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When did humans first arrive in the Americas? For decades, the
"Clovis-first" model of initial colonization held sway. It
says that the first Americans were the Clovis
people—named for an archeological site located near
Clovis, New Mexico—and that they walked across the
Bering Land Bridge and spread into what is now the United
States about 13,500 years ago. In recent years, however,
researchers have unearthed many sites that appear to be
pre-Clovis, some of them potentially doubling the time frame
people have been in the Western Hemisphere. In this
interactive map, peruse 28 possible pre-Clovis sites found
throughout North America. To open the
map, click on the image
at left.—Robson Bonnichsen and Robert Lassen
Robson Bonnichsen, who died in 2004, was a professor of
anthropology and director of the Center for the Study of the
First Americans at Texas A&M University. Robert Lassen is
a master's student at Texas A&M.
Note: The map shows glaciers, lakes, and shorelines as of
12,900 years ago. Not shown is a famous pre-Clovis site in
South America, Monte Verde in Chile, which is 14,500 years old
and features many organic artifacts, stone tools, and house
structures. This is an updated version of a map that
originally appeared in "The Case for a Pre-Clovis People," by
Robson Bonnichsen and Alan L. Schneider,
American Archaeology, Winter 2001-2002. Special thanks
also to Dennis Stanford, Smithsonian Institution.
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