Peopling of the Western Hemisphere

IntroductionThe issue of the arrival of human beings in the western hemisphere has become a matter of debate and even controversy among anthropologists, historians, biologists, geologists, and scholars from other fields in recent years. The areas of disagreement include dating, routes of migration, sources of migrant population, methods of verification, and reliability of instruments. At this time, there is not complete unanimity in regard to interpretation.This paper will discuss various theories and hypotheses (theories where there is insufficient verification) and concentrate on four separate interpretations which in turn can include subsets in terms of emphasis. The first is the formerly predominant and still prominent Beringian theory of settlement which posits that the formerly linked areas of Northeast Asia and Northwest North America formed a pathway for migration (actually it is now realized it was two way street).It is felt that during the last ice age when the glaciers receded beginning about 18,000 B.P. (this is a term for present and includes years formerly identified as B.C.E./B.C. and C.E./A.D.) and concluding about 10,500 B.P. a land mass appeared. Before warming temperatures led to rising seas which submerged this land bridge which is called the Bering Strait, the initial warming temperatures encouraged peoples to cross into North America into what is Alaska.1 A subset to this interpretation, is the ice-free corridor thesis, which maintains that the migration of the first peoples into the western hemisphere was facilitated after a stay in Beringia (the longevity of the stay is open to differing views) into interior Canada and the United States by an ice-free corridor that appeared between two ice fields that dominated much of eastern and western North America respectively.2It is postulated that these migrants were nomadic hunters who pursued mammoths and other large animals and smaller game in this corridor and settled along the route between 13,000 and 10,500 B.P. The anthropological correlation has termed this the Clovis culture theory as many of the artifacts and tools identified with Beringian sites defined as Northeast Siberia, the current Bering Straits or Seas, and Northwest Alaska are found in this site in New Mexico.3 The original variant that this was a source of dispersal for North America has since been modified as other sites in areas of Pennsylvania and Virginia have been found of equal or older vintage. Therefore correlation is now delimited into the so-called Clovis and Pre-Clovis theories in regard to original settlement.4During the past two decades, another interpretation has arisen to challenge the Beringia/ice-free corridor/Clovis interpretation. This is the coastal route theory which indicates that the West Coast was free from ice longer and earlier than the interior and therefore it would have been easier to settle and move along the west coast earlier and for longer periods. Earlier nomadic peoples with basic boat technology and fishing skills would have found an easier path at least before the seas rose.5 A related sub-set of this interpretation is the kelp school. This school maintains that a rich ecological environment of both fish and vegetation including clustered seaweed or kelp made it much easier to maintain a continuous presence in North and South America along the coasts.The anthropological counterpart to the coastal highway/kelp school is the Monte Verde school after artifacts found at a southern Chile site nearly two decades ago in which carbon-dating indicates an earlier antiquity than Clovis of at least 15,000 B.P.(possible older at an adjacent site called Monte Verde II).6 Since that time, a series of sites including caves in Oregon, the Channel Islands off California, Central and South America especially coastal Peru have been uncovered which indicate a presence of human beings perhaps dating to 16,000 B.P.7There are a number of theories which emphasize continuous trans-Pacific travel throughout the centuries. …

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