Posted on 02/19/2006 9:08:52 PM PST by anymouse
ST. LOUIS—The first humans to spread across North America may have been seal hunters from France and Spain.
This runs counter to the long-held belief that the first human entry into the Americas was a crossing of a land-ice bridge that spanned the Bering Strait about 13,500 years ago.
The new thinking was outlined here Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The tools don’t match
Recent studies have suggested that the glaciers that helped form the bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska began receding around 17,000 to 13,000 years ago, leaving very little chance that people walked from one continent to the other.
Also, when archaeologist Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian Institution places American spearheads, called Clovis points, side-by-side with Siberian points, he sees a divergence of many characteristics.
Instead, Stanford said today, Clovis points match up much closer with Solutrean style tools, which researchers date to about 19,000 years ago. This suggests that the American people making Clovis points made Solutrean points before that.
There’s just one problem with this hypothesis—Solutrean toolmakers lived in France and Spain. Scientists know of no land-ice bridge that spanned that entire gap.
The lost hunting party
Stanford has an idea for how humans crossed the Atlantic, though—boats. Art from that era indicates that Solutrean populations in northern Spain were hunting marine animals, such as seals, walrus, and tuna.
They may have even made their way into the floating ice chunks that unite immense harp seal populations in Canada and Europe each year. Four million seals, Stanford said, would look like a pretty good meal to hungry European hunters, who might have ventured into the ice flows much the same way that the Inuit in Alaska and Greenland do today.
Inuit use large, open hunting boats constructed from animal skins for longer trips or big hunts. These boats, called umiaq, can hold a dozen adults, as well as several children, dead seals or walruses, and even dog-sled teams. Inuit have been building these boats for thousands of years, and Stanford believes that Solutrean people may have used a similar design.
It’s possible that some groups of these hunters ventured out as far as Iceland, where they may have gotten caught up in the prevailing currents and were carried to North America.
“You get three boats loaded up like this and you would have a viable population,” Stanford said. “You could actually get a whole bunch of people washing up on Nova Scotia.”
Some scientists believe that the Solutrean peoples were responsible for much of the cave art in Europe. Opponents of Stanford’s work ask why, then, would these people stop producing art once they made it to North America?
“I don’t know,” Stanford said. “But you’re looking at a long distance inland, 100 miles or so, before they would get to caves to do art in.”
corrected URL (didn't notice it was there before I clicked Post):
http://www.bloodbook.com/african.html
1. We know exactly squat about what man was doing, let alone how and where, in any period more than 5,000 years ago.
And 2. What we've been trying to tell ourselves for the last 1,500 years what went on in the distant past is not only egregiously wrong, but has obscured what did go on and hampered our ability to see the truth.
There's just too damn many Zahi Hawas' in the world spreading lies in the name of political correctness.
No way, they were Chinese!
Undeniably brought the world the best system of government and justice - even if in some parts of the world is at first only appied to him.
Big Chief, Government, Surren-Deer, Whining Bear
Any others?
I would be careful with insulting names since most of you guys are the offspring of European immigrants (-no matter if they went to America 13.000 or 50 years ago).
Warm greetings from "old" Europe
Alright, tell us about the "O" blood type...and all the other ones while you are at it...if you would please.
What amazes me about this entire issue of migrations is that todays pc crowd insists on only one group or another having migrated to North America. As we should know, man in general is always curious. This fact would alert us to the distinct possibility of many groups arriving here during the past thousands of years. It is a distinct and probable. Oceans have been used for a long time, and most societies had some kind of boatcraft. But, Columbus is rightly credited, since his was the voyage which seemed to have staying power.
Looking a current map.
Obviously it would have been easier to travel via the North Equatorial Current. This is what Columbus did, no doubt earlier man did it too. Easy to travel up rivers along the Gulf Coast and end up in all kinds of places. Or get blown to the East Coast of Florida and travel up to the Carolinas and Virginia.
My reply to a FReepmail:
> Maybe this is too dumb to put on the board; but if they left Spain, drifted ...
Not dumb at all, that's the route Columbus made.
But heading out to blue water means provisioning: salted meat, barrels of water, veggies in straw, etc. A military-style naval expedition that I don't think was possible 20,000 years ago.
Note that even with sail, Columbus's ships were out of victuals by the time they got to San Salvador (or Cuba or whereever). And I doubt anyone once making landfall would stay on the water in a primative boat, up past the US coast and then decided Nova Scotia is the place to be ...
Blood types of various peoples.
A few days ago I read a post of how Muslims carried Hindu prisoners/slaves into Afghanistan who eventually migrated into Eastern Europe as the Gypsies. It is interesting to see that those peoples with AB type above 10% are Gypsies, Hindus, Tartars, certain Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Ainu. I would say this confirms the Gypsy story.
Sailing across Atlantic.
Quite likely different people used different routes, just as the Europeans did after Colombus. Also there is some shifting of the currents as the earth gets warmer or cooler. Ancient man was probably much better at living from materials harvested from the sea. The Spaniards were already too "civilized" to be so good at that. The great polynesian voyages were much longer than Atlantic ones and they managed to transport women children and livestock and settly many of the Pacific islands.
In terms of our own history. The Spaniards settled the Caribbean and the south using the Equatorial Current. The English took the northern current and ended up in New England instead of Virginia where they were trying to go.
I don't doubt that some Europeans may have come to America in prehistoric times, but the assertion that American Indians came from Europe is a little assinine. Indians look a lot more Asian than European.
The Indians killed off the "INDIGENOUS" people they found here; who came from Europe. The Indians came from Asia.
"Dances with Deficits"?
LOL
It's obvious, that you don't know anything at all about this topic. So, before you decide to laugh at those who do, take a look at the old GGG threads and learn about the EUROPEAN remains, which are far older than any Indian one, that have been found in the Americas. Or ask blam and Sunken Civ to help you out with links and info.
Sounds like a good start for a country song.
Your scenario is a theory, not a fact. The theory is very interesting and it sounds possible to me although I've never seen hard evidence that it is true. I honestly thought you were joking because of the way you phrased your post. I am left to conclude that you are actually angry about these hypothetical Europeans being killed by prehistoric Indians. Maybe all of us European-Americans should sue the Indian tribes for repairations.
It actually would be. LMAO
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