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The timing and effect of the earliest human arrivals in North America

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  • Lorena Becerra-Valdivia

    (University of Oxford
    University of New South Wales)

  • Thomas Higham

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

The peopling of the Americas marks a major expansion of humans across the planet. However, questions regarding the timing and mechanisms of this dispersal remain, and the previously accepted model (termed ‘Clovis-first’)—suggesting that the first inhabitants of the Americas were linked with the Clovis tradition, a complex marked by distinctive fluted lithic points1—has been effectively refuted. Here we analyse chronometric data from 42 North American and Beringian archaeological sites using a Bayesian age modelling approach, and use the resulting chronological framework to elucidate spatiotemporal patterns of human dispersal. We then integrate these patterns with the available genetic and climatic evidence. The data obtained show that humans were probably present before, during and immediately after the Last Glacial Maximum (about 26.5–19 thousand years ago)2,3 but that more widespread occupation began during a period of abrupt warming, Greenland Interstadial 1 (about 14.7–12.9 thousand years before ad 2000)4. We also identify the near-synchronous commencement of Beringian, Clovis and Western Stemmed cultural traditions, and an overlap of each with the last dates for the appearance of 18 now-extinct faunal genera. Our analysis suggests that the widespread expansion of humans through North America was a key factor in the extinction of large terrestrial mammals.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorena Becerra-Valdivia & Thomas Higham, 2020. "The timing and effect of the earliest human arrivals in North America," Nature, Nature, vol. 584(7819), pages 93-97, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:584:y:2020:i:7819:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2491-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2491-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacob Holland-Lulewicz & Victor Thompson & Amanda Roberts Thompson & RaeLynn Butler & Dario J. Chavez & Jay Franklin & Turner Hunt & Mark Williams & John Worth, 2024. "The initial spread of peaches across eastern North America was structured by Indigenous communities and ecologies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Pilowsky, Julia A. & Manica, Andrea & Brown, Stuart & Rahbek, Carsten & Fordham, Damien A., 2022. "Simulations of human migration into North America are more sensitive to demography than choice of palaeoclimate model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 473(C).
    3. Jonathan S. Lim & Sean Gleason & Hannah Strehlau & Lynn Church & Carl Nicolai & Willard Church & Warren Jones, 2023. "Alaska Native Allotments at Risk: Technological Strategies for Monitoring Erosion and Informing Solutions in Southwest Alaska," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Emily J. Potratz & Robert D. Holt & Joel S. Brown, 2024. "Ecology of Fear: Acclimation and Adaptations to Hunting by Humans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, January.

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