Red
Well-Known Member
I'll correct a couple of mistakes Babe makes in these comments. First, regarding Neanderthal genes, unless you are 100% black African, or descended from same, you have some small % of Neanderthal genes. You don't have to look to Native Americans from NJ in ancient times to find Neanderthal genes. All non Africans have some tiny % of such ancestry.
Second, regarding migrations across the Atlantic, this is the so-called Solutrean Hypothesis. The Solutreans were less a distinct people, then a type of stone tool technology, and dates around 22,000 years old. Dennis Stanford, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian, helped popularize the so-called Solutrean Hypothesis, claiming that the tool kit, which, until very recent years, was considered to be the tool kit of the original inhabitants of the Americas, namely the Clovis projectile point and the Clovis people, displayed a stone tool technology that could only have developed out of the Solutrean technology. So he, and others, suggested the Solutreans must have made it across the Atlantic. But, not to NJ, but to the Delmarva Peninsula. There is indeed a heavier concentration of Clovis points in the Delmarva then surrounding areas, but Clovis is in fact a continent wide occurrence. They are found in all 50 states. And they appeared around 13,000 years ago, so there is a great time gap with Solutrean technology in France and Spain.
Now, until recent decades, the dogma that was indeed subscribed to by American archaeologists was that Clovis was in fact the earliest people in the Americas. It has been an intense fight with the "Clovis First" archaeologists, but we now know that there were pre-Clovis cultures here. We can safely assume the earliest migration has to have been at least 20,000 years ago, and some would argue for earlier dates. And several migration routes have been suggested. Including across the Atlantic. And including what is known as the Pacific Kelp Highway route. Sailing, in other words, rather then overland in a so-called ice free corridor. The Pacific Kelp Highway route may explain the existence of the Monte Verde site in Chile, which is pre-Clovis and at least 14,000 years old. It may, in fact, have dates as old as 30,000 years, but these are not generally accepted.
Let's return to the Solutrean Hypothesis, which has indeed been used by white supremacists to argue that people from Europe were here before the ancestors of Native Americans. Well, dates considerably older then 13,000 years, containing projectile points that are not Clovis, have been found in the Delmarva. Dates in excess of 20,000 years, and recall, Solutrean tools are in the 22,000 year range. Here in the East Coast, bifacial bipointed blades have been found which Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian, and others, claim were produced by Solutrean technology. One of these blades was found in the Chesapeake Bay, near mammoth remains. Found decades ago by scallop fisherman. The mammoth remains have been dated to over 20,000 years. But the recovery circumstances and exact association with mammoth remains have recently been placed in doubt for this recovery. Now, two of the bipointed blades found in the Delmarva Peninsula were found to be made of French flint. Seemingly a compelling case for Stanford et al, but one of those two blades was found in circumstances, buried beneath a colonial chimney foundation, that cannot remove the possibility that it was in fact buried by a colonist in the 17th century.
Now, as to the white supremacists embracing the Solutrean Hypothesis. They will be dissapointed to learn that recent studies have determined that white pigmentation developed among Europeans roughy 8000 yeas ago, long after the Solutreans, and long after the initial settling of the Americas. So, even if the Solutrean technology people were indeed here first, they were not white.
The bottom line where the Solutrean Hypothesis is concerned at this point in time, is that it is a minority opinion, without much support, but it remains a working hypothesis which may yet be established one day as fact. A lot, I mean a lot, more evidence is needed. The real bottom line in the peopling of the Americas debate is this:
The Clovis-First dogma is dead. We have known and dated pre-Clovis sites in North America, With the death of the Clovis-First dogma, there is fresh air in the subject of the peopling of the Americas. We are now open to seeing how much sooner then Clovis did man arrive in the Americas, and by what routes.
I've mentioned the proposed Pacific Kelp Highway migration route, posited recently. The overland ice free corridor migration route has not been abandoned, and there were likely more then just one route from Asia into the Americas. The Africa to Brazil hypothesis is popular among some Brazilian archaeologists, and is actually largely unknown and un examined by their North American counterparts. But the bottom line, everything is wide open with the death of the Clovis-First dogma,
Now, I must correct one other mistake Babe makes. He states 7000 year old remains, I assume Kennewick Man, were reburied so as not to embarrass scientific elites. No, no, no, no no. The scientists pled the case not to re bury Kennewick Man. The scientists wanted further study of the remains. The scientists are very open to understanding the peopling of the Americas, and they are not trying to protect any dogma. Clovis-First did so, but that dogma is dead and buried now. But, when DNA studies revealed genetic connections to nearby tribes, the Army Corps of Engineers returned the remains to those tribes for re burial. It is the tribes, not the scientists, who wanted re burial. And the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act(NAGPRA) requires such return of remains.
So the re burial of Kennewick man has absolutely nothing to do with scientific elites wishing to protect dogma. That's just Babe's take on scientific elites in general. In applying that opinion to the Kennewick Man dispute, he is as wrong as wrong can be. It was the tribes who did not wish further scientific study of Kennewick Man. And the government returned the remains in compliance with federal law, namely NAGRPA.
