Clovis/Solutrean

Proponents of a Solutrean colonization of the New World, and a pre-LGM occupation of North America's Mid-Atlantic region, cite as evidence a bifacially flaked, bi-pointed stone blade allegedly dredged from the continental shelf by the crew of the vessel Cinmar, along with portions of a mastodon skeleton later directly dated to 22,760 ± 90 RCYBP. However, our investigations into the discovery found several significant inconsistencies with respect to what is currently reported in the literature and raise serious questions that must be addressed before the Cinmar artifact can be considered evidence of anything pertinent to archaeology. In this article we present evidence and questions regarding the history of the Cinmar discovery, the location of the Cinmar discovery site, and the nature of the Cinmar vessel itself.

The emerging consensus of an earlier than Clovis occupation of the Americas can be founded in the indisputable archaeological signature recovered from Monte Verde level II in southern Chile, dated to least 12,500 y.b.p. This site has been painstakingly evaluated from the initial date of its discovery through 1997 when it was last visited by a team of researchers, many adamantly opposed to such a time depth for human settlement of the Americas. In the years following the 1997 National Geographic article describing this visit there has been a renewed effort, throughout the Americas, to examine previously discarded levels predating the end of the last Ice Age. These older levels have long been overlooked in the search for evidence of human habitation as funding and the original consensus has thwarted such efforts. Before Clovis Theory needs to focus on the shared characteristics of previously discovered pre-Clovis sites, newly discovered pre-Clovis sites, and Monte Verde levels I and II. Researchers need to draw into this relationship a new perspective suggesting that Monte Verde level II is in fact not evidence of a recent type of "settlement" but rather, distinct proof of a beautifully detailed pattern of human behavior that is exemplary of other much older pre-Clovis habitations. The basis for reevaluating Monte Verde II as more than just some part of an initial New World "settlement pattern" can be reconditioned when we accept, even theoretically, the significance of the 20,000 years separating it with its older relative, Monte Verde I (at 33,000ybp). Clearly, the time-span separating Monte Verde I and II would eliminate the more recent site's classification as related to an initial "Peopling of the Americas". Rather, it could represent an ongoing pattern of habitation distinctly conforming with a prolonged occupation of the area, and the Americas in general (Krieger 1964: Wormington 1957; and others).