Archeology of the Americas
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The Archeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of North America, Central America (or Mesoamerica), South America and the Caribbean, which is to say, the pre-history and Pre-Columbian history of Native American peoples. (Although modern archaeology of contemporary American societies has been conducted, it is not generally considered covered by this term.)
Until recently, the most widely accepted interpretation of the archaeological evidence suggests a series of migrations from Siberia over a land bridge near the end of the last ice age. The linguist Joseph Greenberg had proposed three main waves of migration based on his categorisation of Amerindian languages. However, recent finds in Brazil have changed the way archeologists think about how the Americas were first settled. Among these finds is a 12,000 year-old skull (http://www.andaman.org/book/chapter53/luzia/luzia.htm) which is closely related to the aboriginal peoples of Australia and Melanesia. Cave paintings show images of giant armadillos, which died out before the last ice age. They also show the oldest painting of a boat anywhere in the world. Archaeologists speculate that the first Americans migrated in small island-to-island hops from Australia. There also seems to be some caucasian input, possibly crossing the Atlantic on ice-floes during the ice-age. However, the principal origin of native populations is still accepted to be east Asian
There are various alternatives to this theory. Many unconventional, unrelated, diffusionist theories abound. These alternative theories generally are based upon less evidence and lack a significant scholarly following.
In the United States, physical anthropology (archeological investigations based on the study of human remains) is complicated by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, (NAGPRA), which provides for the bodies of Native Americans and grave goods to be turned over to their tribe. In some cases, notably, that of Kennewick Man, this has affected human remains many thousands of years old which seem to have no connection to the modern tribes which are requesting relief under the act.
Some studies suggest that the genetic histories of Meso and South Americans cannot be clearly linked to other populations (PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11144288)). One study links more northern tribes to specific Asian peoples. The study asserts that tribes from Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario, including the Blackfoot and Iroquois, are all related to the prehistoric Japanese people (Jomon), whose own origin is thought to be Mongolian. The Inuit peoples are said to be mainly related to Jomon as are those "tribal groups who lived down the eastern seaboard into Florida." However, "another group, originating in China and including the Athabascan-speaking people from the Yukon drainage of Alaska and northwest Canada, spread as far south as Arizona and northern Mexico. [1] (http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2000/Feb00/r021500b).
Further reading
- Bones, Discovering the First Americans, Elaine Dewar, Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 2002, hardcover, 628 pages, ISBN 0-7867-0979-0
External links
- Paleoamerican Origins (http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleoamerican_origins.html): A Review of Hypotheses and Evidence Relating to the Origins of the First Americans.
- Early Monumental Architecture of the Peruvian Coast. (http://www.jqjacobs.net/andes/coast.html)
- Rock Art Pages by James Q. Jacobs (http://www.jqjacobs.net/rock_art/)
- BBC News Article: First Americans were Australian (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/430944.stm)fi:intiaanien historia