The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory

Rating:
Summary: Settlement of the Deep South.
Review: As a reader who is well outside any professional understanding of archeology but who is also very interested in the topic of the earliest Americans, I can strongly recommend Dillehay's, The Settlement of the Americas, although the title should perhaps be modified to reflect the emphasis on South America as the focus of study. This book is clearly written, well organized, and covers the length and breadth of the topic geographically, technically, and intellectually. Of particular interest are chapters 10 and 11 which offer creative insights into the mode, tempo, and motivation for the invasion-through-colonization process that must have happened on our side of the world. It is refreshing to have a researcher go beyond the mechanistic data of demography, technology, ecology, etc. and plumb the depths of the cognitive side of our prehistory. Dillehay does this well.

A word of caution though, the dating of many of the sites mentioned is still tentative, but at times the author gives the impression, at least to this reader, that the chronology is written in stone...no pun intended. One has only to read Anna Roosevelt's recent review in Scientific American, as unnecessarily acidic as it was, to get the idea that the branch of the archeological family dealing with the early prehistory of our hemisphere is an intemperate one, expecially concerning temporal matters! Also, a minor criticism could be raised about the quality of the illustrations.

Putting these two criticisms aside, Dillehay has written an exceptional book that is worth the read by anyone interested in the initial colonization of the Americas, and a book whose final chapter, Lingering Questions, will leave the reader pondering the colonization process for some time to come.

Rating:
Summary: Settlement of the Deep South.
Review: As a reader who is well outside any professional understanding of archeology but who is also very interested in the topic of the earliest Americans, I can strongly recommend Dillehay's, The Settlement of the Americas, although the title should perhaps be modified to reflect the emphasis on South America as the focus of study. This book is clearly written, well organized, and covers the length and breadth of the topic geographically, technically, and intellectually. Of particular interest are chapters 10 and 11 which offer creative insights into the mode, tempo, and motivation for the invasion-through-colonization process that must have happened on our side of the world. It is refreshing to have a researcher go beyond the mechanistic data of demography, technology, ecology, etc. and plumb the depths of the cognitive side of our prehistory. Dillehay does this well.

A word of caution though, the dating of many of the sites mentioned is still tentative, but at times the author gives the impression, at least to this reader, that the chronology is written in stone...no pun intended. One has only to read Anna Roosevelt's recent review in Scientific American, as unnecessarily acidic as it was, to get the idea that the branch of the archeological family dealing with the early prehistory of our hemisphere is an intemperate one, expecially concerning temporal matters! Also, a minor criticism could be raised about the quality of the illustrations.

Putting these two criticisms aside, Dillehay has written an exceptional book that is worth the read by anyone interested in the initial colonization of the Americas, and a book whose final chapter, Lingering Questions, will leave the reader pondering the colonization process for some time to come.

Rating:
Summary: Not without controversy
Review: At first glance this book looks like popular account of the early peopleing of North and South America. It is instead a serious semi-scholarly work -- a polemic if you will -- challenging long held beliefs about the migration of people to the New World.

Dilleyhay is best known for his archeological work at a site in Monte Verde Chile. After nearly 25 years of hard work Dillehay has pushed back the time frame for the earliest migration to around 15000 B.P. and hints that it could be pushed back to 25000 B.P. or even further. Conventional wisdom has held the Clovis people, known by their unique projectile points, were the earliest migrants arriving here around 11000 B.P. Since 1930, says Dillehay, the archeology community has held tenaciously to the Clovis belief and often dismissing any contrary evidence, sometimes with great creativity. His work has now convinced all but the most dedicated Clovisites within the archeological community.

Falling along with the Clovis paradigm is the long held belief of the ethnic origins of the earliest migrants. Dillehay tiptoes about on these issues as they touch on sacred beliefs of current Native Americans and he only briefly discusses these issues at the summation of the book. You can almost hear the little voice inside him saying "Don't go there."

This is not a book for the casual reader. Two of the chapters are chock full of brief discussions on sites, dates, and the Who's Who of current archeology. In the appendix is 25 pages of radiocarbon dates for various sites. There are many arguments concerning bifacial vs unifacial stone tools and their implications. None of the book was over my head though he did expect us to know what obsidian hydration dating was.

Since this author stands out like an elk with a red bulls-eye painted on him during hunting season, I fully expect some flame reviews here in due time.

My interest is only slightly more than casual and I have no archeological expertise from which to judge his work in the total. I did find the book of interest though it was bit more than I was looking for. He is clearly arguing his point to his peers. It did however, whet my appetite for a more general survey of this fascinating topic.

Rating:
Summary: Not without controversy
Review: At first glance this book looks like popular account of the early peopleing of North and South America. It is instead a serious semi-scholarly work -- a polemic if you will -- challenging long held beliefs about the migration of people to the New World.

Dilleyhay is best known for his archeological work at a site in Monte Verde Chile. After nearly 25 years of hard work Dillehay has pushed back the time frame for the earliest migration to around 15000 B.P. and hints that it could be pushed back to 25000 B.P. or even further. Conventional wisdom has held the Clovis people, known by their unique projectile points, were the earliest migrants arriving here around 11000 B.P. Since 1930, says Dillehay, the archeology community has held tenaciously to the Clovis belief and often dismissing any contrary evidence, sometimes with great creativity. His work has now convinced all but the most dedicated Clovisites within the archeological community.

Falling along with the Clovis paradigm is the long held belief of the ethnic origins of the earliest migrants. Dillehay tiptoes about on these issues as they touch on sacred beliefs of current Native Americans and he only briefly discusses these issues at the summation of the book. You can almost hear the little voice inside him saying "Don't go there."

This is not a book for the casual reader. Two of the chapters are chock full of brief discussions on sites, dates, and the Who's Who of current archeology. In the appendix is 25 pages of radiocarbon dates for various sites. There are many arguments concerning bifacial vs unifacial stone tools and their implications. None of the book was over my head though he did expect us to know what obsidian hydration dating was.

Since this author stands out like an elk with a red bulls-eye painted on him during hunting season, I fully expect some flame reviews here in due time.

My interest is only slightly more than casual and I have no archeological expertise from which to judge his work in the total. I did find the book of interest though it was bit more than I was looking for. He is clearly arguing his point to his peers. It did however, whet my appetite for a more general survey of this fascinating topic.

Rating:
Summary: The southern route
Review: Creation myths hold a certain fascination - even when they're not your own. In North America, the finding of a set of finely hewn stone points established a new creation myth - the Clovis People. Clovis Points are unique to the Western Hemisphere - indeed, unique to North America. Their discovery created a dogma of origins with the story locked in time and place. The Americas, it was declared, were founded by Asian peoples skirting the last glaciers beginning their own withdrawal north - about 11 000 years ago. The dating and the path were thus inexorably set in the minds of scholars and the citizenry alike. Tom Dillehay wants to overthrow that dogma. He presents several challenges to long-held concepts, supporting his contentions with detailed information on recent finds and analysis. And all the information arises from an unsuspected source - South America.

Although Dillehay is hesitant to condemn North American archaeologists for their studied avoidance of South American possibilities, the inference is clear. Northern, mostly white, Protestant archaeologists left unacknowledged the work of their Catholic, Indo-Spanish colleagues digging in the other half of the hemisphere. Dillehay, breaking into that unexplored territory, encountered another unique find. At Monte Verde, he unearthed the remains of a prehistoric camp. The moist conditions of the site, almost unknown in North American locations, preserved skins, wood, even rope. These artefacts also pushed back the settlement of the Western Hemisphere some 1500 years.

The Clovis mythology contained more than timing. A lifestyle was deduced as well. The finely hewed points suggested a hunting people - moving and breeding rapidly. It was calculated they filled the hemisphere in but one millennium. Dillehay and his South American colleagues demonstrated that this scenario is highly unlikely. The settlers left too much evidence of opportunistic hunting, mixed with a well-established vegetable diet. The sites also long-term residency in rock shelters and built-up structures. The pre-Clovis people may have been mobile, but the mobility was likely seasonal with plant fruition, not the following of migratory animals.

Although Dillehay asserts scientists are accepting the notion of pre-Clovis Americans, he concedes some critics remain strenuously vocal. Most of the objections now fall into the "contaminated dating" theme - the radiocarbon samples were corrupted by introduced material. Dillehay simply counters that after a generation of collecting, such objections are demonstrably spurious. There are simply too many supportive cases verifying his contentions. He lists and describes many of these, even adding a chart of all the samples taken up to the time of publication. Many ideas, including some current legal ones, will have to be reconsidered. For the issue isn't purely academic. One of the United States' most ill-conceived pieces of legislation, the Native American Graves Protection and Registration Act [NAGPRA] has opened the door to a plethora of claims to research material. Many of these claims have already been shown to unsubstantiated. The new dating will likely reduce new claims and force reconsideration of the law.

Dillehay enhances this book with maps, photographs and diagrams. The maps of site locations clearly indicate South America was a well-populated area in pre-historic times. While Dillehay avoids sinking into the polemics of some of his colleagues, the text remains clear and understandable. He reminds us that discovery, excavation and analysis of South American prehistory await more students. Perhaps you could be the next to reveal a campsite or established community from the dim past. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]


Rating:
Summary: Accumulation of archaeological finds and some speculation.
Review: Groundbreaking as this book may appear to be to some, it seems to be able to clarify little beyond that the over-riding theory that has been held through now (centering on the N. American "Clovis" culture) is mistaken. However, apart from the evidence (often inconclusive) and his taking part in the far easier task of deconstructing a theory, rather than in constructing, it seems that so little is known about the subject matter that it will be left to those living several decades in the future to have any real clue as to the complexity of migrations into the Americas. To imply this is a "New Prehistory" is saying too much. The work is entirely comprehensive but reads rather like an accumulation of archaeological work to date. If you are prepared to read two hundred pages of background and a run-down of all excavations and sites that have or might build a new picture of the migration models into the Western hemisphere followed by some of the authors own speculations (the "probably"s) as to how events actually may have occurred, then you will not be disappointed. Throughout you will be expected to keep track of fairly esoteric terminology, in his quest to draw comparison or lack thereof, but he does provide a glossary too.

Rating:
Summary: Accumulation of archaeological finds and some speculation.
Review: Groundbreaking as this book may appear to be to some, it seems to be able to clarify little beyond that the over-riding theory that has been held through now (centering on the N. American "Clovis" culture) is mistaken. However, apart from the evidence (often inconclusive) and his taking part in the far easier task of deconstructing a theory, rather than in constructing, it seems that so little is known about the subject matter that it will be left to those living several decades in the future to have any real clue as to the complexity of migrations into the Americas. To imply this is a "New Prehistory" is saying too much. The work is entirely comprehensive but reads rather like an accumulation of archaeological work to date. If you are prepared to read two hundred pages of background and a run-down of all excavations and sites that have or might build a new picture of the migration models into the Western hemisphere followed by some of the authors own speculations (the "probably"s) as to how events actually may have occurred, then you will not be disappointed. Throughout you will be expected to keep track of fairly esoteric terminology, in his quest to draw comparison or lack thereof, but he does provide a glossary too.

Rating:
Summary: No argument with the thesis but:
Review: I have no argument with Dillehay's thesis but for the non-specialist the mind-numbing recitation of obscure dates (Before Present) and obscure locations is not enlightening.

I suspect that his research that refutes the Clovis theory is correct and that those academics who are not threatened by this refutation will find it useful but for the non-specialist I suggest that "The Zuni Enigma" by Nancy Yaw Davis which speculates on some of the same theories for the possible "Settlement of the Americas" is much more readable and accessible.

Also a minimally competent editor would have been helpful. On page 228 is the following statement: "Although calculations are interesting, however, they are not evidence."

Rating:
Summary: Adding a necessary kindling to the contemplative fire...
Review: Too many times thought becomes a closed system in which a specified few dictate everything and prevent any opposing or dissenting views from being heard. Thomas D. Dillehay dissents in grand form, offering intriguing and excellent material to break the closed system of North American archaeological thought.

Books of the genre are sometimes disappointing in that they offer a title of interest and intriguing implications and offer nothing but crackpot oddity within the pages. Here is a book which dispenses with any nonsense and gives a regimented and data laden picture of the differences between North and South American archaeology.

Excellently written and presented, a treat to read.

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking.
Review: While Dillehay's book The Settlement of the Americas refers to both the northern and southern continents, it is primarily concerned with the archaeological evidence from South America, giving a thorough assessment of data from several sites. I suspect that the middle chapters on lithic technology may be less than engrossing to the average reader, but there is still much of interest for anyone interested in the topic. The author discusses the current debate, and while he has his own opinion, his assessment of the data is not overly credulous. In particular the heated contentions over the date and significance of the Pedra Furada site of Brazil are evaluated with a balance and thoroughness that is open minded but professional. The author's attention to taphonomy, geological processes, and off site data in the interpretation of the significance of on site finds is very good. It certainly shows the reader how archaeological data are interpreted and what the problems in doing so are. It also highlights why there is still so much disagreement between researchers.

The author, Thomas Dillehay is a professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky and has conducted extensive research into the subject of early American origins. He has done research at Monte Verde in Chile, in Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay. The Monte Verde site, discussed at some length in the book, is particularly significant as it preserved many usually perishable artifacts that encapsulate a much fuller understanding of the lifestyle of the people living there than is usually the case with sites that preserve mostly only lithic cultural materials.

Of interest to me, if for no other reason that it had not occurred to me, is the author's note that some of the confusion over the first peopling of the Americas may be due to the fact that our information may be confusing itself. The author looks at things such as the possible back flow from the Americas to Siberia and Asia which may have mixed the genetics of the populations under study. While he notes that it is currently not provable, the fact that it might have been possible cannot be neglected. He also notes that skeletal material from the earliest period is conspicuously absent and that this may represent a paradigm shift necessitated by survival in new territories by the immigrants or a research bias based upon expectations drawn from research conducted in the Old World environment. He notes that until we are ready to shake free of preconceptions, we will probably not make much real headway.

The greatest contribution of the book to my own stock pile of information is the concept that the major factor affecting the survival and spread of modern humans in any environment may have been a change in the mental equipment of the human being. This may have been the ultimate change that divides the anatomically human from the intellectually human being. In particular the author speaks of cognitive maps involved with an exploring skill. Here too might reside the social skills required to roam into unknown territory , a willingness to take environmental risks based upon an effective evaluation of the costs and benefits of such a move and an ability to fall back on long range social contacts that spread out risk. Much has been written about the possible insurance activities in which Southwestern pueblo groups may have participated in a climatically unstable environment, but little-to my knowledge-has been made of the importance of these same risk-reducing social paradigms among even earlier human groups. Perhaps the reason that modern humans were able to spread as successfully as they did to every inhabitable environment on earth has to do with this capacity to maintain social links over long ranges. By these links, however great the temporal or spacial distance, early people could exchange information, mates, and help. Perhaps even shared links of tradition, remembered by elders much as they were and are among Arab groups, provided a measure of long term connection even after long separations. If one can recount ones linage back to a common ancestral root one can make claims of charity.

An intriguing book.