovis industry (circa 12,000 BP) by 5,000 yrs
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“Pre-Clovis” non-fluted biface industry at Meadowcroft shelter, dates to 18,000 BP
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Technology:
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similarities are superficial, and can be accounted for by technological convergence.
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Substantial differences in technique (most Solutrean formed on blades)
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No fluting flakes in Solutrean
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Impoverished bone/antler industry in Clovis
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Geography:
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Solutrean limited in distribution to Spain and southern France.
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During Late Glacial Maximum (circa 18,000 BP), whole of northwest Europe unoccupied, including southern Britain.
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Straight transatlantic crossing from Iberia, 5,000 km!
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Subsistence:
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Deep sea fishing or marine mammal exploitation necessary for transatlantic migration.
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While coastal Solutrean sites do evidence mollusc collection and harvesting anadromous fish, no evidence for marine mammal exploitation, even though animals are present
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Art and Ornamentation:
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Red ochre used universally as important pigment
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Paucity of representational art in Clovis compared to Solutrean
Another Theory for the Dust Heap? -
Narrow focus on Solutrean, as opposed to more wide spread Bifacial tool traditions (e.g. Müller- Beck).
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There were wide spread, high latitude hunters across much of EurAsia using bifacial industries.
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Successful prehistoric circum-arctic adaptations
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Colonization of Greenland, Iceland(?)
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The Political Dimension: Was the early colonization of America achieved by Europeans or Asians?
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Implications for “Native American” politics
And In The End … -
Most likely that the colonization of the New World came from East Asia via Beringia.
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Colonization may well have followed by land and sea routes, or a combination of the two
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Initial colonization occurred prior to 12,000 BP, and quite possibly before 20,000 BP
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Very likely that colonization occurred in several steps or pulses.
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