Learning about North America’s First Peoples
through archaeology
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Gathering archaeological evidence
Traditional archaeological theory
Linguistic evidence
Physical anthropology
Gathering archaeological evidence
 Archaeologists learn about people from ancient times by studying the remains –
or artifacts – of their cultures
 This is mostly done through a process called radiocarbon dating
 Radiocarbon dating relies on the measurement of carbon found in archaeological
evidence
 All living things contain the element carbon. When an organism dies, the
amount of carbon in it declines slowly and steadily.
 Scientists can measure the amount of carbon in an organism, and based upon the
amount of carbon they can determine when the organism died.
 The analysis of archaeological evidence has also been greatly advanced by the
introduction of DNA technology.
Traditional Archaeological Theory
Early evidence and the Clovis Model
 Much of the archaeological evidence we use today relies upon the radiocarbon
dating of spear points
 In 1935, spear points found at Clovis, New Mexico were dated as far back as 11
500 BP.
 The Clovis Model is essentially the idea that this time period (11 500 to
11 000 BP) represents the earliest presence of human life in North America
Challenges to the Clovis Model
 The Clovis theory became so widely accepted that researchers began to assume
without questioning that it was impossible for human life to have existed in North
America at an earlier date
 Yet since then, other archaeological evidence has been discovered that suggests
otherwise:
Location
Monte Verde
(in S. America)
Date of evidence
approx. 12 500 BP
Cactus Hill, Virginia
approx. 16 500 BP.
The Plano Period
 From 10 000 to 7 000 BP, much of the big game animals (eg. Mammoth)
disappeared from North America
 This disappearance is often attributed to the Plano peoples, whose use of
projectile point technology made them successful hunters.
 Plano projectiles have been discovered from BC to Quebec, and from the
Northwest Territories to the Gulf of Mexico.
Linguistic Evidence
 Researchers also rely on linguistic evidence. Linguistics is the study of the
structure of languages.
 Linguists (ie. people who study linguistics) state that the spread and development
of languages takes a great deal of time.
 They conclude that, since there is so much diversity of language in North
America, the First Peoples must have been here long before the Clovis era. .
Physical Anthropology
 Physical anthropology refers to the study of past societies by analyzing human
remains
 Some studies have shown that ancient bones of First Peoples more closely
resemble those of indigenous peoples of Japan, Polynesia, and even Europe
compared the modern-day North American aboriginals.
Assignment
After reading p.15-18,
answer the following questions:
1.
a) What is the Clovis Model, or Clovis Theory?
b) What happened when people started accepting the Clovis Model without
questioning it?
c) How does linguistic evidence refute (disprove) the Clovis Model?
2. Define all 15 terms in bold found in Chapter 1.
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BP (Before Present)
Mi’kmaq
World view
Artifacts
Radiocarbon dating
Paleoindians
Fluted
DNA
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Paradigm bias
Linguistics
Physical anthropologists
Beringia
Solutrean
Genetic marker
Population density