What are some of the personalities, discoveries, and developments that have shaped our understanding of the early peopling of the New World? Include the rise and fall of purported sites, and the understanding of different archaeological culture groups in your answer.

When Europeans began to colonize the New World, they were amazed at the cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity present among its aboriginal inhabitants. Until that time, the Bible had been used to explain the regional and ethnic diversities of the world, but the Good Book made no reference to New World Indians. Theories abounded as to the origin of Native Americans. One popular theory at the time explained the natives as the descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Another suggested they were the survivors of Atlantis. However, even early in American history, some theorists proposed a connection between the Native Americans and Asians. Jose de Acosta, a Spanish missionary, suggested in 1604 that a bridge linked North America and Asia, linking the "Strait of Annian," as he referred to it (Faught, lecture, 2000). The migration took place, he believed, some 2,000 years before his time. In 1614, Edward Brerewood, an English scholar, also noted similarities between Asian Mongols and Native Americans (Fiedel 2000). He promoted a migration from northeast Asia via "some narrow channell of the Ocean" (Brerewood, 1622, pp. 96-97).

The great cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity of the New World still challenges modern researchers. The diversity implies either long-term occupation by aboriginal people, or multiple migrations of diverse groups. Though the question as the how the Americas were originally peopled is still open to debate, a general consensus has been reached -- people did migrate from Northeast Asia. In the 1840s, Huddleston formally proposed that New World people had migrated from Asia across Beringia. This theory appeared in academic realms during the scientific renaissance of the mid-nineteenth century, which also included the discoveries of Koch, Lund, Llyle, Aggaziz, and of course, Darwin. In some ways, academia had accepted Beringia as the method of arrival, but the question as to when still remained at large. Initially a model of prehistory similar to the one developing in Europe was assumed. Although the archaeological record in the New World was lacking in good stratigraphy and sedimentary deposits, similarity in tool design was inferred as contemporary in antiquity between the New and Old Worlds (Meltzer 1983). Researchers like Putnam, Abbot, Koch, Wright and Garcia also espoused theories of an early presence in the Americas. However, conservative anthropologists like W.H. Holmes and Ales Hrdlicka demanded unequivocal evidence of early occupation. At that time, they believed nothing older than about 5,000 years had been unearthed in the New World (Fiedel 2000). Speculative inferences were not grounds for scientific canon. Consequently, acceptance of a Pleistocene presence in the Americas was stemmed until the discovery of Folsom in the 1920s (Meltzer 1983).

McJukin"s 1926 discovery of projectile points in Folsom, New Mexico, laid questions of a Pleistocene occupation in the New World to rest (Fiedel 2000). He presented a site with excellent strata and good association between obviously human-made artifacts and extinct Pleistocene fauna. When expert anthropologists, Roberts, Brown, and Kidder, visited and approved the site during the Pecos Conference (1927), the existence of a paleoindian fluted-point culture was finally verified by the scientific community (Meltzer 1983). Human occupation in the New World was at least 10,000 years old. This was the beginning of a landslide of archaeological investigations and discoveries that spanned the next decade.

Projectile point discoveries at Dent, Colorado (1932), and Blackwater Draw, New Mexico (1933), confirmed the existence of a Folsom antecedent which became known as Clovis. Clovis dated to about 13,500 ybp. Blackwater Draw, discovered by Bilgery and published by Cotter (1937), offered excellent stratigraphy and association of artifacts with extinct proboscideans. The Clovis fluted-points were longer and clearly used to hunt mammoth and mastodon, indicating a subsistence practice distinct from the bison-hunting Folsom people (Sellards 1952). Similar points were discovered at a number of other sites, including: Miami, Whitewater Draw, Naco, and Lone Wolfe Creek (Faught, lecture, 2000). In 1938, Junius Bird excavated points with fishtail-like stems at Fell"s Cave, Argentina, that were associated with extinct species of horse and glypodon (sloth), indicating a wide-spread early presence in the Americas. Similar points were also found in Ecuador and Central America (Fiedel 2000).

The quest to locate a Pre-Clovis culture in the New World first took hold in the 1940s. Although proponents of Pre-Clovis populations in the New World still regularly challenge the Clovis-First Hypothesis, it has been a rough and rocky road from the beginning. Frank Hibbin, from the University of New Mexico, claimed to have identified a Clovis precursor and progenitor in the late 30s and early 40s. He called this culture "Sandia," and claimed to have found sterling provenience in Sandia Cave, New Mexico. He also claimed to have located another site he called Lucy. The projectile points, he said, were a transitional stage between Solutrean and Clovis, implicitly identifying the Clovis ancestral homeland as Iberia (Preston 1995). Under rigorous academic scrutiny, however, Hibbin"s Sandia points failed to convince the scientific community that Sandia represented a Pre-Clovis presence in the New World. This incident would set a tone of high skepticism of Pre-Clovis claims that pervades even into modern times.

Through the years, a number of Pre-Clovis sites have been proposed and refuted. In 1950 George Carter claimed that hearth evidence he found eroding out of sea cliffs and rock splits in San Diego were evidence for a Pleistocene human presence in California. However, his Texas Street site was equivocal, and subsequently all but forgotten by science. In 1955 Tuli Springs, Nevada, was claimed to have dates as early as 27,000 ybp, though this claim crumbled when Geoarchaeologist Vance Haynes viewed the site himself (Faught, lecture, 2000). Scotty McNeish championed Pikimachay in Peru with dates of 70,000 ybp, plus/minus 30,000, and more recently Pindejo Cave, New Mexico, with dates circa 27,000 ybp. Again, both sites have been shown to be equivocal. In the 1970s, Richard Moorelan"s Old Crow Basin site, containing broken and shattered bones also stands as equivocal, as does Louis Leakey and Dee Simpson"s simple stone tools at Calico Hills, California (Dincauze 1984). Leakey had claimed dates as early as 200,000 ybp and suggested a tool complex similar to early Homo industries he had uncovered in Africa. In addition to those mentioned, even more Pre-Clovis sites in California have been refuted--the Laguna Beach skull and Santa Rosa Island site. Although many of the aforementioned sites could be Pre-Clovis, they share a bond of equivocability which deems them inappropriate for scientific acceptance (Dincauze 1984). Indeed, the list goes on.

On the other hand, there exist archaeological sites that have been claimed to possess Pre-Clovis dates, and have not yet been fully refuted. Many of these sites appeared in the 1970s as a revolt against Clovis-First orthodoxy. These resilient contenders are the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Cactus Hill, Topper, Wilson Butte Cave, Fort Rock Cave, the Cresrow complex, Monte Verde, Bluefish caves, Taima-Taima, Pedra Furada, and Valsequillo (Fiedel 2000). For the sake of brevity, this essay will touch on but a few of the sites previously listed.

James Adovasio claims that the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania has artifacts dating circa 30,000 ybp. Although he maintains good stratigraphic control, issues surrounding his radiocarbon dates, polynological data, and projectile point diagnostics have come into question. Taima-Taima in Venuseula has an El Jobo point in good context with extinct fauna and dates of circa 13,000 ybp. Alan Bryan vigorously defends this location and data, as well as his and McNeish"s research at Pikimachay, Peru. Of special note is Monte Verde, Chile, which is dated at 14,500 ybp. Thomas Dillehay (1984) of the University of Kentucky has produced good strata, radiocarbon dates, and artifacts. In 1997, a team of researchers led by Haynes confirmed Monte Verde as the oldest unequivocal site in the New World, forging the new paradigm of American archaeology. However, Michael Waters and Stuart Fiedel have both pointed out issues of concern, including problems with sloppy control, as well as the known relationship between language, archaeology, and biology in the New World (Faught, lecture, 2000). Despite these criticisms, Monte Verde is generally accepted as a Pre-Clovis site by the academic community.

As a backlash to the trouble-plagued quest for Pre-Clovis sites, some researchers have entertained another explanation for New World aboriginal diversity--a model of multiple migrations. Two distinct projectile point styles, the Stemmed-Point Tradition and Clovis, exist almost contemporaneously in the archaeological record near the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Is it possible there were several migrations to the New World during the terminal Pleistocene? Given the sketchy nature of Pre-Clovis material, such a possibility seems tantalizing. To account for peculiar paleoindian point distributions, new models for migration routes (coastal or transoceanic) have been proposed, as have new methods of research (underwater, continental shelf exploration, etc.) (Faught 1996). Such research proposes new possibilities with regard to maritime adaptations, settle patterns, migration impetuses, and cultural origins. Similarly, biological, linguistic, and genetic research is helping to solve part of the archaeological mystery from an experimental approach (Greenberg et. al. 1986). Both mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome analyses have produced interesting results still not fully understood by anthropologists. In conclusion, questions surrounding the peopling of the New World are far from answered, though great strides have been made in recent years.

"...One aspect of the extinction of the megafauna is more impressive than all others. This is its stratigraphic abruptness. The more common large mammals of the late Pleistocene megafauna, especially horses, camels, and mammoths, do not occur in any primary context above an abrupt stratigraphic contact. Wherever the records is sufficiently complete,...this is a marked stratigraphic break representing an erosional episode between 12,500 and 11,500 B.P." (Haynes 1968a). In this quote Haynes illustrates the uncanny uniformity that occurs in Pleistocene-Holocene boundary sites (where the stratigraphy is complete) with regard to clear stratigraphic division between the two epochs. Exactly what environmental phenomena occurred at this important juncture of New World prehistory remains unclear, but understanding its circumstances and consequences has been, and will continue to be, critical to our interpretations of paleoindian development and change.

During the terminal Pleistocene, when the last ice age came to an abrupt end, human populations rapidly expanded (or apparently did) and about 90% of the large-bodied mammals of North America became extinct. It is important to note that atmospheric carbon levels spiked and varied at this time, so many dates presented in this essay will be radiocarbon years before present (rcbp), unless otherwise indicated. The difference between radiocarbon and calibrated dates is roughly 2,000 years at this time--the radiocarbon dates being 2,000 years too young. The increase of atmospheric carbon producing the deviations is likely attributable to cold glacial meltwater inputs, thus increasing the carbon uptake at the ocean surface (Fiedel 2000).

A general chronology of environmental change over the last 14,000 years is as follows: From a strictly geological perspective, the terminal Pleistocene occurred at about 11,000 rcbp. This is marked by a sudden warming trend, human expansion, and megafaunal extinction. However, the conventional end of the Pleistocene epoch is accepted as 10,000 ybp. From 14,000 rcbp to 10,000 rcbp glaciers and ice caps receded, with a sudden and rapid increase at 11,000 rcbp. From 11,000 to 10,000 rcbp (13,000 to 11,000 calibrated years) was a period known as the "Younger Dryas." This was the period of mass extinction and is marked by a windy, dry, and cold climate in North America. Sea levels rose from about 100 m below modern levels to about 50 m below modern levels and stopped. Sea levels may have reversed slightly at this time, but it difficult to determine due to isostatic rebound phenomena. From 10,000 rcbp to 8,000 rcbp sea levels rose dramatically, perhaps as much as 10 to 20 km in a single human lifetime. By 7,000 rcbp (almost the same calibrated date now) sea level rise slows and may have ceased altogether. Apparent change due to isostatic rebound may also complicate paleoclimatological data for this period. At 3,000 ybp sea levels may have been somewhat higher than they are today and temperatures may have been even hotter. This is indicated by shell middens located further inland than current coastal margins would allow (Faught, lecture, 2000).

Earlier attempts to understand the paleoclimate of the Terminal Pleistocene offered slightly different models. Ernst Anteus, a climatologist active in the 1920s and 30s, looked at "varves" in an attempt to create alluvial chronologies beginning near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary through the present. Varves are sedimentary layers deposited in lakes by glaciers. Anteus began research in the Old World, expanded to North America and worked in the Central Plains. During the last Ice Age, the North American Plains region was pocketed with lakes (there were 7 large standing bodies of water). "Pluvial" periods, as they are known, occur under glacial or ice age conditions. They are marked by low sea levels, year-around glaciation, and occurrences of large standing lakes. By analyzing relic varve layers, Anteus divided the last 10,000 ybp into four periods. From deep in the Allerod to about 9,000 ybp, a "Pluvial/Glacial" period was distinguished with standing glaciers, and a wet, cool climate. Lakes would rise and expand with glacial activity. From 9,000 ybp to 7,000 ybp, in a period called the "Anathermal," conditions were similar to those we have today. The "Altithermal," from 7,000 ybp to 4,500 ybp, was a warm and dry period. This led into the "Medithermal," from 4,500 ybp to the present, where climate has stabilized for the most part. Since the end of the Ice Age, occurring at the terminal Pluvial/Glacial period, Anteus suggested that seasonality became a greater factor in alluvial and varve variability (Faught, lecture, 2000).

Kirk Bryan, another early 20th century climatologist, tried to correlate the different alluvial sequences of relic lakes beds. Using overlapping correlations, Bryan tried to extrapolate the relationship of strata to age (ala dendrochronology), and to create a stratigraphic model that encompassed a wide-range of data from the Plains where stratigraphy was best preserved. Bryan and Anteus"s alluvial sequences allow one to interpret the relationships of climate to specific points in archaeological time, assisting in the reconstruction of paleoindian chronology. Such chronologies have been used with great success in a variety of archaeological sites in and around the Plains region.

Vance Haynes, of the University of Arizona, stands as the nation"s premier geoarchaeologist. His model of climate change and geological reconstruction is recognized as the most accurate depiction available with regard to the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. Haynes suggests that between 12,500 and 11 ,500 rcbp, during the period of mass megafaunal extinction, streams on the floodplains of middle North America experienced "net degradation and incised their channel" (Haynes 1984:345). At this time, water tables experienced net lowing and many low order streams in the Southwest became fleeting. Additionally, springs reduced their discharge or dried up. Net aggradation of streams resumed around 11,500 rcbp, however stream channels were narrower than they had previously been. When this occurred, sand and gravel deposits became buried by fine-grained alluvial sediments by vertical accretion. According to Haynes, these conditions are ideal for the preservation of stratigraphic evidence for the Pleistocene extinction and provide the best chronological record of events. Haynes notes that by the time streams had transitioned back to net aggradation, the extinctions were complete with few exceptions. It is toward the final stages of this transition that the Clovis culture appears in the archaeological record, perhaps taking advantage of the reduced number of watering hole (Haynes 1984).

The type Clovis site at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico, is one of the best examples of stratigraphy for the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. Blackwater Draw is located on the Llano Estacado, a high escarpment upon which several other Pleistocene-Holocene boundary sites have been found. The site had originally been a depression composed of a spring-fed marsh or lake. Sellards (1952) details the site like this: The bottom fill of the depression consists of a gray or speckled sand, with an average thickness of between 2 and 3 feet, though the strata is thinner in the margins and thicker toward the center. This sand stratum contains four complete Columbian elephant skeletons, and Clovis artifact are associated with three of them. The skeletal remains of horses, bisons, turtles, and other small mammals are also found in this layer. It is assumed the Clovis points were used in the hunting or procurement of the elephants. Below the gray sand level is sterile bedrock gravel, while above it is a brown wedge about 2 feet thick. This wedge could be a slide or pluvial pond remains (Faught, lecture, 2000). No artifacts are found in the wedge, though Folsom culture artifacts are immediately above the wedge in the diatomaceous layer which is about 1 foot in depth. Yuma culture artifacts are associated with the carbonaceous silt deposits above the Folsom layer, while few if any artifacts are found in the 5.5 feet from the carbonaceous silt deposit to the surface (Sellards 1952). Haynes (1984) suggests that Clovis hunters killed the mammoths in a shallow pond between 11,000 rcbp and 12,000 rcbp. The artifacts lay either on a sand deposit dating to that time, or possibly on an erosional contact between an older spring-laid sand deposit and diatomaceous earth deposit formed around 15,000 rcbp. The pond subsequently dried up, only to become wet again under more arid conditions. By the time diamomite was being deposited 11,000 rcbp, bison was the only remaining megafaunal species present in the area (Haynes 1984). Both Sellards and Haynes" interpretations of Blackwater Draw suggest a clear stratigraphic distinction between the Clovis and Folsom occupations, separated by thick pluvial deposits and varying Rancholabrean remains.

In San Pedro Valley, Arizona, several other sites exhibit interesting sedimentary deposits. These sites are Naco, Lehner Ranch, Murray Springs, Escapule, and possibly Leikem and Navarette. Mammoth bones and Clovis points have been found in association at each site and overlie an erosional surface that dates to about 10,900 rcbp. The Clovis layer is covered by a "black mat of dark brown to black organic, clayey silt or sand" (Haynes 1984:349). The black mat (diatamite) offers dates of 10,800 rcbp and is likely a result of ponded or standing water. Folsom points are found directly above the black mat, suggesting the mat is a geological and temporal indicator of the extinction event.

Other sites, like Miami, Domebo, Rodgers Shelter, and Lindenmeir also offer good stratigraphy of the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. In each site, the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary is defined by a dry, cold separation of degradation, extinction, then aggradation or pluvial deposits (Haynes 1984). Consistently there is a sedimentary division, be it a black mat, loess deposit, or blue clayey sediment that is the result of a renewed aggradation, separating the Clovis and post-cultural occupations. Ultimately the relationship between the Pleistocene-Holocene sediments, extinction, and human occupation is still unclear. The events that produced what is observed in the geological and archaeological records continue to be the focus of research.

Describe the chipped stone industries on both sides of the Bering Strait, and the far West, their chronologies, and possibilities of Clovis precursors. Be specific about particular sites, etc. How has your view of these facts changed since you have become acquainted with the data?

Anthropologists have generally accepted three migrations into the New World in precolumbian times. These migrations were across the Bering Strait, be they over land, ice, or water. The first was the migration of the Amerinds about 11,500 rcbp. The second was Nadene people at about 10,500 rcbp. The final migration was made by the Aleut-Eskimo people and occurred between 3,000 and 5,000 ybp (Faught, lecture, 2000). It is the culture group that comprised the first migration, the Amerinds, that is the topic of this essay. If North Americas first acknowledged culture group, the Clovis people, were part of the Amerind migration, one would expect to find their progenitors in the American Northwest and Alaska, Siberia, or both. However, the story is not quite as simple as it may seem.

The most logical place to look for a Clovis precursor is Northeast Asia. The traditional migration model would have Clovis progenitors following megafauna from Siberia to Alaska, and through the Ice Free Corridor into the pre sent-day United States. Indeed, in 1935, Nels Nelson found evidence to indicate that microblade technology was used during paleolithic times in both Alaska and Siberia, on each side of the Bering Straight. His find proved unequivocally that populations did cross Beringia into the New World in prehistoric times (Smith 1974). However, microblade technology is not found in the Clovis complex, and although Nelson demonstrated a migration, he did not demonstrate it was related to the Clovis culture. Microblades are generally associated with the tool kits that evolved into the Stemmed-Point Tradition. The Stemmed-Point Tradition"s exact relationship to Clovis is still unclear.

One candidate as a Clovis progenitor in Eurasian is found in the Russian Steppes. The Kostenki culture, part of the Eastern Gravettian blade industry, were specialized mammoth hunters in Central and Eastern Europe who existed from 28,000 to about 10,000 rcbp (Soffer 1993). The oldest Kostenki finds are in eastern Eurasia, but seem to migrate east over time. This gradual eastward movement would be consistent with a migration eventually leading to Beringia (Faught, lecture, 2000). The creation of fertility statues, elaborate artwork, and mammoth huts are prevalent in Kostenki culture, but are not found in the New World, making one leery of accepting Kostenki as the Clovis progenitor (Haynes 1982).

The Kostenki-Borshevo region of the Don Valley in the Russian Steppes has mammoth grave sites that bear some resemblance to Clovis. Some of these resemblances include bifacial projectile points, end scrapers, side scrapers, borers and a blades associated with faunal remains, including Mammoth. Hearths at the Don sites are similar to Murray Springs and burnt bone is presence. These sites range in age between 20,000 and 15,000 rcbp (Haynes 1982). In Eastern Europe, the sites of Pavlov and Dolni Vestonice (26-24,000 rcbp) also exhibit Clovis-like curiosities. Mammoth was used for everything from food to housing. Bone, ivory, and stone were all used in tool manufacture, but only stone was used in making blades, flakes and bifacial tools. Red ocher was used in burials and beveled bone points, shaft straighteners, and cylindrical ivory pieces found here are similar to what is seen in Clovis assemblages (Haynes 1982).

In Siberia, no direct cultural ties can be made to Clovis, but there have been finds worth noting. In a site called Tomsk on the upper Ob River, end scrapers, flakes, blades, and prismatic cores have all been found. Burnt mammoth remains were also present, and no microblades were found. Further east in the middle Yenisei region are several mammoth bone cemeteries. Afontova Gora II and Kokorevo II are among the most important. At Afontova Gora II were bifaces, side scrapers, end scrapers, flaked points, notches, backed blades, burins, borers, retouched flakes, and blades. Bone points, polishers, awls, needles, ivory spheres, and antler shafts were also found. Kokorevo II had mammoth remains, with borers, end scrappers, flake points, wedge-shaped cores, plano-convex biface scrappers, and other bone tools. Both sites had grooved bone points characteristic of microblade cultures, though no microblades were found. Mal"ta and Buret I on the upper Angara River contained evidence of structures, cache pits, a grave with red ocher and ivory, as well as flaked tools and blades. Beveled bone projectile points were found here, along with art objects. No microblades, edge-shaped cores nor slotted bone points were found at either site. Since Mal"ta, Buret I, and Tomsk are lacking both microblades and wedge-shaped cores, it makes them distinct from the Dyuktai culture, upon which we will elaborate. Interestingly, the use of red ocher is found at Mal"ta and at the Clovis grave site of Anzick, Montana (Haynes 1982).

Dyuktai Cave (14-13,000 rcbp) on the Aldan River, Siberia, is interesting because of the discovery of bifacial projectile points, oval and triangular knives, discoidal, Levallois, wedge-shaped cores, multifaceted burins, large side scrapers, small end scrappers on blades, and retouched flakes. These artifacts are associated with large animals, including mammoth. Haynes (1982) sees no obvious connection between Dyuktai and Clovis as a result of the small blades and wedge-shaped cores. However, temporally and spatially this culture would be an appropriate precursor to Clovis--they existed in Siberia from 30,000 to 11,000 rcbp (Soffer 1993). The Berelekh site (12,200 rcbp) at Yakuria, Siberia, is also worth mentioning (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). The mammoth bone cemetery exhibits microblade technology, bifacial flaking, ivory foreshafts, and red ocher. From this site we know that the Dyuktai culture, with their microblade emphasis, were specialized mammoth hunters.

Two other sites in Northeastern Siberia are of importance A camp site near Ushki Lake, Kamchatka, has good stratigraphy, apparent dwellings, microblades and stemmed-points. Just across the channel from the Kamchatka peninsula is the Uptar site. In Uptar was found what some researchers consider a fluted point, though this designation is questionable. Also at Uptar were artifacts consistent with the Dyuktai complex (Faught, lecture, 2000).

Haynes (1982) argues that two culture groups were in Siberia during the terminal Pleistocene. One was the flaked tool industry with its large blades (but the presence of slotted bone also suggests some use of microblades). The other tradition in Siberia at the time had wedge-shaped cores and microblades. Bifaces appear in both. Malta however, has beveled base bone points, but stands alone in the Old World in that regard. Blades, prismatic cores, mammoth bones, and hearths from a variety of sites are also found in common with Clovis. Haynes argues that 20,000 ybp Late Paleolithic hunters moved into Siberia and encountered the Dyuktai culture who had come from Southern Asia.

It is clear that the Dyuktai culture made it to Alaska. Their tool assemblage, composed of wedge-shaped cores, microblades, and bifaces appear in the technocomplexes known as Denali, Akmak, and Gallagher. The similarities between the Alaskan and Siberian tool kits are so great, some have suggested they part of the same assemblage (Haynes 1982). This tradition appears as early as 10,600 rcbp (perhaps 11,600 at Swan Point) in the New World (Hamilton & Goebel 1999). The "core-and-blade"tradition, as it has referred, appears at sites like Swan Point and Healy Lakes (charcoal association dated at 11,800 - 11,000 rcbp), Campus in the Tanana Valley, Panguingue Creek, Tangle Lakes, and Gallagher in Northern Alaska (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). All of these sites contain characteristics that seem to point toward Dyuktai origins. They are all broadly referred to "Denali." Curiously, they all reside south of the Brooks (mountain) Range which runs through central Alaska. These early Alaskan lithic traditions do not resemble the Clovis culture, but rather represent a possible precursor to the Stemmed-Point Tradition. Over time, the Denali tool industry evolves into the technocomplexes known as Agate Basin, Scott"s bluff, and the Cody complex. These assemblages are found in Canada and North America (Faught, lecture, 2000). The Nenana complex in Alaska is represented by tool industries found at Dry Creek at Orion Portage, Walker Road, Moose Creek, Mesa and Owl Ridge. These sites have consistently dated between 11,300 and 11,000 rcbp. This complex contains retouched flakes and blades, bifacial implements, end and side scrappers. Additionally, Nenana points are small triangular or teardrop-shaped projectiles, while microblades are absent from the assemblage. Although no fluted points are found among these sites, some researchers suggest the Nenana complex is a regional precursor and that flutes developed slightly later in New World complexes. That said, fluted points have been found Alaska at Girls Hill (4,440 rcbp), Putu (stemmed and fluted points at 5,700 rcbp), Bonanza Creek (700-1,800 rcbp), Batza Tena (1,800-21,600 rcbp), and North Fork on the Koyukuk River (12,300 rcbp) (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). All of these sites are located in the foothills or north of the Brooks Range. These sites are too late in age to represent a pre-Blackwater Draw occupation, with the exception of North Fork, where only one stratigraphically equivocal fluted-point was found. Most of the Alaskan fluted-points (some with multi-flutes) appear about 8,400 rcbp (Faught, lecture, 2000).

Other sites located in the Far West provide some understanding of the early Alaskan finds. At Charlie Lake Caves in Canada, in an area where the Ice Free Corridor once opened, stubby-fluted points associated with bison are dated to 10,500 rcbp. Similar finds have turned up at Sibald Lakes, Canada. A 9,700 rcbp shell midden in British Colombia exhibits marine mammal remains associated with microblades and stemmed-points. This site, called Namu, indicates a West Coast, southern migration by the Denali tradition. Vermillian Lakes, Canada, has evidence of sheep procurement at 10,700 to 9,600 rcbp and is related to the Stemmed-Point Tradition. Smith Creek Cave in Nevada has stemmed-points appearing at 10,600 rcbp. Stemmed-points (11,000-9,000 rcbp) also appear in the San Diegiato, Lake Mohave, Intermontaine Western, and Western Pluvial Lake traditions. These complexes are all in the Far West and possess burins, crescents, and humped-scrapper. However, microblade tools and ivory use seem to vanish from the Denali-derived assemblages. At Winache, Washington, fluted points, bone shafts and tools (pins, etc.) have been found directly on an ash layer dating to 11,200 bp. Anzick, Montana, has a subadult burial dated to 10,600 rcbp which contains red ocher, bone tools and a cache of large biface preform-projectile points related to the Clovis tradition. Although the evidence strongly suggests the existence of two distinct tool traditions in the West, sites like Borax Lake, California, confuses matters with tools representing both Clovis and Stemmed-Point traditions. Some researchers have suggested the adoption of certain techniques, like fluting, by people who had traditionally not used such methods (Faught, lecture, 2000).

In conclusion, it seems apparent that two distinct culture traditions existed in Beringia during the late Pleistocene, the Denali and Nenana. The Denali tradition seems to have unequivocally derived from the Dyuktai complex of Northeast Asia. The complex most likely evolved into the Stemmed-Point Tradition (and its varieties) and migrated South along the western seaboard. Linguists have associated this tradition with the Nadene language family. While it remains unclear where the Nenana complex originally appeared, some have suggested a tie to the Kostenki group of the Russian Steppes. Fluted-points seems strangely absent in early Beringia assembles, but do appear later in the foothills, and north of the Brooks Range--the mountains themselves seeming to create a cultural boundary from other traditions (Faught, lecture, 2000). To date, the earliest fluted-points still appear in the American Southeast and Southwest. This fact seems to suggest a northern migration of the fluted point tradition, or a northern diffusion of flute technology, during the early Holocene. Nevertheless, Clovis sites in New Mexico still are the oldest unequivocal sites in the New World and the origin of flute technology remains elusive. Why does the Nenana tradition in Alaska, similar to Clovis in many ways, lack characteristic fluting? Perhaps fluting was a New World adaptation, or perhaps the Nenana is a tradition separate from Clovis altogether.

Review your reading assignments and your notes from my lectures and list various possible subsistence practices and possible subsistence resources found at sites in Siberia, Alaska, and Western North America. If you look close you will find a lot.

The traditional model for Late Pleistocene subsistence practices in the New World was fairly simple. The first immigrants were specialized big-game and/or proboscidean hunters. They pursued migrating proboscideans herds across Beringia from Northeast Asia and eventually populated North and South America. When much of the megafauna became extinct during the Younger Dryas, subsistence practices then diversified.

This model makes sense in a variety of ways. Mammoths and mastodons provide substantial amounts of meat, they were abundant during the terminal Pleistocene, they grazed and foraged in Siberia and North America, and early lancelot points in the Americas were large (inferring they hunted large prey). However, archaeological evidence directly linking proboscideans and Pleistocene culture groups is limited. For example, there are only two unequivocal associations between Clovis points and proboscideans, Blackwater Draw and Naco. All other assumed associations are based on either missing proboscidean bones, cut marks made on proboscidean bones, or proboscidean bone piles. Did the early colonizers of the New World practice other means of subsistence? If so, the traditional model of "hunter pursues mammoth across Beringia and through the Ice Free Corridor" needs to be reconsidered. In other words, the motivation or impetus for the initial migration may be far different than previously believed.

One possible Clovis progenitor is the Kostenki culture of the Gravettian blade industry. Archaeologists have traditionally considered the Kostenki as "specialized mammoth hunters." Pavlov, a site in the Russian Steppes of Eurasia, has evidence that mammoths were scavenged more frequently than hunted. Mesh-like impression on clay fragments and bone needles suggest the Kostenki people were manufacturing traps and nets, and using them to capture hare, fox, and squirrel. The Pavlov site suggest that a good portion of their diet came from small mammals (Gore 2000). Further east in the middle Yenisei region are several mammoth "kill" sites, including Afontova Gora II and Kokorevo II. Found between both sites were the remains of six mammoths, but more abundantly were the remains of reindeer, arctic fox, and hare. Such sites suggest many Pleistocene communities in Eurasia were opportune hunters, not finicky proboscidean specialists.

Evidence of a broad diet exists in several Late Pleistocene sites in Northeastern Asia. At Ushki (Layer VI) and Berelekh in Siberia there are non-proboscidean faunal remains. Remains at Ushki include steppe-bison, horse, mountain sheep, lemming, domesticated dog, waterfowl, and fish. Mammoth are prevalent, especially at the Berelekh, but reindeer, bison, horse, hare, ptarmigan, and fish (salmon) are also found, although less frequently (Hamilton and Goebel, 1999). Berelekh also appears to have seasonal shelters containing different types of fauna--one shelter for winter and one for summer. This suggests that Berelekh"s Late Pleistocene residence were seasonal migrants who occupied long-term seasonal shelters.

Dyuktai Cave has mammoth remains as well as remains from other large mammals. Some researchers suggest there is evidence here that mammoth carcasses were scavenged and used for constructing shelters rather than as a primarily food source (Haynes 1982). On Zhokhov Island, Siberia, reindeer, polar bear, sea mammals, birds, and wolf are associated with a presumed winter shelter (Goebel and Slobodin 1999). Bochanut, also in Siberia, had wholly mammoth, wholly rhinoceros, bison, horse, musk-ox, reindeer, and moose.

Evidence of a broad diet among Late Pleistocene peoples can also be found in Alaska. The remains from Broken Mammoth and Swan Point do not support the traditional picture of Pleistocene humans as predominantly big-game hunters. Bones recovered here indicate that small mammals, waterfowl, ptarmigans, and fish were consumed. Also found were swan, bison, elk, river otter, hare, marmot, ground squirrel, goose, duck, canid, porcupine, and red squirrel. At Dry Creek, the remains of wapiti, steppe bison, and Dall sheep suggest the Nenana Valley people performed seasonal hunting of large mammals (Goebel and Slobodin 1999).

Some archaeologists suggest the Northwest coast of the United States was resources-rich during the Late Wisconian glaciation, but others oppose the idea. Those in opposition argue that: (1) The south shore of Beringia and the north Gulf of Alaska were probably inhospitable at the terminal Pleistocene, (2) the known sites in this area are dated to the early Holocene, (3) coastal sites occur further south in British Colombia at this time, but not further north, and (4) adaptation to severe sea-ice did not take place until the Late Holocene (Haynes 1982).

Cave deposits on Prince of Whales Island include brown and black bear, caribou, marmot, lemming, heather vole, and possibly wolverine. Though western Pleistocene-Holocene boundary sites are found in a variety of contexts, it is interesting to note that all six sites with fluted points (except the Riche-Roberts cache in Washington) were "situated along the lowest strand lines in pluvial lake basins once occupied by shallow lakes, marshes, and stream fed deltas during the terminal Pleistocene" (Willig 1991). This would suggest a hunting strategy focused on waterholes.

A 9,700 rcbp shell midden in British Colombia exhibits marine mammal remains associated with microblades and stemmed-points. This site, called Namu, indicates a southern migration along the Northwest Coast by the descendants of the Denali tradition. Vermillian Lakes, Canada, has evidence of sheep procurement at 10,700 to 9,600 rcbp and is related to the Stemmed-Point Tradition (Faught, lecture, 2000). These sites, both possessing different subsistence practices among members of the same technocomplex (Stemmed-Point Tradition), in relatively close proximity, are a testimony to diverse ways of life among the New World"s earliest inhabitants. This example also suggests that a particular tool complex can be used in acquiring a wide-range of fauna, rather than simply being specialized for a few megafaunal species.

Willig (1991) suggests great dietary diversity in the East. The remains of caribou, fish, and birds have been found at Dutchess Quarry Cave, New England. Giant land tortoise was found at Little Salt Springs, while grape, hawthorn plum, hackberry, and blackberry was uncovered at Shawnee-Minisink. There is also evidence of Marshaling sites in the Northeast. These are sites where bands would convene seasonally, likely to discuss the location of new food resources and other issues of importance (Faught, lecture, 2000)

Other sites throughout the United States also exhibit a diverse diet among Pleistocene peoples. Lehner, AZ, has charred bear and rabbit bones, while Murray Springs has the remains of horse, camel, bear, tapir, and rabbit. Blackwater Draw has dear, wolf, peccary, antelope, turtle, rodents, birds, mammoth, horse and camel. Fishbone Cave, Nevada, has the remains of fish, marmot, horse, camel, and bird bones (Willig 1991). Sheridan Cave, Ohio, seems to suggest an emphasis on peccary consumption (Tankersley and Redmond, 2000). As a note, sloth was procured by Late Pleistocene people in South America (Fell"s Cave, Argentina) and was likely utilized elsewhere.

Clearly Pleistocene communities sought terrestrial food resources beyond proboscideans. Yet, one must question why subsistence practices adapted to marine environments are limited to certain geographical regions, like South Africa, Japan, and the Northwest coasts of North and South America? The answer likely has to do with tectonics. South Africa, Japan, and the Northwest coasts of North and South America are regions of geological uplift. As the glaciers receded, these regions experienced isostatic rebound, leaving their Pleistocene shorelines above modern sea levels, and in turn, their archaeological remains accessible to modern researchers. It can be inferred then, that maritime adaptations were not limited to these specific regions, but may have been wide-spread, perhaps universal. That said, the evidence for maritime subsistence practices remains elusive, as much of it lies many fathoms beneath the sea (Faught, lecture, 2000). Underwater archaeological research at Florida State University, under the direction of Michael Faught, is looking for evidence of maritime adaptation among submerged prehistoric sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

In conclusion, it seems that Pleistocene hunters practiced a great variety of subsistence strategies. This has an important impact on the traditional model of the peopling of the New World. If we can no longer assume that Northeast Asians chased migrating proboscideans across Beringia and through the Ice Free Corridor, we must think of another impetus for their sojourn to the New World. Additionally, we must now entertain the possibility that some paleoindians may have entered the New World by a different route all together. If evidence of maritime adaptation can be found offshore, coastal migrations or even transoceanic voyages must be considered as alternative migration routes for paleoindians.

References

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