Initial Peopling of North America: Paleogeography and Archaeology

The paper contains a  summary of the new data relevant to the time and routes of the first peopling of the New World. The first unambiguous traces of humans are dated by the time span after the Last Glacial Maximum. The chronology and orientation of prehistoric migrations depended on the Late Pleistocene paleogeography. Instead of a  postulated single wave of migration oriented from NW to SE from the Bering Land Bridge via the Mackenzie ice-free corridor to the territory lying southwards from the ice sheets we argue about a complicated picture of human movements of different age and direction. It seems that the earliest inhabitants penetrated from Beringia to the main area of North America following the Pacific coast and later dispersed to the east. The migration along the Mackenzie ice-free corridor should have place later. The Clovis culture seems to originate in the southeastern part of the USA territory then dispersing in northern and western directions along the whole continent. The Final Pleistocene saw the ‘inverse’ migration of the Paleoindians to the north, along the Mackenzie corridor to Beringia.

1. Vasilyev S.A. Drevneishie kultury Severnoi Ameriki [The Oldest Cultures of North America]. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie Publ., 2004. 144 p.

2. Vasilyev S.A., Berezkin Y.E., Kozintsev A.G. Sibir’ i pervye amerikantsy [Siberia and the First Americans]. St. Petersburg: S.-Peterburg. Gos. Univ., 2011. 176 p.

3. Vasilyev S.A., Berezkin Y.E., Kozintsev A.G., Peiros I.I., Slobodin S.B., Tabarev A.V. Zaselenie chelovekom Novogo Sveta: opyt mezhdistsiplinarnogo issledovaniya [Peopling of the New World: The Interdisciplinary Study]. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2015. 680 p.

4. Markov K.K., Velichko A.A. Chetvertichnyi period [The Quaternary]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1967, vol. 3. 440 p.

5. Markov K.K., Velichko A.A., Lazukov G.I., Nikolaev V.A. Pleistotsen [The Pleistocene]. Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola Publ., 1968. 304 p.

6. Pervonachal’noe zaselenie Arktiki chelovekom v usloviyakh menyayushcheisya prirodnoi sredy: atlas-monografiya [The Initial Peopling of the Arctic in the Conditions of Changing Environments: Atlas-Monograph]. Kotlyakov V.M., Velichko A.A., Vasilyev S.A., Eds. Moscow: Geos Publ., 2014. 519 p.

7. Adovasio J.M., Pedler D.R. Pre-Clovis sites and their implications for human occupation before the Last Glacial Maximum. In Entering America: Northeast Asia and Beringia before the Last Glacial Maximum. Madsen D.B., Ed. Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press, 2004, pp. 139–158.

8. Anderson D.G., Bissett T.G., Yerka S.J. The LatePleistocene human settlement of Interior North America: the role of physiography and sea-level change. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 183–203.

9. Beck C., Jones G.T. Complexities of the colonization process: a view from the North American West. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 273–291.

10. Bourgeon L. Bluefish Cave II (Yukon Territory, Canada): Taphonomic study of a bone assemblage. PaleoAmerica, 2015, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 105–108.

11. Erlandson J.M., Rick T.C., Braje T.J., Casperson M., Culleton B., Fulfrost B., Garcia T., Guthrie D.A., Jew N., Kennett D.J., Moss M.L., Reeder L., Skinner C., Watts J., Willis L. Paleoindian seafaring, maritime technologies, and coastal foraging on California's Channel Islands. Science, 2011, vol. 331, no. 6021, pp. 1181–1185.

12. Fedje D., Mackie Q., Lacourse T., McLaren D. Younger Dryas environments and archaeology on the Northwestern Coast of North America. Quatern. Int., 2011, vol. 242, no. 2, pp. 452–462.

13. Goodyear A.C. Evidence for Pre-Clovis sites in the Eastern United States. In Paleoamerican Origins: Beyond Clovis. Bonnichsen R., Lepper B.T., Stanford D., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center of the Study of the First Americans, 2005, pp. 103–112.

14. Goebel T., Smith H.L., DiPietro L., Waters M.R., Hockett B., Graf K.E., Gal R., Slobodin S.B., Speakman R.J., Driese S.G., Rhode D. Serpentine Hot Springs, Alaska: results of excavations and implications for the age and significance of northern fluted points. J. Archaeol. Sci., 2013, vol. 40, no. 12, pp. 4222–4233.

15. Gustafson C.E., Gilbow D., Daugherty R.D. The Manis mastodon site: early man on the Olympic Peninsular. Canadian J. Archaeol., 1979, no. 3, pp. 157–164.

16. Hedman B., Rasic J., Buvit I., Kuehn S. The Raven Bluff: a Fluted point site in the Western Arctic. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association, Fairbanks, 2011.

17. Hoffecker J.F. Assemblage variability in Beringia. In From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. Goebel T., Buvit I., Eds. College Station: Texas A&M Univ., 2011, pp. 165–178.

18. Holmes C.E. The Beringian and transitional periods in Alaska. In From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/ Early Holocene Beringia. Goebel T., Buvit I., Eds. College Station: Texas A&M Univ., 2011, pp. 179–191.

19. Ives J.W., Friese D., Supernant K., Yanicki G. Vectors, vestiges and valhallas – rethinking the Corridor. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 149–169.

20. Jenkins D.L., Davis L.G., Stafford T.W., Campas P.E., Connolly T.J., Cummings L.S., Hofreiter M., Hockett B., McDonough K., Luthe I., O’Grady P.W., Reinhard P.J., Swicher M. E., White F., Yates B., Yohe R.M., Yost C., Willersev E. Geochronology, archaeological context, and DNA at the Paisley caves. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 485–510.

21. Joyce D.J. Pre-Clovis megafauna butchery sites in the Western Great Lakes region, USA. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 467–484.

22. Miller D.S., Holliday V.T., Bright J. Clovis across the continent. In Paleoamerican Odyssey. Graf K.E., Ketron C.V., Waters M.R., Eds. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, 2013, pp. 207–220.

23. Potter B.A., Irish J.D., Reuther J.D., McKinney H.J. New insights into Eastern Beringian mortuary behavior: a terminal Pleistocene double infant burial at Upward Sun River. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2014, vol. 111, no. 48, pp. 17060–17065.

24. Vasilyev S.A. The earliest Alaskan archaeological record: a view from Siberia. In From the Yenisei to the Yukon: interpreting lithic assemblage variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. Goebel T., Buvit I., Eds. College Station: Texas A&M Univ., 2011, pp. 119–127.