Slide 1Slide 2Slide 3Slide 4Slide 5Slide 6Slide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Slide 11Slide 12Slide 13Slide 14Slide 15Slide 16Slide 17Slide 18Slide 19Slide 20Slide 21Slide 22Slide 23Slide 24Slide 25Slide 26Slide 27Slide 28Slide 29Slide 30Slide 31Slide 32Slide 33Slide 34Slide 35Slide 36Slide 37Slide 38Slide 39Slide 40Slide 41Slide 42The Peopling of Australia andthe New WorldOnly modern Homo sapiens spread to thefarthest reaches of the world:into SiberiaAustraliaNew World (North-Central-South America)Remember, this spread occurred duringthe Pleistocene, the Ice Age,When glaciation caused low sea levels,allowing some land masses to be joinedColonization of the New WorldAmericas were settled by Homo sapiens sapiensduring the Upper Paleolithic (during the Pleistocene)Controversies:1. When did people enter the New World?2. What routes did they take to enter the New World and where did they come from?3. How many waves of migration were there?4. What does Clovis represent?Where/how did people arrive? a. Across Berengia and through ice-free corridor? b. In boats along Pacific coast from Berengia? c. In boats across Arctic ocean from Europe?Immigrants traditionally thought to have walked here byfollowing big game across the Bering Land BridgeBeringiaGlacial advance caused sea levels dropped about 120 meters below what we see today, creating a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska close to 1500 km wide. It was exposed continuously from 35,00 – 11,000 ya. Blue area indicatesexposed land during glaciationIce Free-Corridor formed near end of Pleistocene between 15k and 12kyaNavigable, but not necessarily survivableOnce you reached Alaska, had to traverse throughglacier-covered Canada.Could do so only when an ice-free corridor opened upnear end of Pleistocene between 15,000-12,000 ya.Navigable, but not necessarily survivable journeyA. Across Berengia and through ice-free corridorB. In boats along Pacific coast from Berengia?(Pacific Coastal Route)Still from Asia, but along coastClimate not as harsh as Ice-Free CorridorWe know they had boats at least 40 kyaWe don’t have to worry about time constraints of Land Bridge or Ice-Free CorridorCoastal Route along exposed continental shelf, which is now underwater: Need to conduct underwater archaeology to find evidenceC. In boats across Arctic ocean from Europe?Siberia lacks artifacts that resemble Paleoindian (Clovis) pointsSolutrean points from Europeare very similar to Clovis - finely worked bifacial points(www.andaman.org)Geographical and temporal distance leaves some archaeologists skeptical – the Solutrean Complex is found in Europe between 22,000 ya and 16,500 ya. This leaves roughly a 3,000 year gap between the end of the Solutran Complex and the generally accepted beginning of Clovis (13,500 ya.)How could you possibly tell where colonizers came from?You’d look for earlier sites in source areas.You’d look for the same styles of artifacts in thesource area and in the earliest American sites.But to figure out what is earlier, you’d need toknow when they first arrived in the Americas!(Center for the Study of the First Americans)(Wisner 1997:14)When did people arrive? We now know they were living at Monte Verde site in Chile (near south tip of South America) by 14,000 ya(Feder & Park 2001:424)Very controversial whenfirst foundNow well accepted dateof 14,000 yaOrganic remains preserved(uky.edu)Cut wooden stakeStructure, arrow at NW cornerWHERE did the colonizers come from?You’d expect to find some cultural continuity:the same sorts of artifacts, using the same technologyin the source area where colonizers originatedand before they appear in their new American homeWhat styles of artifacts do we first find in America?We’ll start with what people thought for a long timeClovis: lanceolate, fluted spear pointFound across North America 13,000-10,000 yaEarliest were made of high quality raw materialSource of raw material may be very distantSeen as evidence for high mobility of people(Center for the Study of the First Americans)Lanceolate = shapeFluted = channel at base for hafting onto spearClovis points are widespread across North America at about 10,000 ya. Two theories:Clovis-first: These points were made by the earliest colonizers and represent the geographic spread of the first successful colonizers (Feder & Park 2001:427)LanceolateflutedOr . . . Pre-Clovis:People were already here, making other sortsof less durable tools and/or less distinctive tools. So Clovis represents the spread of a new technology rather than the spread of the first colonizersIncreasing numbers of pre-Clovis sites arebeing found in North AmericaMany remain controversialMeadowcroft Rockshelter, sw PennsylvaniaTopper, sw South CarolinaCactus Hill, VirginiaIn other words, Clovis were NOT thefirst tools: other tools are earlierLee Paxton, Wikimedia CommonsMeadowcroft Rockshelter southwestern PennsylvaniaOver 12,800 ya Miller Lanceolate projectile point (unfluted) Blades KnivesSimon Fraser virtual museumTopper, along Savannah River, South CarolinaPerhaps 20,000 yaEven more controversial, 50,000 ya Dr. Al Goodyear SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology(http://www.allendale-expedition.net/)(http://www.allendale-expedition.net/)(http://www.allendale-expedition.net/)Cactus Hill, Virginia(Center for the Study of the First Americans)Found stratigraphically below ClovisC14 date of 18,000 yaScraperCoreBladesClovisPre-Clovis(Center for the Study of the First Americans)SiberiaGrowing number of archaeological projectsBut still little archaeological investigationYana RHS dates to 27,000 years agoin the Arctic Circle of eastern Siberia on Yana RiverHunted megafauna and large game(RHS stands for Rhinoceros Horn Site)Pitulko et al. 2004Yana RHSOne rhinoceros horn and two mammoth ivory atlatl fragmentsLithic assemblage: Core tools, bifacially-flaked pebbles, choppers, scrapers, and a hammerstone Pitulko et al. 2004Pitulko et al.2004Dyuktai Culture No older than 18,000 ya and probably 14,000-12,000 yacharacterized by bifacial points; discoidal, Levallois, and wedge-shaped cores; dihedral burins; crescentic flakes; microblade scrapers; notched-based bladesHunted
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