Theories for the Populating of the Americas
May 02 '03 (Updated Apr 30 '05)
The Bottom Line Open your mind, but don't let your brains fall out.
When exploring science is it important to keep in mind the fundamentals of the scientific method. This method can be described in four steps - observe and describe; hypothesize; predict; and test. Once you’ve described the phenomenon you form ideas about how this phenomenon works, predict the outcome of any tests based on this hypothesis, and then test, test, test.
Carl Sagan takes this method one step further in his recommendation for use of a Baloney Kit when considering ideas. Dr. Sagan’s Baloney Kit is brimming with tools for skeptical thinking. He suggests the need for independent confirmation of facts, debate from all sides of an idea, and exploration of alternate ideas. Other tools in this kit are Occam’s Razor, quantification, and the idea that every link in a chain of reasoning must work in order to support the premise. Recognizing fallacious arguments can be vital, and examples of these arguments are also included in the Baloney Kit.
Both of these concepts are important when exploring the varied, and sometimes conflicting, ideas and evidences on the populating of the Americas. While new evidences come to light as differing explorations delve deeper into the facts of the matter, there is a period of adjustment. Old ideas can be confirmed or disproved. Newer ideas can be rejected or accepted, or perhaps added onto the current theories; better defining our understanding. All of which require careful consideration, and the extensive use of both the scientific method and our Baloney Kits.
Dates play an important role in current thought concerning the populating of the Americas. Toward the end of the Pleistocene, from about 20,000 – 12,000 BCE, the world was in the frigid grip of an Ice Age. The Wisconsin Glaciation, 17,000-13,000 BCE, covered most of North America with glaciers in almost a continuous sheet of ice. As most of the previously discovered artifacts were 11,500 years and younger, common thought has been that the population of the Americas occurred during the beginning of the melt off of the glaciers. The water level would have been low enough at that time to create a land bridge, from Siberia to Alaska, which has been named Beringia. These settlers then traveled down a mid-continental, ice-free corridor through North America, on to Central America, finally reaching South America about a thousand years later. These inhabitants were named the Clovis, or Folsom, culture after the distinctive design of their spear points.
The problem with this hypothesis is that, while there are many Clovis sites found in North and South America, no evidence has ever been found in the area of the ice-free corridor, within the correct time frame, to support this theory of migration. However, as no alternate theories had been found acceptable, though a minority of archeologists clamored for recognition of an earlier migration, this theory had become standard thought. This was before the artifacts at Monte Verde came to light, a discovery that threw an unexpected spanner into the works of current archeological thought on the populating of the Americas.
7,500 miles from Beringia you’ll find MVII, the site number for an archeological dig at Monte Verde in southern Chile. Carbon dating from MVII has resulted in dates of 12,500 BCE. These findings caused a bit of a stir, as it was evident that people were dining on Pleistocene llamas and fish in Monte Verde 1000 years before the opening of the ice-free corridor. Upstream from MVII there would be more evidences to stir the pot. MVI, about 35 miles away, consisted of stone tools and hearths as much as 33,000 years old. Though the MVI date was, and still is, severely contested, it was obviously time to reevaluate the accepted theory of migration.
Archeologist began exploring the coastlines of the Americas, projecting that, as the interiors of the continents would have been impassable, the coasts were a good alternative. And this exploration has born fruit. Coastal sites in Quebrada Jaquay and Quebrada Tacahuay have been dated as pre-Clovis. Deep into the Amazon basis, Ann Roosevelt has discovered pre-Clovis sites dating back to 12,000 BCE. As sites from this theory of migration are all underwater at this time, due to the rising levels of the ocean, exploring this theory will take time.
The new evidences also have archeologists reexamining previously discarded evidences; discarded when the dates were not in compliance with the then accepted theory. Stone implements in Canada have been dated to 25,000 BCE. Contested dates of paleoliths and human bones have been reported. Artifacts dated 15,200 BCE have been discovered at the Rancho La Brea. However, when considering all this information, we should not forget to take out our Baloney Kits.
Since the timeframes for migrating into the Americas has been pushed back, and sometime vigorously, it does not necessarily follow that that all evidences should be equally accepted. This simply means that all evidences should be examined equally, following the scientific method. Skepticism should still be a very important part of this examination. The data from Monte Verde, broadening the timeframe of the populating of the Americas, has been rigorously tested, with holdouts on acceptance still active. The debates on verification will continue. And the evidences will accrue through time. But there will be a need for many, many such evidences, highly verified and quantified, before a consensus can be reached regarding the populating of the Americas; perhaps even, as Carl Sagan would say, billions and billions.
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