[Aztlan] The Peopling of the Americas; a reply

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

I have been posting articles on the new finds regarding the peopling  
of the Americas on my Pre-Clovis web sites for several years. Many of  
the studies have conflicting elements but I think one important rule  
for all of us is that without some scientific proof of any theory  
regarding the identity of the First Americans and the time of their  
arrival to the new World, it is just talk.

In the last couple of years, there have been great strides in  
applying genetic studies to the question and those researchers who  
have presented valid scientific work showing that most First  
Americans who arrived here descended from a small population group in  
Siberia are ahead of all others in that they can show proof of their  
claims based on real science and not speculation. The recent find  
that the First Americans may have been trapped in Beringia for 20,000  
years before they could get to Alaska due to glaciers blocking their  
way was of some interest and geneticists there showed that genetic  
mutations took place in that Beringian population that do not appear  
in Siberia or Asia and that these mutations then appear in New World  
groups throughout the Americas.

Within that range of scientific studies, there is room for  
speculation on the exact movement of peoples give or take 1000-2000  
years. Could the settlers of Monte Verde, for example, have reached  
that site in Chile when they did if they had not started out on their  
journey by canoe a long time before? If some small groups in Beringia  
had been able to move by canoe along the coast 2000 years earlier  
than others in Beringia who eventually were able to pass overland to  
Alaska, this may explain the Monte Verde dates.

Be that as it may, there are no valid genetic studies that have been  
published in the last few years showing any population other than  
Siberian ones being involved in the peopling of the Americas. And the  
latest studies in this regard have been large scale and fairly  
convincing. The linguistic study just published that shows for the  
first time a real tie between a Siberian language Ket and New World  
languages again reinforces the Siberian connection.

Could there have been First Americans other than the Siberian and  
Beringian ones that have been identified genetically? I have seen  
epidemiological reports regarding viruses and skull shapes that may  
indicate some tie to people living in Japan or Southeast Asia but  
they are scattered reports not followed up in any large scale manner.  
One has to keep an open mind but so far, the Siberian/Beringian  
origin story is the only one that has a large base of data behind it.

But this is a relatively new field of studies and we have a long way  
to go to nail down the whole story.

Mike Ruggeri



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