CLA Notes

Who populated America

  • Some explorers noted similarities

  • Oviedo suggests 2 sources

    • Lost merchants   

    • Followers of King Hespero - Spanish monarch

  • López de Gomara

    • Suggested remnant population from Atlantis

  • Friar José de Acosta

    • Wrote Natural History of the indians in 1590

    • Suggested that people brought animals along with them to the Americas

    • If animals could migrate by themselves, then the indians would have also got here therefore the land wasnt completely sepereated

  • Acosta's reasoning was the most sound based on the geological foundation → mid 1700s


Peopling of the Americas

  •     Beringian Highway

    • Land bridge with glaciers

    • Sea level was lower, which presented land bridge during the ice age

  • Trans-Pacific migration theory


  • Polynesian Wayfinding

  • Kelp Highway/Coastal route

    • Provided food, protections form waves, and places to tie up boats

  • Solutrean Hypothesis

    • Early Europeans that lived 23-18kya


Who Populated America

  • Early Observations:

    • Early European explorers and chroniclers noted physical, cultural, and linguistic similarities between Indigenous Americans and Old World populations.

  • Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés:

    • Suggested two potential historical sources for the original population:

    • Lost ancient merchants (such as Phoenicians or Carthaginians) who drifted off course across the Atlantic Ocean.

    • Followers of King Hesperos (a legendary Spanish monarch), a claim used to assert ancient Spanish title over the Americas.

  • Francisco López de Gómara:

    • Suggested Indigenous populations were remnant survivors from the sunken continent of Atlantis, referencing accounts from Plato.

  • Friar José de Acosta:

    • Authored Natural and Moral History of the Indies in 15901590.

    • Proposed that humans and wild animals migrated overland to the Americas together.

    • Reasoned that because wild animals (which humans would not transport on ships) were present, a continuous land connection or narrow strait must have linked Asia and the Americas.

    • Recognized that the Americas were not completely isolated from the rest of the world by vast oceans.

  • Legacy of Acosta's Rationale:

    • His empirical and geographical reasoning provided the most sound scientific framework for American migration until mid-1700s1700\text{s} geological discoveries confirmed the existence of Beringia.

Peopling of the Americas

  • Beringian Land Bridge Theory (Beringian Highway):

    • Mechanism: During the Last Glacial Maximum, sea levels dropped by 100–120 m100\text{--}120\,\text{m}, exposing a vast terrestrial corridor (Beringia) connecting modern-day Siberia and Alaska.

    • Migration Route: Human groups crossed Beringia and moved south into North America, potentially following an ice-free corridor between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets around 13,000–15,000 years ago13,000\text{--}15,000\,\text{years ago}.

  • Kelp Highway / Coastal Route Hypothesis:

    • Mechanism: Maritime populations navigated along the Pacific Rim coastline from Northeast Asia down into North and South America.

    • Advantages: Rich kelp forest ecosystems provided abundant marine life (fish, shellfish, marine mammals) for food, protected vessels from wave action, and provided calm anchorage sites.

    • Archaeological Evidence: Explains early coastal archaeological sites that predate the interior ice-free corridor, such as Monte Verde in Chile, dated to over 14,500 years ago14,500\,\text{years ago}.

  • Trans-Pacific Migration Theory & Polynesian Wayfinding:

    • Mechanism: Long-distance trans-oceanic voyages made across the open Pacific Ocean using sophisticated ocean navigation techniques.

    • Polynesian Wayfinding: Navigators navigated using ocean swells, wind patterns, star paths, cloud reflections, and bird migration patterns without instruments.

    • Evidence: Supported by genetic links between ancient South American populations and Polynesians, as well as the pre-Columbian transmission of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

  • Solutrean Hypothesis:

    • Mechanism: Proposed by Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, suggesting that Upper Paleolithic Europeans traveled along Atlantic ice margins to eastern North America around 23,000–18,000 years ago23,000\text{--}18,000\,\text{years ago}.

    • Basis: Pointed to flint-knapping similarities between European Solutrean stone technology and early American Clovis points.

    • Status: Highly controversial and largely rejected by modern genetic and archaeological consensus, which strongly confirms Siberian genetic origins.


The true archaology behind tracing he origins of he populating. peopling of the americas

  • Morphology

  • DNA   

    • haplogroups

    • molecular archaeology

  • Only one other popoulation shares this clustering of these 5 hapogroups


Kennewick Man

    Adult man, live 9kya

belongedto the mitchondrial haplogroup X2a

Given names → sunrise child girl

Ancestors split 36kya and become isolated

14c datinf of terrrestrialmpoolbu

Nani Waiya - Important mountain to chok taw people


Science adn Psuedoscience


Scientific inquiry

  • Standardized practiced and methodical recordings

  • Logical

    • ideas linking datats to interpretations

  • Self critical and based on testing

    • Proving your way is most right/ proving everything else is wrong

  • Some people believe archaeologist are hiding information or lying about what we know about the. past

Motives behind psuedoscience

  • Money