Paleo-Indians

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Paleoindians or Paleoamericans are believed the first peoples to enter and inhabit the American continent during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene.^[1][2] The prefix "paleo" comes from the Greek adjective palaios (παλαιός) meaning "old." The term Paleoindian applies to a specific archaeological period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic.^[3]

[edit] Migration into the Americas

Map showing the approximate location of the ice free corridor and specific Paleoindian sites.

The specifics of Paleoindian migration to the Western Hemisphere, including the exact dates and routes of travel, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants crossed the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska from around 50,000 to 17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation.^[1][4] These people were believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along an ice-free corridor that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets, connecting the Bering land bridge to ice-free lands to the south.^[5] The other route is that they migrated, either on foot or using primitive boats, down the Pacific Coast to the tip of South America, and then crossed the Rockies and Andes.^[6] Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of metres following the last ice age.^[7]

Archaeologists contend that paleo-indians migration out of Beringia/Alaska ranges from 40,000 to around 17,000 years ago.^[8] This time range is a hot source of debate and will be for years to come. Although the debate over the time frame continues, we do know that ancient Asian peoples were living in Beringia during the last Ice Age roughly 23,000 to 19,000 years ago.^[8]

[edit] Paleoindian lifeways

Sites in Alaska (East Beringia) like Dry Creek and Healy Lake are where the earliest evidence has been found of the life style of Paleo- Indians dating from around 20,000 to 16,000 years ago.^[9] They would eventually flourish all over the Americans, primarily based in the great Plains of the United States and Canada, with offshoots as far east as the Gaspé Peninsula on the Atlantic coast, and as far south as Chile, Monte Verde.^[10] Plano culture was spread over such a wide geographical area, there were regional variations in lifestyle that subtle differences in lifestyle and relationships that helped differentiate neighboring groups. All these groups shared the common style of chipped-stone points, making the Plano culture easy to identify. Paleoindian adaptation across North America was likely characterized by small, highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family.^[11] Hunting and gathering bands usually have no chiefs (Signal leader). The men and women who earned the respect of the group because of their abilities at hunting, healing, or providing some other needed goods or services led the bands. The elders (the average life span was 30-35 years^[12]) would have been highly valued for their experience and knowledge.

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont

Paleoindians lived in an environment that was dynamically changing in climate and seasonality. Temperatures were on the average much cooler, with little seasonal variation compared to the modern era. Late ice age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change.^[13] Groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. ^[14] Paleoindian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted style spear points, as well as less distinctive implements used for butchering and hide processing. During much of the Paleoindian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna. The large Pleistocene mammals were the giant beaver, steppe wisent, musk ox, mastodons, woolly mammoths and ancient reindeer (early caribou) ^[15] Paleoindian populations undoubtedly did not rely exclusively on megafauna for subsistence. Instead, they likely employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and a variety of flora.^[16]

The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation by 14,000. At the same time as this was occurring, world wide extinctions among the large mammals also occurred. In North America, camels and horses died off, the latter not to reappear on the continent until the Spanish brought them at the end of the 15th century A.D. As larger game began to suffer extinction the Late Paleoindian groups would have come to rely more on these other facets of their subsistence pattern. Small bands utilized hunted and gathering during the spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Food would have been plentiful during the warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, aquatic birds and mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in the forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, people moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs. Trade with many had groups occurred by this time as part of Plano lifestyle. Projectile points were made from stone obtained from other sources were found traded or moved to new locations. Stone tools were traded from North Dakota and Northwest Territories, to Montana and Wyoming.^[17] Trade routes also have been found from the British Columbia Interior to the coast of California.^[17]

Apache wigwam, by Edward S. Curtis, 1903

The Paleoindians moved every 3-6 days and many have covered up to 360km (225 miles) a year. They were always moving daily for hours to use the sources of plant foods and wild game. They did not carry much food and their tool kit of microblades was easily transported. Many groups of people lived in wigwam like structures made of frame poles and covered with bark slabs or animal hides. This type of house was easy to build or move and could be heated with a small fire near the centre of the structure. Their diet was often sustaining and rich in protein due to successful hunting. In the bottleneck of Middle America, their birth rate decreased when "new" hunting grounds were found already populated by other bands. This slowed their progress and allowed the higher costs of more permanent residence to accumulate faster then the north.^[18] At first native copper was used almost exclusively in the production of utilitarian tools such as socketed and "rat-tailed" projectile points, fish gaffs, adzes, needles. Through time, however, more decorative objects such as beads and other ornaments began to appear.

[edit] Classification

Example of a fluted Clovis Paleoindian point.

Palaeo-Indians are classified by the use of a fluted style of spear point ("Clovis point"). The chipped-stone points have a long groove called a "flute", made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point.^[19] The point was tied onto the spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed due to the ice age ending around 16,000 - 14,000 years ago.^[1] Many animals migrated over the land to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals like bison, mammoth and mastadon, and caribou, thus gaining the name big game hunters.^[20][21] They would have used other food sources, like plants, smaller animals, and fish when available. The first Palaeo-Indian sites have been found in Alaska, northern British Columbia and western Alberta.^[22] and Old Crow Flats^[23]

Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that shows the earliest human settlements in North America may have been thousands of years before the appearance of Palaeo-Indians. It is possible that ancient peoples were living as far east as northern Yukon, in the glacier-free zone we now call Beringia, before 30,000 BC.^[24] Until recently, it was generally believed that the first Paleoamerican people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the town of Clovis, New Mexico, where in 1936 unique fluted points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw Locality #1, where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals.^[25]

More recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout both North and South America suggest that the Clovis people of the American Southwest were not the first inhabitants of the New World. In particular, sites like Cactus Hill in Virginia,^[26] Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania,^[27] Monte Verde in Chile,^[28] and Topper in South Carolina,^[29] have generated earlier dates for Paleoamerican occupations. These sites significantly predate the ice-free corridor and Bering land bridge, and suggest that there were additional, possibly coastal routes of migration into the Western Hemisphere from both Asia and Western Europe.^[30][31] (Further information: Understanding the time debate)

[edit] Genetic research contradicts multiple-migration models

Genetic multiple-migration map

A recent molecular genetics study suggests that the Amerindian population in the Americas may be derived from a theoretical founding population with an effective size of as small as 70.^[32] The Hey study is restricted to 9 genomic regions (or loci) in the Americas and Asia, and excludes speakers of Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut languages. The study does not address the question of separate migrations for these groups, and excludes other DNA datasets not sampled in the source literature.

An article in the American Journal of Human Genetics states "Here we show, by using 86 complete mitochondrial genomes, that all Native American haplogroups, including haplogroup X, were part of a single founding population, thereby refuting multiple-migration models.^[33][34][35]

[edit] See also

• Lithic stage in Canada (18000 BCE - 8000 BCE)
• List of pre-Columbian civilizations
• List of archaeological cultures in North America
• Archaeological culture
• Coastal Migration
• Mummy Cave
• Paleo-Eskimo
• Solutrean hypothesis

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Smithsonian Encyclopedia: Paleoamerican
• National Parks Service Southeastern Archaeological Center: The Paleoindian Period
• University of Alabama: Paleoindian
• The Paleoindian Database of the Americas
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Paleo-Indian Culture
• Paleoindian & Other Archaeological Stuff