Written in 2013. Today, I would probably be more positive towards this material.
"America's Stone Age Explorers" is a
somewhat unexpected NOVA documentary, promoting the so-called Solutrean
hypothesis about the origins of the earliest Americans.
Until recently, the standard theory was that the first humans migrated to the Americas from Asia about 15,000 years ago across a land bridge connecting the two continents at Alaska. These early settlers are known as the Clovis culture, and their typical spear points are called Clovis points. The American Indians are believed to have been descended from the Clovis culture. DNA evidence bears this out: Native Americans do descend from Asian peoples. Today, the growing number of pre-Clovis sites and new DNA evidence suggests that the American continent was settled earlier (perhaps 20,000 years ago) and in several waves, but still from Asia by a land route through Alaska.
The Solutrean hypothesis goes one step further. Its proponents see a remarkable similarity between Clovis points and similar spear heads manufactured by the Solutrean culture in Stone Age France. There is also a genetic marker (known as X) which is shared by the Ojibwa nation in North America and some Europeans. DNA studies suggest that X is ancient among the Ojibwa, not a recent admixture. How could European spears and genes show up in America during the Stone Age? Proponents of the Solutrean hypothesis, somewhat daringly, suggest that an off-shot of the Solutrean culture learned how to cross the Arctic sea, using skills similar to those of the later Inuit. In this manner, the Solutreans eventually reached America and settled there.
Needless to say, this speculation is contentious, not least for its religious and political ramifications. Think "Book of Mormon" or "White supremacism". Had the theory not been backed up by a guy from Smithsonian, I'm sure it would have been relegated to the outer fringes of science pretty quickly (and been seen on the grossly misnamed History Channel rather than the PBS). That being said, I don't mind alternative theories, but this one seems pretty far fetched. Even if island-hopping from Europe to America through the Arctic Sea had been possible, why would anyone even attempt such a scheme? Palaeolithic Europe wasn't overpopulated. Besides, X could originally have been a Euro-Asian lineage, which for some reason died out in Asia, while surviving among *Asian* migrants to America. The similarities between Clovis points and Solutrean points could be the result of "convergent technological evolution".
A more fruitful line of inquiry is to see how far back in time the pre-Clovis cultures really go. Some scientists want to push the earliest human settlements in the Americas back to around 40,000 BC or earlier. But that, apparently, is another story.
Until recently, the standard theory was that the first humans migrated to the Americas from Asia about 15,000 years ago across a land bridge connecting the two continents at Alaska. These early settlers are known as the Clovis culture, and their typical spear points are called Clovis points. The American Indians are believed to have been descended from the Clovis culture. DNA evidence bears this out: Native Americans do descend from Asian peoples. Today, the growing number of pre-Clovis sites and new DNA evidence suggests that the American continent was settled earlier (perhaps 20,000 years ago) and in several waves, but still from Asia by a land route through Alaska.
The Solutrean hypothesis goes one step further. Its proponents see a remarkable similarity between Clovis points and similar spear heads manufactured by the Solutrean culture in Stone Age France. There is also a genetic marker (known as X) which is shared by the Ojibwa nation in North America and some Europeans. DNA studies suggest that X is ancient among the Ojibwa, not a recent admixture. How could European spears and genes show up in America during the Stone Age? Proponents of the Solutrean hypothesis, somewhat daringly, suggest that an off-shot of the Solutrean culture learned how to cross the Arctic sea, using skills similar to those of the later Inuit. In this manner, the Solutreans eventually reached America and settled there.
Needless to say, this speculation is contentious, not least for its religious and political ramifications. Think "Book of Mormon" or "White supremacism". Had the theory not been backed up by a guy from Smithsonian, I'm sure it would have been relegated to the outer fringes of science pretty quickly (and been seen on the grossly misnamed History Channel rather than the PBS). That being said, I don't mind alternative theories, but this one seems pretty far fetched. Even if island-hopping from Europe to America through the Arctic Sea had been possible, why would anyone even attempt such a scheme? Palaeolithic Europe wasn't overpopulated. Besides, X could originally have been a Euro-Asian lineage, which for some reason died out in Asia, while surviving among *Asian* migrants to America. The similarities between Clovis points and Solutrean points could be the result of "convergent technological evolution".
A more fruitful line of inquiry is to see how far back in time the pre-Clovis cultures really go. Some scientists want to push the earliest human settlements in the Americas back to around 40,000 BC or earlier. But that, apparently, is another story.
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