Archaeologists
have found evidence that disproves the idea that the Clovis people were
the first to spread across the Americas via a corridor between the ice
sheets of modern Canada.
Archaeologists have found evidence that disproves the
idea that the Clovis people were the first to spread across the Americas
via a corridor between the ice sheets of modern Canada.
For a long time it was thought that humans made it from Siberia to Alaska via
the Bering land bridge, before moving down the corridor. Later it was
fund that there were other people in the Americas before the Clovis, and
recent evidence suggests that the Clovis did not even arrive in the
Americas via the corridor writes Eva Botkin-Kowacki for The Christian Science Monitor.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Clovis-first theory disproved
The research was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, and shows
that the ice-free corridor across Canada would not have been suitable
for human passage until 12,600 years ago. However the Clovis were living
to the south by 13,500 years ago.
The basic story remains the same. As sea levels lowered during the
Ice Age, making a land bridge out of the Bering Strait, ancient peoples
moved from Siberia to what is now Alaska. They were prevented from moving any further by the ice sheets, and stayed put for thousands of years.
By 16,000 years ago they had worked out how to get around the ice
sheets, with scientists debating how they did it. One theory is that
they moved down the Pacific coast by boat, or via an ice-free coastal
walkway.
Did Clovis use ice-free corridor?
Scientists have since found evidence of human habitation as far south
as Chile from long before the Clovis culture appeared. This means the
Clovis model first is dead.
However it is still not known whether the Clovis descended from those that came down the Pacific coast.
This would meant that they either “were here already and didn’t need a
corridor, or whether they represent a separate and later migration and –
if so – whether they could have come down the ice free corridor,” said
study co-author David J. Meltzer, a paleoanthropologist and archaeologist at Southern Methodist University.
The study shows that they did not go down the corridor, but it’s not just a question of timing.
Migrating humans rely on environment to survive
Even though the corridor became ice free earlier, it does not mean
that people could have used it to migrate. In fact the Earth would have
taken a long time to recover from the ravages of the Ice Age, and there
wouldn’t have been enough food sources or wood to sustain human life.
“It’s 1,500 kilometres. You can’t pack a lunch and do it in a day,”
said Meltzer. The researchers then looked at when plants and animals
were able to survive in the corridor, using radiocarbon dating to see
when life came back to the area.
Their results show that the ice corridor only became biologically
viable for humans after the Clovis people first appeared south of the
ice sheet. Another study published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences in June described how bison populations from north
and south of the ice sheets didn’t mix until around 13,000 years ago.
“Given that their approach is completely independent from that used
in our bison study, I find it encouraging that there is only an ~400
year discrepancy between the two estimates,” said Peter D. Heintzman of
the University of California, Santa Cruz, the lead author of the bison
study.
Heintzmann points out that “both papers are in agreement” on the
importance of the ice-free corridor to migrating humans. “They both
suggest that the corridor opened too late for it to be the route for
initial colonization of the Americas south of the ice.”
Meltzer says that this means the Clovis people could not have moved
down the corridor. “I think we both also agree that the first hard
[archaeological] evidence in the corridor when it finally opens is
post-Clovis in age, and likely from people moving north and not south.”
While studying economics, Brendan found himself
comfortably falling down the rabbit hole of restaurant work, ultimately
opening a consulting business and working as a private wine buyer. On a
whim, he moved to China, and in his first week following a triumphant
pub quiz victory, he found himself bleeding on the floor based on his
arrogance. The same man who put him there offered him a job lecturing
for the University of Wales in various sister universities throughout
the Middle Kingdom. While primarily lecturing in descriptive and
comparative statistics, Brendan simultaneously earned an Msc in Banking
and International Finance from the University of Wales-Bangor. He's
presently doing something he hates, respecting French people. Well, two,
his wife and her mother in the lovely town of Antigua, Guatemala.
To contact Brendan or give him an exclusive, please contact him at theflask@gmail.com
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