Does Skull Prove the First Americans Came From Europe?
Abstracted from The Independent (UK)
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
New England Antiquities Research Association
Does Skull Prove the First Americans Came From Europe?
Abstracted from The Independent (UK)
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
December 3, 2002
"Scientists in Britain have identified the oldest skeleton ever found on the American continent in a discovery that raises fresh questions about the accepted theory of how the first people arrived in the New World." The 13,000 year old skeleton, known as Peñon woman, was found near an ancient lake bed near Mexico City in 1959, but not scientifically dated until recently. "The most intriguing aspect of the skull is that it is long and narrow and typically Caucasian in appearance….Modern-day native Americans, however, have short, wide skulls…"
Robert Hedges, director of Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit did the analysis. Dr. Silvia Gonzalez, a Mexican-born archaeologist working at John Moores University in Liverpool is the leader of the research team who says she is absolutely sure of the date. "The study has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication next year in the journal Human Evolution." Dr. Gonzalez said "It’s quite possible that dolichocephalic man existed in North America well before the native Indians."
The article then discusses the obvious association with Kennewick man who is 8,400 years old with a long, narrow skull and Caucasian features. Mention is made of the possibility of Solutrean peoples migrating 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. "Studies of native Americans clearly indicated a link with modern-day Asians, supporting the idea of a mass migration across the Bering land bridge. But one DNA study also pointed to at least some shared features with Europeans that could only have derived from a relatively common ancestor who lived perhaps 15,000 years ago—the time of the Solutreans."
"Not every specialist, however is convinced of the apparently mounting evidence of an early European migration. ‘I personally haven’t found it very convincing,’ Professor Chris Stringer, the head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said….Most humans in the world at that time were long headed and it doesn’t surprise me that Peñon woman at 13,000 years old is also long headed.’"
Additional information:
Dr. Gonzalez told BBC News Online: "We believe that the older race may have come from what is now Japan, via the Pacific islands and perhaps the California coast." CNN reported that: "Gonzalez and other scientists said they believe people may have arrived in America as much as 25,000 years ago. (She points to evidence of camps-man-made tools, a human footprint and huts dating back 25,000 years- that have been found in Chile as evidence of man's imprint on the Americas long before mammoth hunters."
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This is an advance "gleaning" from the NEARA Transit, abstracted by Ros Strong. Additional advance news-making material will be posted here as it becomes available. The NEARA Transit is a twice yearly NEARA publication of archeological news and abstracts.
New England Antiquities Research Association