First Americans

A

Proving Lineal Descent

In the wake of NAGPRA, thousands of skeletons and associated artifacts were returned to Native American peoples. Many of these objects are only a few hundred years old. In such cases, debates over the identity of the descendants have been rare. Other cases, particularly those involving older remains, are more difficult to resolve. Proving lineal descent in cases of greater antiquity is no easy task. This is because descendants of early Americans formed new groups as populations grew, and these groups moved away to settle new lands. A group living 11,000 years ago would almost certainly be ancestral to many modern Native American tribes, not just one. In the future, geneticists may identify sufficiently precise genetic markers to link DNA extracted from ancient human skeletal remains with a group of modern tribes. But in most cases, it will be difficult to make the link to only one tribe.

B

The Case of Kennewick Man

In one prominent case involving ancient skeletal remains, the debate over lineal descent ended up in a court of law. The remains, known as Kennewick Man, were found in 1996 on the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, on property belonging to the federal government. A skull and more than 300 bones and bone fragments were found at the site, making up among the oldest, best preserved, and most complete human remains ever found in North America. Initial radiocarbon dating indicated the remains were between 7,000 and 9,500 years old. Five Native American tribes living in the area submitted a joint claim under NAGPRA for the return of the remains. A group of archaeologists and physical anthropologists then filed a lawsuit to block the return until detailed scientific studies, including analysis of Kennewick Man’s DNA, could be conducted.

The lawsuit sparked several years of legal and scientific wrangling. The Native American groups felt scientific studies were an unnecessary desecration of the remains. They believed they had lived in the area since the beginning of human prehistory in the Americas; therefore, Kennewick Man must be one of their ancestors. The scientists bringing the lawsuit, however, argued that ancestry could not be ascertained without detailed study. This research, they noted, would also add vital information to the meager knowledge about ancient American peoples. Both sides were well intentioned, and under the ambiguous terms of NAGPRA, both were right. NAGPRA allows lineal descendants to be identified not just by DNA, but also by tribal traditions and geographic proximity.

In 2004 a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the scientists. The tribes chose not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, and in July 2005 scientists began the first phase of studies on the remains. Fortunately, few NAGPRA cases have been as contentious as that surrounding Kennewick Man. The human remains from Prince of Wales Island, found about the same time, were excavated and analyzed without pitting science against tribal tradition, or archaeologists against Native Americans. Ensuring there is room for both perspectives remains an important challenge under the framework established by NAGPRA.

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IX

The Future of First American Studies

Studies of the first Americans entered the 21st century on the cusp of change. The traditional view that the first Americans were fast-moving Clovis big-game hunters who migrated into the North American interior on the heels of retreating ice sheets has been undermined. Evidence from Monte Verde demonstrates that humans arrived in the Western Hemisphere in pre-Clovis times, and a reassessment of Clovis subsistence suggests Clovis people were not the big-game hunting specialists imagined in the past. As yet, no widely accepted theory has arisen to replace the older Clovis-first theory. Researchers are proposing many new ideas. Which of these ideas will succeed or fail remains to be seen.

A

Promising Research

The instruments of archaeological study continue to improve at a rapid pace. Shovels and trowels, the traditional tools of excavation, are now being used alongside ground-penetrating radar, seismic studies of surface features, and other techniques to find now-buried sites. A variety of new studies are providing information about where the materials to make ancient stone artifacts were acquired, how the artifacts were made, and how they were used. These include studies of the geological sources of stone artifacts, experimental work in stone fracture mechanics to better understand how stone tools were made, and analyses of microscopic wear patterns visible on such artifacts. A battery of techniques are now available to study the chemical composition of bone, plant, shell, and other organic and inorganic remains, providing archaeologists with a clearer picture of the environments to which the first Americans adapted. New dating techniques under development should allow archaeologists to reliably date sites more than 50,000 years old—the current limits of radiocarbon dating. These techniques could prove useful in the event sites of greater antiquity are eventually found in the Americas.

B

Finding Archaeological Evidence of Ancient Americans

The time-honored process of acquiring archaeological evidence through careful and meticulous site excavation continues. Where the oldest preserved sites might be is not yet known. There are obvious places to look, however, including eastern Siberia, which is still relatively unknown to archaeologists. Other promising locations for future research include the remnants of Beringia, coastal islands of the Pacific, the Isthmus of Panama—through which any group headed into South America must have passed, and perhaps places not yet imagined. Some of the most interesting discoveries in years to come may even be made in museums, when new techniques for analysis are applied to old collections of artifacts and human remains. Hopefully, this can be done with the interest and cooperation of Native American groups.

Archaeologists may never find evidence of the very first humans to arrive in the Western Hemisphere. It is, after all, a very big place. But ongoing research is sure to reveal much about how the first Americans colonized a new world.