Paleo-Indians

{{further|topic= theories of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas|Settlement of the Americas}}

File:Early migrations mercator.svg based on the Out of Africa theory; figures are in thousands of years ago (kya){{cite book|first=Göran |last=Burenhult |author-link=:sv:Göran Burenhult |title=Die ersten Menschen |language=de |trans-title=The first people |publisher=Weltbild Verlag |year=2000 |isbn=978-3-8289-0741-6}}]]

Researchers continue to study and discuss the specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled.{{cite book|first=Phillip M. |last=White |title=American Indian chronology: chronologies of the American mosaic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VnZ8_2kSScC&pg=PA1 |access-date=29 November 2011 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33820-5 |page=1}} The traditional theory holds that these early migrants moved into Beringia between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska 17,000 years ago,{{cite book|first1=Spencer |last1=Wells |author-link1=Spencer Wells |first2=Mark |last2=Read |title=The Journey of Man – A Genetic Odyssey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAsKm-_zu5sC&q=The%20Journey%20of%20Man&pg=PA138 |format=Digitised online by Google books|publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-8129-7146-0 |access-date=2009-11-21 |year=2002 |pages=138–140}} at a time when the Quaternary glaciation significantly lowered sea levels.{{cite web|first1=William |last1=Fitzhugh |author-link1=William W. Fitzhugh |first2=Ives |last2=Goddard |author-link2=Ives Goddard |first3=Steve |last3=Ousley |first4=Doug |last4=Owsley |author-link4=Douglas W. Owsley |first5=Dennis |last5=Stanford |author-link5=Dennis Stanford |url=http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/origin.htm |title=Paleoamerican |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Anthropology Outreach Office |access-date=2009-01-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105215737/http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI//nmnh/origin.htm |archive-date=2009-01-05}} These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets.{{cite web |url=http://www.physorg.com/news169474130.html |title=The peopling of the Americas: Genetic ancestry influences health |work=Phys.org |access-date=2009-11-17}} An alternative proposed scenario involves migration, either on foot or using boats, down the Pacific coast to South America.{{cite journal |last1=Fladmark |first1=K. R. |title=Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America |journal=American Antiquity |pages=55–69 |volume=44 |issue=1 |date=January 1979 |jstor=279189 |doi=10.2307/279189 |s2cid=162243347}} Evidence of the latter would have been submerged by a sea-level rise of more than a hundred meters following the end of the Last Glacial Period.{{cite web |url=http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/sea-will-rise-to-levels-of-last-ice-age/ |title=68 Responses to "Sea will rise 'to levels of last Ice Age'" |work=Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University |date=26 January 2009 |access-date=2009-11-17}}

The time range of the peopling of the Americas remains a source of substantial debate. Conventional estimates have it that humans reached North America at some point between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago.{{cite book |first=Spencer |last=Wells |author-link=Spencer Wells |date=2006 |title=Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project |publisher=National Geographic Books |pages=222– |isbn=978-0-7922-6215-2 |oclc=1031966951 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=432Kt0A7J_UC&pg=PA222}}{{cite book |first=John H. |last=Relethford |date=17 January 2017 |title=50 Great Myths of Human Evolution: Understanding Misconceptions about Our Origins |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |pages=192– |isbn=978-0-470-67391-1 |oclc=1238190784 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAjcDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA192}}{{cite book |editor-first=H. James |editor-last=Birx |date=10 June 2010 |title=21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook |publisher=SAGE Publications |pages= |isbn=978-1-4522-6630-5 |oclc=1102541304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsF1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT50}}{{cite book |first1=John E. |last1=Kicza |first2=Rebecca |last2=Horn |date=3 November 2016 |title=Resilient Cultures: America's Native Peoples Confront European Colonialization 1500–1800 |edition=2 |publisher=Routledge |pages= |isbn=978-1-315-50987-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2t4DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT20}} However, some groups of humans may have reached South America as early as 25,000 years ago.{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Katie |title=Scientists say they've confirmed evidence that humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/americas/ancient-footprints-first-americans-scn/index.html |date=October 5, 2023 |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=CNN |language=en}} One of the few areas of agreement is the origin from Siberia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the Last Glacial Period, and more specifically after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 16,000 to 13,000 years before present.{{cite journal |last1=Bonatto |first1=S.L. |last2=Salzano |first2=F.M. |title=A single and early migration for the peopling of the Americas supported by mitochondrial DNA sequence data |journal=PNAS |year=1997 |volume=94 |issue=5 |pmid=9050871 |pmc=20009 |pages=1866–1871 |doi=10.1073/pnas.94.5.1866 |bibcode=1997PNAS...94.1866B |doi-access=free}}

{{See also|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indian period|History of Mesoamerica (Paleo-Indian)}}

File:High res mastodon rendering.jpg) became extinct around 12,000–9,000 years ago due to human-related activities, climate change, or a combination of both. See Quaternary extinction event and Holocene extinction.]]

The Palaeoindian culture lasts 4000 years, from 12,000 to 8000 BP. It is divided into Early Palaeoindian (12,000-10,000 BP) and Late Palaeoindian (10,000-8000 BP), ending with early events of the Early Archaic period in some regions.{{cite web |last=Gagné |first=Michel |date=18 April 2012 |title=Palaeoindian |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/palaeoindian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110232951/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/palaeoindian |archive-date=2024-11-10 |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}

Sites in Alaska (eastern Beringia) exhibit some of the earliest evidence of Paleo-Indians,{{cite book|author1=Bruce Elliott Johansen|author2=Barry Pritzker|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGKL6E9_J6IC&pg=PA451|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-817-0|pages=451–}}{{cite web|title=Period 1 (10,000 to 8,000 years ago) |url=http://www.learnersportal.com/CanadaFP/Ancient/per1.html#Palaeo-Indian |publisher=Learners Portal Breton University |year=2006 |access-date=2010-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713193402/http://www.learnersportal.com/CanadaFP/Ancient/per1.html |archive-date=2011-07-13 }} followed by archaeological sites in northern British Columbia, western Alberta and the Old Crow Flats region of the Yukon territory.{{cite book|author1=Norman Herz|author2=Ervan G. Garrison|title=Geological methods for archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSPkmV_mRvkC&pg=PA125|access-date=29 November 2011|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509024-6|page=125}} The Paleo-Indians would eventually flourish all over the Americas.{{cite book|author1=Barry Lewis|author2=Robert Jurmain|author3=Lynn Kilgore|title=Understanding Humans: Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6dg1FPViKEC&pg=PT342|access-date=29 November 2011|date=10 December 2008|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-60474-7|pages=342–348}} These peoples were spread over a wide geographical area; thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all the individual groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles and progress identifiable.{{cite book|author1=Wm. Jack Hranicky|author2=Wm Jack Hranicky Rpa|title=North American Projectile Points – Revised|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctw4OPNR540C&pg=PA135|access-date=29 November 2011|date=17 June 2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4520-2632-9|page=135}} This early Paleo-Indian period's lithic reduction tool adaptations have been found across the Americas, utilized by highly mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 60 members of an extended family.{{cite book|author=David J. Wishart|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtRFyFO4hpEC&pg=PA589|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2004|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-4787-1|page=589}}{{cite book|author=Rickey Butch Walker|title=Warrior Mountains Indian Heritage - Teacher's Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ah3wOOrWthAC&pg=PA34|access-date=29 November 2011|date=December 2008|publisher=Heart of Dixie Publishing|isbn=978-1-934610-27-5|page=34}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Food would have been plentiful during the few warm months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds and aquatic mammals. Nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in the forests and marshes. The fall would have been a busy time because foodstuffs would have to be stored and clothing made ready for the winter. During the winter, coastal fishing groups moved inland to hunt and trap fresh food and furs.{{cite book|author1=Dawn Elaine Bastian|author2=Judy K. Mitchell|title=Handbook of Native American mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IsyQu1kDK-kC&pg=PA6|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-533-9|page=6}}

Late ice-age climatic changes caused plant communities and animal populations to change.{{cite book| last = Pielou| first = E.C.| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=knEyjCYWEHQC&q=After%20the%20Ice%20Age%20%3A%20The%20Return%20of%20Life%20to%20Glaciated%20North%20America&pg=PP1|format=Digitised online by Google books| title = After the Ice Age : The Return of Life to Glaciated North America| publisher = University Of Chicago Press| year = 1991| isbn =978-0-226-66812-3|access-date=2009-11-18}} Groups moved and sought new supplies as preferred resources were depleted. Small bands utilized hunting and gathering during the spring and summer months, then broke into smaller direct family groups for the fall and winter. Family groups moved every 3–6 days, possibly traveling up to {{cvt|360|km}} per year.{{cite book|author=David R. Starbuck|title=The archeology of New Hampshire: exploring 10,000 years in the Granite State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcKQoMp9Qv0C&pg=PA27|access-date=29 November 2011|date=31 May 2006|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-1-58465-562-6|page=27}} Diets were often sustaining and rich in protein; clothing was made from a variety of animal hides that were also used for shelter construction.{{cite web|title=Alabama Archaeology: Prehistoric Alabama |url=http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/prehistoricalabama/paleoindian.htm |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=1999 |access-date=2010-04-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613070843/http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/prehistoricalabama/paleoindian.htm |archive-date=2010-06-13 }} During much of the early and middle Paleo-Indian periods, inland bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct megafauna. Large Pleistocene mammals included the giant beaver, steppe wisent, giant muskox, mastodon, woolly mammoth and ancient reindeer.{{cite journal |last=Breitburg |first=Emanual |author2=John B. Broster |author3=Arthur L. Reesman |author4=Richard G. Strearns |title=Coats-Hines Site: Tennessee's First Paleoindian Mastodon Association |journal=Current Research in the Pleistocene |volume=13 |year=1996 |pages=6–8 |url=http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/research/TennesseeArchaeology/04_The_First_Peoples_of_Tennessee_03032008.pdf |access-date=2009-11-18 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110646/http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/research/TennesseeArchaeology/04_The_First_Peoples_of_Tennessee_03032008.pdf |url-status=dead }}

File:Folsom point.png]]

The Clovis culture, appearing around 11,500 BCE ({{c.|13,500}} BP) in North America, is one of the most notable Paleo-Indian archaeological cultures.{{cite book|author1=Catherine Anne Cavanaugh|author2=Michael Payne|author3=Donald Grant Wetherell|title=Alberta formed, Alberta transformed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_XNCXJcjlkC&pg=PA9|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2006|publisher=University of Alberta|isbn=978-1-55238-194-6|page=9}} It has been disputed whether the Clovis culture were specialist big-game hunters or employed a mixed foraging strategy that included smaller terrestrial game, aquatic animals, and a variety of flora.{{Cite journal |last1=Waguespack |first1=Nicole M. |last2=Surovell |first2=Todd A. |date=April 2003 |title=Clovis Hunting Strategies, or How to Make out on Plentiful Resources |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002731600048393/type/journal_article |journal=American Antiquity |language=en |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=333–352 |doi=10.2307/3557083 |jstor=3557083 |s2cid=164047864 |issn=0002-7316|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book|author=Scott C. Zeman|title=Chronology of the American West: from 23,000 B.C.E. through the twentieth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KK1q6N16zIAC&pg=PA9|access-date=29 November 2011|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-207-3|page=9}} Paleo-Indian groups were efficient hunters and carried a variety of tools. These included highly efficient fluted-style spear points, as well as microblades used for butchering and hide processing.{{cite book|author=William C. Sturtevant|title=Handbook of North American Indians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kGWuMa6sRYsC&pg=PA87|access-date=29 November 2011|date=21 February 1985|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-004580-6|page=87}} Projectile points and hammerstones made from many sources are found traded or moved to new locations.{{cite book|author1=Emory Dean Keoke|author2=Kay Marie Porterfield|title=Trade, Transportation, and Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKIEZsxbYdUC&pg=PA1|access-date=29 November 2011|date=January 2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-5395-7|pages=1–}} Stone tools were traded and/or left behind from North Dakota and Northwest Territories, to Montana and Wyoming. Trade routes also have been found from the British Columbia Interior to the coast of California.{{cite book |first1= P. Jeffrey |last1=Brantingham |first2=Steven L. |last2=Kuhn |first3=Kristopher W. |last3=Kerry |title=The Early Upper Paleolithic beyond Western Europe|url=http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9850.php|publisher=University of California Press|pages=41–66 |year=2004|isbn=9780520238510 |access-date=2009-11-19}}

The glaciers that covered the northern half of the continent began to gradually melt, exposing new land for occupation around 17,500–14,500 years ago. At the same time as this was occurring, worldwide extinctions among the large mammals began. In North America, camelids and equids eventually died off, the latter not to reappear on the continent until the Spanish reintroduced the horse near the end of the 15th century CE.{{cite web|title=A brief history of the horse in America: Horse phylogeny and evolution |work=Ben Singer |url=http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/ma05/indepth/ |publisher=Canadian Geographic |year=2005 |access-date=2009-11-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819083344/http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/ma05/indepth/ |archive-date=2014-08-19 }} As the Quaternary extinction event was happening, the late Paleo-Indians would have relied more on other means of subsistence.{{cite book |title=The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast |first1=David G. |last1=Anderson |author-link1=David G. Anderson |first2=Kenneth E. |last2=Sassaman |format=Digitised online by Google books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbfIL7NKFwgC&q=Paleo%20Indian&pg=PP1 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-0835-3 |access-date=2009-11-15 |year=1996}}

From {{c.|10,500|9,500}} BCE ({{c.|12,500|11,500|lk=no}} BP), the broad-spectrum big game hunters of the Great Plains began to focus on a single animal species: the bison (an early cousin of the American bison).{{cite book |title=1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus |first=Charles C. |last=Mann |author-link=Charles C. Mann |format=Digitised online by Google books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhAqcIq_pGcC&q=Paleo-Indians&pg=PA334 |publisher=Random House of Canada |isbn=978-1-4000-3205-1 |access-date=2009-11-17 |date=2006-10-10}} The earliest known of these bison-oriented hunting traditions is the Folsom tradition. Folsom peoples traveled in small family groups for most of the year, returning yearly to the same springs and other favored locations on higher ground.{{cite web|title=Folsom Traditions |url=http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/manarchnet/chronology/paleoindian/folsom.html |publisher=University of Manitoba, Archaeological Society |year=1998 |access-date=2010-04-10}} There they would camp for a few days, perhaps erecting a temporary shelter, making and/or repairing some stone tools, or processing some meat, then moving on. Paleo-Indians were not numerous, and population densities were quite low.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/p4/1 |title=Beginnings to 1500 C.E |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples |access-date=2009-11-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206163225/http://multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/p4/1 |archive-date=2010-12-06}}

{{Clear}}

File:Projectile point types.png, from the Paleo-Indian periods in southeastern North America]]

{{Main|List of archaeological periods (North America)|List of archaeological periods (Mesoamerica)}}

Paleo-Indians are generally classified by lithic reduction or lithic core "styles" and by regional adaptations.{{cite book|first=Vance T. |last=Holliday |author-link=Vance T. Holliday |title=Paleoindian geoarchaeology of the southern High Plains |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUb2o1fPG9EC&pg=PA15 |access-date=29 November 2011 |year=1997 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-73114-1 |page=15}} Lithic technology fluted spear points, like other spear points, are collectively called projectile points. The projectiles are constructed from chipped stones that have a long groove called a "flute". The spear points would typically be made by chipping a single flake from each side of the point.{{cite book|first=J.M. |last=Adovasio |author-link=James M. Adovasio |others=with Jake Page |title=The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=2002 |page=14 |isbn=978-0-375-50552-2}} The point was then tied onto a spear of wood or bone. As the environment changed with the ice age ending around 17–13 Ka BP on short, and around 25–27 Ka BP on the long,{{cite book|first1=Wolfgang H. |last1=Berger |author-link1=Wolfgang H. Berger |first2=Elizabeth |last2=Noble Shor |author-link2=Elizabeth Noble Shor |title=Ocean: reflections on a century of exploration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMUqEdOd3NEC&pg=PA397 |access-date=29 November 2011 |date=25 April 2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24778-9 |page=397}} many animals migrated overland to take advantage of the new sources of food. Humans following these animals, such as bison, mammoth and mastodon, thus gained the name big-game hunters.{{cite book |title=The Time of the Buffalo |first1=Tom |last1=McHugh |first2=Victoria |last2=Hobson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSbrXXh0lWMC&q=buffalo+migrated+from+Asia+to+America&pg=PA13 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-8105-9 |year=1979 |access-date=2009-11-17}} Pacific coastal groups of the period would have relied on fishing as the prime source of sustenance.{{cite journal |last1=deFrance |first1=Susan D. |last2=Keefer |first2=David K. |last3=Richardson |first3=James B. |last4=Alvarez |first4=Adan U. |title=Late Paleo-Indian Coastal Foragers: Specialized Extractive |pages=413–426 |year=2010 |jstor=972087 |volume=12 |issue=4 |journal=Latin American Antiquity |doi=10.2307/972087 |s2cid=163802845}}

Archaeologists are piecing together evidence that the earliest human settlements in North America were thousands of years before the appearance of the current Paleo-Indian time frame (before the late glacial maximum 20,000-plus years ago).{{cite web |url=http://www.telusplanet.net/public/dgarneau/alberta1.htm |title=Alberta History pre 1800 – Jasper Alberta |work=Jasper Alberta |year=2009 |access-date=2009-11-20 |archive-date=2016-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313201121/http://telusplanet.net/public/dgarneau/alberta1.htm |url-status=dead }} Evidence indicates that people were living as far east as Beringia before 30,000 BCE (32,000 BP).{{cite magazine|last1=Bradley |first1=Bruce |last2=Stanford |first2=Dennis |author-link2=Dennis Stanford |title=The North Atlantic ice-edge corridor: a possible Palaeolithic route to the New World. |magazine=World Archaeology |volume=34 |date=2004}}{{cite book|last=Lauber |first=Patricia |author-link=Patricia Lauber |title=Who Came First? New Clues to Prehistoric Americans |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Geographic Society |date=2003}} Until recently, it was generally believed that the first Paleo-Indian people to arrive in North America belonged to the Clovis culture. This archaeological phase was named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico, where in 1936 unique Clovis points were found in situ at the site of Blackwater Draw, where they were directly associated with the bones of Pleistocene animals.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/outline/02-paleoindian/index.htm |title=National Park Service Southeastern Archaeological Center: The Paleoindian Period |access-date=2009-11-17}}

Recent data from a series of archaeological sites throughout the Americas suggest that Clovis (thus the "Paleo-Indians") time range should be re-examined. In particular, sites such as Cooper's Ferry in Idaho,{{Cite web|last=Wade |first=Lizzie |date=2019-08-29 |title=First people in the Americas came by sea, ancient tools unearthed by Idaho river suggest |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/first-people-americas-came-sea-ancient-tools-unearthed-idaho-river-suggest |access-date=2020-12-28 |website=Science {{!}} AAAS |language=en}} Cactus Hill in Virginia,{{cite news|url-access=subscription |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/early-new-world-settlers-rise-east |title=Early New World Settlers Rise in East |first=Bruce |last=Bowers |access-date=2009-11-17 |work=Science News |year=2000}} Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania,{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1113831918&ResourceType=Site |title=Meadowcroft Rockshelter |access-date=2009-11-17 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511004804/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1113831918&ResourceType=Site |archive-date=11 May 2015}} Bear Spirit Mountain in West Virginia,{{cite news|url=https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/life/author-discovers-ceremonial-site-and-reconnects-with-indian-heritage/article_7d9d4f7c-5ac5-5010-a7a1-e5393eec2ace.html |title=Author Discovers Ceremonial Site |access-date=2019-03-15 |work=Archaeology Site Article listing |publisher=Herald Mall Media |archive-date=2018-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109201722/https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/life/author-discovers-ceremonial-site-and-reconnects-with-indian-heritage/article_7d9d4f7c-5ac5-5010-a7a1-e5393eec2ace.html |url-status=dead}} Catamarca and Salta in Argentina,{{cite web|url=http://www.unidiversidad.com.ar/encontraron-la-evidencia-humana-mas-antigua-de-argentina |title=Encontraron la evidencia humana más antigua de Argentina |language=es |trans-title=They found the oldest human evidence in Argentina |date=21 May 2018 |website=Universidad}} Pilauco and Monte Verde in Chile,{{cite web |url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2019/04/27/confirman-huella-humana-en-chile-como-la-mas-antigua-de-america-4987.html |title=Confirman huella humana en Chile como la más antigua de América |website=la Jornada |language=es |trans-title=Confirm human footprint in Chile as the oldest in America |access-date=2019-04-27 |archive-date=2019-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427201944/https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2019/04/27/confirman-huella-humana-en-chile-como-la-mas-antigua-de-america-4987.html |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1873/ |title=Monte Verde Archaeological Site – UNESCO World Heritage Centre |access-date=2009-11-17}} Topper in South Carolina,{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/17/carolina.dig/index.html |title=CNN.com: Man in Americas Earlier Than Thought |access-date=2009-11-17 | date=2004-11-18}} and Quintana Roo in Mexico{{cite web|first=Ignacio |last=Villarreal |url=http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=40187 |title=Mexican Archaeologists Extract 10,000 Year-Old Skeleton from Flooded Cave in Quintana Roo |publisher=Artdaily.com |date=2010-08-25 |access-date=2010-09-17}}{{cite web |url=http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2011/02/skull-in-mexico-cave-may-be-oldest-american-found.html |title=Skull in Underwater Cave May Be Earliest Trace of First Americans – NatGeo News Watch |publisher=Blogs.nationalgeographic.com |date=2011-02-18 |access-date=2011-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226224240/http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2011/02/skull-in-mexico-cave-may-be-oldest-american-found.html |archive-date=2011-02-26 }} have generated early dates for wide-ranging Paleo-Indian occupation. Some sites significantly predate the migration time frame of ice-free corridors, thus suggesting that there were additional coastal migration routes available, traversed either on foot and/or in boats.{{cite web|first=Steve |last=Connor |url=http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/1stpersons.htm |title=Does skull prove that the first Americans came from Europe? |work=The University of Texas at Austin – Web Central |access-date=2009-11-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040302011546/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant322m_files/1stpersons.htm |archive-date=2004-03-02}} Geological evidence suggests the Pacific coastal route was open for overland travel before 23,000 years ago and after 16,000 years ago.{{cite web |first=David K. |last=Jordan |author-link=David K. Jordan |title=Prehistoric Beringia |url=http://www.anthro.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/beringia.html |publisher=University of California - San Diego |year=2009 |access-date=2010-04-15 |archive-date=2014-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212155854/http://www.anthro.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/beringia.html |url-status=dead }}

{{Clear}}

{{further|Periodization of pre-Columbian Peru|Pre-Columbian period in Venezuela}}

In South America, the site of Monte Verde indicates that its population was probably territorial and resided in their river basin for most of the year. Some other South American groups, on the other hand, were highly mobile and hunted big-game animals such as gomphotheres and giant sloths. They used classic bifacial projectile point technology, such as Fishtail points.

The primary examples are populations associated with El Jobo points (Venezuela), fish-tail or Magallanes points (various parts of the continent, but mainly the southern half), and Paijan points (Peru and Ecuador) at sites in grasslands, savanna plains, and patchy forests.TOM D. DILLEHAY, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160108213554/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/ancient/pleistocene-cultures.pdf The Late Pleistocene Cultures of South America.] Evolutionary Anthropology, 1999

The dating for these sites ranges from {{c.|14,000}} BP (for Taima-Taima in Venezuela) to {{c.|10,000|lk=no}} BP.{{cite book|last1=Cummings|first1=Vicki|last2=Jordan|first2=Peter|last3=Zvelebil|first3=Marek|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl2yAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA418|year=2014|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-102526-6|page=418}} The bi-pointed El Jobo projectile points were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from the Gulf of Venezuela to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory.José R. Oliver, [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3.html Implications of Taima-taima and the Peopling of Northern South America.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425071105/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/taima-taima-text3.html |date=2016-04-25 }} bradshawfoundation.comOliver, J.R., Alexander, C.S. (2003). Ocupaciones humanas del Plesitoceno terminal en el Occidente de Venezuela. Maguare, 17 83–246 El Jobo points were probably the earliest, going back to {{c.|14,200|12,980|lk=no}} BP and they were used for hunting large mammals.{{cite book|last1=Silverman |first1=Helaine |last2=Isbell |first2=William |title=Handbook of South American Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZr-lxQgJiAC&pg=PA433 |date=2008 |publisher=Springer Science |isbn=978-0-387-75228-0 |page=433}} In contrast, the fish-tail points, dating to c. 11,000 B.P. in Patagonia, had a much wider geographical distribution, but mostly in the central and southern part of the continent.{{cite book|last1=Silverman |first1=Helaine |last2=Isbell |first2=William |title=Handbook of South American Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZr-lxQgJiAC&pg=PA35 |year=2008 |publisher=Springer Science |isbn=978-0-387-75228-0 |page=35}}{{cite book|last=Dillehay |first=Thomas D. |title=The Settlement of the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aM0CRBQ9kFcC&pg=PA209 |year=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-7867-2543-4 |page=209}}

{{Main|Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas}}

File:Global frequency distribution map of haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA).png

The haplogroup most commonly associated with Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q-M3.{{cite web|year=2003 |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Bortolini-AJHG-03-YAmer.pdf |title=Y-Chromosome Evidence for Differing Ancient Demographic Histories in the Americas |publisher=University College London 73:524–539 |access-date=2010-01-22}} Y-DNA, like (mtDNA), differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis. This allows the historical pattern of mutations to be easily studied.{{cite journal |last=Orgel |first=L. |title=Prebiotic chemistry and the origin of the RNA world |url=http://www.d.umn.edu/~pschoff/documents/OrgelRNAWorld.pdf |journal=Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=99–123 |pmid=15217990 |doi=10.1080/10409230490460765 |year=2004 |access-date=2010-01-19 |citeseerx=10.1.1.537.7679|s2cid=4939632 }} The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes: first with the initial peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas.{{cite web|title=Learn about Y-DNA Haplogroup Q |editor=Wendy Tymchuk |url=http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16 |format=Verbal tutorial possible |publisher=Genebase Systems |year=2008 |access-date=2009-11-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622001311/http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16 |archive-date=2010-06-22 }} The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.{{cite web| title=Learn about Y-DNA Haplogroup Q| editor=Wendy Tymchuk| url=http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100421215503/http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16 | archive-date = 2010-04-21| format = Verbal tutorial possible| publisher=Genebase Systems| url-status = dead| year=2008| access-date=2009-11-21}}{{Unreliable source?|reason=WP:QUESTIONABLE|date=July 2015}}

Human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial layover on Beringia for the founding population.{{cite book|author=Alice Roberts|title=The Incredible Human Journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ng8ai3xkZRUC&pg=PT101|year=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4088-1091-0|pages=101–03}}{{cite web|title=First Americans Endured 20,000-Year Layover - Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american.html |access-date=2009-11-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010092348/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american.html |archive-date=2012-10-10 }} [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american-02.html page 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313061401/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american-02.html |date=2012-03-13 }}{{cite news|title=Pause Is Seen in a Continent's Peopling|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/science/linguistic-study-sheds-new-light-on-peopling-of-north-america.html?ref=science|date=13 Mar 2014}}{{cite web|title=New World Settlers Took 20,000-Year Pit Stop|first=Ker |last=Than|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080214-america-layover.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219013512/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080214-america-layover.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 19, 2008|publisher=National Geographic Society|year=2008|access-date=2010-01-23}} The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.{{cite web|title=Summary of knowledge on the subclades of Haplogroup Q |url=http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc=.jpg?download=1 |publisher=Genebase Systems |year=2009 |access-date=2009-11-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510204204/http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc%3D.jpg?download=1 |archive-date=2011-05-10 }} The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations, however, exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations that are distinct from other Amerindians with various mtDNA mutations.{{cite journal |author=Ruhlen M |title=The origin of the Na-Dene |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=95 |issue=23 |pages=13994–6 |date=November 1998 |pmid=9811914 |pmc=25007 |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.23.13994|bibcode=1998PNAS...9513994R|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Zegura SL, Karafet TM, Zhivotovsky LA, Hammer MF |title=High-resolution SNPs and microsatellite haplotypes point to a single, recent entry of Native American Y chromosomes into the Americas |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=164–75 |date=January 2004 |pmid=14595095 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msh009|doi-access=free }}{{cite web|title=mtDNA Variation among Greenland Eskimos. The Edge of the Beringian Expansion|url=http://www.cell.com/AJHG/abstract/S0002-9297%2807%2963257-1 |first1=Juliette |last1=Saillard |first2=Peter |last2=Forster |first3=Niels |last3=Lynnerup |first4=Hans-Jürgen |last4=Bandelt |first5=Søren |last5=Nørby|work=Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, University of Hamburg, Hamburg|year=2000|access-date=2009-11-22}} This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.{{cite journal|title=Native American Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates That the Amerind and the Nadene Populations Were Founded by Two Independent Migrations|url=http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/abstract/130/1/153|first1=A. |last1=Torroni |first2=T. G. |last2=Schurr |first3=C. C. |last3=Yang |first4=E. |last4=Szathmary |first5=R. C. |last5=Williams |first6=M. S. |last6=Schanfield |first7=G. A. |last7=Troup |first8=W. C. |last8=Knowler |first9=D. N. |last9=Lawrence |first10=K. M. |last10=Weiss |first11=D. C. |last11=Wallace |journal=Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine and Departments of Biochemistry and Anthropology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia |date=January 1992 |volume=130 |issue=1 |pages=153–162 |publisher=Genetics Society of America |access-date=2009-11-28}}

Evidence from full genomic studies suggests that the first people in the Americas diverged from Ancient East Asians about 36,000 years ago and expanded northwards into Siberia, where they encountered and interacted with a different Paleolithic Siberian population (known as Ancient North Eurasians), giving rise to both Paleosiberian peoples and Ancient Native Americans, which later migrated towards the Beringian region, became isolated from other populations, and subsequently populated the Americas.{{Cite book |last=Raff |first=Jennifer |url=https://www.twelvebooks.com/titles/jennifer-raff/origin/9781538749715/ |title=Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas |date=2020-06-09 |publisher=Twelve |isbn=978-1-5387-4971-5 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Sapiens |date=2022-02-08 |title=A Genetic Chronicle of the First Peoples in the Americas |url=https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-dna-native-americans/ |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=SAPIENS |language=en-US}}

{{Main|Late Pleistocene extinctions}}

File:Paleontological landscape painting, White Sands National Park, United States.jpg in New Mexico, with Columbian mammoths, a ground sloth, dire wolves, lions, camels, and saber-toothed cats.]]

Due to the evidence that Paleoindians hunted now extinct megafauna (large animals), and that following a period of overlap, most large animals across the Americas became extinct as part of the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions, it has been argued by many authors that hunting by Paleoindians was an important factor in the extinctions,{{Cite journal |last1=Svenning |first1=Jens-Christian |last2=Lemoine |first2=Rhys T. |last3=Bergman |first3=Juraj |last4=Buitenwerf |first4=Robert |last5=Le Roux |first5=Elizabeth |last6=Lundgren |first6=Erick |last7=Mungi |first7=Ninad |last8=Pedersen |first8=Rasmus Ø. |date=2024 |title=The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene |journal=Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |language=en |volume=2 |doi=10.1017/ext.2024.4 |issn=2755-0958|doi-access=free |pmc=11895740 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Politis |first1=Gustavo G. |last2=Messineo |first2=Pablo G. |last3=Stafford |first3=Thomas W. |last4=Lindsey |first4=Emily L. |date=March 2019 |title=Campo Laborde: A Late Pleistocene giant ground sloth kill and butchering site in the Pampas |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=eaau4546 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aau4546 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=6402857 |pmid=30854426|bibcode=2019SciA....5.4546P }} though this suggestion is controversial, with other authors placing the blame on climatic change.{{Cite journal |last1=Grayson |first1=Donald K. |last2=Meltzer |first2=David J. |date=May 2003 |title=A requiem for North American overkill |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440302002054 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=585–593 |bibcode=2003JArSc..30..585G |doi=10.1016/S0305-4403(02)00205-4}} In a 2012 survey of archaeologists in The SAA Archaeological Record, 63% of respondents said that megafauna extinctions were likely the result of a "combination of factors".Amber D. Wheat "[https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=c9049dfa37174fcd182e09bb54f1274850ce5473#page=12 Survey of professional opionions regarding the peopling of the Americas]." The SAA Archaeological Record Volume 12, No. 2 March 2012

File:Poverty Point gorgets atlatl weights HRoe 2009.jpg weights and carved stone gorgets from Poverty Point]]

The Archaic period in the Americas saw a changing environment featuring a warmer, more arid climate and the disappearance of the last megafauna.{{cite book|first1=Douglas Ian |last1=Campbell |first2=Patrick Michael |last2=Whittle |title=Resurrecting Extinct Species: Ethics and Authenticity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mEtADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |year=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-69578-5 |pages=37–38}} The majority of population groups at this time were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers, but now individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with the passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization like the Southwest, Arctic, Poverty, Dalton, and Plano traditions. These regional adaptations would become the norm, with reliance less on hunting and gathering, and a more mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonally wild vegetables, and harvested plant foods.{{cite book|title=Prehistory of the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yrhp8H0_l6MC&q=Paleo-Indians%20tradition&pg=PR5 |first=Stuart J. |last=Fiedel |format=Digitised online by Google books |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-521-42544-5 |access-date=2009-11-18}}{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |first1=Frank |last1=Salomon |first2=Stuart B. |last2=Schwartz |format=Digitised online by Google books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqEQWch7woQC&q=Formative%20stage%20in%20the%20americas&pg=PA256 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=2009-11-17 |isbn=978-0-521-63075-7 |date=1999-12-28}} Many groups continued to hunt big game but their hunting traditions became more varied and meat procurement methods more sophisticated. The placement of artifacts and materials within an Archaic burial site indicated social differentiation based upon status in some groups.{{cite book|last1=Imbrie |first1=J. |first2=K. P. |last2=Imbrie |title=Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery |year=1979 |publisher=Enslow Publishers |location=Short Hills NJ |isbn=978-0-226-66811-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/aftericeager00piel}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Adams County Paleo-Indian District – (Archeological site)
• Arlington Springs Man – (Human remains)
• Blackwater Draw – (Archeological site)
• Borax Lake Site – (Archeological site)
• Buhl woman – (Human remains)
• Calico Early Man Site – (Archeological site)
• Caverna da Pedra Pintada – (Archeological site)
• Cody complex – (Culture group)
• Cueva de las Manos – (Cave paintings)
• East Fork Site – (Archeological site)
• Folsom Tradition – (Culture group)
• Fort Rock Cave – (Archeological site)
• Hiscock Site – (Archeological site)
• Kennewick Man – (Human remains)
• Leanderthal Lady – (Human remains)
• Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site – (Archeological site)
• Lindenmeier site – (Archeological site)
• Luzia Woman – (Human remains)
• Marmes Rockshelter – (Archeological site)
• Mastodon State Historic Site – (Archeological site)
• Mummy Cave – (Archeological site)
• Naia – (Human remains)
• Paisley Caves – (Archeological site)
• Peñon woman – (Human remains)
• Post Pattern – (Archaeological culture)
• San Dieguito complex – (Archeological site)
• Sandia Man Cave – (Archeological site)
• Upward Sun River site – (Archeological site)
• Witt Site – (Archeological site)
• X̲áːytem – (Archeological site)
• Quad site – (Archeological site)

{{div col end}}

{{Portal inline|Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist|group="note"}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Jablonski |first=Nina G. |title=The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World |publisher=California Academy of Sciences |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-940228-49-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RI32r548fUwC&q=The%20first%20Americans%3A%20the%20Pleistocene%20colonization%20of%20the%20New%20World%20%20By%20Nina%20G.%20Jablonski&pg=PP1}}
• {{cite book|author=Peter Charles Hoffer|title=The Brave New World: A History of Early America|url=https://archive.org/details/bravenewworldhis0000hoff_a3b3|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-8483-2}}
• {{cite book|first =David J | last = Meltzer |title =First peoples in a new world: colonizing ice age America|publisher =University of California, Berkeley|year =2009|isbn =978-0-520-25052-9|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jWgZPz6oXSwC&q=First%20peoples%20in%20a%20new%20world%3A%20colonizing%20ice%20age%20America%20%20By%20David%20J.%20Meltzer&pg=PP1}}

{{refend}}

{{commons category|Lithic period}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080405232839/https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html Atlas of the Human Journey], Genographic Project, National Geographic
• [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/ Journey of Mankind – Genetic Map] – Bradshaw Foundation
• [http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/outline/02-paleoindian/index.htm The Paleoindian Period] – United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613070843/http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/prehistoricalabama/paleoindian.htm Alabama Archaeology: Prehistoric Alabama] – The University of Alabama, Department of Archaeology
• [http://pidba.utk.edu/main.htm The Paleoindian Database] – The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology.
• [http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/pleistocene.htm Paleoindians and the Great Pleistocene Die-Off] – American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Humanities Center

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Category:History of Indigenous peoples of North America

Category:History of Indigenous peoples in Canada

Category:Native American history

Category:History of the Americas

Category:History of North America

Category:History of South America

Category:Hunter-gatherers

Category:Hunter-gatherers of the United States

Category:Hunter-gatherers of Canada

Category:Hunter-gatherers of South America

Category:Late Pleistocene

Category:Mesoamerica

Category:Pleistocene life

Category:Pleistocene North America

Category:Pleistocene South America

Category:Pre-Columbian archaeology