ABSTRACTThe study of the peopling of the Americas has been transformed in the past decade by asto... more ABSTRACTThe study of the peopling of the Americas has been transformed in the past decade by astonishing progress in paleogenomic research. Ancient genomes now show that Native American ancestors were formed in Siberia or the Amur region by admixture of ca. 15–30% Ancient North Eurasian genes with those of East Asians. The Anzick infant, buried with Clovis bifaces at 12,900 cal BP, belonged to a group that was ancestral to later Native Central and South Americans. Fishtail points, derived from Clovis, mark the arrival and rapid expansion of Clovis-descended Paleoindians across South America, also evident in the sharp increase of radiocarbon dates, continent-wide, at 13,000–12,500 cal BP. In both North and South America, extinction of most genera of megafauna was virtually simultaneous with Paleoindian expansion. Human hunting must have been involved, perhaps in concert with other indirect impacts. Contrary to the alternative bolide impact theory, there is no evidence of a dramatic h...
... or migrant groups to establish a viable foothold in the new land usually claim the best terri... more ... or migrant groups to establish a viable foothold in the new land usually claim the best territories, establish ritual or religious ... A female burial is reported in association with a microlithic assemblage in Theopetra Cave in Thessaly-the only evidence for Mesolithic habitation in a ...
Four accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities undertook an interlaboratory exercise designe... more Four accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities undertook an interlaboratory exercise designed to examine the reliability and reproducibility of radiocarbon determinations on bone by dating a sample of elk (Alces alces) from Miesenheim IV. This specimen is derived from a secure geological context directly beneath the Laacher See tephra, which provides a precise terminus ante quem of ~11,060 yr BP (~13,050 cal yr BP). Regrettably, the results of the intercomparison exercise were complicated by evident contamination of the bone sample by exogenous organic material. This contaminant, probably humic acid, resulted in a wide span of ages (10,010 ± 30 to 11,100 ± 45 BP). The only method that yielded an accurate determination, consistent with the age of the tephra, was Oxford’s single amino acid technique, which targets hydroxyproline. An acid hydrolysis step seems to have been crucial in breaking the bonds between the bone collagen and the contaminant.
David Anthony and I coined the concept and term “Leapfrog Migration” for a graduate seminar at th... more David Anthony and I coined the concept and term “Leapfrog Migration” for a graduate seminar at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. We called its first iteration the “Natty Bumppo model” after the frontier scout hero of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.” We used it to explain the rapid, directional, but punctuated expansion of the earliest pioneer Neolithic farmers in southeastern Europe. Since then, leapfrog models have also been applied to other evidently rapid migrations, such as those of Paleoindians, Saladoid farmers in the Caribbean, Ontario Iroquoians, and Austronesians. I will review the history of the leapfrog model and assess how well it is holding up in the light of the most recent archaeological and archaeogenomic data from Europe and Anatolia.
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occ... more 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.
Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying ... more 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.
Contrary to the assertions made by Loren Davis et al., the evidence of a pre-13,500 cal. BP occup... more Contrary to the assertions made by Loren Davis et al., the evidence of a pre-13,500 cal. BP occupation at Cooper’s Ferry is meager and does not prove a Pacific Rim migration took place.
ABSTRACT Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry ... more ABSTRACT Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site, located beside the Salmon River in Idaho. They claim that initial occupation of this site dates from ∼16,000 calendar years ago, that the first inhabitants came from northern Japan, and that this site conclusively demonstrates that “humans initially migrated into the Americas along the Pacific coast.” Here, we critically examine the chronological, geoarchaeological, and artifactual evidence for the claimed antiquity of the Cooper’s Ferry site and show that this evidence remains inconclusive. We also show that the coastal migration theory proposed by Davis et al. is incompatible with emerging paleogenomic evidence. We conclude that the oldest demonstrated occupation of Cooper’s Ferry dates to ∼11,500 calendar years ago, although ambiguous evidence might (but probably does not) indicate an earlier episode of occupation at ∼14,600–14,100 calendar years ago.
We conducted inter-laboratory AMS 14 C dating of bones of the Miesenheim IV elk (Rhineland, Germa... more We conducted inter-laboratory AMS 14 C dating of bones of the Miesenheim IV elk (Rhineland, Germany), buried under Laacher See tephra dated to ca. 11,060 BP (13,000 cal BP). The weighted mean of the new dates, which range from 10,920 to 11,270 BP, is 11,092 ± 19 BP. The consistent results from five AMS laboratories are important in two respects. First, they demonstrate that collagen processed by traditional methods can yield accurate ages; the newly obtained 14 C dates are in accord with previous hydroxyproline 14 C value generated at the Oxford AMS laboratory within the first round of inter-comparison (Fiedel et al., 2013). The results of the first inter-comparison are clearly flawed, except for hydroxyproline 14 C date (see Fiedel et al., 2013), and must be affected by the waxy/dark, presumably humic/organic-based contaminant. Second, they provide a new suite of radiocarbon dates for the Laacher See volcanic eruption, a crucial anchor point for Late Glacial chronology in central Europe.
Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 1... more Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 110,000 km(2)) and Labrador (approximately 295,000 km(2)) today constitute a province characterized by abundant natural resources but low population density. Both landmasses were covered by the Laurentide ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (18,000 years before present [YBP]); after the glacier retreated, ice patches remained on the island until ca. 9,000 calibrated (cal) YBP [1]. Nevertheless, indigenous peoples, whose ancestors had trekked some 5,000 km from the west coast, arrived approximately 10,000 cal YBP in Labrador and ca. 6,000 cal YBP in Newfoundland [2, 3]. Differential features in material culture indicate at least three settlement episodes by distinct cultural groups, including the Maritime Archaic, Palaeoeskimo, and Beothuk. Newfoundland has remained home to indigenous peoples until present day with only one apparent hiatus (3,400-2,800 YBP). This record suggests aban...
ABSTRACT Brazilian capuchin monkeys use pebbles as tools for diverse tasks and thus unintentional... more ABSTRACT Brazilian capuchin monkeys use pebbles as tools for diverse tasks and thus unintentionally create flakes resembling those made by ancient hominins. Capuchins have been using tools in the Serra da Capivara National Park for at least 700 years, and they may have been using tools for more than 100,000 years. Monkeys now flake pebbles near the rockshelters where crude quartzite tools have been cited as evidence of a human presence more than 50,000 years ago. These "tools" may be geofacts created by water and gravity; they may be artifacts made by incredibly conservative pre-Clovis humans; or, they may have been made by the ancestors of today's tool-using monkeys.
Foragers of the Terminal Pleistocene in North America
... The faunal assemblage contains about 400 bones from seven mastodon-like gomphotheres, one sca... more ... The faunal assemblage contains about 400 bones from seven mastodon-like gomphotheres, one scapula of a paleo-llama, and a few unidentifi-able ... Swan Point; 2, Nenana sites; 3, Bluefish Caves; 4, Charlie Lake Cave; 5, Sibbald Creek; 6, Daisy Cave; 7, Aubrey; 8, Lubbock ...
Firestone has hypothesized that a comet or asteroid may have impacted North America, 12,900 years... more Firestone has hypothesized that a comet or asteroid may have impacted North America, 12,900 years ago. The impact hypothesis, and the data marshaled in support, do not offer a complete or compelling explanation of the century-long Younger Dryas onset, the delayed megafaunal extinction in the Caribbean, South America, and Arctic islands, or evident expansion of human occupation in the northeastern US soon after the purported event. Firestone (2009) has compiled a large body of data which he believes provides an explanation for the century-long Younger Dryas onset and the extinction of mammoths and other megafauna. Firestone's case for an impact, however, suffers from a number of internal inconsistencies which will be addressed in this paper. Contrary to Firestone's (2009) interpretations of the data, the impact hypothesis appears to be refuted when we examine the events surrounding the extinction of megafauna and the purported demise of the Clovis culture, particularly in reference to chronology, archaeology, and paleoecology. Firestone (2009) restricts his focus to North America. However, even more giant mammal species disappeared in South America than in the north, and it seems that they went extinct at least a few hundred years later than the northern animals (Cione et al. 2009, Borrero 2009). How can this be attributed to the same impact hypothesized to have instantaneously caused the North American extinctions? If the megafauna of Florida were killed off by the blast, why weren't the medium-sized ground sloths on the nearby Caribbean islands wiped out until after 5000 cal BP (Steadman et al. 2005, MacPhee et al. 2007)? If the heat wave generated by a blast in eastern Canada was powerful enough to ignite fires on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of California and immolate the dwarf Mammuthus exilis which resided there, why did it not also finish off the small mammoths of Wrangel Island off Siberia, or those living on the Pribilofs who did not die out until ca.
65 sherds were recovered from Woodland Period sites (44WR0232 and 44WR0446) in Front Royal (Warre... more 65 sherds were recovered from Woodland Period sites (44WR0232 and 44WR0446) in Front Royal (Warren County), Virginia for petrographic analysis to define the variability of aplastic component assemblage. An INAA study of similar sherds from these sites found that several of the sherds that were described as having steatite tempering did not exhibit a chemical compositional profile consistent with ultramafic rock lithologies. This study found that 17 sherds contained either steatite, soapstone or mafic schist rocks fragments as a primary (>25 modal%) aplastic component. The archaeological literature uses the term steatite to describe a talc-dominated rock fragment found in Early Woodland pottery (e.g., Marcey Creek, Selden Island, and Accokeek wares) that resembles the carved steatite pots in shape, but it is poorly defined. The distribution of steatite-tempered ceramics seems to be more closely related to the Piedmont sources of soapstone rather than the distribution of carved steatite vessels of the Late Archaic. A steatite vessel fragment (CXE4781-2470) from the site was used for comparison purposes for the aplastic inclusions found in proposed steatite-tempered ceramics. Cross-disciplinary investigations often hinge on the nuances of terminology and nomenclature. The terms steatite and soapstone are used interchangeably, but the term steatite is used when the mineral composition is dominated by talc and soapstone when the mineral composition is talc + chlorite + mica ± opaque minerals. These rock fragments often represent the metamorphism of an ultramafic igneous source rock (i.e., peridotite, etc.). The variability of the rock fragment temper, including pyroxene- or olivine-bearing rock fragments found in these ceramics, probably represents a range of ultramafic rock protoliths. This may either suggest different source locations or represent the continuum of mineral assemblages (and relict protolith assemblages) found in a zoned metamorphosed ultramafic rock. However it also indicates that determining the geographic constraints on these sherds may be difficult. Thus the only way to confidently identify the specific lithology of the aplastic components is by thin-section petrography.
ABSTRACTThe study of the peopling of the Americas has been transformed in the past decade by asto... more ABSTRACTThe study of the peopling of the Americas has been transformed in the past decade by astonishing progress in paleogenomic research. Ancient genomes now show that Native American ancestors were formed in Siberia or the Amur region by admixture of ca. 15–30% Ancient North Eurasian genes with those of East Asians. The Anzick infant, buried with Clovis bifaces at 12,900 cal BP, belonged to a group that was ancestral to later Native Central and South Americans. Fishtail points, derived from Clovis, mark the arrival and rapid expansion of Clovis-descended Paleoindians across South America, also evident in the sharp increase of radiocarbon dates, continent-wide, at 13,000–12,500 cal BP. In both North and South America, extinction of most genera of megafauna was virtually simultaneous with Paleoindian expansion. Human hunting must have been involved, perhaps in concert with other indirect impacts. Contrary to the alternative bolide impact theory, there is no evidence of a dramatic h...
... or migrant groups to establish a viable foothold in the new land usually claim the best terri... more ... or migrant groups to establish a viable foothold in the new land usually claim the best territories, establish ritual or religious ... A female burial is reported in association with a microlithic assemblage in Theopetra Cave in Thessaly-the only evidence for Mesolithic habitation in a ...
Four accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities undertook an interlaboratory exercise designe... more Four accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities undertook an interlaboratory exercise designed to examine the reliability and reproducibility of radiocarbon determinations on bone by dating a sample of elk (Alces alces) from Miesenheim IV. This specimen is derived from a secure geological context directly beneath the Laacher See tephra, which provides a precise terminus ante quem of ~11,060 yr BP (~13,050 cal yr BP). Regrettably, the results of the intercomparison exercise were complicated by evident contamination of the bone sample by exogenous organic material. This contaminant, probably humic acid, resulted in a wide span of ages (10,010 ± 30 to 11,100 ± 45 BP). The only method that yielded an accurate determination, consistent with the age of the tephra, was Oxford’s single amino acid technique, which targets hydroxyproline. An acid hydrolysis step seems to have been crucial in breaking the bonds between the bone collagen and the contaminant.
David Anthony and I coined the concept and term “Leapfrog Migration” for a graduate seminar at th... more David Anthony and I coined the concept and term “Leapfrog Migration” for a graduate seminar at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. We called its first iteration the “Natty Bumppo model” after the frontier scout hero of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.” We used it to explain the rapid, directional, but punctuated expansion of the earliest pioneer Neolithic farmers in southeastern Europe. Since then, leapfrog models have also been applied to other evidently rapid migrations, such as those of Paleoindians, Saladoid farmers in the Caribbean, Ontario Iroquoians, and Austronesians. I will review the history of the leapfrog model and assess how well it is holding up in the light of the most recent archaeological and archaeogenomic data from Europe and Anatolia.
Archaeologists working in Mexico recently claimed evidence for pre-Last Glacial Maximum human occ... more 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.
Various chronologies of the earliest Native American occupations have been proposed with varying ... more 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.
Contrary to the assertions made by Loren Davis et al., the evidence of a pre-13,500 cal. BP occup... more Contrary to the assertions made by Loren Davis et al., the evidence of a pre-13,500 cal. BP occupation at Cooper’s Ferry is meager and does not prove a Pacific Rim migration took place.
ABSTRACT Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry ... more ABSTRACT Davis et al. (2019) recently presented the results of excavations at the Cooper’s Ferry site, located beside the Salmon River in Idaho. They claim that initial occupation of this site dates from ∼16,000 calendar years ago, that the first inhabitants came from northern Japan, and that this site conclusively demonstrates that “humans initially migrated into the Americas along the Pacific coast.” Here, we critically examine the chronological, geoarchaeological, and artifactual evidence for the claimed antiquity of the Cooper’s Ferry site and show that this evidence remains inconclusive. We also show that the coastal migration theory proposed by Davis et al. is incompatible with emerging paleogenomic evidence. We conclude that the oldest demonstrated occupation of Cooper’s Ferry dates to ∼11,500 calendar years ago, although ambiguous evidence might (but probably does not) indicate an earlier episode of occupation at ∼14,600–14,100 calendar years ago.
We conducted inter-laboratory AMS 14 C dating of bones of the Miesenheim IV elk (Rhineland, Germa... more We conducted inter-laboratory AMS 14 C dating of bones of the Miesenheim IV elk (Rhineland, Germany), buried under Laacher See tephra dated to ca. 11,060 BP (13,000 cal BP). The weighted mean of the new dates, which range from 10,920 to 11,270 BP, is 11,092 ± 19 BP. The consistent results from five AMS laboratories are important in two respects. First, they demonstrate that collagen processed by traditional methods can yield accurate ages; the newly obtained 14 C dates are in accord with previous hydroxyproline 14 C value generated at the Oxford AMS laboratory within the first round of inter-comparison (Fiedel et al., 2013). The results of the first inter-comparison are clearly flawed, except for hydroxyproline 14 C date (see Fiedel et al., 2013), and must be affected by the waxy/dark, presumably humic/organic-based contaminant. Second, they provide a new suite of radiocarbon dates for the Laacher See volcanic eruption, a crucial anchor point for Late Glacial chronology in central Europe.
Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 1... more Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 110,000 km(2)) and Labrador (approximately 295,000 km(2)) today constitute a province characterized by abundant natural resources but low population density. Both landmasses were covered by the Laurentide ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (18,000 years before present [YBP]); after the glacier retreated, ice patches remained on the island until ca. 9,000 calibrated (cal) YBP [1]. Nevertheless, indigenous peoples, whose ancestors had trekked some 5,000 km from the west coast, arrived approximately 10,000 cal YBP in Labrador and ca. 6,000 cal YBP in Newfoundland [2, 3]. Differential features in material culture indicate at least three settlement episodes by distinct cultural groups, including the Maritime Archaic, Palaeoeskimo, and Beothuk. Newfoundland has remained home to indigenous peoples until present day with only one apparent hiatus (3,400-2,800 YBP). This record suggests aban...
ABSTRACT Brazilian capuchin monkeys use pebbles as tools for diverse tasks and thus unintentional... more ABSTRACT Brazilian capuchin monkeys use pebbles as tools for diverse tasks and thus unintentionally create flakes resembling those made by ancient hominins. Capuchins have been using tools in the Serra da Capivara National Park for at least 700 years, and they may have been using tools for more than 100,000 years. Monkeys now flake pebbles near the rockshelters where crude quartzite tools have been cited as evidence of a human presence more than 50,000 years ago. These "tools" may be geofacts created by water and gravity; they may be artifacts made by incredibly conservative pre-Clovis humans; or, they may have been made by the ancestors of today's tool-using monkeys.
Foragers of the Terminal Pleistocene in North America
... The faunal assemblage contains about 400 bones from seven mastodon-like gomphotheres, one sca... more ... The faunal assemblage contains about 400 bones from seven mastodon-like gomphotheres, one scapula of a paleo-llama, and a few unidentifi-able ... Swan Point; 2, Nenana sites; 3, Bluefish Caves; 4, Charlie Lake Cave; 5, Sibbald Creek; 6, Daisy Cave; 7, Aubrey; 8, Lubbock ...
Firestone has hypothesized that a comet or asteroid may have impacted North America, 12,900 years... more Firestone has hypothesized that a comet or asteroid may have impacted North America, 12,900 years ago. The impact hypothesis, and the data marshaled in support, do not offer a complete or compelling explanation of the century-long Younger Dryas onset, the delayed megafaunal extinction in the Caribbean, South America, and Arctic islands, or evident expansion of human occupation in the northeastern US soon after the purported event. Firestone (2009) has compiled a large body of data which he believes provides an explanation for the century-long Younger Dryas onset and the extinction of mammoths and other megafauna. Firestone's case for an impact, however, suffers from a number of internal inconsistencies which will be addressed in this paper. Contrary to Firestone's (2009) interpretations of the data, the impact hypothesis appears to be refuted when we examine the events surrounding the extinction of megafauna and the purported demise of the Clovis culture, particularly in reference to chronology, archaeology, and paleoecology. Firestone (2009) restricts his focus to North America. However, even more giant mammal species disappeared in South America than in the north, and it seems that they went extinct at least a few hundred years later than the northern animals (Cione et al. 2009, Borrero 2009). How can this be attributed to the same impact hypothesized to have instantaneously caused the North American extinctions? If the megafauna of Florida were killed off by the blast, why weren't the medium-sized ground sloths on the nearby Caribbean islands wiped out until after 5000 cal BP (Steadman et al. 2005, MacPhee et al. 2007)? If the heat wave generated by a blast in eastern Canada was powerful enough to ignite fires on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of California and immolate the dwarf Mammuthus exilis which resided there, why did it not also finish off the small mammoths of Wrangel Island off Siberia, or those living on the Pribilofs who did not die out until ca.
65 sherds were recovered from Woodland Period sites (44WR0232 and 44WR0446) in Front Royal (Warre... more 65 sherds were recovered from Woodland Period sites (44WR0232 and 44WR0446) in Front Royal (Warren County), Virginia for petrographic analysis to define the variability of aplastic component assemblage. An INAA study of similar sherds from these sites found that several of the sherds that were described as having steatite tempering did not exhibit a chemical compositional profile consistent with ultramafic rock lithologies. This study found that 17 sherds contained either steatite, soapstone or mafic schist rocks fragments as a primary (>25 modal%) aplastic component. The archaeological literature uses the term steatite to describe a talc-dominated rock fragment found in Early Woodland pottery (e.g., Marcey Creek, Selden Island, and Accokeek wares) that resembles the carved steatite pots in shape, but it is poorly defined. The distribution of steatite-tempered ceramics seems to be more closely related to the Piedmont sources of soapstone rather than the distribution of carved steatite vessels of the Late Archaic. A steatite vessel fragment (CXE4781-2470) from the site was used for comparison purposes for the aplastic inclusions found in proposed steatite-tempered ceramics. Cross-disciplinary investigations often hinge on the nuances of terminology and nomenclature. The terms steatite and soapstone are used interchangeably, but the term steatite is used when the mineral composition is dominated by talc and soapstone when the mineral composition is talc + chlorite + mica ± opaque minerals. These rock fragments often represent the metamorphism of an ultramafic igneous source rock (i.e., peridotite, etc.). The variability of the rock fragment temper, including pyroxene- or olivine-bearing rock fragments found in these ceramics, probably represents a range of ultramafic rock protoliths. This may either suggest different source locations or represent the continuum of mineral assemblages (and relict protolith assemblages) found in a zoned metamorphosed ultramafic rock. However it also indicates that determining the geographic constraints on these sherds may be difficult. Thus the only way to confidently identify the specific lithology of the aplastic components is by thin-section petrography.
Vojnovski are revised from earlier versions presented in that symposium. Although we did not atte... more Vojnovski are revised from earlier versions presented in that symposium. Although we did not attempt to provide comprehensive regional or topical coverage in the book, we solicited several other essays (Dent, Collins, Kornfeld) to provide more even regional representation. As a group, these chapters present intriguing new data on Paleoindian subsistence garnered often from excavated faunal remains but in some cases from preserved floral remains. These essays generally report data and interpretations just out of the trenches. By that we mean that most of the data considered are less that a decade in existence and therefore have been generated from modern, meticulous investigations and recovery techniques. One additional chapter was commissioned, so to speak, by the editors to provide background and additional insight into Paleoindian subsistence strategies. The chapter by Randall and Hollenbach examines the potential role of ethnographic models of hunter-gatherers in our studies of Paleoindian subsistence.
Over the past two decades, migration of Paleoindian ancestors along the Pacific coast has become ... more Over the past two decades, migration of Paleoindian ancestors along the Pacific coast has become the dominant origin hypothesis mainly because: 1) arrival at Monte Verde by 14,300 cal BP (or even 19,000 cal BP, as recently claimed) requires a still earlier emigration from Beringia and 2) the alternative “ice-free corridor” ostensibly was not habitable by large herbivores before 13,000 cal BP. However, the coastal hypothesis cannot account for many inconvenient facts. These include: absence of pre-13,000 cal BP sites on long expanses of habitable and archaeologically visible coast, from the Aleutian Islands to the Atacama Desert; genomic evidence of all Native Americans’ descent from interior-adapted South Siberian and Clovis populations; and absence from coastal East Asia of both any credible ancestral non-microlithic archaeological complexes and the expected ancestral haplotypes (e.g., the Q-L330 male lineage) in ancient and recent genomes.
The quest for hard evidence of cryptic early Homo in the Americas-Pre-Clovis humans-increasingly ... more The quest for hard evidence of cryptic early Homo in the Americas-Pre-Clovis humans-increasingly resembles the long, fruitless and often comical search for that other cryptic American hominid, Bigfoot. In view of the paucity of indubitable stone tools from secure pre-13,500 cal BP contexts, perhaps it is not surprising that footprints and feces have become as crucial for pre-Clovis advocates as they are for Bigfoot believers (slide).
Recently, Tom Dillehay and his associates (2022) responded, in the same issue, to my article in "... more Recently, Tom Dillehay and his associates (2022) responded, in the same issue, to my article in "Radiocarbon" (“Initial Colonization of the Americas, Redux”). Tom D Dillehay, Mario Pino, Carlos Ocampo, James Adovasio, Michael B Collins, Jose Saavedra, Jack Rossen, and David Pollock [sic]. Correcting Fiedel, Once Again: Monte Verde and the Peopling of South America. Radiocarbon, Vol 64, Nr 4, 2022, pp. 899–904. As I was not invited by the journal’s editors to rebut their criticism before publication, I am doing so here, in an open-access venue where I hope it will be more widely read. This venue also allows me to include many informative photographs to support a very detailed response.
Recent analyses of ancient genomes have transformed our understanding of Native Americans' origin... more Recent analyses of ancient genomes have transformed our understanding of Native Americans' origins. Two developments now appear to closely correspond in time (
2011 SAA paper published in 2015 in Smallwood and Jennings, "Clovis, on the Edge of a New Underst... more 2011 SAA paper published in 2015 in Smallwood and Jennings, "Clovis, on the Edge of a New Understanding."
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Papers by Stuart Fiedel
Tom D Dillehay, Mario Pino, Carlos Ocampo, James Adovasio, Michael B Collins, Jose Saavedra, Jack Rossen, and David Pollock [sic]. Correcting Fiedel, Once Again: Monte Verde and the Peopling of South America. Radiocarbon, Vol 64, Nr 4, 2022, pp. 899–904.
As I was not invited by the journal’s editors to rebut their criticism before publication, I am doing so here, in an open-access venue where I hope it will be more widely read. This venue also allows me to include many informative photographs to support a very detailed response.