History of American Indians and the United States

The Peopling of the Americas

Dr. Kane

mkane2@albany.edu Humanities 109 | MWF 9:20 - 10:15 AM

Office Hrs: M 10:20 - 11:20 & F 1:30 - 3:30

Social Science 60S

Monday, November 27

coming up

  • Midterm II - Dec 1
  • extra credit by Dec 1 please!
  • presentations Dec 4-11 - schedule on Bb
  • papers due Dec 13 3:30pm Blackboard

today's class

  • final presentations
  • theories of migration
  • early cultures of North America
  • race & research

final presentations

  • Dec 4-11 - schedule on Bb
  • attendance is part of your final grade!
  • 5-8 minutes - notes ok!
  • PPT/images optional - email night before
  • your main argument, 1-2 points that illustrate your point, the major thing that you learned

Mann, 1491

  • why do researchers debate whether the Olmec were a "mother culture"?
  • why does Mann say there's an issue with this?

Soultrean hypothesis

  • supposed similarity between French & American stone points
  • haplogroup X found in Eastern Native groups & some modern Europeans - Atlantic coast migration?
  • 2014 Siberian haplogroup X study
  • not widely accepted due to chronology and glaciation of Europe
  • white supremacist investment - Native Americans as invalid late-comers

Bering Land Bridge theory

  • 300-400 year window - if that!
  • glaciers and sea level recede at the same time
  • very inhospitable to people and animals
  • megafauna extinction - Europe, Asia & Americas
  • short chronology - 19,000 years ago or more recent
  • long chronology - 40-21,000 years ago

4 theories of migration

  • Bering interior route
  • Pacific coastal route
  • Bering coastal migration
  • Polynesian migration

Clovis and Pedra Furada

  • Clovis: 13-14,000 years ago
  • Clovis First/Single Origin = Bering interior
  • Pedra Furada: 19-30,000 years ago
  • Multi-Origin = coastal + interior migration
  • Possibly 20 sites pre-Clovis
race
race

Kennewick man

Kennewick man

  • 7200-7400 BC
  • Smithsonian v Army Corps of Engineers 2000-2013
  • pre-6000 BC skull diversity
  • facial reconstruction issues
  • June 2015 DNA similarities & 2016 return

why history?

  • historians are careful readers and careful writers
  • change over time & historical context
  • how do people define themselves & others
  • how do we know what we know - how does our moment shape our questions
  • research, evidence based argument, cultural context & clear communication