Canadian History 11(Unit 1)
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Coastal Route Theory (The Pacific Route)
One theory of how the aboriginal people
came to North America is known as the
Coastal Route Theory. The coastal
route hypothesis is based on the idea that the
first people to inhabit North America traveled
by boat down the Pacific coast, living in areas
of ice-free land, called refugia, along the way.
They may have hunted some land animals,
but they also would have fished and hunted
sea mammals. Once they reached lands south
of the ice sheets, some groups then made
their way inland and settled in central and
southern North America. These people were
the ancestors of the people who later made
and used the Clovis spear points.
Figure 1: This picture shows the two possible routes that the
Coastal Route would follow. The many islands around this area
make this theory possible. This theory has two parts: The first
would be the journey from the north and the second is south.
This theory shows that there is fossil evidence of sea and land mammals and other wild life
dated about 16 800 BP which has been found along the western coast of North America. This
suggests that there were enough natural resources at that time for coastal people to survive.
There had been little archaeological exploration of the area in the past, however, because it
was originally believed to have been covered in glaciers at that time.
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This first theory uses the idea that the people from the northern part of Asia hopped
islands using boats and following the marine animals and settled the western part of
North America. This would allow for the genetic similarities between the people of
Asia and the First Nations people in North America. It would also account for some of
the tools that were common to both sides of the Pacific.
The second part of this theory has been taken further by some
archaeologists who now believe that people may have crossed
the Pacific and inhabited South America first, long before they
came to North America. Two archaeological sites, Monte
Verde in southern Chile and Tiama-Tiama in northern
Venezuela, are believed to be older than any known North
American Sites
o Kennewick Man: 9,500 year old skeleton found near
Kennewick, Washington believed to be of Polynesian or
Figure 2: Recreation of
Kennewick Man from his
skeletal remains.
Canadian History 11(Unit 1)
Ainu (South Asian) descent rather than Caucasoid or European descent, which
shows clear evidence of migration to the present-day Northwestern United
States by peoples other than Caucasoid.
In order to find out whether the coastal route hypothesis is correct, archaeologists must find
more supporting evidence. Some of the things they are looking for are:
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evidence that early people had the tools and skills to make boats, and to catch fish
and sea mammals. So archaeologists look for boat-building tools or the remains of the
boats, and for things like fish hooks and harpoons. So far none have been found that
are early enough to have belonged to the first people in North America.
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evidence that ice-free areas were available for people to live in along the coast.
Archaeologists working in caves on Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island have found
evidence that such areas did exist during the ice age.
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archaeological sites along the coast that are earlier than the Clovis sites inland. No
such sites have yet been found on the coast. Kennewick Man is from a period later
than the Clovis site.
There is biological evidence to support this theory as well. Some indigenous people of South
America share genetic characteristics with indigenous peoples of Polynesia and Australia, but
not with the peoples of northeastern Asia. Likewise, the indigenous people of northwest
North America have a closer genetic link to the peoples of Siberia than those of South
America.
So far, there is not very much hard evidence to support the coastal route hypothesis. Many
archaeologists support it, however, because they say it is the most likely route that early
people could have taken from Siberia to North America. They also point out that one of the
reasons that sites have not been found is that much of the coast was submerged when sea
levels rose after the glaciers melted. So the evidence may lie on the ocean floor.
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