Pre-Siberian American Aborigines

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The name American Aborigines has been proposed by some archaeologists and anthropologists for hypothetical peoples who lived in the Americas long before hunter-gatherer migrants from Siberia crossed the Bering Land Bridge to become the Paleo-Indians.

This theory is mainly supported by a number of archaeological finds, the dates and anatomical features of which do not fit into the more established Siberian migration or "Clovis First" theories. On the basis of that evidence, it has been speculated that those hypothetical American Aborigines could have come from other points of origin, including Oceania or southeast Asia, and spread through much of South America before being nearly exterminated or assimilated by the ancestors of today's Amerindians. However, this theory is still somewhat controversial, and the evidence is still being analyzed and published.

The proposed name collides with other established uses of "Aborigine" in American contexts; see American Aborigines (disambiguation).

Contents

[edit] Possible Evidence of Early Migrations to the Americas

[edit] Cave paintings

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One indication of possible American aboriginal settlement of South America came from cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in Brazil. The paintings, which some archaeologists claim are older than the supposed date of arrival of the Siberian migrations to the area, are in a style not seen elsewhere in native American art. Researchers also point to both the physical traits of human remains found at the sites and tool-making technology as highly distinct from that associated with the Clovis culture.

The elaborate ritual costumes shown in the paintings exhibit similarity to those used by Australian Aborigines as well as those used by the Fuegians, the natives of Tierra del Fuego. According to some researchers, such as Walter Neves of the University of Sao Paulo, the Fuegians (who were reduced to only one woman as of 2004) may be descendants of intermixing between American Aborigines and American Indians, and therefore the last surviving remnants of the original settlers.

[edit] Lagoa Santa

More solid evidence was found in the 1970s by anthropologist Anette Laming-Emperaire. In limestone caves of Lagoa Santa region in central Brazil, she unearthed the skeleton of a 20-year old, 1.50 m tall woman, later nicknamed "Luzia" (or "Lucia"). Laming-Emperaire died before she had a chance to study it. Some 20 years later, Walter Neves found the skull in the Quinta da Boa Vista National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, and found that its measurements were quite different from those of the later peoples descended from the Siberian migration(s), and more similar to those of Australian Aborigines, Melanesians, and Negritos. This find, dated between 10,500 and 9,500 BC, was greeted with much skepticism by the anthropological community. However, the find was eventually confirmed by remains of over 70 individuals with similar characteristics found in that same region. This matter [1] [2] has been discussed at great length by Dewar (2001) These findings have been linked to the widespread Jigue legend [3] to suggest African San migrations to the New World.

[edit] The Pericúes

Another boost to the theory came when anthropologist Rolando González-José demonstrated that the Pericúes, a tribe that lived in Baja California Sur until the 16th century, and whose "anomalous" appearance had already been observed, were quantitatively more similar to the Lagoa Santa finds than to any other group tested, and both were closer to the Australian Aborigines and Melanesians than to the Siberians.

[edit] Fuegians

The Fuegians of Tierra del Fuego at the extreme tip of South America appear to be physically, culturally and linguistically distinct from other Native Americans and some proponents of this theory suggest they may be the descendants of both the relative newcomers from Asia and American Aborigines.

[edit] Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man, whose remains were found in Washington State, does not resemble today's Amerindians. Researchers suggested South-East Asian, Polynesian, Ainu or European or Caucasoid-like ancestry based on skull studies. If confirmed, this would lend support to a theory that an important migration route lay along the North Pacific shoreline from Asia to America during a time when inland routes were blocked by ice. DNA analysis, which some Native American groups oppose, could help resolve this mystery, should there be enough left intact to extract from the bones.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Adovasio, James and Jake Page (2003) The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology's Greatest Mystery. Modern Library
  • Daley, Laurence (Larry) 2005 Is Luzia recorded in the myth of the Jigüe, Güije, Wijili, Jakuí, July 11, 2005 Amazon.com reader reviews of Dewar, Elaine 2001 Bones: Discovering the First Americans. Random House Canada, 2001, Carroll & Graf Publishers, US, 2002 Carroll and Graf
  • Dewar, Elaine 2001 Bones: Discovering the First Americans. Random House Canada, 2001, Carroll & Graf Publishers, US, 2002
  • Mendes Corrêa, A. (1928) Nouvelles hypothèses sur le peuplement primitif de l'Amerique du Sud. Annaes, Faculdade de Sciencias do Porto 15 : 86-112. L’Anthropologie 38: 565-7.
  • Neves, Walter; J.F. Powell; A. Prous; E.G. Ozolins and M. Blum (1999) "Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid I: Morphological affinities of the earliest known American"; American Genetics and Molecular Biology 22(4): 461-469.
  • Neves, W. A., J. F. Powell, A. Prous, E. G. Ozolins, M. Blum – 1999 Lapa Vermelha IV Hominid I: morphological affinities of the earliest known American. Genetics and Molecular Biology 22(4) 461-469. http://www.scielo.br/pdf/gmb/v22n4/0929.pdf
  • Neves, Walter A. and João Paulo V. Atui 2004 O mito da homogeneidade biológica na população paleoíndia de Lagoa Santa: implicações antropológicas Rev. Antropol. 47(1) 159-205 http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ra/v47n1/a05v47n1.pdf
  • Pucciarelli, Héctor M. (2003) "Migraciones y variación craneofacial humana en América". Departamento Científico de Antropología del Museo de La Plata.
  • Rivet, Paul (1943) Los orígenes del hombre americano. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
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