U2. America First Inhabitants

U2. America's First Inhabitants

First America's inhabitants Escape Room

the Clovis Culture

Take a look at the last ice age map here

How did the first humans arrive in America?

question

Discover the theories

The new and the old theory

First inhabitants

The Fertile shore theory

north america by boat

beringia

Siberia

(Smithsonian Magazine & Rothenberg, 2020)

Chasing steppe bison, woolly mammoths, and other big game, the ancestors of today's Native Americans built a vibrant culture that eventually spread all the way down to the tip of South America.

About 13,000 years ago, small groups of Stone Age hunters crossed a land bridge from eastern Siberia to western Alaska (Beringia) and eventually made their way down an ice-free corridor into the heart of North America.

For over 50 years, the common story about how the first humans arrived in the Americas has been like this:

The Bering Strait passage

New Discoveries

The oceanic Theory

What is the origin of the people of South America?

Who is the author of the theory?

What evidence did Rivet present?

What was Rivet belief?

First Americans had multiple origins

Australia, Polynesia and Melanesia

Paul Rivet

Anthropological and linguistic similarities

The oceanic theory

References Paul Rivet - New World Encyclopedia. (2021). Newworldencyclopedia.org. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Paul_RivetPringle, H. (2012). The First Americans. Scientific American, 22(1s), 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanhuman1112-68Smithsonian Magazine, & Rothenberg, J. (2020). The Story of How Humans Came to the Americas Is Constantly Evolving. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/The Story of the Clovis People. (2019, March 18). Newmexico.org; New Mexico Tourism Department. https://www.newmexico.org/blog/post/the-story-of-the-clovis-people/

The origins of the Clovis people remain somewhat mysterious, though most archaeologists believe they migrated from Siberia across the Bering land bridge, a land strip that connected Asia to North America during the last Ice Age. This migration likely occurred when sea levels were lower, allowing travel across the land bridge. The Clovis culture, however, was short-lived, disappearing around 12,900 years ago, potentially due to climate changes or overhunting of large animals. Despite their disappearance, their legacy endures through various archaeological sites across North America, which provide valuable insights into their way of life and impact on early human history.

The Mysterious World of the Clovis People

The Clovis people were among the earliest inhabitants of North America, with their culture dating back approximately 13,000 years during the Paleolithic Era. Named after Clovis, New Mexico, where their distinctive stone tools were first discovered in the 1930s, the Clovis people are particularly known for their unique spear points crafted using a technique called fluting, which involved chipping away at the stone to create a concave groove, enhancing their aerodynamic properties for hunting. The Clovis people were expert hunters, primarily targeting large game such as mammoths and mastodons that roamed North America at the time.