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 BP. The Clovis Model is essentially the idea that this time period ( to 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: LocationDate of evidence Monte Verde approx BP (in S. America) Cactus Hill, Virginiaapprox BP.

Traditional Archaeological Theory The Plano Period From to 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) Mi’kmaq World view Artifacts Radiocarbon dating Paleoindians Fluted DNA Paradigm bias Linguistics Physical anthropologists Beringia Solutrean Genetic marker Population density