Jonathan Smith
Anthropology 1020-016
Settling of North America
The orthodox view of how the America were settled comprises that of a single great
wave type migration of nomadic hunter gatherer peoples who followed large herds of
game across the Bering Land Bridge. However upon further and deeper reflection and
searching one comes to the realization that there is no certain clear and accurate theory
about how human kind initially got to the Americas. There are still some theories that
point to, with evidence, and claim that there was a single massive migration and there
are also many claims with evidence that there was multiple waves or an ongoing influx
of people from Asia that settled North America.
One hypothesis is the Greenberg hypothesis, this is a multi-wave hypothesis that
prescribes there was three waves of migration. This theory is based on the language of
the native peoples. It states that the three main languages are representative of three
separate waves of migration across the Bering Land Bridge. There is some mirrored
archeologic and dental evidence to the Greenberg three wave hypothesis (1). There is
also DNA evidence which, in 1990, was considered the best supporting evidence for
this theory (2). This DNA testing was done by Douglas Wallace at then Emory
University. The test consisted of assembling hundreds of samples from twenty four
tribes ranging from Alaska to Argentina. The studies looked at mitochondrial DNA as
this DNA mutates quickly enabling them to distinguish recently separated lineages by
putting them into four Haplogroup categories.
The Challenge to this hypothesis is presented by Ann Gibbons in The Peopling of the
Americas (3). In this she talks about Andrew Merriweather and his findings along with
other published opinions stemming from Europe show that Alaskan Eskimos and groups
as far south as Brazil, the Kraho and Yanomami, share more gene types than was
previously thought. With the findings that link the two so closely it gives more credence
to the single migration theory. The DNA work that was done by Merriweather and the
Europeans sampled 1300 samples and found that some of the groups didn’t fit into the
original Four groups identified by the initial work done by Wallace. The findings led them
to believe that there was only one wave of migration. They hypothesize that while lots of
the migration spread south a group stayed in the north and succumbed to drastically
reduced numbers brought on my cold. This group then lost their initial genetic diversity
as a result so they had a concentration of all the Haplogroups while the groups that
spread south and east inward from the coast maintained their genetic diversity.
Both theories have proof to back them leading to just an increase in argument and
confusion. There are several different theories about how or whom settled North
America, leading to contradictions amongst them. One of the more currently and
definitely controversial pieces of evidence is that of the Kennewick Man. He was
discovered in Colombia Park in the state of Washington. Not only is he bringing
controversy to the evidence/scientific side of things he also has native tribes and the
federal government in a dispute over his remains. (4)
The controversy between the Native American tribe and the government stems from the
Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act (hereafter NAGPRA). NAGPRA
states that any Native American remains that are found belong to the tribe of the
territory or area they were found in. They then are turned over to that tribe and given a
burial in accordance with that tribe’s ceremonies and tradition. However NAGPRA has
vague language defining what Native American remains are, thus there is a debate
about whether or not Kennewick Man is a Native American or not. The tribe is stating
that he is as he was found in ancient tribal territory, but scientists have claimed and thus
far proven beyond current doubt that he was not a Native American tribesman. He spent
the last 20 years off his life in presumably Alaska. This issue led to the most extensive
judicial analysis of the NAGPRA to date (4).
The aspect of Kennewick man that brings scientific controversy to the table is the facts
that prove he isn’t a Native American. Initially he was deemed to be Caucasoid by
archaeologist James Chatters. Chatters found a nearly complete skeleton comprised of
a complete skull and an additional 350 bones and fragments (5). This allows for fairly
solid claims to be made and inferred about Kennewick man. Upon further investigation it
was determined that he is more closely related to the Ainu or Polynesians (6). They
were able to determine that he lived in Alaska the last 20 odd years of his life based on
his diet of marine animals (seal) and the primary drinking of glacial runoff. The nearest
location to his burial site meeting both of those requirements is Alaska.
Radio carbon dating places Kennewick Mans age between 8000-8500 years before
present. Also he has a stone point lodged in his hip (4) that is from the Clovis period
which spanned between 7500-12000 years ago. This dating information and the fact
that his skull doesn’t closely match any Native American tribes is what proves he wasn’t
a tribesman but rather a migrant to the area. This adds confusing facts to the single
wave migration style theories that currently exist and seemingly points to a more flowing
pattern of migration that happened gradually over time.
The evidence and number of brilliant minds that think it was a large single migration to
me can’t be thrown away and must be considered. However there is also abundant
evidence that points toward there being multiple or an ongoing migration of peoples
from the Asiatic region to the Americas. In my mind it was a combination of both
methods, a large initial migratory wave followed by the ongoing flow of people moving
across the Bering Strait either by boat or land bridge that lead to the settling of North
America.
Anthropology 1020 bibliography
1: F. H. West, ED. American Beginnings (Univ, of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1996)
2: A Gibbons, Geneticists trace the DNA trail of the first Americans, Science 15 (Jan., 1993) pp. 312-313
3: Ann Gibbons, The Peopling of the Americas, Science, New Series, Vol. 274, No. 5284 (Oct. 4, 1996), pp.
31-33
4: Susan B. Bruning, American Antiquity, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 2006), pp. 501-521
5: Glynn Custred, Acedemic Questions, Vol. 13, Issue 3, (Sept., 2000), pp. 12-30
6: Stuart J. Fiedel, Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 76