1. The Clovis Hypothesis and Its Critics

2. A) Aboriginal Perspective:  Native peoples originated in North America  Wide variety of aboriginal "creation myths" support this position

3.  Long ago before Mother Earth existed, the Creator sat alone in darkness thinking, and with His thoughts He formed Mother Earth. He covered the Earth with plants and trees, birds and animals, and many crawling insects, but He became lonely. So, from the soil of the Earth he formed two companions, a man and a woman. Beside the man he placed a bow and arrow. This was to show that the man was to be the protector and provider of food. Beside the woman he placed a birch bark basket filled with seeds. The basket and seeds represented the natural resources given to the Ojibwa people. The Creator also placed a book next to the woman. Then the Creator blew life into the woman and the man. First he blew life into the woman, and when she arose, she picked up the birch bark basket full of seeds, but she did not pick up the book. Her choice doesn't mean that Ojibwa people are not educated, they just have a different way of learning. When the Creator blew life into the man, the man picked up the bow and arrow and accepted his responsibility to protect and provide food. Then the Creator said, "Take care of Mother earth, and she will take care of you. Don't get greedy. Take only what you need, and remember to put down tobacco before you take from Mother Earth."  This is how the Ojibwa people came to be.

4. B) Archaeological/Historical Perspective: o First inhabitants of North America arrived from Asia sometime between 50 000 and 13 500 years BP o No agreement on when or how many migrations occurred

5.  First North Americans arrived about 14 000 years BP  Land bridge across Bering Strait (Beringia) at end of last Ice Age provided passage from Siberia to Alaska  Humans moved south through a gap in ice fields covering Canada, spreading across North and South America  Reached tip of South America about 1000 years later

6.  13 500 year old fluted spear points discovered at Clovis, NM in 1932  Similar artifacts discovered across southwestern and central US, indicating a developed stone age culture

8.  Complex stone age culture takes years to develop – unlikely Clovis was “first”  No ice-free land corridor in Canada until AFTER Clovis people's arrival (geological evidence)  No Clovis spear points found in Alaska or Siberia (supposed migratory route)

9.  Rock for Clovis tools originated up to 300 km from site, suggesting extensive trade/travel patterns that also take time to develop  Archaeologists assumed Clovis artifacts were oldest and dug no deeper ("paradigm bias")

10.  Clovis people took "coastal" route south, as ocean levels were lower during Ice Age  Problem: coastal route available for short time period before rising sea levels flooded it

11.  "Clovis" people would have to spread from Alaska to tip of South America in 500 years and develop a "big game" hunting stone age culture in 1500 years  Accomplishing both tasks in these time periods is unlikely

12.  North America is one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world  It would require over 50 000 years for such diversity to emerge from one common ancestor

13.  DNA testing suggests Asian origins for 4 lineages that make up 95 % of North America's native population  Fifth DNA lineage is most common amongst Canada's Ojibwa  This lineage has NO known Asian link BUT does appear in Europeans  The two lineages separated about 36 000 years ago  Did one group of Canada's native peoples arrive from Europe?

14.  Various pieces of evidence have been discovered, suggesting that humans arrived in North America prior to (or separate from) the Clovis people  Meadowcroft, PA - Artifacts uncovered that radiocarbon date to thousands of years before Clovis

15.  Topper, SC & Cactus Hills, VA - two "Clovis" sites found in the southeastern US, far from the traditional Clovis migration route  Artifacts similar to those produced by the Solutrean culture of Spain and France 20 000 years ago  Solutrean people possessed navigational skills  Did Clovis culture originate in Europe?

16.  Monte Verde, Chile - Artifacts dated to 14 500 years ago discovered by archaeologist Tom Dillehay  Were humans at the tip of South America 500 years BEFORE the North American ice sheet began to melt?

17.  A handful of human remains dating back more than 9000 years found in America - Wizards Beach Man, Spirit Cave mummy, Kennewick Man  Features do not resemble the "broad faces, prominent cheek bones and round cranial vaults" typical of today’s native peoples  Was there more than one migration? Did some cross the Pacific by water?  Oldest American bones resemble Polynesians, Ainu of Japan or even Europeans more than modern American natives

19.  According to anthropologist Walter Neves, the oldest South American skull has "fine African features"  Other skulls closer in features to Australian aborigines  Neves argues the original South Americans were displaced or absorbed by an influx of "Mongoloids" from North America  Did South America's earliest inhabitants cross the Pacific from Australia?  Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon Tiki" & “Ra” expeditionsKon TikiRa

20.  There is no evidence to conclusively prove that the first North Americans arrived by the traditional Bering Strait (Beringia) route  There were likely several waves of migration to North and South America at different times and in different ways (land and sea), from several different places of origin  It is highly unlikely that there was ONE migration from ONE place

21.  By 11 000 BP, humans were living across the entire North and South American continents  Population was most dense along the marine- rich west coast and south-central lowlands of North America (fertile soil and climate)

22.  Disappearance of large mammals (mammoth, mastodon) around 10 000 BP led to dramatic change in lifestyle - move to hunting smaller mammals (bison), smaller projectile points (Plano Period - 10 000 - 7000 BP)  Plano technology most common in the central plains of North America  Domestication of some plants (corn) led to beginnings of agricultural lifestyle in some areas