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The internet has been an excellent tool for archaeologists to share their research with each other and the general public. Here is a sample of the wealth of information you can find:
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| Roll over the close-up to go back in time to when the continents were conected. |
The world's last ice age, known as the Wisconsin Glaciation , began about 35,000 years ago and went into decline about15,000 years ago. During this time much of the world's water was frozen, trapped in the great ice sheets. As the seawater was drawn into the glaciers, low-lying areas along the coast were uncovered. As the water retreated, it revealed a vast land bridge linking the continents of Eurasia and North America. Archaeologists refer to this land bridge as "Beringia”.
It was believed that hunters crossed over the bridge following animals that foraged for food on the open tundra, such as the mammoth, mastadon, bison and caribou. Some archaeologists believe that, as the climate warmed, the ice sheets began to separate, leading the hunters deep into the continent, and then throughout the Americas via an ice-free corridor that ran north to south in present-day Alberta. Evidence of this big-game hunter culture was given the name Clovis after sites excavated near Clovis, New Mexico and throughout continental United States all revealed distinctive fluted spearheads made of stone. These spearheads were dated between 11,500-11,000 BP (Before Present). Until just recently, Clovis was considered the earliest culture to have entered the Americas, since the evidence was so widespread throughout North America, even into some areas of Central America.
However, there are more and more scientists that are contesting the Beringia Land Bridge theory as the only means by which humans came to the Americas. In fact, some maintain that new evidence suggests that there were a variety of routes from different directions that were possibly taken by groups of ancient peoples. Others have disproved the theory of migration through the ice-free corridor at the times when travel was assumed to have taken place.
Geologist Alejandra Duk-Rodkin of the Geological Survey of Canada has completed extensive research of the Mackenzie River Valley, the area commonly assumed to be where an ice-free corridor was open for ancient peoples to walk through. She has found strong evidence to prove that this journey was not possible without the aid of boats between 30,000 to 10,000BP. Read about the results of her research in Chapter 21 “The Corridor That Wasn’t” in Bones: Discovering the First Americans by Elaine Dewar (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2001).
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Before the acceptance of Monte Verde, which was excavated between 1977 and 1989, there were archaeological sites found around the Americas that pre-dated Clovis but were immediately dismissed by the bulk of the archaeology community as not having enough evidence to be convincing. However, through the work of Thomas D. Dillehay and his team and their persistence in the face of much scrutiny and criticism, Monte Verde is now considered as a source of conclusive evidence that there were ancient peoples in the Americas dating 1000 years before the Clovis culture, and that they were plant gatherers as well as hunters.
The dig at Monte Verde produced artifacts that normally do not survive over time, due to a peat bog that covered the site. This peat bog, itself dating 10,300 to 12,000 years ago, kept out oxygen, an agent which promotes decay. The artifacts recovered provide a nearly complete picture of the lives of the people living there. Monte Verde itself dates back at least 12,500 radiocarbon years (14,700 calendar years) and revealed evidence of a people that ate shellfish, small game, nuts and berries and other vegetation and lived in an organized settlement complete with animal-hide shelters. It calls into question the idea of people coming all the way south from the Beringia Land Bridge, because even if there were an ice-free passageway available earlier, it still would be highly unlikely that people would have reached southern South America in only a few hundred years. It also provides the impetus to investigate possible coastal routes (by land and by vessel) or other earlier possibilities, and many sites previously discounted are being re-examined.
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Recommended for Teachers
The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory by Thomas D. Dillehay, which provides a new perspective of settlement and early life based on the evidence at Monte Verde and other South American sites.
Read a portion of the introduction, where Thomas Dillehay talks about getting involved in the Monte Verde dig and a summary of the importance of his findings:
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Some scientists are seeking to prove that ancient peoples could have entered and settled the Americas by moving along the Pacific coast from the southern coastline of Beringia and Alaska all the way down to South America. They may have moved from one place to another either by small watercraft or by foot, during or even before the Ice Age. They would have had a diet based on marine mammals, plants, and fish as opposed to big game. Although not a new idea, there have been new discoveries in the last few years to substiantiate this idea. For example, scientists have found an area now submerged in over 100m of water off the coast of British Columbia that would have been open tundra 12,000+ years ago, and what is now the Queen Charlotte Islands would have been the tops of mountains. This discovery and others help to promote the idea that there were unglaciated areas, suitable for wildlife and plants to live and flourish, and also for people to move from island to island down along the Pacific coast of the Americas.
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Other scientists are focusing on the possibility that other entry points to the Americas were along the Atlantic coastline. Analysis and comparison of tools and toolmaking technology found strong similarities between Clovis and Solutrean culture found on the Iberian penninsula in Western Europe dating between 22,000 and 16,500 years ago. This has led some to hypothesize that the Solutreans may have been ancestors of the Clovis culture, since these similarities can not be found between Clovis and peoples originating in the Siberia region. They may have made the trans-Atlantic crossing in watercraft and followed along the coastline, eventually moving inland and across America.
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Archaeologists can only analyse what they find, and what they find is a small fraction that has survived over time.
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There will always be new archaeological digs revealing new artifacts that lead to new theories, or lend more credibility to existing ones.
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Re-analysis of previously found artifacts and digs may reveal more than originally thought, and reshape previously stated theories.
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Scientists can interpret the evidence in many ways (ie. Monte Verde debate)
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The theories that we have on this website are constantly evolving with each new piece of the archaeological puzzle, and they certainly won’t be the last!
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Recommended for Teachers
Bones: Discovering the First Americans by Elaine Dewar. Dewar is a journalist that seeks to find out the answer to the question “Where did Native Americans Come From?” and goes straight to the sources (scientists and sites) to find out. An excellent, readable overview and summary of the current issues in this field of study. Published by Random House Canada, 2001.
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