Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2022.2048485
Ben Hoksbergen
ABSTRACT While renowned for its dense concentration of Paleoindian sites, the Middle Tennessee Valley has largely been disregarded as being too deflated to contain significant intact deposits. Recent geomorphological data from northern Alabama are helping to winnow down the depositional haystack to zero-in on portions of landforms that are most likely to harbor intact strata from the end of the Pleistocene. A new look at old landforms suggests that the karst landscape of the Middle Tennessee Valley may yet hold some surprises, and that intact early cultural deposits can show up in some unexpected places, including heavily cultivated uplands.
{"title":"The Potential for Intact Paleoindian Deposits in the Middle Tennessee Valley: A Review of the Literature with Recent Data from Redstone Arsenal","authors":"Ben Hoksbergen","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2022.2048485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2022.2048485","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While renowned for its dense concentration of Paleoindian sites, the Middle Tennessee Valley has largely been disregarded as being too deflated to contain significant intact deposits. Recent geomorphological data from northern Alabama are helping to winnow down the depositional haystack to zero-in on portions of landforms that are most likely to harbor intact strata from the end of the Pleistocene. A new look at old landforms suggests that the karst landscape of the Middle Tennessee Valley may yet hold some surprises, and that intact early cultural deposits can show up in some unexpected places, including heavily cultivated uplands.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"162 - 174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49124399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2022.2039861
C. Haynes
ABSTRACT In this brief essay, the author critiques the dating and site-formation processes related to the ancient footprints recently reported by M. R. Bennett et al. (2021) in Science (373:1528–1531), and offers an alternative working hypothesis that the features could relate to Clovis, not pre-Clovis humans.
{"title":"Evidence for Humans at White Sands National Park during the Last Glacial Maximum Could Actually be for Clovis People ∼13,000 Years Ago","authors":"C. Haynes","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2022.2039861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2022.2039861","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this brief essay, the author critiques the dating and site-formation processes related to the ancient footprints recently reported by M. R. Bennett et al. (2021) in Science (373:1528–1531), and offers an alternative working hypothesis that the features could relate to Clovis, not pre-Clovis humans.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"95 - 98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44174549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-28DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2022.2045765
David Rhode, Geoffrey M. Smith, E. Dillingham, Haden Kingrey, Nicole D. George
ABSTRACT The place of the Clovis techno-complex in Great Basin culture history remains enigmatic, both in relation to the Western Stemmed Tradition – the dominant Paleoindian artifact complex in the Intermountain West – and to the range of late Pleistocene/early Holocene habitats that people employing Clovis toolkits utilized. Here we describe the Nye Canyon Paleo Site (26Ly930), located in the Pine Grove Hills in western Nevada. The Nye Canyon Paleo Site stands alone in the Great Basin because it contains both fluted points and Clovis-style blades alongside Western Stemmed Tradition points and other tools, sits at a relatively high elevation, and potentially contains buried cultural deposits. Recent test excavations failed to locate an intact buried Paleoindian component, but the Nye Canyon Paleo Site nevertheless demonstrates the use of Clovis and Western Stemmed technology at a single upper montane locality in the western Great Basin and highlights regional Paleoindian upper montane land use.
{"title":"The Nye Canyon Paleo Site: an Upper Montane Mixed Fluted Point, Clovis Blade, and Western Stemmed Tradition Assemblage in Western Nevada","authors":"David Rhode, Geoffrey M. Smith, E. Dillingham, Haden Kingrey, Nicole D. George","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2022.2045765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2022.2045765","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The place of the Clovis techno-complex in Great Basin culture history remains enigmatic, both in relation to the Western Stemmed Tradition – the dominant Paleoindian artifact complex in the Intermountain West – and to the range of late Pleistocene/early Holocene habitats that people employing Clovis toolkits utilized. Here we describe the Nye Canyon Paleo Site (26Ly930), located in the Pine Grove Hills in western Nevada. The Nye Canyon Paleo Site stands alone in the Great Basin because it contains both fluted points and Clovis-style blades alongside Western Stemmed Tradition points and other tools, sits at a relatively high elevation, and potentially contains buried cultural deposits. Recent test excavations failed to locate an intact buried Paleoindian component, but the Nye Canyon Paleo Site nevertheless demonstrates the use of Clovis and Western Stemmed technology at a single upper montane locality in the western Great Basin and highlights regional Paleoindian upper montane land use.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"115 - 129"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44389241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-28DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2022.2046932
Ryan M. Parish, S. Robinson
ABSTRACT The study explores the hypothesis that sinkholes were used as tool-stone procurement locales by terminal Pleistocene hunter-gatherers seasonally as access to the chert deposits potentially changed due to annual precipitation regimes. The paper presents sites with major Paleoindian components directly associated with sinkholes on the Highland Rim of southeastern North America, along with an examination of sinkhole geomorphology. Admittedly, temporal and seasonal data are currently lacking that would give a clearer understanding of Paleoindian tool-stone exploitation at sinkholes, but the theoretical study seeks to add to discussions regarding a dynamic lithic landscape influenced by geomorphic processes during the terminal Pleistocene. Eighteen procurement sites in the Highland Rim of the Interior Low Plateau are presented as supporting evidence that climate change during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition potentially altered the lithic landscape of hunter-gatherer groups. The shifting access to raw materials would have influenced Paleoindian resource use, technological organization, and seasonal movements.
{"title":"A Theoretical Consideration of Paleoindian Use of Sinkholes as Dynamic Tool-stone Procurement Locales along the Highland Rim of Southeastern North America","authors":"Ryan M. Parish, S. Robinson","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2022.2046932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2022.2046932","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The study explores the hypothesis that sinkholes were used as tool-stone procurement locales by terminal Pleistocene hunter-gatherers seasonally as access to the chert deposits potentially changed due to annual precipitation regimes. The paper presents sites with major Paleoindian components directly associated with sinkholes on the Highland Rim of southeastern North America, along with an examination of sinkhole geomorphology. Admittedly, temporal and seasonal data are currently lacking that would give a clearer understanding of Paleoindian tool-stone exploitation at sinkholes, but the theoretical study seeks to add to discussions regarding a dynamic lithic landscape influenced by geomorphic processes during the terminal Pleistocene. Eighteen procurement sites in the Highland Rim of the Interior Low Plateau are presented as supporting evidence that climate change during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition potentially altered the lithic landscape of hunter-gatherer groups. The shifting access to raw materials would have influenced Paleoindian resource use, technological organization, and seasonal movements.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"175 - 186"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42913904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.2000090
D. Hermo, L. Miotti, E. Terranova
ABSTRACT In this paper, we seek to understand the variabilility in the technology of Fishtail points (FTPs). For this purpose, we consider three questions as a starting point: (a) How were FTPs made? (b) What were FTPs made for? and (c) Who made them? To answer these questions we analyze a sample from several archaeological sites in Argentinean Patagonia. We differentiate knapping stages and evaluate weapon systems using a wide set of variables to assign the lithic heads to specific weapons. Finally, we interpret the results, taking into account the provenance context of the sample. In agreement with previous results, we propose that there were at least two ways to manufacture FTP points, and these objects had acted probably in two different weapons systems. Furthermore, we propose that FTPs may be related to a multiplicity of actors, involving kids, apprentices, and experts, as well as different use contexts.
{"title":"Exploring Technological Choices in Fishtail Points from Southern Contexts: A Comparative Overview","authors":"D. Hermo, L. Miotti, E. Terranova","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.2000090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.2000090","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this paper, we seek to understand the variabilility in the technology of Fishtail points (FTPs). For this purpose, we consider three questions as a starting point: (a) How were FTPs made? (b) What were FTPs made for? and (c) Who made them? To answer these questions we analyze a sample from several archaeological sites in Argentinean Patagonia. We differentiate knapping stages and evaluate weapon systems using a wide set of variables to assign the lithic heads to specific weapons. Finally, we interpret the results, taking into account the provenance context of the sample. In agreement with previous results, we propose that there were at least two ways to manufacture FTP points, and these objects had acted probably in two different weapons systems. Furthermore, we propose that FTPs may be related to a multiplicity of actors, involving kids, apprentices, and experts, as well as different use contexts.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"79 - 94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42976653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.1999067
R. Barlow, D. Shane Miller
ABSTRACT Kuhn and Miller (2015) suggest that changes in projectile point life histories could result from (a) increased replacement costs due to limited raw material access, or (b) a decline in average hunting returns. In northern Alabama, where raw material access can be held constant, we use variation in biotic structures to make predictions for life histories of Clovis to Big Sandy projectile points over the course of the Younger Dryas (12,900–11,700 calendar years ago). Then, using data from the Alabama Paleo Point Survey and private collections, we find a decrease in projectile point size through time, and fluctuations in resharpening. These trends follow changes in forest structure, average prey size, and hunting returns. We conclude that there are no abrupt technological changes coeval with the Younger Dryas onset. However, with the Younger Dryas terminus and subsequent Holocene warming, foragers in northern Alabama made significant changes in projectile point technology.
{"title":"Clovis through Big Sandy Technological Response to the Younger Dryas in Northern Alabama","authors":"R. Barlow, D. Shane Miller","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.1999067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.1999067","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Kuhn and Miller (2015) suggest that changes in projectile point life histories could result from (a) increased replacement costs due to limited raw material access, or (b) a decline in average hunting returns. In northern Alabama, where raw material access can be held constant, we use variation in biotic structures to make predictions for life histories of Clovis to Big Sandy projectile points over the course of the Younger Dryas (12,900–11,700 calendar years ago). Then, using data from the Alabama Paleo Point Survey and private collections, we find a decrease in projectile point size through time, and fluctuations in resharpening. These trends follow changes in forest structure, average prey size, and hunting returns. We conclude that there are no abrupt technological changes coeval with the Younger Dryas onset. However, with the Younger Dryas terminus and subsequent Holocene warming, foragers in northern Alabama made significant changes in projectile point technology.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"148 - 161"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45815167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-28DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.1943181
Y. Coutouly
ABSTRACT Many archaeologists are still skeptical about a human presence in the Americas during or before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), considering that the claim is not yet sustained by hard evidence. Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Brazil) is one of the most famous pre-LGM claims, but the site has so far been considered ambiguous, and similar concerns have been raised about nearby sites. Nonetheless, for E. Boëda and co-workers, who have been working at these sites, researchers who are still skeptical about the anthropic origin of the assemblages have a psychological barrier and no scientific arguments. Are all skeptics completely blinded by their preconceptions that they cannot see the obvious and unambiguous evidence? To find out, I reviewed the numerous publications of the Piauí sites, and the outcome of my analysis is quite simple: the anthropic nature of the LGM/pre-LGM artifacts of the Piauí sites has not been demonstrated.
摘要许多考古学家仍然对晚冰川盛期（LGM）期间或之前美洲是否有人类存在持怀疑态度，认为这一说法尚未得到确凿证据的支持。Boqueirão da Pedra Furada（巴西）是前LGM时期最著名的遗址之一，但迄今为止，该遗址被认为是模糊的，附近的遗址也引发了类似的担忧。尽管如此，对于一直在这些地点工作的E.Boëda及其同事来说，仍然对这些集合的人类起源持怀疑态度的研究人员有心理障碍，没有科学依据。难道所有的怀疑论者都被他们的先入之见完全蒙蔽了双眼，他们看不到明显而明确的证据吗？为了找到答案，我查阅了皮亚伊遗址的大量出版物，我的分析结果很简单：皮亚伊遗址LGM/前LGM文物的人类学性质尚未得到证明。
{"title":"Questioning the Anthropic Nature of Pedra Furada and the Piauí Sites","authors":"Y. Coutouly","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.1943181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.1943181","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Many archaeologists are still skeptical about a human presence in the Americas during or before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), considering that the claim is not yet sustained by hard evidence. Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Brazil) is one of the most famous pre-LGM claims, but the site has so far been considered ambiguous, and similar concerns have been raised about nearby sites. Nonetheless, for E. Boëda and co-workers, who have been working at these sites, researchers who are still skeptical about the anthropic origin of the assemblages have a psychological barrier and no scientific arguments. Are all skeptics completely blinded by their preconceptions that they cannot see the obvious and unambiguous evidence? To find out, I reviewed the numerous publications of the Piauí sites, and the outcome of my analysis is quite simple: the anthropic nature of the LGM/pre-LGM artifacts of the Piauí sites has not been demonstrated.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"29 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48908048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-28DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.1985051
E. Böeda, Antonio Pérez-Balarezo, M. Ramos
ABSTRACT This comment is a brief response to the bibliographic review made by Gómez Coutouly in this issue of PaleoAmerica. We reaffirm that the anthropic nature of the Pleistocene sites in the southeast of Piauí has already been demonstrated. Based on this, we show how many skeptics with mainstream thinking reproduce a scientific ideology regarding the peopling of the Americas.
{"title":"Another “Critique,” Same Old Song: A Brief Rebuttal to Gómez Coutouly","authors":"E. Böeda, Antonio Pérez-Balarezo, M. Ramos","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.1985051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.1985051","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This comment is a brief response to the bibliographic review made by Gómez Coutouly in this issue of PaleoAmerica. We reaffirm that the anthropic nature of the Pleistocene sites in the southeast of Piauí has already been demonstrated. Based on this, we show how many skeptics with mainstream thinking reproduce a scientific ideology regarding the peopling of the Americas.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"53 - 61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43171295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-23DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.1940441
J. Chatters, B. Potter, A. Prentiss, S. Fiedel, G. Haynes, R. L. Kelly, J. D. Kilby, François B. Lanoë, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, D. Miller, J. Morrow, Angela R. Perri, K. Rademaker, Joshua D. Reuther, Brandon T. Ritchison, G. Sánchez, Ismael Sánchez-Morales, S. M. Spivey-Faulkner, J. Tune, C. Haynes
ABSTRACT Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic industry produced by early human occupants. They give limited consideration to the most plausible alternative explanation: that the assemblage is a product of natural processes of disintegration, roof fall, and mass movement of the cave fill, and thus the lithic materials are best explained as geofacts. We assess the evidence by considering the alternative hypotheses (1) that the observed phenomena are artifacts or (2) that they result from natural processes. We conclude that hypothesis 2 is more strongly supported and that Chiquihuite Cave does not represent evidence for the earliest Americans.
{"title":"Evaluating Claims of Early Human Occupation at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico","authors":"J. Chatters, B. Potter, A. Prentiss, S. Fiedel, G. Haynes, R. L. Kelly, J. D. Kilby, François B. Lanoë, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, D. Miller, J. Morrow, Angela R. Perri, K. Rademaker, Joshua D. Reuther, Brandon T. Ritchison, G. Sánchez, Ismael Sánchez-Morales, S. M. Spivey-Faulkner, J. Tune, C. Haynes","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.1940441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.1940441","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occupation in the Americas, based on lithic items excavated from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas. Although they provide extensive array of ancillary studies of the cave's chronostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental record, the data they present do not support their central argument, that these lithic items are anthropogenic and represent a unique lithic industry produced by early human occupants. They give limited consideration to the most plausible alternative explanation: that the assemblage is a product of natural processes of disintegration, roof fall, and mass movement of the cave fill, and thus the lithic materials are best explained as geofacts. We assess the evidence by considering the alternative hypotheses (1) that the observed phenomena are artifacts or (2) that they result from natural processes. We conclude that hypothesis 2 is more strongly supported and that Chiquihuite Cave does not represent evidence for the earliest Americans.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"1 - 16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41746610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-23DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2021.1978721
B. Potter, J. Chatters, A. Prentiss, S. Fiedel, G. Haynes, R. L. Kelly, J. D. Kilby, François B. Lanoë, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, D. Miller, J. Morrow, Angela R. Perri, K. Rademaker, Joshua D. Reuther, Brandon T. Ritchison, G. Sánchez, Ismael Sánchez-Morales, S. M. Spivey-Faulkner, J. Tune, C. Haynes
ABSTRACT Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying levels of empirical support and conceptual rigor, yet none is widely accepted. A recent survey of pre-Clovis dated sites (Becerra-Valdivia and Higham 2020) concludes a pre-Last Glacial Maximum (>26,500–19,000 cal yr BP) entry of humans in the Americas, in part based on recent work at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico. We evaluate the evidence used to develop this inference. To provide clarity, we present three explicit dispersal models for the earliest human dispersals to the Americas: Strict Clovis-First (13,050 cal yr BP), Paleoindian (<16,000 cal yr BP), and Pre-Paleoindian (>16,000 cal yr BP, encompassing pre-LGM, preferred by Becerra-Valdivia and Higham (2020)), and we summarize the current genetic and archaeological evidence bearing on each. We regard all purported Pre-Paleoindian sites as equivocal and the Strict Clovis-First model to be equally unsupported at present. We conclude that current data strongly support the Paleoindian Dispersal model, with Native American ancestors expanding into the Americas sometime after 16,000 cal yr BP (and perhaps after 14,800 cal yr BP), consistent with well-dated archaeological sites and with genetic data throughout the western hemisphere. Models of the Americas’ peopling that incorporate Chiquihuite or other claimed Pre-Paleoindian sites remain unsubstantiated.
{"title":"Current Understanding of the Earliest Human Occupations in the Americas: Evaluation of Becerra-Valdivia and Higham (2020)","authors":"B. Potter, J. Chatters, A. Prentiss, S. Fiedel, G. Haynes, R. L. Kelly, J. D. Kilby, François B. Lanoë, Jacob Holland-Lulewicz, D. Miller, J. Morrow, Angela R. Perri, K. Rademaker, Joshua D. Reuther, Brandon T. Ritchison, G. Sánchez, Ismael Sánchez-Morales, S. M. Spivey-Faulkner, J. Tune, C. Haynes","doi":"10.1080/20555563.2021.1978721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2021.1978721","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying levels of empirical support and conceptual rigor, yet none is widely accepted. A recent survey of pre-Clovis dated sites (Becerra-Valdivia and Higham 2020) concludes a pre-Last Glacial Maximum (>26,500–19,000 cal yr BP) entry of humans in the Americas, in part based on recent work at Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico. We evaluate the evidence used to develop this inference. To provide clarity, we present three explicit dispersal models for the earliest human dispersals to the Americas: Strict Clovis-First (13,050 cal yr BP), Paleoindian (<16,000 cal yr BP), and Pre-Paleoindian (>16,000 cal yr BP, encompassing pre-LGM, preferred by Becerra-Valdivia and Higham (2020)), and we summarize the current genetic and archaeological evidence bearing on each. We regard all purported Pre-Paleoindian sites as equivocal and the Strict Clovis-First model to be equally unsupported at present. We conclude that current data strongly support the Paleoindian Dispersal model, with Native American ancestors expanding into the Americas sometime after 16,000 cal yr BP (and perhaps after 14,800 cal yr BP), consistent with well-dated archaeological sites and with genetic data throughout the western hemisphere. Models of the Americas’ peopling that incorporate Chiquihuite or other claimed Pre-Paleoindian sites remain unsubstantiated.","PeriodicalId":37319,"journal":{"name":"PaleoAmerica","volume":"8 1","pages":"62 - 76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43358933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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