Seeking the first Americans

Who were the first Americans and when did they arrive? Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska share their search for answers to one of the most controversial questions in North American history. The earliest Americans may have arrived 20-30,000 years ago. A significant controversy has developed over the origin of Clovis Man, the one-age culture of New Mexico dated at 11,000 B.C.

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"Who were the first Americans and when did they arrive? Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska share their search for answers to one of the most controversial questions in North American history. The earliest Americans may have arrived 20-30,000 years ago. A significant controversy has developed over the origin of Clovis Man, the one-age culture of New Mexico dated at 11,000 B.C."@en
""The earliest inhabitants of the New World came across the Bering Sea land bridge that opened as a result of glaciation, which lowered the level of the sea and connected the continents of Asia and America. The question of when these people walked from Siberia is still debated by archaeologists. In 1932, a site excavated near Clovis, New Mexico, yielded the bones of extinct animals in association with man-made, skillfully fluted stone points. With the development of radiocarbon dating in the late 1940s, it was determined that "Clovis man" had lived between 12,000 and 11,000 years ago. Finely flaked Clovis stone tools have been discovered throughout North America, suggesting an extraordinarily rapid spread - either of ideas and technology, or of people. Presumably Clovis men and women moved across the land, hunting large animals (mammoth, bison, saber-toothed tiger) with stone points hafted to spears, and collecting wild fruits, thistle leaves, yucca pods, roots, and nuts. This film addresses a number of puzzles associated with the discovery of early man in America, in addition to the question of diffusion of ideas versus migration of people. What accounts for the rapid growth of Clovis culture across the continent, and for its rather quick demise: within a thousand years, American megafauna (except for bison) were extinct, and Clovis stone tool technology had been replaced by other forms. Does Clovis culture represent the earliest human occupation of this area, or did peoples perhaps 40,000 years ago leave less recognizable evidence of themselves? If bone tools preceded stone, how can scientists determine whether a broken piece of bone has been modified by man, and not simply crunched by a large bear? What can we learn from experimental archaeology: making stone tools, or butchering a bison with a Clovis-style knife? These and other questions are explored by several archaeologists." DER website"@en
"Examines the theories of archaeologists who are searching for clues to the identity of the first people to reach North America between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago."
"Examines the theories of archaeologists who are searching for clues to the identity of the first people to reach North America between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago."@en
"Who were the first Americans and when did they arrive? Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska share their search for answers, based on evidence that the first Americans may have arrived 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. The controversial origin of Clovis Man, and the Stone Age culture of New Mexico, circa 11,000 B.C., provoke debate: was this culture developed within a preexisting population, or brought via the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia?"@en
"Who were the first Americans and when did they arrive? Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska share their search for answers, based on evidence that the first Americans may have arrived 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. The controversial origin of Clovis Man, and the Stone Age culture of New Mexico, circa 11,000 B.C., provoke debate: was this culture developed within a preexisting population, or brought via the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia?"
"Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska search for clues to the identity of the first people to tread the North American continent - the early hunters who between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago crossed the Bering Strait in pursuit of game."@en
"Archaeologists from Texas to Alaska search for clues to the identity of the first people to tread the North American continent - the early hunters who between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago crossed the Bering Strait in pursuit of game."
"Archaeologists search ancient sites in the U.S. for evidence of man's first arrival; scholarly research on this topic is being carried out in New Mexico, Texas, and Alaska."
"SUMMARY: Examines the theories of archaeologists who are searching for clues to the identity of the first people to reach North America between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago."
"This program searches for answers to one of the most controversial questions in American archeology - who were the first Americans and when did they arrive?"@en
"Shows how archaeologists search for clues for the identity of the first people who came to the North American continent between 11,000 and 50,000 years ago via the Bering Strait in search of game."@en