....and, this is "Spirit Cave Man," found in Fallon, Nevada. He has been here for 9,400 years.
....and, this is "Spirit Cave Man," found in Fallon, Nevada. He has been here for 9,400 years.
The accumulating skeletal and genetic evidence suggests that the earliest populations to move into the Americas were not Asians whose primary genetic background was that of residents of northeastern Asia and eastern Mongolia (the old view). At the end of 1999 scientists meet in California and New Mexico to mull over the implications of recently discovered or restudied ancient American skeletons, most of which date between 8,600 and 11,000 years ago. And what they discovered has shaken the foundations of the anthropological communities. Instead of resembling the historically known American Indians, the wide range of skull shapes which have come to light so far display affinities with populations as diverse as the Ainu of Japan, peoples of central Asia, Australasia, India, southwest Asia, even the Neandertals of Europe (see Ancestors of the New World Had Multiple Origins for more information about the possible Neandertal connection). Genetic evidence also supports the idea of multiple migrations of people coming from distinctly different genetic poplations: perhaps as many as four or five different genetic populations.
(The 'Native Americans' or 'American Indians' as we know them today, arrived in the Americas no later than 6,000 years ago. The Monte Verde site is likely to be dated in the 30,000 year range )