All,
Anyone interested in New World Late Pleistocene/early Holocene palaeoanthropological issues should have a look at the October 2002 issue (Vol. 3, No. 2) of Athena Review. Its main theme is "Peopling of the Americas: New World Explorers, Pt. 3" and, with its seven, quite substantial and very well illustrated papers, covers a fair bit of ground. Including some new one. Followed by some of my very preliminary and uneven notes and comments (**), they are:
- "Introduction: On learning about the first Americans, their journeys, Old World relations, and the New World they found." By Amy E. Cushing, Editor, Palaeoanthropology. Pages 14 - 22.
** A fairly well balanced overview of the questions under discussion. Interestingly, the author does stress the need to re-evaluate the controversial Pedra Furada evidence in the light of new information presented in some of the papers. Finally (a minor point), I was not surprised by the fact that the attention coterminous US writers frequently give to northern geographical details, leaves something to be desired. In this case, Alaskan (Nenana Complex) artefacts (Fig. 16c) are said to be from Siberia. Mind you, this is not worse than the frequent attribution -- by a number of American archaeologists -- of Yukon (Canada) sites to Alaska.*
- "How and When Did People First Come to North America?" By E. James Dixon. Pages 22 - 27.
** Not much new, here. At least for people who are already familiar with Dixon's, Lévi-Straussian archaeo-structuralist current hypothesis (i.e., "wet vs. dry" !). Needless to say, he does favour, for the time being anyway, the "wet" (i.e., “Coastal Migration”) hypothesis, even though all the archaeologically significant dates that he has obtained or that he is using do not exceeed, at the very best the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Nonetheless, the paper summarizes fairly well many of the arguments presented by various workers, since the early 70’s, in favour of an initial human dispersal by way of a (north Pacific coastal/litoral/maritime migration.
- "The Early Post-Glacial History of the Northern Northwest Coast." By Daryl Fedge. Pages 28 - 30.
** Although a supporter (I think) of the "wet" alternative to the early peopling of the New World, Fedge, in this paper, pretty much restrict himself to a fairly straigthforward overview of his ongoing research on final Pleistoce and early Holocene deposits (some presently submerged) found in the Haida Gwaii and West Hecate Strait (in B.C., Canada, this time!).
- "The Gault Site, Texas, and Clovis Research." By Michael Collins. Pages 32 - 41.
** The most complete recent report that I have had the pleasure to read on this very important Clovis site from Southern Texas. In addition to broadening one’s appreciation of Clovis techno-typological realities, the paper deals extensively with various aspects of the “Clovis First” hypothesis. In this regard, Collins comes out as a strong supporter of ab“Pre-Clovis” explanation for the documented rapid, North American expansion of Clovis itself. In brief, he views the latter as a technocomplex that is best interpreted as “a vigorous hybrid of cultures and technologies” (p. 39) that would have developed as the result of external stimuli on a pre-existing (i.e., Pre-Clovis and admittedly poorly known)human substrate. In this regard, he seems to support, in his own way, Stanford’s (highly questionable, in my view and that of a few others researchers) “Solutrean Solution” to this nagging Clovis origin(s) problem/paradox.
- "Pedra Furada, Brazil: Paleoindians, Paintings, and Paradoxes." An interview with Niède Guidon, Anne-Marie Plessis, Fabio Parenti, Claude Guérin, Évelyne Peyre, and Guaciara M. dos Santos. Pages 42 -52.
* Superbly illustrated, this interview is a “must read” by anyone interested in finding out about this controversial site through lenses that are much less myopic (this is an understatement on my part) than the ones that have been used so far by various North American workers to dismiss its importance in dealing with the “Pre-Clovis” issue in a larger hemispheric context. Mention should be made that this particular contribution provides one, for the first time in English (to my knowledge), with a C-14 date on human remains (from a site called Garrincho) that are clearly indicative of a human presence in the area by, at the very least, 12,170 +/- 40 BP (uncalibrated) and 14,125 BP (calibrated). Given that the dating has been carried out by Beta, one has to assume that the figures will be viewed as reliable! Finally, I should mention that some of the participants in the interview are (uncautiously, I believe) toying with their own South American versions of the StanfordCollins sea-crossing “Solution” mentioned earlier.
- "Background for the Peopling of the New World." By C. Loring Brace. Pages 53 - 61.
** A clear, synthetic (and interdisciplinary – but see below)) summary of Brace’s (and colleagues’) already published views, from a biological perspective, on how and when it all happened. For my taste, however, it relies a bit to much on what is a somewhat oversimplified “typological” use of the archaeological dimension(s) of the problem. For example, the Beringian “space” still very much appears to be viewed as a unidirectional (East-West) migratory corridor instead of a vast subcontinental area which must have had its own dynamic impact on the cultural and biological evolutionary trends that were to eventually manifest themselves in the New World, early human dispersal/adaptive processes. I also have a problem with Brace’s chronology of “events” His choice of 15,000 years ago as a “migrationary” D-day (see Fig. 10e, p. 59) seems to indicate that he favours the “coastal/maritime” solution mentioned earlier and which, in my view, is but a “wet” reflection of the earlier, rather mechanistic “dry” Blitz hypothesis. As such, it does not accommodate quite a few lines of archaeological evidence that have slowly but surely been emerging from various segments of the entire latitudinal/geoagraphical dispersal range.
- "A Molecular Anthropological Perspective on the Peopling of the Americas." By Theodore G. Schurr. Pages 62 - 75.
** A lengthy and fairly thorough and critical review of the present state of the (molecular anthropology or archaeology) art, as applied to the decipherment of the complex processe that led, from a northeastern Eurasian/Siberian source area, to the early human dispersals in the New World. Although acknowledging the possibility of a western, early coastal/maritime spread, Schurr nonetheless gives serious attention (contrary to the other authors) to the potential significance of a number of dates that, together with some of the molecular age estimates, suggest that the initial “peopling” processes were well underway before the Upper Pleniglacial (Upper Wisconsinan).
All in all, a very good Athena Review issue. In addition to the useful “bibliographies” provided by most authors, it also contains, as mentioned before, a wealth of well-designed visual information, not to mention pertinent complementary information (“Boxes”), and interesting short “biographical” notes. Finally, it is worth noting that it can readily be obtained for no more than 4.50 US$.
My only regret is that, unfortunately, no real attempts are made to carefully and critically integrate the full range (often contradictory in terms of sequences of events/chronologies)) of interpretations that have come out of the field of linguistics. When mentioned by various authors, these issues which, I feel, should have been treated in a separate article, are used rather selectively and barely touched upon.
Additional details regarding this Athena Review issue can be also read at:
http://www.athenapub.com/previdx10.htmJacques Cinq-Mars
