Figure 1.--Archeologists for decades accepted the Clovis First theory as to how Native Americans peopled the continent. That theory has now been questioned by both areological finds and DNA evidence. This photograph depicts a Chemehuevi Indian boy from Arizona. The portrait was taken by Edward Sheriff Curtis in 1907. Edward Sheriff Curtis is regarded as perhaps the most celebrated photographer of Native American people and culture. Over a 30 year period, he created a scholarly and artistic body of work that would document the ceremonies, beliefs, customs, daily life, and leadersof more than 80 Native American tribes. His monumental North American Indian project contained a set of 20 volumes of ethnographic text illustrated with 2,200 high quality images and is considered the most significant record of Native American peoples and traditions.

The Native American people are primarily descended from Siberian peoples that crossed the Bearing Straits land bridge created by the Ice Age. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers migrated to the American continent over a Bearing Sea land-ice bridge. This accepted by the scientific community. Virtually everything else about Native Americans is a matter of dispute. The history of native Americans is hotly debated by archeologists, anthropologists, geneticists, and linguists. Joining the debate are Native Americans who have many legitimate grevinces with the archeologists. Entering the scientific debate are charges of white racism and the counter charge that the demand political correctness is inhibiting science. The problem that archeologists and anthroplogists which have dominated the study of Native Americans have so often been wrong. And the new sciences entering the field (genetics and linguistics) are just beginning to develop the tools needed to add to the debate. Archeologists once almost unanimously dated this crossing at about 13,500 years ago. Today there is mounting evidence that the crossing occurred much earlier. It also appears to have occurred in a series of waves, although it is not clear if these were waves crossing the Bearing Straits or waves of migration south from Alaska. After crossing the Bearing Sea ice bridge, the Native American people moved south and east. Here there is also controversy. An ice-free corridor through the North American ice shelf was once widely accepted, but today has come into question. Increasing acceptance is developed for a coastal migration by boats. Actual evidence for both possibilities, however, is very limited. We know that somehow prop-Indians did get south and eventually populated the entire Western Hemsphere as far south as Tierra de Fuego in South America. Not only is the migration route questioned, but also when the migration occurred. Most modern archeologists grew up at a time when there was a solid consensus among archeologists that Siberian hunters crossed Bearing Sea ice bridge about 13,000-15,000 years ago and that they moved through an ice free corridor and desimated the mega-fauna of the Western Hemisphere. The discovery of Clovis-point spearheads seems to confirm this chronology. Now almost everything about this consensus has been questioned. The new evidence includes DNA studies and raised many questions about the previously accepted Clovis First theory. This has complicated Native American anthropolgical studies. We now know that migration continued well after development of indignous socities in both North and South America. This means that migrations took place well after civilizations for which we have archeolgical evidence. This had confused early anthrpologists who assumed that the migrations preceeded the early cultures which they found such as the Clovis Point people. The stone tools found at Clovis, New Mexico are believed to date to about 9000 BC. The Clovis Point people were once thought to be the earlist American culture. Other cultures have sence been found much further south in South America. [Koppel] Clovis-First adherents question these findings. Linguists has entered the debate. They point out that the language diversity in the Americas is much greater than in the Old World. This suggests a far longer history than allowed by Clovis First. But there are differences of opinion among theorists as well. While the debate continues, there is a growing consensus that Native American occupation of the Americas occurred much earlier than at first believed. There is no consenus on this, but estimates within 20,000-30,000 years are being cited by an increasing number of experts in the widening field of North American studies.

Human African Origins

Native Americans like all humans are of African discent. For years archeologists have been wrestling with bones and artifacts to trace humnman origins. Linguistic studies have also provided useful information. The modern science of DNA has revolutionized the study of pre-history. There is now general agreement that modern man originated in Africa about ??? years ago. Modern DNA studies have in recent years provided increasdingly accurate accounts of the migrations and genentic relationships of different peoples. From Africa man gradually peopled the other continents. Man spread fatest east along the coast of south Asia, reaching Australia about ??? years ago. Man did not spread directly north to Europe or even through Turkey into the Balkans. Rather DNA studies suggest that in a subsequent wave, man spread from Africa into Central Asia. Most modern humans have descended from these Africans who migrated into Central Asia foloowing game onto the vast Central Asian grasslands. Here humanity divided. This divergence occurred about 40,000 years ago. Those that moved west becanme Europeans. Those that moved east became Chinese and others moving south became Indians (South Asians). A smaller group moved northeast into the harsh, forbidding reaches of modern Siberia. It is from this group that native American peoples have descended.

Siberian Settlement

There has been some discussion among archologists as to when human settlement began in the Artic regions of Siberia. This dating is of interest because these are the people who eventually made the Bearing Sea crossing to the Americas. Archeologists had believed that human settlement in the upper reaches of the Siberian Arctic began about 15,000 years ago. [Science] Russian researchers reported in 2004 that Siberian settlement may have occurred much earlier, around 30,000-35,000 years ago. The researchers found evidence of human settlement along the Yana River. This was an interesting discovery so far north because the climate was colder at the time. One especially interesting find was a spear foreshaft made from rhinocerous ivory has a remarable resemblance to similar shafts made by the Clovis people in North America. [Science] This raises the possibility is the Yana River people may gave been involved in the Bearing Sea Crossing to North America.

Beringia

The current debate over climate change should be put into an historical context. Geologists have found that ovr geological time, sea levels have risen and fell many times. Many of these shifts have been very significant, resulting in spectacular geological changes. We of course in our assessment of Native American migrations are interested in the most recent ice age. The last Ice Age occurred around 12,000-15,000 years ago. At this time, massive volumes of water were precipated on land in the form of ice and snow. Over time this tied up a substantial portion of the earth's water in deep glacial ice that extended deep into the North American, European, and Asian land masses. As a result, sea levels dropped significantly, estimate suggest anout 100 metrs. Shallow seas separate Asia from North America near the present day Bering Strait. As a result when sea levels dropped, a land bridge was created between Asia (Siberia) and North Ameruca (Alaska). This land bridge was not a narrow strip, but rather a 1,000 mile wide grassland steppe. The Bearing Sea land bridge created a relatively warm environment to the south, at least along the coast because it cut off the flow of cold Arctic Water south. The land bridge permitted the movement of animals, plants, and also Siberian humans. These became proto-Indians. P. Sushkin and E. Hulten created the term "Beringia" to describe the geographic area. The name is derived from Vitus Bering, the Danish explorer who expolored the area for Tsarist Russia (18th century). The term continues to be used for a extensive area between the Kolyma River in the Russian Far East to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The U.S,. National Park Service administers a Shared Beringian Heritage Program and is promoting the establishment of a Beringian Heritage International Park.

Early European Thought

The histotory of archeological study pf Native Americans has been one of constantly pushing back the time-line at which proto-Indians peopled the continent. This whole process of dating proto-Indians began with Columbus' initial voyage. Columbus to his death insisted he had reached Asia. Very quickly other explorers realized that they had discovered a new continent. This raised a very serious problem for the Church. Christian theologists had determined that the Great Flood had destroyed all mankind and land animal life except for what Noah cramed into his ark. Thus the Church had to explain where Native Americans came from and how they got to the New World. This required some imaginative thought. The general consensus was at first the Lost Tribe of Israel. Another early problem was explaining how the Isrealites got to the Americas. Timing was another problem and early estimates were quite low. Eventually Bishop Usher providing an exacting time line. Darwin's publication of The Origin of the speis opened up the science-based study of Native-American origins.

Native Americans Origns

The Native American people are primarily descended from Siberian peoples who crossed the Bearing Straits. Archeologists for some time have been convinced that Natve Americans are of Asiatic origins that migrated from Siberia. The Native American people are primarily descended from Siberian peoples that crossed the Bearing Ice Bridge created by the Ice Age. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers migrated to the American continent over a Bearing Sea land-ice bridge. This accepted by the scientific community. Virtually everything else about Native Americans is a matter of dispute. The history of native Americans is hotly debated by archeologists, anthropologists, geneticists, and linguists. Joining the debate are Native Americans who have many legitimate grevinces with archeologists. Modern DNA studies have confirmed the Asiatic origins of modern Native Americans. There is a lingering debate as to other peoples who may have also reached the Americas. While Native Americans are clearly of Asiatic origins, just when they crossed the Bearing OIce Bridge and how they moved south is of intense academic debate.

Bering Sea Crossing

The Siberians who migrated to North America were nomadic hunter-gatherers who crossed the Bering Land Bridge. This is one of the few events that archeologists agree about. During the Ice Age sea levels were lower, much lower. So much water was tied up in the Northern Hemisphere ice cap, that sea levels may have been an incredible 100-150 meters lower than today. This created a land bridge over what is now the shallow but forbidding Bearing Straits. Prescisely when this crossing took place, however, is a matter of considerable controversy. For years Archeologists based on the Clovis First theory dated the crossing at about 13,500 years ago. This was the time when the glacial ice of the Ice Age was believed to have receeded and a ice free-corridor appeared south from Alaska into the Noth American heartland. There is now, however, considerble disagreement among Native American specialists as to just when these crossings began. how they were made, and how long they continued. Some scientists now believe that Ice Age people arrived in North America over the Bering Sea land bridge much earlier, perhaps 20,000-30,000 years ago or even earlier. Archeologists for the most part clung to Clovis First. Other specialists, however, raised some chincks in the Clovis First orthodoxy. Preliminary DNA studies suggest that these migrations took place in multiple, perhaps three waves. These estimates are based on recent DNA studies assessing when Asians and Native Americans diverged genetically. Not all researchers working with DNA agree as to the dates involved. Some also suggest that it was about 15,000 years ago. One study suggest that the first crossing was made by extrenmely small groups, perhaps only 10-20 people. Then the linguists chimed in to the debate. They noted an incredible linguistic diversity, far greater than the Old World. This suggested a much earlier initial crossing than estimated by the Clovis First theorists. These new contributors to the subject were not invested in Clovis First like the archeological community.

Migration South

Archeologists differ on the process of the miration south. After crossing the Bearing Sea ice bridge, the Native American people moved south and east until populating the entire Western Hemsphere as far south as Tierra de Fuego in South America. This is certainly the case. There is considerable difference, however, as to just how the Siberians nomads after crossing began their journey south. There seems to be two competngtheories, 1) a coastal route and 2) an ice free interior corridor. Some archeologists believe that the migrants moved south along the coast of Alaska through an ice free coastal corridor. Some archeologists report a human presence in coastal Oregon about 12,000 BC. [Jenkins] They could have come along a coastal route or arrived by sea. Other archeologists challege this theory and suggest an ice free corridor east of the Rockey mountains. This route appears to have oened around 11000-10000 BC and led to the high planes of North America. There is no real doubt that Asiatic migrations took place. (Some suggest European or Polynesian migrations, but the archeolgical evidence is virtually nill.) While the Bering Sea crossing is accepted by most all sereious archeologists, the precise timing and process of these migrations is a matter of considerable scientific debate. Some contend that the migrations may have have involved people that moved by sea as well as by land. These mariners did not have large ocean-going rafts, but could have made short hops in small craft from island to island as they moved south. There is little archeological evidence for this, but most of their settlements would today be underwater. [Koppel] However the migration south occurred, one fact is indesutable. The nomadic hunters hit the migrational jackpot. There ancestors eaked out a meager existence in the harsh conditions of northeastern Siberia. Moving south they encountered an uninhabited land of unimaginable richess. It now appears that there were several successive waves of migrations. The now probable successive migrations have complicated Native American anthropolgical studies. We now know that migration continued well after development of indignous socities in both North and South America. This means that migrations took place well after civilizations for which we have archeolgical evidence. This had confused early anthrpologists who assumed that the migrations preceeded the early cultures which they found such as the Clovis Point people. Undoubtedly the increasing sophistication of DNA studies will eventually tell us much more about migratory patterns within the Americas.

Clovis First

The stone tools found at Clovis, New Mexico are believed to date to about 9000-11000 BC. The Clovis Point is esentially a elgantly flutted stone spearhead that was a major technological advance. As late as the 1980s there was a neat, widely accepted theory as to the peoplong of the Americas. The Clovis Point people were thought to be the earlist American culture. For many years this Clovis First theory dominated the anthropological view of the peopleing of the Americas. Anthropolgists theorized that as the Ice Age receeded, a corridor opened for Asian nomads to penetrate into the heart of North America. The disappearance of the mega-fauna of North America at this time seemed to confirm that these nomads armed with Clovis Point weapons were responsible. (the fact that Clovic points appeared, the ice sheets receeded and the mega-fauna disappeared at the samr time about 13,500 years ago seemed to confirm the theory.) Modern anthropological work has brought this theory into question. One problem is that nomadic tribes in Siberia did not have Clovis Point weapons. Some antropologists have noted similar technology in Europe pointing to Ice Age Solutrians. Other arcelogists see a link between Solutrian and Clovis technology in artifacts found at Medow Lark that date to abour 15,000 years ago. DNA studies have found evidence of non-Asian bloodlines. One has to ask, however, how a people with advanced thechnology could have left such a smal genetic imprint. Some anthropolgists believe that the invention of the Clovis Point was the first major technological invention in the Americas. Another complication is that archeological finds in South America suggest human settlement much earlier of the Clovis Point people. Cultures have sence been found in South America that significant pre-date the Clovis people of North America. [Koppel] There have also been earlier discoveries in North America such as along the coast of Oregon. [Jenkins] These discoveries have, however, been questioned and the debates over Clovis First continue. Many archeologists still clining to the Clovis First theory are dubious about reports of much earlier settlement. Further complicating the story, anthropolgists disagree as to weather the spread of Clovis Point technology chroicles the migration of a people or a technology accorss different people. These issues are the subject of enormous debate among archeologists and anthropolgists which will probably take a geneation to resolve.

Sources

Jenkins, Dennis. University of Oregon.

Koppel, Tom. Lost World: Prehostopry--How New Science is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners (Atria, 2003), 288p.

Science, January 2, 2004.

Created: January 19, 2004
Last updated: 3:15 AM 4/6/2008