Oldest Clovis Sites Found Thus Far

[The Grand Nudger]

The idea that there may have been transoceanic contact or migration has been proposed before. Thor Heyrdahl(?) got some notice for it, and for building boats within the remit of what would have been available to the people at the time and successfully making trips accross both the atlantic and pacific. Even went so far as to show how tools and procedures of native boatbuilders were too close to be coincidence (ultimately though, that fell through). Genetics can suggest a couple of different possibilities, and most of what it suggests hinges on how exhaustive we have to be when accounting for the variables of intercultural breeding since that time - and before that time. Recent studies (combined with recent finds) suggests that the original population (that migrated to the americas) may have been more than one group, or decidedly more cosmopolitan than we originally assumed (we washed what we might call "european" genetic markers out on suspicion of later contamination). We also have evidence that there may have been more than one route taken. The prevailing maxim is nicknamed "Clovis First" - the trouble with that explanation is that it doesn't look like the clovis culture was the only culture to make the trip, or even the first culture to do so...even though we can say with certainty that they were the ultimate winners in the race for the americas(which would help to explain why we thought they were the first...there is alot of clovis shit laying about).

[Minimalist]

The most compelling argument for sea based migration into the Americas are the wind and current patterns.



The shortest distance is from the Ivory Coast to South America. At the Last Glacial Maximum the distance would have even been shorter due to lower sea levels. In the Pacific the currents conveniently run right down both the coasts of North and South America before converging and heading back west.

I used to have a chart which showed the winds generally conforming to the currents but can't find it right now.

[The Grand Nudger]

That's the route Thor H. took in Ra II, even after losing the use of the mast (and having the hull and thusly the tiller compromised) they still made it across with plenty of water to spare (food wasn't a problem..oceans full of it) by drifting. Ivory to S. America, that is.

(just to be clear, I think that ultimately Heyerdahl was a nut, but he at least showed that what we thought was beyond ancient people was very much within their ability- esp with regards to boats and migration by waterways)

[Minimalist]

The genius of Christopher Columbus was not so much in discovering a way to get to the New World but a way to get back. The Portuguese exploration of the route south had shown which way the winds were blowing off the Canary's but he figured out how to catch the winds back to Spain.

The notion that ships could have been disabled and drifted across to wreck in South America is not so far-fetched when you look at the winds and currents. Roman - and before them Carthaginian - ships regularly sailed the waters off Morocco. Ships of that time were not designed for long sea voyages and a situation where the ship's rudder was disabled would essentially leave them helpless before the winds. Merchants ships also had small crews which could have been easily dispatched by disease.

It would explain the occasional European artifact showing up in the New World but we have nothing....not even a wild story from antiquity...of anyone coming back.

[Anomalocaris]

Oh I had thought there was already a link made that south America was inhabited by Malaysian migrants on sail boats? What do genetics say happened?

Thanks for the links, I'll take a look

Genetics didn't like it. Genetics seem to agree that America was populated by Northern Asians. Linguistic evidence suggests they came in at least 3 waves. The one that arrived first got all the way to tip of South America based. It is possible this wave arrived 35K years ago or earlier. But it's uncertain. This was followed another population around 12-14K years ago whose descendants formed the most of native american population in both North and South America. The second population genetically displaced or smothered the first population everywhere except southern parts of South America. Finally a third wave arrived last, probably around 12K years or less, and left their genetic indicators and linguistic traces in North western Canada and parts of US South west.

All seem to agree that the second wave, whose descendants really multiplied and formed majority of Native American population throughout both Americas, actually consisted of very small initial population at the time of crossing, and which had developed in genetic isolation from other people of the world since that time. As a result, the range of genetic diversity in the overall Native American population today is unusually low. This is why Native Americans exhibi unusual degree of consistency in susceptible to certain contagious diseases, as well as freedom from certain based diseases.