Transcript Learning about First Peoples through Archaeology

Learning about North America’s First
Peoples through archaeology
 Gathering archaeological evidence
 Traditional archaeological theory
 Linguistic evidence
 Physical anthropology
Gathering archaeological evidence
 Archaeologists learn about people from
ancient times by studying the remains – or
artifacts – of their cultures

This is mostly done through a process called
radiocarbon dating
Gathering archaeological evidence
 Radiocarbon dating relies on the measurement of
carbon found in archaeological evidence

All living things contain the element carbon. When an
organism dies, the amount of carbon in it declines
slowly and steadily.
 Scientists can measure the amount of carbon in an
organism, and based upon the amount of carbon they
can determine when the organism died.
 The analysis of archaeological evidence has also
been greatly advanced by the introduction of DNA
technology.
Traditional Archaeological Theory
Early evidence and the Clovis Model
 Much of the archaeological evidence we use today
relies upon the radiocarbon dating of spear points

In 1935, spear points found at Clovis, New Mexico
were dated as far back as 11 500 BP.

The Clovis Model is essentially the idea that this time
period (11 500 to 11 000 BP) represents the earliest
presence of human life in North America
Traditional Archaeological Theory
Challenges to the Clovis Model
 The Clovis theory became so widely accepted that
researchers began to assume without questioning
that it was impossible for human life to have existed
in North America at an earlier date
Traditional Archaeological Theory
Challenges to the Clovis Model

Yet since then, other archaeological evidence has
been discovered that suggests otherwise:
Location
Monte Verde
(in S. America)
Date of evidence
approx. 12 500 BP
Cactus Hill, Virginia
approx. 16 500 BP.
Traditional Archaeological Theory
The Plano Period
 From 10 000 to 7 000 BP, much of the big game
animals (eg. Mammoth) disappeared from North
America

This disappearance is often attributed to the Plano
peoples, whose use of projectile point technology
made them successful hunters.
 Plano projectiles have been discovered from BC to
Quebec, and from the Northwest Territories to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Linguistic Evidence
 Researchers also rely on linguistic evidence.
Linguistics is the study of the structure of languages.

Linguists (ie. people who study linguistics) state that
the spread and development of languages takes a
great deal of time.

They conclude that, since there is so much diversity of
language in North America, the First Peoples must
have been here long before the Clovis era. .
Physical Anthropology
 Physical anthropology refers to the study of past
societies by analyzing human remains

Some studies have shown that ancient bones of First
Peoples more closely resemble those of indigenous
peoples of Japan, Polynesia, and even Europe
compared the modern-day North American aboriginals.
Chapter 1 - Questions
 After reading p.15-18,
answer the following questions:
 1.
a) What is the Clovis Model, or Clovis Theory?
b) What happened when people started accepting the
Clovis Model without questioning it?
c) How does linguistic evidence refute (disprove) the
Clovis Model?
2. Define all 15 terms in bold found in Chapter 1.
Terms to Define:
 BP (Before Present)
 Paradigm bias
 Mi’kmaq
 Linguistics
 World view
 Physical
 Artifacts
 Radiocarbon dating

 Paleoindians

 Fluted

 DNA

anthropologists
Beringia
Solutrean
Genetic marker
Population density