Peopling of the New World

If belief drives behavior, what did first nations peoples believe? Though a material approach attempts to bridge the gap, other disciplines such as philology may be of assistance and compatible with a strict material diagnostic. This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus.

La question du premier peuplement préhistorique du continent américain a toujours fait l'objet de vifs débats. L'une des controverses actuelles concerne la possibilité d'une présence humaine antérieure à ca. 20 000 ans (avant ou pendant le Dernier Maximum Glaciaire). Bien que la grande majorité des chercheurs reste sceptique quant à la présence d'occupations humaines si anciennes, faute de preuves considérées comme tangibles, certains travaux récents défendent cette hypothèse à partir de cas sud-américains parmi lesquels le site de Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Brésil) tient une place centrale. Le caractère anthropique des assemblages qu'a livré ce gisement a été jusqu'à présent considéré comme très ambigu : les outils présumés, essentiellement des galets aménagés, sont identiques à ceux tombant naturellement du mur et du plateau de la falaise adossée au site. Malgré ces réticences basées sur un contexte géologique favorisant théoriquement la production de géofacts, l'équipe d'É. Boëda tend à considérer que tout chercheur non convaincu par les preuves aujourd'hui publiées l'est pour de simples raisons idéologiques et non scientifiques. Une analyse comparée et critique des nombreuses publications consacrées aux sites anciens de la région de Piauí.

This article is a response to Dillehay [2019. “Un ensayo sobre genética, arqueología y movilidad humana temprana.” Mundo de Antes 13 (2): 13–65] and Dillehay, Pino, and Ocampo [2020. “Comments on Archaeological Remains at the Monte Verde Site Complex, Chile.” PaleoAmerica. https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2020.1762399], who criticized our comments about Monte Verde-I and Chinchihuapi-I as well as our suggestion of the tightening of the age of Monte Verde-II [Politis, G. G., and L. Prates. 2018. “Clocking the Arrival of Homo sapiens in the Southern Cone of South America.” In New Perspectives on the Peopling of the Americas, edited by K. Harvati, G. Jäger, and H. Reyes Centeno, 79–106. Tübingen: Kerns Verlag]. They claimed that we purposefully ignored pertinent data to support our opinions, and that we made several mistakes when analyzing the evidence. In this article we demonstrate that we did not ignore any relevant data, and that the putative errors are in fact alternative interpretations based on the available data and recent studies about site formation processes.

Sophisticated diagnostics have allowed archaeologists to make great inroads in understanding America's First people. At the same time, modern archaeology has assumptions about reality that have limited its scope and ability to integrate other disciplines into its theories, disciplines that would clarify and cement a harmony of the disparate and isolated work sites into a model of global proportions. If beliefs determine behavior, it runs near impossible to paint a holistic picture as to what drove the complex peopling of America from the material record alone.  This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus. This paper was originally submitted for scholastic review in 2014.

FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE AT:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20555563.2021.1943181

Many archaeologists are still skeptical about a human presence in the Americas during or before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), considering that the claim is not yet sustained by hard evidence. Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Brazil) is one of the most famous pre-LGM claims, but the site has so far been considered ambiguous, and similar concerns have been raised about nearby sites. Nonetheless, for E. Boëda and co-workers, who have been working at these sites, researchers who are still skeptical about the anthropic origin of the assemblages have a psychological barrier and no scientific arguments. Are all skeptics completely blinded by their preconceptions that they cannot see the obvious and unambiguous evidence? To find out, I reviewed the numerous publications of the Piauí sites, and the outcome of my analysis is quite simple: the anthropic nature of the LGM/pre-LGM artifacts of the Piauí sites has not been demonstrated.

Humans first peopled the North American Arctic (northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland) around 6000 years ago, leaving behind a complex archaeological record that consisted of different cultural units and distinct ways of life, including the Early Paleo-Eskimos (Pre-Dorset/Saqqaq), the Late Paleo-Eskimos (Early Dorset, Middle Dorset, and Late Dorset), and the Thule cultures.

Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA have begun to reveal the population histories of
both people and dogs. Over the last 10,000 y, the genetic signatures of ancient dog remains have been
linked with known human dispersals in regions such as the Arctic and the remote Pacific. It is suspected,
however, that this relationship has a much deeper antiquity, and that the tandem movement of people and
dogs may have begun soon after the domestication of the dog from a gray wolf ancestor in the late
Pleistocene. Here, by comparing population genetic results of humans and dogs from Siberia, Beringia,
and North America, we show that there is a close correlation in the movement and divergences of their
respective lineages. This evidence places constraints on when and where dog domestication took place.
Most significantly, it suggests that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by ∼23,000 y ago, possibly while
both people and wolves were isolated during the harsh climate of the Last Glacial Maximum. Dogs then
accompanied the first people into the Americas and traveled with them as humans rapidly dispersed into
the continent beginning ∼15,000 y ago.

Numa época em que o Novo Mundo atraía numerosas hostes de exploradores, a organização de uma expedição por um conquistador prestigiado constituía um chamamento irrecusável.
Vinte e  três portugueses juntaram-se em Sevilha, em 1538, para tomarem parte na expedição de Fernando de Souto à Florida. Para muitos foi uma viagem sem regresso. Para os sobreviventes, uma odisseia memorável. O que viram, o que viveram, o que sofreram, de que morreram, podemos inferir da única narrativa em português escrita por um dos participantes.
Trata-se de um texto redigido por um autor que de si apenas quis registar a origem social e a naturalidade - um fidalgo de Elvas. Teria sido possível uma completa especificação? Porventura, a assunção da identidade forçá-lo-ia a conferir aos seus compatriotas um maior protagonismo na ação e a conter-se nas críticas aos espanhóis. Teria receio de ser incomodado pelos seus vizinhos espanhóis, ali tão perto, em Badajoz, terra natal de Fernando de Souto?
Dezassete anos após o regresso dos sobreviventes, apenas o Fidalgo de Elvas facultava ao público o acesso à informação sobre a expedição do capitão estremenho. Impressa em Évora no ano de 1557, a Relação verdadeira viria a suscitar o interesse de ingleses, holandeses e franceses, que promoveram dezasseis edições da obra entre 1605 e 1965.
O seu lugar central na historiografia da expedição de Fernando de Souto e da participação de portugueses no descobrimento e conquista do Novo Mundo justifica uma leitura intertextual e contextualizante. 
A transcrição do texto é acompanhada de um aparato crítico que inclui a comparação com os outros relatos conhecidos.

Aqui disponibiliza-se apenas a introdução e o índice.

Despite its alternate universe, Thomas More’s masterpiece is of great historical value to understand the political climate of early modern England and Europe. Utopia reflects the growing affiliation of England with the emerging European Renaissance in two dimensions of international history: the new worlds of foreign diplomacy and of overseas discovery and exploration. Through Utopia, Thomas More first elaborated a critique of early modern European foreign policy under the literary veil of allegory and moved to suggest the solution of overseas exploration and colonization to the European monarchs’ ambitious policymaking. To demonstrate this assumption, the paper will follow the chronological narrative of Utopia by covering the first book’s dialogue on the ills of England in relation to More’s critique of Renaissance foreign policy, followed by the narrator’s depiction of Utopia in comparison to humanist ideals of the New World.

BOOK SUMMARY  Complete book, libro completo
Traditionally Mexico is identified as a significant region for understanding the colonization of the continent, his territory is shape as a funnel, if the first Americans move inland from Beringa to South America they had to cross Mexico. The archaeological record of the first people of Mexico -with the exception of the state of Sonora- is scarce and the information generated until today is confusing and little systematic. A synthesis of the current archaeological data of the people of Mexico is presented here. The state of Sonora presents a remarkably pristine setting for studying the late Pleistocene occupation of North America. The early archaeological record in Sonora is stunning in terms of its relative abundance and only within the past ten years has this fact become evident. The Paleo-Indian sites are concentrated in north-central Sonora on and surrounding, the Llanos de Hermosillo; here a summary of the sites studied is presented. A large collection of Clovis artifacts were collected from the sites and a lithic technological study is presented.  The settlement pattern appears to indicate that the Sonoran Clovis groups depended and exploited a wide range of environments, and their diet was based upon a wide variety of foodstuffs. The Clovis groups of Sonora developed a sophisticated settlement pattern and land use determined largely on the water resources, the location of lithic sources for tool making, large prey animals and a mosaic of edible plants and small animals. Exploiting an extensive territory probably permitted them to remain in the same region for longer periods of time. The presence of only few late Paleo-Indian diagnostic points could represent the decrease of population density in Sonora, but most likely it is an indication that after Clovis a regionalization of the hunter and gather groups took place in Sonora. The Sonoran Clovis occupation is a testimony that multiple regional Clovis adaptations emerged each with specific responses to plants, animals and diverse regional resources.

This paper reviews the published information, uncertainties about claims, and possible technological and cultural relationships of a sample of sites which have older-than-Clovis dates in North America.  The goal is to trace the origins of “Classic” Clovis techno-cultural patterns.  Some sites in the sample contain lithic artifacts and some do not.  Production technology and artifact characteristics in a number of the lithic sites (such as Debra Friedkin and possibly Page-Ladsen) may be evidence of Clovis ancestry, but the lithic materials in most pre-Clovis sites cannot be explicitly linked to Clovis.  A few nonlithics sites (such as Manis, Firelands, and Lindsay) may indicate a pre-Clovis pattern of large-mammal exploitation foreshadowing a later Clovis trait.  Overall, the available data are incomplete or ambiguous, and, as a result, individual interpretations have produced incompatible models of Clovis origins.

The Great Basin has traditionally not featured prominently in discussions of how and when the New World was colonized; however, in recent years work at Oregon's Paisley Five Mile Point Caves and other sites has highlighted the region's importance to ongoing debates about the peopling of the Americas. In this paper, we outline our current understanding of Paleoindian lifeways in the northwestern Great Basin, focusing primarily on developments in the past 20 years. We highlight several potential biases that have shaped traditional interpretations of Paleoindian lifeways and suggest that the foundations of ethnographically-documented behavior were present in the earliest period of human history in the region.

Approximately 10.500 14C years ago a people lived in Arctic Alaska that made a typical kind of projectile points. These points were probably tipped on atlatl darts and used to hunt migratory animals such as horse and bison. We refer to these points as Mesa points. These bifacial projectile points represent the Paleoindian type that is found south of the continental ice-sheets covering North America during the last ice age. No other bifacial technologies are known north of the ice-sheets. So the question is: where lies the origin of this technological tradition?

Three projectile point complexes in the Americas show close similarities to the Mesa type: Agate Basin from the Great Plains, Haskett from the Great Basin and El Jobo from Venezuela. The points are lanceolate in shape, relatively thick with respect to their width and have many technological traits in common. Could these complexes be connected to the Mesa complex? The dating of these four complexes has shown a succession in time. From old to young: El Jobo -> Haskett -> Agate Basin -> Mesa. This is an indication for a possible migration or transmission of technological knowledge through contact from Venezuela all the way to the Arctic. Or could this similarity be the result of independent innovation? The reason why these projectile points are so similar is most probably found in the employment of socketed shaft hafting. This technique required a specific kind of projectile point shape. However, flaking patterns are also generally the same with the exception of Agate Basin, which has more parallel flake scars opposed to the collateral flaking of the other three types.

El Jobo (13.000 – 11.000 14C BP) might have migrated towards the north because megafauna was becoming extinct in Venezuela and they were looking for new hunting grounds. There are a few sites that might prove a northward movement of the El Jobo hunters. Two sites in Panama and one in Mexico (11.000 14C BP) show similar projectile point technology. Other than these there are no sites of similar projectile points in Mesoamerica or the Southwestern United States mentioned in the consulted literature. Haskett (10.800 – 9.800 14C BP) might very well have been in contact with Agate Basin (10.500 -9.700 14C BP) as the Great Basin and Great Plains areas are bordering. Both hunting traditions probably hunted bison. At 10.500 14C BP Bison antiquus from the Great Plains migrated northward and is found at the Charlie Lake Cave site. Agate Basin is known to have moved northward during this period. They might have followed their prey species and ended up in the Arctic where they either transferred their technological knowledge to a people already living here or they changed their way of projectile point manufacture slightly to become what we refer to as Mesa technology (10.300 – 9.700 14C BP).

Although there are some indications for a northward movement of the El Jobo complex, the evidence is not substantial enough to hypothesize a migration at this time. The connection between Agate Basin and Mesa is more plausible and Haskett is easily incorporated here although more research on the connection of hunting cultures of the Great Basin and Great Plains is desirable.

We review some of the current problems and prospects in ongoing Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) studies and highlight recent discoveries at important sites in the Intermountain West. While the region has traditionally not been the focus of peopling of the Americas studies, it has received considerable attention in recent years due to the discovery of WST points and other artifacts in Clovis-aged deposits. Fieldwork at sites in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah has produced WST assemblages dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene and generated new fine-grained datasets capable of addressing longstanding questions about WST technology, chronology, and subsistence. Collectively, these efforts have helped to refocus North American Paleoindian studies on the Intermountain West and the role that it played in the peopling of the Americas.

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate
rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and
Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs confirms earlier findings of geneticists which identified South Siberia as the Old World homeland of the main wave of the peopling of the New World (the diffusion of the respective populations in the New World turns out to be associated with the spread of Clovis and para-Clovis archaeological cultures). Indeed, this is just South Siberia where the highest concentration of the Amerindian folklore-mythological motifs in Eurasia is observed.
On the other hand, it turns out to be possible to connect the penetration of
mtDNA HG C and NRY HG Q > Q3 to the New World with this migration wave.
The spatial distribution of the ‘Circumgobi-Amerindian’ folklore-mythological
motifs follows rather closely the distribution of mtDNA HG C in the New World.
This makes it possible to re-construct up to a considerable detail the mythology brought to the New World from South Siberia by this migration wave. Another migration wave turns out to be associated with the distribution of mtDNA HG B and motifs of ‘Melazonian’ mythological complex whose highest concentration is observed in Melanesia, on the one hand, and Amazonia, on the other. These motifs form a few connected sets, which suggest certain possibilities for the reconstruction of some features of ‘proto-Melazonian’ mythology brought to
the New World by the bearers of mtDNA HG B. MtDNA HG A frequencies in
Siberian and American populations display a rather strong and statistically
significant correlation with the number of the ‘Raven Cycle’ motifs in respect
of folklore-mythological traditions. There are certain grounds to believe that
both these motifs and the respective genetic marker (‘Arctic A’) were brought
to the extreme American North-West and extreme North-East Asia (‘Transberingia’) later than both maternal lines B+C and Circumgobi-Amerindian, Melazonian and Ural-Amerindian motifs had been brought to the New World. The presence of a relatively homogenous Transberingian ‘genetic-mythological’ zone characterized by high frequencies of both mtDNA HG A and the Transberingian motifs seems to be accounted for, first of all, by the fact that they were brought to this zone relatively later with the migrations apparently
corresponding to the movement to this area of Dene, Esko-Aleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan language speakers and replaced to a considerable extent earlier
genetic markers and folklore-mythological motifs. But, on the other hand, the
same fact seems to be additionally accounted for by the functioning up to
the Modern Age of the Transberingian communicative network, as in the Holocene
the communication through the Bering straits does not appear to have
ever interrupted, and led to additional homogenization of the zone. And the
movement through the Bering straits definitely went in both directions, in
the framework of which their way to the Old World appears to have been found by both some New World genetic markers (e.g., NRY HG Q3), and apparently
some folklore-mythological motifs which were developed already in the New
World (the possibility of the migration of some Transberingian motifs from the
New World to the NE Asia [suggested {in a bit exaggerated way} already by
the members of the Jesup Expedition] seems to be supported by a higher concentration
of these motifs in the New World part of this zone). The analyzed
evidence suggests that the Ural-Amerindian mythological complex was brought to the New World by a wave of migration which took place between 10,000 and 13,000, i.e. not long after the main wave of the peopling of Americas.

late 1920s, peopling archaeology has sought to understand the earliest human occupants of the Western Hemisphere. Three generations of practitioners have made great strides in the techno-environmental arena. However, we have largely failed to tap into PaleoIndigenous intellectual, emotional, and social lives-the very domains that made Ice Age people as fully human as we are. As a result, our interpretations of those pioneering populations could often apply as readily to a colony of ants or a herd of wildebeest as they do to living, breathing, thinking, dreaming, loving, striving human ancestors. This article first explores the reasons for our failure to fully actualize First Peoples, identifying and implicating a feedback loop that includes practitioner homogeneity (we have always been and continue to be disproportionately white men of European descent); our predominantly positivist worldview; our language, training, and practice; and even the limited nature of the material record we study. This article also, however, highlights the ways that an important minority of peopling scholars have sought to access the humanity of PaleoIndigenous people. By more consistently mobilizing our own human capacity to creatively interrogate the deep past, we will produce scholarship that more consistently recognizes the capacity of the people who lived it and, just as importantly, respects those living today.

The notion of trans-Pacific contact between Asia and Meso-America was formerly confined to the speculative fringe of prehistory. However, an expansion of evidence from genetics and archaeobotany has made contact certain and provides great credibility to previously assumed material culture transfers. The challenge is now rather to assign dates, routes and potential cultural transfers. The paper will propose;

a) That in all cases, contact was through voyages by Austronesian or SE Asian mariners
b) That contact was opportunistic and probably not part of an established trade route, hence the lack of permanent Austronesian settlement in the New World

There are three fairly clear phases of Austronesian contact, with the earliest between the Philippines and Meso-America. This must have taken place early in the colonisation of SE Asia and involved the transfer of the blow-pipe, the backstrap loom and probably ikat weaving techniques. The second contacts were between South America and Eastern Polynesia, and resulted in the adoption of the sweet potato, the bottle-gourd and types of fish-poison. Sailing rafts and characteristic ‘birdman’ images are found in Ecuador. Chickens travelled to South America and are found in the Chilean archaeological record. A third phase, relatively late, may have been between New Zealand and other parts of Southern Polynesia and Chile, resulting in transfers of types of ceremonial axe, the chicken and the settlement of Chilote. A case has also been made for contact with the Klamath Indians of California, with the transfer of sewn boats and compound fish-hooks, but this remains controversial.

This chapter focuses on a field of research in narrative studies that is central to multicultural education: how can we advance our understanding of the traditional narrative genres? Continuing work in the partnership between researchers and communities is of great importance because of a unique circumstance: much of the cultural and artistic inheritance in this realm of literature is endangered. However, within the academy itself, the growing popularity of a version of relativism has placed this work in jeopardy. The relativist position denies that objective evidence can be brought to bear on scientific proposals because the validity of the evidence, it is claimed, is relative to the beliefs, worldview or political interests of social groups. In the present case, the denial of objectivity is directed against new findings in evolutionary science and population genetics. The new findings are consistent with the established consensus on human evolution. But it has now been questioned by relativist theories, reflecting a selective and in effect discriminatory down-grading of the centrality of science education.

The spatial distribution of folklore-mythological motifs is shown to correlate rather tightly with the distribution of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (NRY) haplogroups. The analysis of spatial distribution of folklore mythological motifs confirms earlier findings of geneticists which identified South Siberia as the Old World homeland of the main wave of the peopling of the New World (the diffusion of the respective populations in the New World turns out to be associated with the spread of Clovis and para-Clovis archaeological cultures). Indeed, this is just South Siberia where the highest concentration of the Amerindian folklore-mythological motifs in Eurasia is observed. On the other hand, it turns out to be possible to connect the penetration of mtDNA HG C and NRY HG Q > Q3 to the New World with this migration wave. The spatial distribution of the 'Circumgobi-Amerindian' folklore-mythological motifs follows rather closely the distribution of mtDNA HG C in the New World. This makes it possible to reconstruct up to a considerable detail the mythology brought to the New World from South Siberia by this migration wave. Another migration wave turns out to be associated with the distribution of mtDNA HG B and motifs of 'Melazonian' mythological complex whose highest concentration is observed in Melanesia, on the one hand, and Amazonia, on the other. These motifs form a few connected sets, which suggest certain possibilities for the *

In this chapter we outline what we know about submerged prehistory from the American perspective by revisiting places where researchers have actively searched for sites, places where sites underwater are known, and places that have great potentials for discovery. We describe our own works conducted on the East and West Coasts of North America: the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Apalachee Bay, Florida, and the western Gulf of California, Bahía Ballena, Baja California Sur. These two projects, located in different geological environments, with different culture-historical backgrounds, and situated in different marine settings, show some of the benefits of initiating research where submerged palaeolandscapes are easier to access because they are exposed or shallowly buried on the seabed.

Radiocarbon dating of the earliest occupational phases at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho indicates that people repeatedly occupied the Columbia River basin, starting between 16,560 and 15,280 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Artifacts from these early occupations indicate the use of unfluted stemmed projectile point technologies before the appearance of the Clovis Paleoindian tradition and support early cultural connections with northeastern Asian Upper Paleolithic
archaeological traditions. The Cooper’s Ferry site was initially occupied during a time that predates the opening of an ice-free corridor (≤14,800 cal yr B.P.), which supports the hypothesis that initial human migration into the Americas occurred via a Pacific coastal route.

Debates over meaningful archaeological units, typologies, or " technocomplexes " have a lengthy history in archaeology and the issue is particularly convoluted in eastern Beringia. Categorizing the early prehistoric tool industries of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition is pertinent to understanding the coloni-zation of eastern Beringia and ultimately the Americas. Yet, Alaska archaeologists continue to disagree on a unified culture history. The primary point of contention surrounds the presence or absence of microblade technology in central Alaska and the meaning of the Nenana and Denali complexes. While some interpret the former as a unique manifestation representing a separate migratory population, others disagree; and, the Denali complex has become a catchall category for a variety of artifact types leading to questions over its conceptual validity. This assessment tests specific questions pertinent to the relationship between prehistoric tool use and ecotones in an attempt to explain the presence or absence of particular artifact types and land use strategies through time. It also reflects on issues caused by repeated occupations, palimpsest assemblages, and other taphomonic processes that influence archaeological consensus. Results indicate separate phases in the initial colonization of Alaska and form a testable hypothesis based on functional land use properties associated with the Denali complex era in a way that distinguishes it from other early technologies in the region. The approach contributes to a longstanding discussion over subjectivity among archaeological categories and explains assemblage variability in eastern Beringia with widespread implications for interpreting the initial peopling of the Americas.

Those who say a great thing is not possible will always lose out of its benefits or possibilities when it happens. So I will have you to get the followings at the bottom of your hearth as follows:
• All things are possible but not to everyone except those who work towards the possibilities the right way and time.
• There is nothing or problem without a solution except such solution is not found or rejected;
• Universal principles are not only permanent but applicable to everyone whether they know or not or whether they accept or reject.
• What is powerful may look powerless or very simple. Likewise, many universal principles of success are simple, invisible and often look powerless.
• It is better to try what you hear; that is how to express your believe.
.

The powerpoint presentation was recently presented at the Archaeological Society of Virginia Annual Meeting on October 27th, 2017.  Recent research indicates that Paleoindian settlements on the lower end of the Delmarva Peninsula were focused near the developing Chesapeake Bay circa 13,000 years ago. Though data are currently lacking, these focused settlements, which are located in the uplands near the mouth of the modern bay, imply that estuarine resources may have been of importance during this early period. Excavations and stone tool analyses at a Clovis-era site (44NH233) on Mockhorn Island indicate the possibility of birch bark canoe manufacture. The movement of piedmont-based exotic lithic materials into the coastal plain is extremely limited. Secondary paleochannel cobble-boulder materials, as well as primary coastal plain lithic resources dominate regional tool assemblages.  Collectively, the regional data imply relatively restricted movement patterns, which are analogous to later periods in prehistory. The geoarchaeological record indicates periods of upland erosion augmented by aeolian deposition.  Considering the natural geologic variables impacting Paleoindian site visibility, the 53 fluted points found in lower Northampton County, Virginia probably represent a paltry surviving number of sites for the area.  All of these topics will be discussed in the summary presentation.

ABSTRACT We review some of the current problems and prospects in ongoing Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) studies and highlight recent discoveries at important sites in the Intermountain West. While the region has traditionally not been the focus of peopling of the Americas studies, it has received considerable attention in recent years due to the discovery of WST points and other artifacts in Clovis-aged deposits. Fieldwork at sites in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah has produced WST assemblages dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene and generated new fine-grained datasets capable of addressing longstanding questions about WST technology, chronology, and subsistence. Collectively, these efforts have helped to refocus North American Paleoindian studies on the Intermountain West and the role that it played in the peopling of the Americas.

In a first region wide study, starch grains from human dental calculus from the pre-Columbian insular Caribbean (dating to ca. 350 B.C. – A.D. 1600) are used to identify important plant foods in the diet and to assess potential dietary differences related to age or sex. Results give important insights into pre-Columbian maize (Zea mays) consumption throughout the region, confirming recent studies that indicate that maize was more commonly consumed in the insular Caribbean than originally thought. No age or sex based differences in maize consumption were found. Furthermore, based on the results of new experiments regarding grinding and pressure damage to starch grains, it is clear that maize in the Caribbean was ground, baked and consumed as bread as was the case in large parts of the mainland. Based on our results we tentatively suggest maize consumption in the Caribbean was at least in some cases associated with feasting and ceremonial activities. The variety in other plant foods identified (mostly tuberous root crops) shows that the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region consumed a broad spectrum, but locally variable diet in which a variety of root crops functioned as staple crops, including marunguey (Zamia sp.) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). We found no indications for the traditionally assumed heavy reliance on manioc (Manihot esculenta) cultivation in the region.