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| AIA-Orange County Society Lecture |
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Sunday, April 14, 2013, 2:00–4:00 PM EARLY HUMAN POPULATIONS IN THE NEW WORLD: A BIASED PERSPECTIVE at Concordia University
On
October 11, 1492, the soon-to-be-styled Admiral of the Ocean Sea,
Cristoforo Colon, landed on San Salvador and almost immediately
encountered its aboriginal inhabitants, the soon-to-be-extirpated
Taino. He, either directly or more likely through the
medium of his crew, posed a series of questions which in one way or
another have been asked ever since: Who are these people; Where
did they come from: How did they get here; and perhaps most
vexatiously, When did they arrive?
Discoveries at Folsom, New Mexico in 1926 indicated that the First Americans were contemporaries with now extinct Ice Age fauna and subsequent discoveries at Black Water Draw demonstrated a human presence at least 11,500 radiocarbon years ago. Since that time, more than 500 archaeological sites have been claimed to be older than the widespread Clovis horizon, though very few of them have stood up to scientific scrutiny. A review of the handful of sites which have withstood the criticism, including Meadowcroft Rochshelter in Pennsylvania and Monte Verde in Chile, indicates that not only have humans been in the New World considerably earlier than the11,400 year-old Clovis horizon, but that they were leading life ways radically different than those posited for the so called Clovis hunters. Current answers to Columbus’ questions are assessed and evaluated, and a very different picture is presented about the initial occupation of the New World than that favored in the Clovis-first scenario. Click here to read a copy of a related article published in the American Archaeologist. You can also download a copy of the article by clicking here. DR. JAMES ADOVASIO is the John E. Boyle Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at Mercyhurst College. He has specialized in the analysis of perishable material culture and excavated at sites around the world including Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania, He most recently has been working on submerged Paleoindian sites off the Gulf of Mexico. Click here for more information on Dr. Adovasio. Refreshments will be served after the meeting. Admission:
Location:
Directions:
 Park in visitor parking opposite Grimm Hall (see campus map)
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