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19 - The Pleistocene colonization and occupation of the Americas

from Part II - The Paleolithic and the beginnings of human history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Nicole M. Waguespack
Edited by
David Christian
David Christian
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
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Summary

Beringia, or the Bering land bridge, provided the hunting and gathering populations of northeastern Eurasia a direct overland route into the Americas at various times throughout the Pleistocene. Many aspects of the initial colonization event remain speculative, poorly evidenced, and debated among archaeologists. The Americas' first inhabitants were likely small highly dispersed populations living a nomadic lifestyle. The archaeological record documenting the colonization process contains comparatively few sites and the earliest evidence of human occupation from North, Meso-, and South America differs both temporally and in artifact typology. The earliest archaeologically distinct Paleoindian culture identified in the Americas is Clovis, named after a unique style of projectile point found at the Blackwater Draw site near the town of Clovis, New Mexico. Known almost exclusively from the stones and bones of their tools and meals, the Clovis archaeological record is consistent with a highly mobile hunter-gatherer population. In North America, Folsom is the widespread and technologically distinct Paleoindian population following Clovis.

Keywords

fuelAgrarianizationdomesticationdomestication of firehuman historyindustrialization
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 461 - 476
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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References

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