Decolonizing Archaeology and Reclaiming Indigenous Histories of the Western Hemisphere
Indigenous Methodologies and Decolonization
Hard Winding: A state of being lost, which opens one up to listening.
Stories as Decolonization: In indigenous methodologies, stories are central to decolonization.
Sion and Risky (2013) argued stories are "decolonization theory in its most natural form."
They represent resurgent moments that reclaim epistemic ground lost due to colonialism.
Stories establish a foundational framework for indigenous sovereignty and material ground reclamation through processes of resistance, resurgence, and reclamation.
Research Focus: Reclaiming, rewriting, and retelling indigenous histories that have been previously written by archaeologists.
Critique of Traditional Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere Terminology: Used to refer to what is now North and South America because the research focuses on the Pleistocene (earlier than years ago), a time before the concept of "The Americas" existed.
This is scientifically accurate and reflects a pre-colonial geographical understanding.
Lack of Indigenous Consultation: Indigenous peoples are rarely, if ever, consulted about their history and ties to the land.
Archaeologists have historically written human history narratives of the Americas without input from indigenous communities.
Erasure in Academia: This erasure is perpetuated in academic coursework.
No archaeology programs in Canada or the USA require students to take a course on indigenous history to earn an archaeology degree.
A degree acts as a "license" to practice archaeology and create literature on indigenous histories, which then becomes foundational teaching material.
This raises the question: How can one teach, rewrite, or speak about indigenous peoples without learning about them?
Agnotology and the Production of Ignorance
Definition: Agnotology, a highly recommended concept for further reading, is defined as how knowledge has not come to be and how ignorance is produced.
Mechanisms of Ignorance Production: Neglect, secrecy, suppression, destruction of documents, unquestioned tradition, and sociopolitical activities.
Suppression and destruction of documents are explicit parts of the erasure of indigenous histories and pasts.
Colonization of the Mind: Education materials framed by agnotology support a "colonization of the mind." This teaches people to accept state-sanctioned narratives and discourages questioning "scientific authorities."
Unacknowledged Histories: Traditional teachings about the deep indigenous past often omit crucial information, focusing on what was not taught rather than what is known.
This includes indigenous histories preserved in oral traditions and rock art.
Fabricated Past: The indigenous past of the Western Hemisphere has been fabricated to fit "neoliberal time frames of imagined new worlds."
The term "new world" is critiqued as inaccurate; the entire world is old, not new simply because a European settler "got lost and crashed" years ago.
Tool of Oppression: The past has often been, and remains, a tool for disempowerment, dehumanization, and oppression.
Challenging the "Clovis First" Narrative
The "Clovis" Myth: Online searches for indigenous archaeology often lead to the term "Clovis" or "Clovis people."
Examples include statements like: "The Clovis mystery is solved. We now know that the Clovis were Asians and a part of a group of people who colonized the Americas" (University of Cambridge).
Clovis as Technology, Not Culture: Clovis refers to a stone tool technology, not a distinct cultural group.
Archaeological sites with Clovis tools date from approximately to years ago.
The assumption that all users of this stone tool constituted a single "Clovis culture" is incorrect.
Western Creation: Clovis was a Western creation of a fictional cultural group.
It erased the rich diversity of cultures present in the Western Hemisphere.
The "Clovis people" existed only in the "wildest imagination of the archaeological mind."
Continued Discussion Despite Knowledge: Scientists (geneticists, geologists, archaeologists) are aware that Clovis was not a culture, yet discussions of a "Clovis culture" persist.
Impact on Indigenous Identity: The Clovis narrative, presenting indigenous people as recent immigrants from Asia/Europe, severs their links to homelands.
Asia and Europe, as geopolitical entities, did not exist during the Pleistocene; only early humans on Eastern and Western Hemispheric continents.
This ongoing discussion normalizes and embeds narratives that erode indigenous identities, histories, and land connections.
Archaeologists often normalize the "mysterious disappearance" of older indigenous populations, including the so-called "pre-Clovis people," reinforcing the idea that contemporary indigenous people are unrelated to the earliest inhabitants, thus allowing archaeologists to "own" sites and artifacts.
Evidence for Deep Human History in the Western Hemisphere
Indigenous to the Continents: The first peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants are indigenous to these continents for thousands of years; their cultures, identities, and lifeways originated there.
Amazon Rock Art: A recently discovered, immense rock art site in the Amazon, miles long, contains depictions of extinct mammal species.
Dated to over years ago, it holds indigenous stories and histories, both literal and metaphorical, meant to transcend time.
Pleistocene Migration Routes: Between and years ago, the entire Northern Hemisphere was covered in ice.
This period offered no viable migration route across Beringia, lacking open dry land, food, or fresh water.
Neither mammals nor humans were migrating across this route during this time, directly challenging traditional "Beringia high-points" migration theories for that period.
Earlier Beringia Connection (> Million Years Ago):
million years ago, the Northern Hemisphere of North America was not covered in ice.
There was a land connection between what is now Alaska and Siberia.
Paleontologists have documented extensive mammal migrations back and forth across this land bridge during this earlier time based on fossil records.
Early Humans in Northern Asia: Maps show early human sites in Northern Asia over to million years ago, relatively close to the Beringian landmass.
It is plausible that early humans, having walked kilometers from Africa to Asia, would continue expanding once populations grew.
They likely followed herds of migrating mammals into the Western Hemisphere during periods when a viable land bridge existed.
Mammals Originating in the Americas and Migrating to Asia:
Camels: Arose in the Americas, then migrated to the Eastern Hemisphere (Asia) via a land bridge providing fresh water and grazing (e.g., Ellesmere Island).
Horses: The earliest horses arose in the Americas, migrating across a viable land bridge to the Eastern Hemisphere between million and years ago.
Saber-tooth cat: Arose in North America; the oldest fossil worldwide is found in Florida, indicating a strong regional origin.
Early Human Sites in Southern California and New Mexico:
Cerutti Mastodon Site (formerly Highway 54 Site) in Southern California: Dates from years before present.
Surrounding archaeological sites in the region date from to years ago.
New Mexico: Five sites around a reservoir dating from to years ago.
This constitutes strong evidence of early human presence in these regional areas between and years ago, generally not taught in archaeology courses.
Academic Bias and Resistance
Academic Suicide: Prior to a recent shift, discussing any archaeological site older than Clovis (> years) was considered "academic suicide" due to severe attacks and critiques from the archaeological community.
This behavior is characterized as racism and bias, not science.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Maori Scholar): Stated that it is "no surprise that one of the first aspects of indigenous being that suffered from intentional eradication by colonizing forces were histories, which testify to a deep ancient and civilized past."
Ongoing Pushback: While there have been some changes, resistance against this bias continues.