In Search of the First Americans

On October 14, 2016, the Museum of Natural and Cultural History welcomed a group of scholars to explore newly revealed stories from sites across North America as a part of its annual Archaeology Lecture Series.
In Search of the First Americans
How and when did humans first come to North America? Learn about newly uncovered evidence from Florida and Oregon sites, and how it’s reshaping our understanding of the continent’s first human communities.
PANELISTS
Loren Davis, Oregon State University
Jessi Halligan, Florida State University
Dennis Jenkins, Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Jason Younker, University of Oregon
Moderated by Tom Connolly, Museum of Natural and Cultural History

[@shugathastargazer4589]

Thank you for posting these. I needed all this info

[@FacesintheStone]

For the people who do care, there is an ancient sight being destroyed in Graham North Carolina right now. The entire thing has been preserved in* clay, even wooden bows and spearpoints-Charred wood Totems, and incredible lithic art.

[@chrise842]

Destroyed by what?

[@jamesking1495]

Seems no one cares 🤷🤦

[@taohuang359]

One of the many problems with the glacial passage theory that wasn’t mentioned here is that none but the brave (or the foolish) would attempt to cross the open plains at the end of the corridor on foot (as we always see in the movies). Such humans would quickly fall prey to marauding predators. The only way the interior of the continent was explored was by boat and up navigable rivers from the sea. The boats and the rivers offered safety and the means of escape. Any hunting and foraging was done along the shore of the ocean and along the banks of the rivers and tributary streams, never venturing far from safety and escape-making overkill IMPOSSIBLE. Only after permanent seasonal settlements along watercourses were established and portages between rivers identified was any serious attempt made to explore deeper into the interior. Since the plains offered no shelter, any excursions that did not follow rivers likely followed cliff edges containing abundant shelters. There was never any strolling out across the open plains far from any shelter. That would be suicide.

[@thomash4950]

I would imagine the humans 15,000 - 20,000 years ago were still in top of the food chain given their group sizes and refined tool making. Hard to imagine those highly nomadic humans not exploring away from water strictly due to cowardice

[@judd0112]

No Clovis points found anywhere in the corridor,Alaska or Siberia. That alone says they didn’t come across the land bridge or from Siberia. They crossed the Atlantic where the solutreans points evolved into Clovis points as natural progression. But it guess it’s too obvious

[@forestdwellerresearch6593]

Boats offer no safety at all! You get wet and you die from hypothermia very quickly! Not to mention the bad ass ocean creatures....killer whales are sinking yachts around Spain right now. Then of course there is the weather....a boat is always a vulnerable place.

[@jeffsaginaw1769]

There are recent discoveries that indicate a 130,000 yr presence in the Americas that would completely obliterate the tribal myths currently held by Native Americans. I am part Native American from the Saginaw tribe of Michigan so I think that if there were earlier inhabitants then we have a completely different story that may change our current understanding of human evolution on this continent. I think that's an exciting story we need to hear.

[@FacesintheStone]

There is another story, I just discovered it.

[@Jason-hg1pc]

Here! Hear ye, hear ye, here and now, here ye hear a nearly true heironymous hash of hashish trash!

[@user-qo4og7jg9j]

So you think that the first people who occupied the Americas were not even anatomically modern humans?

[@jeffsaginaw1769]

No, just thought about all the 130,000 year stuff and could be everybody alive then came to America

[@I0goose0I]

I’m Tlingit from Southeast Alaska, my people have a history of the great flood but as well other floods, we know where our ancestors went to. Big part of that is we knew where to go when a flood destroyed and displaced us. The forced displacement by the US Government in the late 1800’s wiped out so many people and destroyed so much of our ancient history. In the history we do know the landscape was described pretty definitively and there’s so many more home areas in these mountains but there’s a lot under water, when the tide was a lot lower there’s so many more places below the coast where we lived and lots of those places described would narrow down where to look to prove we were here longer. Gunalchéesh for a great presentation.

[@j.b.4340]

Lying is frowned upon.

[@I0goose0I]

@@j.b.4340 what part of my people’s history do you see as a lie? You can go ahead and research us if you want or just jump to conclusions with zero research?

[@stevegarcia3731]

WOW, that is heavy stuff. Thank you for that! And we owe you and the Tlingit and history an apology.

[@doktortutankamazon31]

Inuit, Dorset, and Roald Admundsen all prove that you do not need a Bering land bridge, ice free corridor, or even a coastal migration theory. The ice is it's own highway and not some insurmountable obstacle. These paradigms need to be readdressed.

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

EXCELLENT PRESENTATION 👌!!! Supports possibly a coastal migration from the West. Or, an ice-free corridor at another earlier date.

[@chrise842]

And from the East

[@stevenkaeser8583]

So, why are a majority of the Clovis habitations found in the East. There are more sites in the Delmarva region than all the sites west of the Mississippi. Hmmmmm

[@michaelfoulkes9502]

Maybe because they came from across the Atlantic?

[@chrise842]

@@michaelfoulkes9502 like Stanford said

[@jasonshumate6456]

Nothing to see here Steve, move along. They will never Admit the White Man went anywhere, we just appeared in Europe, in Caves....by the Ocean...but too dumb to build boats. Solutrean/Red Ochre people buried our dead in the fetal position, top of the Skull pointed West and facing North, I agree......Hmmmm.......

[@runingblackbear]

We have always been here from the beginning you just don't know the difference

[@JamesSmith-by3qy]

1960s and early 1990s: Siberia, Siberia Siberia. Now: Ship from Seoul, Boat from Busan or transit from Tokyo, hold from Hokkaido, merchantman from Manila, vessel from Vladivostok, etc.!

[@Jason-hg1pc]

Aeroship from America!

[@rosedeliamoosetail6162]

All brown skin people are Indigenous from different Countries and Cultures. Asians, Filipino, India, Jews , First Nations of different tribes etc...

[@user-xi8hs8dv6m]

Stay out of family grave yards unless invited. It’s common curtsey.

[@Bitterrootbackroads]

One of the early speakers talks like the “Clovis First” folks are still defending that position. Q. Is that still happening? A more specific question- Looking at maps showing Clovis finds shows only one near me called the Pelland site near the Minnesota / Canada border. I can’t find google images of those artifacts but reading one of the first articles popping up refers to the site as “assumed to be Clovis”, then goes on to say the site would have been under the Laurentide ice sheet during Clovis times. So who’s wrong? The folks saying Clovis, or the folks dating ice sheet coverage? Can someone direct me to info on this site?

[@zipperpillow]

The Clovis paradigm is just plain wrong. Politics and group-think coercion in the Academia hierarchy makes you untrustworthy.

[@NightowlProductionsGroup]

Exactly. Polly-Si. What about the clown with a ponytail welcoming us to “his” continent. These people are a joke. do you want the oldest artifact ever found in the New World? Look up Cinmar knifepoint. 27,000 years old. On the continental shelf of Virginia pulled up with a mastodon skull. Predates Beringia by 15,000 years. Duh.

[@desidaru1118]

@@NightowlProductionsGroup Posession is the natural law until someone stronger comes and takes it. There is always someone coveting what another has, and they, or their decendants, will whine or war to get it until they get it or perish trying.

[@Jason-hg1pc]

Politics and the deteriorating stability of Mike the Pillow Guy coerce me to think you're him, pre-arrest.

[@rhondaclark716]

RETHINKING THE FIRST AMERICANS BY CITY OF ALLEN ACTV.

[@user-qd6cd1pw1h]

We had plenty of time to ransack other people's heritages . Those involved in the science will find a way to do the work with respect . Respect apparently is still a novel concept for some.

[@akiranara9392]

Very informative, thank you. By the way, Ainu aren't indigenous or aborigine at all. They came in 12th century and no relation with First Americans theme completely. They are quite different from Australian Aborigine and American native Indians' situation. Related people for the First Americans are Proto-Japanese Hokkaido（PJH, Hokkaido Sojin）had lived there, northern part of Japanese archipelago, since 35-30,000 years ago though their bones haven' t been found yet. Similar peoples' bones were found in Okinawa, as samples of 36,000~27,000 years ago. On the other hand, their ancestors are famous for crossing sea more than 20km to collect obsidians at Onbase island in Tokyo islands since 38,000 years ago. Any way, it's not Ainu, but Proto-Japanese Hokkaido（PJH）or Hokkaido Sojin as the ancestral candidate people of the First Americans. These're well known matter about Ainu and ancestors, but really very strange of no mentioning from university scholars' side.

[@glenndicus]

These guys are absolutely terrified of the Solutrean Hypothesis.

[@louiekiwi]

Everyone already knows, it was Christopher Columbus.

[@williaminbody205]

The first Americans were from France and northern Spain.

[@shadetreader]

No.

[@michealallison8756]

LOL!

[@glenndicus]

That’s the Solutrean Hypothesis they completely skipped over because it would have offended their Native friend.

[@mr.r4910]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@sugarbluedriftwood8643]

24:00 “I was asked not to say ________ so I don’t” SCIENCE!

[@ericschmuecker348]

Politics not science. Uhg!

[@phill6159]

What is the difference? In many other situations the 2 terms are interchangeable.

[@josesantosportugalaguilar9287]

Ancient beings

[@dat2ra]

If you ever are going to give a public presentation, respect your audience and don't stammer and start your sentences with "Uh".

[@NightowlProductionsGroup]

We were turned off almost immediately when then archaeologists from Florida said that she was “forced” to change her nomenclature back to “Paleo-Indian” and away from “Paleo-American.“ The problem with these types of conferences, especially out West, is that they end up more Poli-Si than archaeological. Let’s just start over with “Paleo-People,“ and take politics out of science. It’s getting a little wearing People.

[@intylerwetrust9908]

The first speaker is crap. He really needs to practice his speaking skills.

[@jps101574]

After listening to our president speak for the past few years, I didn't even notice.

[@AF-tv6uf]

@@jps101574 "There were some megafauna killers and I'm sure, also, some very fine people too"

[@Bitterrootbackroads]

@@jps101574, was going to agree with you on this assuming it was a recent comment from 2023.

[@jps101574]

@@Bitterrootbackroads Nope! 2020

[@josesantosportugalaguilar9287]

I have proof of ancient Americans, not Mayans, Olmecs, but an

[@Americannative1552]

I can tell you who were the first Americans. For Free. we were.

[@Jason-hg1pc]

Good thing you've accepted you aren't any more.

[@americanpig-dog7051]

Her presentation would be much less obnoxious and her arguments more palatable if she wasn't so obviously motivated by her personal political opinions instead of the science. Wow the next guy was even worse. All he had was emotional arguments intended to shame anyone daring to disagree. How is this guy a professor? Oh, right. His ancestry.

[@jps101574]

I am Caucasian. When someone digs up any of my ancestors in Europe, nobody asks me if digging and studying will violate any of my religious or cultural beliefs. I don't understand why native Americans have attained this elite human status and have the right to slow or even stop scientific progress because studying their ancestors' remains might violate their ancient religious beliefs. Scientific progress should trump all religious beliefs, including theirs.

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

It's their right to decide so. That's the end of the story. And there have been times where they have agreed to allow some access. I need permission to dig up your relatives don't I? In fact, I need an order of exhumation from the state that requires permission from direct kin, and I need a court approved request to even do that. So, don't cry the victim here, buddy. You just look like a baby crying

[@jps101574]

@@rockinbobokkin7831 When native Americans demand the Kennewick man's remains be reburied in an undisclosed location where they will eventually decompose, I protest. BTW, I am not playing victim here. I don't think anyone should ask me for permission to dig up any of my ancestors. Science should move forward as long as scientific methods are used.

[@Thornspyre81]

Well said man. Tired of this mentality

[@phill6159]

AFAIK Kennewick man's DNA was revealed by researchers in Copenhagen and matched the DNA of the local tribe, which had submitted samples. Once this connection was determined the bones were given to the tribe which then buried them.

[@NightowlProductionsGroup]

@@jps101574 The Indians lost the court case on the Kennewick man. Why? Because they couldn’t prove any direct lineage or connection to the remains. Therefore, it’s politics and not science. Most of these panels would tell you the world is flat If it were politically correct. Poli-Si.

[@sergef.7822]

Messy presentation, I gave up. Too bad (for me). If you publish on KZbin, take a crash course first.