A Review of Goebel, Waters, and O'Rourke's 2008 Paper



A Review of Goebel, Waters, and O'Rourke's 2008 Paper Reply with
quote
The Late Pleistocene Dispersal of
Modern Humans in the Americas
Ted Goebel,1* Michael R. Waters,2 Dennis H. O'Rourke3

Science March 13 2008

A "few" comments:


"...Current genetic evidence implies dispersal from a single Siberian
population toward the Bering Land Bridge no earlier than about 30,000
years ago (and possibly after 22,000 years ago), then migration from
Beringia to the Americas sometime after 16,500 years ago. The
archaeological records of Siberia and Beringia generally support these
findings, as do archaeological sites in North and South America dating
to as early as 15,000 years ago. If this is the time of colonization,
geological data from western Canada suggest that humans dispersed
along the recently deglaciated Pacific coastline..."

Note the amount of "ifs" in the above statement. And note there is no
reference to "earliest" colonization. Waters, one of the coauthors,
knows damn well colonization of North America occurred prior to 15,000
years a go, calibrated: Topper; Meadowcroft; Cactus Hill; etc...


"...We do not review the contributions of historical linguistics,
because most linguists today are pessimistic about the use of their
data to reconstruct population histories beyond about 8 ka (3)..."

Interesting. Why the 8k floor?


"...Based on the modern and ancient DNA records, then, Asia was the
homeland of the first Americans, not Europe, lending no support to the
recently proposed "Solutrean hypothesis," that the progenitors of
Clovis were derived from an Upper Paleolithic population on the
Iberian Peninsula (15, 16)..."

I know Waters has always been at odds with the "Solutrean hypothesis",
but, from what I've gathered from his research, he's not against the
idea of a pre-LGM migration from Asia:

"...Current Projects...


Topper site, South Carolina

The Topper site is a proposed Pre-Clovis locality that is being
excavated under the direction of Dr. Al Goodyear (South Carolina
Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology). Michael Waters in
conjunction with Steve Forman (University of Illinois, Chicago), Tom
Stafford (Stafford Research Laboratories), and John Foss (University
of Tennessee) have been conducting geoarchaeological investigations of
the site since 1999. This geoarchaeological fieldwork was completed at
the Topper site in 2004. A final report on the geology of the site is
nearing completion. While the geological context and age of the
sediments that contain the reported Pre-Clovis artifacts are secure,
questions remain about the origin of the reported artifacts. The
Topper assemblage may be the result of human manufacture or may also
be the result of natural thermal spalling. To investigate this
question, the Center's Digital Imaging Lab conducted a preliminary
microscopic use-wear study on several specimens provided by Goodyear
in 2003 from the pre-Clovis sediments. The results are equivocal.
Chert from this area weathers rather quickly and the surface of these
pieces is badly degraded. It appears as a thick white patina making
such a study difficult at best. For example, the true degree of edge
rounding is difficult to ascertain because the surface degradation
affects the appearance of edges. In addition, linear indicators and
polish that are visible lie on the weathered surface and one would
suppose that ancient people would have used these pieces for tools
before such weathering occurred.

http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/new/topper_figure_1.jpg

http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/new/topper_figure_2.jpg

http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/new/topper_figure_3.jpg

...."

Here are a few artifacts from the 17,000-19,000 year old (calibrated)
strata at Topper:

http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/photos/albums/userpics/10001/p~1.jpg

http://www.allendale-expedition.net/museum/topchop.jpg

http://www.phpbb88.com/nohandaxesinus/viewtopic.php?mforum=nohandaxesinus&t=65&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=3&mforum=nohandaxesinus

http://www.phpbb88.com/nohandaxesinus/viewtopic.php?mforum=nohandaxesinus&t=65&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=4&mforum=nohandaxesinus


"...We were able to confirm that the Hueyatlaco Ash did indeed overlie
what was reported to be the unifacial artifact-bearing deposits (Bed I)
...."

http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/research.php#current_projects


Back to the paper:

"...The differences in calculations are the result of several issues,
including potential variation in mutation rates, variable and
sometimes circular techniques of calibrating coalescent times to
calendar years, time-dependency of mutation and/or substitution rates,
and effects of genetic drift on the original founding population (4,
26)..."

There's that circular term to which I referred earlier.


"...New analyses of haplogroup subclades help to resolve when modern
humans subsequently spread from Beringia to the rest of the Americas.
Three subclades of mtDNA subhaplogroup C1 are widely distributed among
North, Central, and South Americans but absent in Asian populations,
which suggests that they evolved after the central Asian-Native
American split, as the first Americans were dispersing from Beringia
(27). The estimated date of coalescence for these subclades is 16.6 to
11.2 ka, which suggests that the colonization of the Americas south of
the continental ice sheets may have occurred sometime during the late-
glacial period, thousands of years after the initial splitting of
Asian and Native American lineages...."


A second opinion:

"...The phylogenies of haplogroups A2, B2, C1, and D1 reveal a large
number of sub-haplogroups but suggest that the ancestral Beringian
population(s) contributed only six (successful) founder haplotypes to
these haplogroups. The derived clades are overall starlike with
coalescence times ranging from 18,000 to 21,000 years (with one
exception) using the conventional calibration..."

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001764

"...As yet, no unequivocal traces that the early people of Yana RHS
explored farther east onto the Bering Land Bridge and crossed into
Alaska and northwest Canada have been found, but hints of an early
human presence may include the 28-ka mammoth-bone core and flake
recovered from Bluefish Caves (Yukon Territory) and even older bone
materials from along the nearby Old Crow River (38)..."

Good to see Jacques get some more press!


"...A small number of undated fluted points similar to Clovis occur in
Alaska (39), but their relation to Clovis points found south of the
continental ice sheets is unknown and may represent the backward flow
of technologies (or people) from mid-latitude North America to
Beringia at the very end of the Pleistocene (22, 39)..."

Clovis headed north?

"...Since 40 ka, the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets covered much
of Canada, but during warmer periods they retreated sufficiently to
create ice-free corridors along the Pacific coast and Plains east of
the Canadian Rockies. These corridors were the conduits through which
the first humans spread from Beringia to the Americas.When humans
arrived in arctic Siberia at Yana RHS 32 ka, contracted ice sheets
left wide-open corridors through which humans could have passed, but
by 24 ka the ice sheets had grown sufficiently to clog both
passageways..."

Pre-LGM migrations south?


"...The archaeological records of both corridors are still inadequate
for addressing questions about the initial peopling of the Americas;
however, the presence of human remains dating to 13.1 to 13 ka at
Arlington Springs, on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of California,
indicates that the first Americans used watercraft (46)..."

I'm sure some will want to comment on this.


"...With recently excavated Clovis assemblages, especially from the
southeastern United States and Texas, we know unequivocally that
Clovis is characterized by not only bifacial technology but also
distinctive Upper Paleolithic blade technology (Fig. 2) (15, 48)..."

"...In the southeastern United States and Texas, however, enormous
scatters of Clovis artifacts have been found that possibly represent
quarry habitation sites habitually used by Clovis people, from which
they did not range great distances..."


Gault (Collins) and Buttermilk Creek (Waters) are absolutely loaded
with Clovis artifacts. I've heard figures as high as 60% of all known
Clovis artifacts.

"...Early occupations. Since the discovery and definition of Clovis,
researchers have searched for evidence of an even older occupation of
the Americas, but most sites dating before Clovis investigated between
1960 and 1995 [e.g., Calico (California), Tule Springs (Nevada),
Pendejo Cave (New Mexico), Pedra Furada (Brazil), Pikimachay Cave
(Peru), and Tlapacoya (Mexico)] have not held up to scientific
scrutiny (2, 39)..."

Blah, blah, blah...I guess my Calico paper isn't getting published. Wink


"...Even earlier evidence of humans in Wisconsin is suggested by what
appear to be cut and pry marks on the lower limb bones of a mammoth
recovered from Mud Lake. These bones date to 16 ka, but stone tools
are absent (61)..."

Inching back from 15,000 years ago...


"...Three other sites--Meadowcroft Rockshelter (Pennsylvania), Page-
Ladson (Florida), and Paisley Cave (Oregon)--may provide additional
evidence of humans in North America by about 14.6 ka. At Meadowcroft
Rockshelter, artifacts occur in sediments that may be as old as 22 to
18 ka (62)..."

Inching back to the LGM.

"...The evidence for humans in the Americas even earlier than 15 ka is
less secure, but recently has been presented for four sites: Cactus
Hill (Virginia), La Sena (Nebraska), Lovewell (Kansas), and Topper
(South Carolina). Cactus Hill is a sand-dune site with late
prehistoric, Archaic, and Clovis levels. Potentially older artifacts,
including small prismatic blade cores, blades, and two basally thinned
bifacial points were recovered 10 to 15 cm below the Clovis level
(65). Three 14C dates ranging from 20 to 18 ka are reported from the
levels below Clovis, but there are also dates of 10.3 ka and later.
Charcoal samples were not recovered from hearth features but occur as
isolated fragments at the same level as the artifacts. The younger
dates indicate translocation of charcoal from overlying sediments, and
the older charcoal could be derived from sediments underlying the
cultural layer (59, 63), but luminescence dates on the aeolian sands
correlate with the older 14C results and indicate minimal mixing of
the sediments (66). Even though much information has yet to be
published about this site, the potential presence of a biface and
blade assemblage stratigraphically below the site's Clovis assemblage
is compelling..."

Ditto.


"...An even older occupation has been proposed based on taphonomically
altered mammoth bones at the La Sena and Lovewell sites that date from
22 to 19 ka (67). Neither site has yielded stone tools or evidence of
butchering; however, many of the leg bones display percussion impact
and flaking, which suggests that they were quarried and flaked by
humans while they were in a fresh, green state, within a few years of
the death of the animals. Clovis people periodically flaked bone in
this fashion, as did Upper Paleolithic Beringians (2, 22); however, in
those contexts humans left behind stone tools, whereas at La Sena and
Lovewell stone tools are absent..."

Ditto. Old Crow and Bluefish Caves come to mind.


"...Humans possibly colonized the Americas before the LGM. They occupied
western Beringia by 32 ka, and no glacial ice sheets would have
blocked passage through western Canada during this relatively warm
time. However, there is still no unequivocal archaeological evidence
in the Americas to support such an early entry..."

Plausible but not "proven". Leaving the door open.


"...Clovis could have originated south of the continental ice sheets,
and the dense Clovis quarry campsites in the southeastern United
States may be the result of a longer occupation there than in other
regions..."

I assume Texas is included in this definition of "southeastern United
States".


"...The peopling of the Americas debate is far from resolved. To move
forward, we must continue to take an interdisciplinary scientific
approach to the problem. Archaeological investigations will provide
the empirical evidence of the first Americans, but this evidence must
be objectively and rigorously evaluated...The sparse evidence for pre-
13 ka occupation of the Americas may be a problem of sampling and
artifact recognition..."

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5869/1497
_________________
Charlie Hatchett

PreClovis Artifacts from Central Texas
www.preclovis.com
http://forum.preclovis.com





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