When the last glacier was at its peak some 20,000 years ago, present day Canada and some northern parts of the U.S. were covered by two ice masses one or more miles in height. These two glaciers are known as the Laurentide and the Cordilleran Ice Sheets, one located in the east and the other in the west, respectively. It's generally accepted that any passage by humans or fauna through this region during this time was impossible. However, as the glaciers were receding, it is universally accepted that humans, following megafauna, crossed over from Siberia into North America and began populating the Western Hemisphere some 12,000 years ago. A human gateway into North America was created where these two ice sheets parted and provided an ice free zone, east of the Rockies. This is the well-known Beringia paradigm, named after the large exposed isthmus of land commonly called the Bering Land Bridge.

Numerous archaeological sites in North America have been dated and verified that a Clovis and/or Llano culture was here around 10,000 years ago and hence what we call the Paleo-Indian period. I interject the term Llano alongside Clovis because the term Llano not only includes the beautiful fluted points we all adore and associate with the paleo period but the whole tool kit used by the Paleo-Indian culture, including not only lithics, but also tools made from materials such as bone, wood and antler.

But, could there have been humans in the Western Hemisphere before Clovis? There are sites found in the Western Hemisphere that may have evidence of human habitation before the Clovis or Llano period. These early sites are referred to by archaeologists as the pre-Clovis or pre-Llano period and have artifact evidence dating older than 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. The following are just a few sites and unlike Clovis and later sites, they break from the above paradigm and are controversial.

In the vicinity of Old Crow Village in northern Yukon Territory, Canada, numerous bone artifacts have been discovered that have been dated as far back as 20,000 years ago. Along the banks of the Old Crow River, bones of various mammals have been exposed, some of which appear to be artifacts. Researchers have indicated that these bone artifacts are tools flaked from bone cores in the same fashion as they are from lithic cores. If radiocarbon dates from these artifacts hold up to scrutiny, it will show that humans were in this part of North America when the last glacier was at its maximum. Early human occupation in this part of Canada may not be that surprising because this area of the Bering Land Bridge is thought to be ice free, so humans may have been venturing here from Siberia before the recession of the glacier.

At the southern extremity of the Western Hemisphere from Old Crow is the Monte Verde Site in Chile. Its researchers put the dates of this site at least 11,000 years ago. It is the site of a village that was buried under a peat bog and preserved for centuries. Numerous features and artifacts have been found, such as wooden house foundations and walls covered with animal skins, stone and wood tools, cultivated plants, grinding implements and even a childsized footprint. It gained some pre-Llano acceptance after a visit by prominent archaeologists. Also, unlike the earliest Clovis sites, which are kill sites occupied by wandering hunters, Monte Verde was a permanent settlement. Therefore, adhering to strictly a Beringia paradigm, how could these people have reached this extreme end of the Western Hemisphere so quickly? Perhaps instead they migrated across the Pacific when El Nino weather cycles may have provided favorable winds allowing humans to cross the South Pacific and colonize parts of South America. "Archaeologists in Chile recently found ancient chicken bones containing DNA that matches early Polynesian fowl" (National Geographic Society, March 2008, pg. 123.)

Another interesting site is Cactus Hill on the Nottaway River, 45 miles southwest of Richmond, Virginia. It's a multicomponent site with artifacts found in April 2000 dating back to 17,000 years ago. A stratum below Clovis has yielded calcined animal bone and numerous pre-Clovis lithics of points, blades and cores. Some researchers believe the lithics are precursors to Clovis, with typological features relating to both Clovis and Western European Solitarian. This further raises the hypothesis by its researchers that early inhabitants to eastern North America may have come from Europe crossing the North Atlantic ice pack during the last glacier when it was at its maximum. Needless to say, this hypothesis is very controversial.

A prominent site called Meadowcroft Rockshelter is located 36 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It overlooks Cross Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River. This site was excavated from 1973 to 1978, and is a designated National Historic Landmark. This site is only 30 miles from the farthest extent of the last glacier and has evidence of occupation from the paleo to the woodland period. Most interesting is that its researchers have found fire pits below the Paleolithic level with radiocarbon dates of 16,000 to 19,000 years ago.

Here are examples of other possible pre-Clovis sites. The Paiseley Cave Site in the Summer Lake Basin of Oregon has revealed 14,300-year-old human DNA found in human feces (Science Daily, April 2008). Southeast of Mexico City at the Tlapacoya site on the shore of former Lake Chalco, an obsidian blade was found in a feature in association with a radiocarbon date of 21,000 years ago. Finally, at the Topper site on the Savannah River, near Allendale, South Carolina, micro blades and thousands of waste flakes were found many centimeters below the strata of Clovis preforms with unbelievable dates back as far as 50,000 years ago.

From the above sites we can come up with at least three hypotheses of how the Western Hemisphere was populated other than the Beringia Paradigm. Humans could have ventured here by way of skirting the Pacific Rim coastline from East Asia, using small watercraft and exposed areas of the ancient shoreline to hunt and fish for sustenance. Another route could have been across the South Pacific during favorable climatic conditions. And last, by way of the North Atlantic ice pack similar to the skirting the Pacific coast method.

This is a brief and shallow article on a topic about which volumes could be written. I have mentioned only a few of the possible pre-Clovis sites, where many exist. How do we define the First Americans? Were they the first humans who occupied the Western Hemisphere but survived for only a few generations? Or are they measured by how long they existed and the culture they established here into the European contact period? In any case, this is a very interesting topic and an investigation that is great food for our thoughts.

Bibliography and References:

Patrusky, Ben. "FIRST AMERICANS: Who Were They and When Did They Arrive?" Article from Whitten, Phillip and Hunter, David. Anthropology, Contemporary Perspectives, Little, Brown and Company, Boston Toronto: 1987.

National Geographic: December 2000 and March 2008.