The First Americans, Pt. 1

[@MrMackyLove]

Great work, sorely needed! Thank you

[@salfordsal]

I’m really excited to have found your channel. I’m a British person with an amateur interest in archeology, and I’m often astonished by the attitude of my American friends and relatives that “you Brits have so much history and we have so little”. I’ve visited Poverty Point and I was surprised that I’d not heard more about it. The same people who wanted their photo taken at Stonehenge were quite dismissive of Poverty Point, and didn’t really get why I wanted to look all over the site and learn more, research more about it. It’s not easy to find academic quality content about American archaeology that is tailored for an amateur audience. I’m now binge watching all of your vids so that I can learn so much more about pre-colonial American archeology. Fabulous!

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, Stonehenge has a really aggressive PR department that no site in America really competes with. I'm still waiting for a Doctor Who episode about Poverty Point.

[@BigpapamoneymanMVPtypebeat]

KZbin “tuktu” very well done doc/show on old school Inuit lifestyle in Canada back in the day

[@kennyw871]

You're right and your culture is extremely lucky. Why? The American educational culture is being inundated with "Young Earth Creationists" that graduated from "Christian" universities with PhD's in all areas of science. Their goal is to educate, mostly young minds, that "Answers in Genesis" is how the universe was created by a god, with Adam and Eve the first humans ~6,000 years ago. This "war on science" is being conducted mostly in charter schools, while they're pushing hard for equal time in public schools. I think of it as a Christian crusade against education and they have a lot of traction with Republican legislators to this end. Now you know what REAL American scientists are up against and you need look no further than our dismal response to the Covid pandemic. It's possible, if not likely, that over 500,000 people died unnecessarily because they took it on "faith" that mainstream medicine in America got it all wrong. Wherever you live outside of America consider yourself lucky, at least for now. America always claims to be number one in the world in everything, including inexplicable stupidity, for which we now finally have a rightful claim.

[@jimmartinette9655]

Excellent! Thanks.

[@shanewilson9814]

My new best friend. Thanks for the lesson.

[@neanderthalnonsense]

I really like this channel and recently picked up interest on how native people's came to America. I'll definetely be watching more of your videos. Thanks for sharing.

[@revolvermaster4939]

Not that I know anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people were here 40-50KYA

[@SuperTexasmade806]

In North Texas near Lake fryer along wolf creek there is a verry significant ancient Indian city. Said to have hundreds of people that lived there for thousands of years. They had big houses made from stone the biggest of which had 650 Sq feet of floor space with 12 to 18" diameter poles holding up the roof. The only reason I know about this place is because I grew up near there and heard about it while camping at lake fryer. There have been no shows, nothing on KZbin, or anything except for on Google about it. Have u ever heard about or worked this place and I would like to see u do a story about it. It seems verry significant and verry interesting, thankyou.

[@kariannecrysler640]

In the Great Lakes region are there ties with Canadian archeology and their Nation’s site’s with American sites of similar dates? Is there an open communication of information? I hope yes, National boarders are just stratification in soils when it comes to archeology.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

We all publish in the same journals for the most part.

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I will have to start reading more. I have been fascinated my whole life with our world and its history. But admittedly National Geographic (my b-day gift from 5-13) is the closest thing to published works I have read. Still time to fix that😁

[@KateeAngel]

I once read a cool article about how Yupik people in Chukotka and Alaska were visiting each other all the time even during the Cold war. I think the migrations back and forth on a small scale never ceased in that region, and there was a contact between Asian groups like Siberian Yupik and Chukchi and North American groups. There were also some Aleuts leaving in Russia, I think, on an island near Kamchatka.

[@KateeAngel]

Genetic research is interesting as well, some papers suggest Chukchi, Koryak, Itelmen an other Chukotko-Kamchtkan people descend from Beringians too, and thus may be more related to North Americans than to other Asians

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Yeah definitely no reason to think that siberian-alaskan movement ever actually broke down entirely after the initial settlement of the Americas. There's also a bit of evidence that shortly before Columbus there was small scale trade going on because some copper alloy artifacts (I think a brass buckle?) was found in an early 1400's context, but I have no idea how to track that source back down.

[@land980]

Check out the Amaknak Bridge Site in the eastern Aleutian Islands. The *ondol*-style hearths of those dwellings are as old as the ones found in Asia.

[@tomevans4402]

Interesting

[@Cattrez]

We been here buddy in ny

[@uberkloden]

Our tribe, is in sun-arctic and above the Arctic Circle, speaks the same dialectic as one of the remnant Siberian tribes which survived from seven, killed by Lossack m😅ercenaries working for the Czar.

[@jessesierke6264]

Eluveitie! One of my faves!

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

They're so cool!

[@Cattrez]

I told we came from the genesee river ny area SENECA TRIBE

[@colbyboucher6391]

I am *so* glad a channel like this exists, trying to learn about anything complex is a struggle against intellectual landmines because reality doesn't neccesarily align with "common sense", it takes rigorous research to find. And most people are so attached to "common sense" (and real research is so time-consuming by comparison) that rigorously verifying things is the last goal on most people's minds. I think that's the most dangerous aspect of our modern era. Reality gets *ignored* in favor of ancedotes that stick to what people want to believe because there's far too much for any one person to know.

[@aaron4wilkins]

"...Contemporary archaeologists continue to discuss the “Clovis People”, yet no such cultural group ever existed beyond the wildest imagination of the archaeological mind. Nowhere in history or the archaeological record is there a precedence for a pan hemispheric single cultural group. If one predominant tool type across time and space is a legitimate archaeological model for a uniform pan hemispheric cultural group, then I must insist that European archaeologists begin to properly identify ancient Eastern Hemisphere groups as the Acheulian and Oldowan People. Such claims as ‘the Clovis People” made in the name of Western Science and often accepted as fact by the general population, and are not exposed for ... the absurdity of their claims. " Dr Paulette Steeves

[@RuhRohRaggie069]

Informative n Enjoyable, Keep up the good work & Thanks Nate

[@badguy5554]

What is your take on the theory that Solutrean peoples, from Southern France, followed the North Atlantic ice cap and ended up along the East Coast of North America? It is said they MAY have brought with them the centerline narrowing that distinguishes the Clovis points from points made in North East Asia and brought from there by "immigrants" over the land bridge?

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

It had its time but DNA evidence finds no recent relationship between early American populations and western European populations of solutrean age.

[@KnappinStuff]

I know I'm late to the party, but you forgot about the Western stemmed tradition, which also predates Clovis.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

It does! This video is two years old. I only found out that the Western Stemmed tradition has been dated to pre-clovis a few months ago.

[@land980]

Texas has so many cool sites; can't wait to see what else is discovered!

[@davidt1621]

Is it known why so many of the Clovis people seemingly migrated to settle on the eastern side of modern US? Were they perhaps avoiding floods or some type of ancient predators or something like that? If they had split with other Clovis and became enemies, I would think that the western Clovis would still have the Clovis "toolkit." Perhaps there were already some settled people in the western part of North America when they arrived, and so they just kept moving?

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

The east is a much more rich environment. It naturally produces so much more food than most of the west.

[@davidt1621]

@@NathanaelFosaaen Oh ok. I have no idea what the climates were, except that you said the southwest was swampy in white sands, where those footprints were found.

[@executivesteps]

Excellent report. Thanks. Try working on eliminating the “uhms” between sentences. It gets steadily distracting as they add up.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Good idea. try that on your channel and let me know how it goes.

[@executivesteps]

@@NathanaelFosaaen What an adolescent immature reply. In junior high school we learned about “constructive criticisms” offered by others to help improve our public speaking. It’s part of “growing up”. I guess you’ve reached a point in your knowledge base where you’re offended by such critiques and beyond self examination and improvement. Congratulations.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

@executivesteps you REALLY think I don't already know I stutter? That wasn't constructive criticism, it was an unnecessary nitpick on a video that's over a year old.

[@executivesteps]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I guess starting my comment with “excellent report” was an equally unnecessary “nitpick”. Oh well. Over and out.

[@baref1959]

so nice to see someone trying to correct the records!!!! thank you! new tech with DNA and underwater arch is improving and helping also.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

I'm not so much correcting the records as I am explaining what the records actually are. People have a lot of screwy ideas about what archaeologists think and know out there.

[@RobertStCyr-pe7ic]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I know where you need to dig. I live in Western Massachusetts. If you see the site or if I send you pictures you will see why I said that. I really can't understand why nobody has excavated the site before. It's hidden in plain sight.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

@@RobertStCyr-pe7ic we generally don't excavate unless something is going to damage the site. And that's assuming anyone has told us about it.

[@kpeters5122]

Just found your channel. I love this topic but there are shysters. You explain it from the ground down.

[@truecrimson1]

I thought there was no genetic material from Clovis and pre Clovis people?

[@thrashmetaldad]

Cool to see a metal head talking about another subject I'm also interested in! Hell yeah Wintersun! 🤘

[@faborwick5887]

I would put my money more on the likes of dream theater,rush, Zappa and tenacious d. *if we can get him to answer you put down 3/4 bands and whoever's closer wins $1 for fun ✌️

[@thrashmetaldad]

@@faborwick5887 he's got a Wintersun patch on the Left side of his jacket

[@faborwick5887]

@@thrashmetaldad you win

[@thrashmetaldad]

@@faborwick5887 where's my dollar 😉

[@faborwick5887]

@@thrashmetaldad just mailed it out bud 📬

[@Cattrez]

Y’all are missing the link by not listening to the people

[@bacobill]

I lived in Chichester NY for ten years where I discovered stone mounds up the mountainside behind my house on a plateau.. definitely circular with seeming entrances.. They seem to have collapsed into themselves.. There were tribes in the valley long ago so I figured they were hunting shelters but now due to the amount of work done on the structures I doubt that.. Interested?

[@Igorooooleynikov]

Thank you for doing this!

[@h.a.3156]

Out of respect for the violence native peoples have gone through, I would appreciate it if you reconsidered your choice of words. at 7:59 you said Colonized. Use Populated, instead.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Yeah, normally I'd have said settled. Not sure why I used colonized there. It was over a year ago.

[@boydwood6104]

Do we have any idea of what kind of boats they may have had? Maybe a petroglyph depicting some kind of boat or canoe.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Nope. No idea. Hide boats are likely but it's not the kind of thing that preserves generally.

[@boydwood6104]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I'm picturing something they could pull up on shore turn upside down upside down and use as a shelter for the night and head back out in the morning.

[@solomonking5097]

Naria fossil found in Mexico predating the clovis field and the Asian migration into pre America. Luzia have negriod features probably migrated from Se-Asia or Australia..

[@Micheal-jo1sl]

Negroid?😂😅

[@dennishilton5724]

So glad to have found your site. I love it you're not afraid to dispute scientific publications and separate facts from fiction. You are obviously a man that not only is formally educated but has substantial field experience. Seems there is alot of written information that is flawed about U S history. Archaeology is 1 major source that clarifies the truth, although misinformation can taint what we laymen are spoonfed. It's good to know some like yourself are trying to provide sound factual data for us all

[@rocksandoil2241]

Clovis First set archaeology back for a hundred years or more.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

ehh. not really. It was just the developmental stage we were at for a while based on the evidence we had at the time. People like to shit on culture historians now, but that was also a necessary stage of development.

[@sunflowerheather7019]

Nice

[@devangreene2397]

🙂

[@JohnVander70]

Do you think the earliest pulse people that came by boats are related to the Jomon of ancient Japan?

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Not closely if at all.

[@oltch.]

@@NathanaelFosaaen dood you like so many other anthropologist are so arrogant... and yoy dont even get paid/qualified to be soo ignorant. I hear medical doxtors who go to school for like 12 yrs say idk more than you... the best anthros say idk more cuz we really know bunk shit. Mt dna helps out , but damm ive watched a few of your vids and your arrogant and convinced , based on what evidence ? Not particularly about the jomon statement btw . More so just your way of dealing with questions.

[@oltch.]

@@NathanaelFosaaen look up info on haplogroup D1.... you and other out of date theories prolly think jomon come from se asia , but we now know cuz dna thats not true. Jomon share the D1 haplogroup with Native Americans, Jomon were a basal north eastern, siberian origin. But you seemed so sure this relation doesnt exist. They share a dna haplogroup, we know this. Soo sure you were tho

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

@@oltch. The problem with the D1 thing is the chronology. The first wave of settlers in the Americas came sometime before 20,000 years ago, and the Jomon culture doesn't start until ~14,000 cal BP. That's more than 6000 years of separation between those two populations, which means that at best, the Jomon and the earliest American populations had a shared ancestry WAY back. That shouldn't be surprising to anyone. We already knew about the genetic relationship between Eastern Siberians, and Indigenous Americans. The D1 haplogroup being represented in both populations doesn't do anything to demonstrate that the first people in the Americas came in boats from Japan at all, and in the context of the original question, the genetic relationship is really one of those "technically true, but functionally meaningless" situations.

[@oltch.]

@@NathanaelFosaaen aight aight i agree, but a lot of people used to say jomon came from se asia, and so they werent related to NA at all. But i mean they do have a common grouping. They come from same stock , however archaic, 20 to 30 k ya. Also you busy dood answer my cenote question on another video... people lived in those caves before the freshwater arrived man. My uncle found habitation (assumption is pre fresh water arrival, aka before iceage brought the water) in a deep freshwater cave. He wasnt the archaelogist , just a hella pro diver but they found not washed up shit, the cave water is pretty settle and has been. People were hiding in those caves man

[@cheapvodka9942]

good stuff ty young man

[@TouchMyHandHoles]

Hey Nathanael, I’ve discovered your channel a few months ago and absolutely love it. You have really peaked my interest in Native history, mainly Native mounds. I live in north Texas and was never taught about mound sites growing up and recently learned about the Gault site. I will be working in Slidell Louisiana for about a week and am wanting to see any sites that I can near by. I’m going to try and check out Big Oak Island, and Little Oak Island. Can you please suggest any sites near that I could possibly see? Thanks for all the uploads and can’t wait for your next video.

[@TerribleShmeltingAccident]

Nate, i live in columbus ga and know of some great sites around here from growing up in these woods. Ive been to an "old fishing camp" near a lake fed by a spring. There are mounds and stuff around these lakes that remind me of a mini tenotchtitlan! Let me know if your ever around this way id love to stomp thru the woods with ya. (I think the natives called this place "Coweta") PS also some fantastic civil war forts that adorn hills in my area :)

[@brucehollmig4738]

Maybe our schools should start teaching instead of hiding it...

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

They're not hiding it, they just don't know. Archaeologists are not particularly involved writing history text books for school kids.

[@sedwillful]

I purpose they were West Africans.

[@missourimongoose7643]

Could there be any connection from the Sami people of Scandinavia who are genetically connected to Siberian folks and native Americans I haven't been able to find anything on this but thought I should ask

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

None that I know of. The Sami are on the opposite side of Siberia, so it would be pretty unlikely anyway.

[@missourimongoose7643]

@@NathanaelFosaaen if someone did make it to north America from Europe seems like they could be the ones that hold genetic answers

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Why them?

[@missourimongoose7643]

@@NathanaelFosaaen well it's the only group in Europe that I know of who has Siberian roots like native Americans and hunted basically the same animals that were in north America so I figure if someone from Europe made it to the east coast then it's prolly them, this is totally pulled from my ass but I figured I'd ask lol, do you have an email by the way cuz I'd like to send you the pictures of the native American artwork behind my dad's house if ur interested just for shits and giggles

[@johnjohnson5028]

@missouri mongoose AFAIK The Sami have Ugric roots, i.e., from a region of Mongolia. Much of Scandinavia has Teutonic roots. The Finns are a mix, and possibky includes Slavic. The Finnish language is linguistically known as FinnoUgric, as Estonian.

[@boburwell9921]

New to your channel but really like to hear a rouge professionals opinion

[@briandain8432]

Through LiDar a Mayan Trading post was discovered and barred from research in Northern Georgia. The Berengia Bypass was suggested by one dude and it's taught as gospel ever since.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

The ice-free corridor model hasn't been taught as "gospel" for over 20 years. Also I work in north GA all the time and there ain't shit Mayan about that area, not that it has any relevance to the peopleing of the Americas either way.

[@daviddealba9886]

Thank you, Nathaniel I have always been fascinated by archeology and as a child always told everyone i met that would be my dream job. But as fate would have it im just a mechanic. I am really interested in who were the first peoples in the americas and how did they get here and why did homonids only grow and thrive in africa when clearly primates have lived in the americas also .Camels originated in the americas and migrated to sub sahara africa why not would primates do the same? Any ways i am super excited to hear more videos . I love your honesty .Best of all there is no crazy guessing or denial of facts . Just truth of verifiable facts. You are right by archeologists refusal to verify known evidence of prior peoples before clovis they have done great harm to the integrity of their science. I am looking forward to having you bring that integrity back. Thank you

[@dryheat85255]

One of the things that has always confused me is whether the first americans had any idea where they were going when they crossed the land bridge. They had no maps, compasses, etc. to help them find their way and no way of knowing what lies beyond and whether it was better than the place they started from.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

They're just following game herds man.

[@arronjerden915]

It is just population dispersal. If there is lots of food then lots of young survive and you need more territory to feed them. If there is not enough food the you need more territory to try to get more food to keep as many young alive as possible. It is the same with people and animals, it is all about food availability. Take the coyote for example. Minor predators in the south west states with little to no population out side of the south west and high plains area except for some hybridization with wolves in the mid south to create the "red wolves". But since the wolf population of the continental U.S. was mostly eradicated in the early 1900s the coyotes no longer had any competition for food or territory and spread to cover the entirety of the continental U.S. in less than half a century. They are already exhibiting enough regional variation that they will soon have distinct sub species of coyote.

[@ked5081]

hey. the ocean, lower enabled early woman to move along the shore of the north atlantic, pre algonquin, the whistle and hand sign language.

[@deadairconversion]

Great content. Curious to know your thoughts on the Younger-Dryas cooling and mega faunal extinction ‘event’ (around 12,900 yrs bp) possibly due to an extra terrestrial impact, and how this relates to Clovis culture and even pre-Clovis

[@boburwell9921]

If you disagree with Gram Hancock how do you explain the ancient precision and megalithic structures? I’m not a ancient alien nut.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

What megalithic structures and when? None of the monuments I've researched personally are particularly geometrically precise. Most of it you can lay out with rope and posts.

[@boburwell9921]

@@NathanaelFosaaen well there are so many in Egypt that are astonishing and impossible as well as Peru and Lebanon. The 20 or so 100 ton monolithic boxes underground in the Seripium of Egypt that humiliate modern mans capabilities, as well as the polygonal and cyclopian block walls that baffle science. The megalithic blocks in Baalbek Lebanon that are the size of a greyhound bus. The machine precision and obvious machine marks left behind in plan sight. But the dishes made of the hardest stone in the Cairo museum alone should make you lose sleep. All feats modern man can not duplicate and this was done thousands and thousands of years ago. The more I look the more I understand those were all in place long before the dynastic period and the Inca. It’s unbelievable I know but it’s all there. Something very special was going on in prehistoric times man can not explain. Plato didn’t pass down lie Nathaniel

[@boburwell9921]

@@NathanaelFosaaen mechanically from an engineering stand point. It’s all completely out of place and completely unexplainable. Wish I had the answers bro

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

@@boburwell9921 every claim I've ever seen that ancient people "couldn't do this with primitive technology" fails to impress me. People are smart and tools are diverse. Just because some scheister says it's inexplicable doesn't mean it is. That bullshit is why Ancient Aliens is one of my colleagues' favorite drinking games.

[@boburwell9921]

@@NathanaelFosaaen it’s easier to work with titanium than granite and even with modern CNC machining mills it can not be duplicated. This all happened long before Clovis

[@scottgoldsbery3154]

Clovis tech came from s Spain and mixed quickly with the people they found along the coasts. Short face bears and big cats controlled large areas. We avioded them👍

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

There's like a 5000 year gap between the end of Solutrean tech and the beginning of Clovis. The Spanish lithic technology doesn't use fluting techniques. The genetic data don't support an ancient population from spain moving into the Americas, and the evidence Bradley used to formulate the Solutrean Hypothesis was purely speculative based on what he perceived to be similarities in projectile technologies, which as I've said, are importantly different. Archaeologists entertained the idea for several years, but it's pretty much a dead hypothesis at this point, and it's going to stay that way unless better evidence comes out.

[@scottgoldsbery3154]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I'm going through your videos now, I'll try and catch up 👍

[@timhallas4275]

We are finally getting to the truth as to who was here first, and where they came from. Since grade school in the1960s I have been convinced that all native Americans were part of a single migration event 12,000 years ago from NE Asia. But I knew that couldn't be right when I saw the difference between the "Plains Indians" and the people living in Peru. I knew by 1974 that someone crossed the Pacific to South America... and I knew it was more than 12,000 years ago.

[@AG-ig8uf]

Genetic studies of native populations consistently proved that they all originate from NE Asia, and not closely related to pacific islanders. And when he mentions coming by boat to that site in Chile , he means crossing short distances on the way there, not whole mighty pacific. Pacific islands colonization started tens of thousands years later by Polynesian people.

[@timhallas4275]

@@AG-ig8uf So what route do you think these people took at the height of the glaciation period, 23,000 years ago. Don't tell me. They paddled along the edge of the northern ice sheet from China to California? it's just 9.000 miles.

[@wetguavass]

Ancient Mexicans crossed over to Asia ...then migrated to Africa, then up to Europe

[@Aztlantean]

What are your thoughts on such controvertial sites like Serra da Capivara in Brazil with alleguedely 30,000 years old non-clovis culture stone tools(near the Chiquihuite dates) and the mother of all controverses, the site of Hueyatlaco in Mexico with geological data pointing from 100,000 up to 400,000 years of human(or early hominids) presence in Americas? Also by myself i think that Monte Verde site basically demolished the outdated Clovis First theory of the 50's , and the boat route to Americas from Asia would even explain the Jomon culture of Neolithic Japan and its similliarity on pottery with later Valdivia Culture on Ecuador and even linguistical similarities that the Ainu have with siberian and native american languages. Probably many more robust scientific researches will be made all across Americas and will keep changing our knowledge on the ancient Amerindian history and besides all this its always necessary to illuminate the non-academic people about true science to drive away any pseudo-scientific stuff like the ones you already discussed in your channel, like the ignorant stuff on pre-columbian transatlantic hypothesis, afrocentric stuff, solutrean and all sort of crazy talk hahah

[@MarkD864]

Nate, I'm curious, do you know if the same sedimentary type of dating was done at the Topper site in SC as was done at Cactus Hill? I remember the guy from Texas coming in and refuting the 50k date because of possible erosion.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

I don't know off the top of my head. I don't buy the 50K date at Topper at all though. I've been to a bunch of papers about Topper at SEAC and nobody really talks about that date, so it's not really considered representative in the community that actually works there either.

[@miketaylor5212]

i noticed the description of cheif ot the powatan as being so tall that a whitemen couldnt place a necklace over his head because the cheif would not bend enough for the whiteman to reach that far.most eastern woodland tribes were taller than the western tribes.

[@biancahand7266]

Love the information! Thank you.

[@vicariouswitness]

Olmecs , long ago there was a great African King from the Western Territory. He attempted once to cross the waters to find new great lands… he was sure… he failed first then departed a short time later. He never came back with his ships and men…. Olmecs in South America…. ??