The First Americans
The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World
Published on 27. June 2002
Book
Hardback
343 pages
978-0-940228-49-8 (ISBN)
Description
As modern humans spread around the globe, the Americas represented the final continental frontier. These first colonists were modern in appearance and technology, but who were they and when did they arrive? Traditional answers to these questions have come under increasing scrutiny in the face of new findings from artifacts, skeletal remains, genes, and languages. The peopling of the Americas has become one of archaeology's most compelling and contentious subjects, as these new lines of evidence reveal a more complex solution. In this volume, distinguished scientists from the fields of archaeology, physical anthropology, paleoecology, genetics, and linguistics assess the latest evidence from Siberia to Chile and offer provocative ideas for how, when, and where humans entered the Americas.
Contributors: Bruce Bradley, Linda Brown, Scott A. Elias, Tom D. Dillehay, John Douglas, Jon M. Erlandson, Nina G. Jablonski, David J. Meltzer, D. Andrew Merriwether, Johanna Nichols, Joseph F. Powell, Anna C. Roosevelt, Jack Rossen, Dennis Stanford, D. Gentry Steele, Christy G. Turner II
Distributed for the California Academy of Sciences
Contributors: Bruce Bradley, Linda Brown, Scott A. Elias, Tom D. Dillehay, John Douglas, Jon M. Erlandson, Nina G. Jablonski, David J. Meltzer, D. Andrew Merriwether, Johanna Nichols, Joseph F. Powell, Anna C. Roosevelt, Jack Rossen, Dennis Stanford, D. Gentry Steele, Christy G. Turner II
Distributed for the California Academy of Sciences
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
California
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 colour illustration, 41 b&w illustrations, 45 b&w photographs, 7 maps, 4 tables
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 0 mm
Weight
879 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-940228-49-8 (9780940228498)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Nina G. Jablonski is Irvine Chair and Curator of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences. She coedited Beyond Art: Pleistocene Image and Symbol (1997) and The Origin and Diversification of Language (1998), California.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Setting the Stage:
Environmental Conditions in Beringia as people entered the New World
Scott A. Elias
What do you do when no one's been there before?
Thoughts on the exploration and colonization of new lands
David J. Meltzer
Anatomically modern humans, maritime voyaging, and the Pleistocene
colonization of the Americas
Jon M. Erlandson
Facing the past:
A view of the North American human fossil record
D. Gentry Steele and Joseph F. Powell
Teeth, needles, dogs and Siberia:
Bioarchaeological evidence for the colonization of the New World
Christy G. Turner II
The migrations and adaptations of the first Americans:
Clovis and pre-Clovis views from South America
A.C. Roosevelt, John Douglas and Linda Brown
Plant food and its implications for the peopling of the New World:
A view from South America
Tom D. Dillehay and Jack Rossen
Ocean trails and prairie paths?
Thoughts about Clovis origins
Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley
The first American languages
Johanna Nichols
A Mitochondrial perspective on the peopling of the New World
D. Andrew Merriwether
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Setting the Stage:
Environmental Conditions in Beringia as people entered the New World
Scott A. Elias
What do you do when no one's been there before?
Thoughts on the exploration and colonization of new lands
David J. Meltzer
Anatomically modern humans, maritime voyaging, and the Pleistocene
colonization of the Americas
Jon M. Erlandson
Facing the past:
A view of the North American human fossil record
D. Gentry Steele and Joseph F. Powell
Teeth, needles, dogs and Siberia:
Bioarchaeological evidence for the colonization of the New World
Christy G. Turner II
The migrations and adaptations of the first Americans:
Clovis and pre-Clovis views from South America
A.C. Roosevelt, John Douglas and Linda Brown
Plant food and its implications for the peopling of the New World:
A view from South America
Tom D. Dillehay and Jack Rossen
Ocean trails and prairie paths?
Thoughts about Clovis origins
Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley
The first American languages
Johanna Nichols
A Mitochondrial perspective on the peopling of the New World
D. Andrew Merriwether