I understand... but 30,000 years is a long time, much longer than the time frame in which the ancestors of the current Indian populations were thought to have arrived. There was actually an interesting site found a few years ago in the Pacific Northwest, possibly Washington State, that got a lot of attention until it was determined that the remains and artifacts found there were possibly Caucasian rather than Mongoloid (Asian). In other words, Prehistoric Slavs rather than prehistoric Asian populations. I think the material is in the archaeology lab of a university there and has disappeared from view.
So I agree, people do use these things for political purposes - but therefore, what we need is more information and more objectivity, not less.
Below, posted to FR 19 years ago:
The original forensic archeologist made an error which was corrected almost immediately.
Kennewick Man was not caucasion and was not ever caucasion. The original forensic anthropologist’s expertise was on modern characteristics. That’s why he made the initial error. Once they recognized the antiquity of the burial, appropriate experts were brought in. The report said that he could not be placed in any modern group but clustered most closely with Pacific Islanders.
None of that means anything to modern people. No one has the same charcteristics as their ancient ancestors. For instance, did you know that Caucasions, Native Americans and East Asians were closely related that long ago?
30,000 YA is longer than the guesses of when the ancestors of Native Americans arrived on the continents but it’s not longer ago than the genetic guesses when they separated from their old world ancestors. Maybe the Berengia theory is wrong. Maybe they simply evolved on this side of the land bridge.
I was thinking can you derive the date civilization began in Mesopotamia mathematically? Start with the latest year we have consistent population data, so for example 1899, then account for death rates and birth rates, and track backwards until we get the first tribe of humans? Or is that far too complex?