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George McJunkin was a quintessential scientific outsider. An African-American rancher born into slavery. McJunkin became an avid amateur scientist with wide-ranging interests, including astronomy, archaeology, and fossil bones (Douglas 1997). In 1908, while fixing a fence after a storm, McJunkin noticed bones eroding out of a gully near Folsom, New Mexico. It was only in 1926, however, four years after McJunkin died, that Jesse Figgins of the Denver Museum of Natural History began excavations at Folsom. In his first season excavating there, Figgins found a distinctive spearpoint together with bison fossils. This spearpoint was thin and finely worked, with a long channel, or flute, running from the base toward the tip (see Figure 6.1) Figgins's discovery was met with skepticism, but doubt evaporated in 1927 when another spearpoint was found lodged between the ribs of a bison skeleton. The discoveries at Folsom proved that humans had been in North America for at least 10,000 years. Finding a spearpoint embedded in the remains of a large animal also suggested that early occupants of the Americas were specialized big-game hunters. FIGURE 6.1 Folsom point with associated bones from Folsom, New Mexico In this chapter, we focus on the debates surrounding the initial human occupation of Australia and the Americas. The only hominins known from these continents are Homo sapiens. Migration routes into both Australia and the Americas led through East Asia, so it is important to review the current understanding of modern human origins in that area first. With this background, it is possible to move on to consider the timing of the occupation of Australia and the likely migration routes. We also consider the significance of the recent discovery of a new species belonging to the genus Homo on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Beyond tracking when and how people first arrived in Australia, we examine the role of humans in the extinction of megafauna on the continent and the evidence for the development of cave painting in the Australian context. We then move on to the debates concerning the timing and migration routes taken by the first people to arrive in the Americas. Here, too, we consider the role of humans in megafauna extinctions. The question of when people first arrived in Australia and the Americas is the subject of intense scientific controversy. It is important to recognize that it is also a subject of great sensitivity to indigenous people. The archaeological debate is framed entirely on the basis of scientific inquiry, which is often in conflict with native beliefs. The question of when people first arrived can conflict with native convictions that their people have been in a place since creation. Bridging these disparate worldviews requires care and respect. Although archaeologists have only recently begun dealing with this conflict, they have already made great strides. The development of postprocessual archaeology, which acknowledges alternative narratives and viewpoints provides room for dialogue and constructive disagreement. Issues relating to the treatment of human remains that indigenous groups claim as ancestral require particular care. 6.1 Modern Humans in East Asia Populations of Homo erectus had arrived on the Indonesian Island of Java perhaps as early as 1.8 million years ago, and by 1.6 million years ago, they were established in China. However, what happened to East Asian populations of Homo erectus while modern humans were evolving in Africa and Neanderthals were evolving in Europe remains unclear. On the one hand, some paleoanthropologists argue, as part of the multiregional hypothesis, that there was a local East Asian evolution of modern humans from Homo erectus parallel with the evolution of modern humans in Africa. On the other hand, proponents of the out of Africa hypothesis argue vehemently that in East Asia populations of Homo erectus persisted until they were replaced by modern humans from Africa. Both sides of the debate recognize that they are relying on inadequate data. One critical piece of evidence has emerged from the dating of Homo erectus fossils from the island of Java. Electron spin resonance and uranium series dating of animal teeth found with Homo erectus fossils at the site of Ngandong have produced dates that range between 46,000 and 27,000 years ago (Swisher et al. 1996). If this age is correct, it indicates that populations of Homo erectus remained in East Asia far later than anywhere else in the world. This evidence offers strong support for the out-of-Africa hypothesis. However, these dates are not universally accepted, as some scientists doubt that the animal teeth were actually found in the same deposits as the hominin fossils. The questions concerning the fate of Homo erectus and the initial appearance of modern humans in East Asia provide a rather uncertain backdrop to the debates surrounding the peopling of Australia and the New World (North and South America). The Paleolithic of East Asia is a critical area of research that is likely to see dramatic developments in coming years. Ngandong – a site on the island of Java where the most recent known fossil of Homo erectus was found, dating to between 46,000 and 27,000 years ago. Sahul – The landmass that encompassed Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea during periods of low sea level. 6.2 Australia During periods of glacial advance and low sea level, Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea were connected in a landmass known as Sahul. A similar landmass known as Sunda connected much of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and much of Indonesia. As shown in Figure 6.2, Sunda and Sahul are separated by a string of islands known as Wa1lacea, where the channels between the islands are too deep to have been dry land at any time for the past 50 million years. The Wallace Line, which runs through Wallacea, separates the unique animals and plants of Australia from the animal and plant communities of Southeast Asia. In order to reach Australia, humans had to cross the Wallace Line by sea. Sahul – The landmass that encompassed Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea during periods of low sea level. Sahul – The landmass that encompassed Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea during periods of low Wallace Line – The line that runs through Wallacea and separates the unique animals and plants of Australia from the animal and plant communities of Southeast Asia. FIGURE 6.2 Map of the landmasses of Sunda and Sahul that existed during periods of low sea level. The areas exposed by low sea levels are indicated in purple. The discovery of stone tools on the island of Flores in Wallacea suggests that Homo erectus was able to cross bodies of water. The levels in which stone tools are found are dated to between 900,000 and 800,000 years ago, when Homo erectus was the only hominin in Southeast Asia. Some authors have argued that the evidence from Flores demonstrates that Homo erectus was able to make and use watercraft. However, Homo erectus was not the only mammal species to arrive in Flores between 900,000 and 800,000 years ago. At the same time, a species of large elephant (Stegadon) and a species of large rat also made their first appearance on the island. These animals could not have arrived by a land bridge connecting Flores to Sunda, as it is clear that no such land bridge ever existed. It is suggested that a combination of low sea level and favorable currents enabled such animals to reach Flores. It is quite likely that Homo erectus could have arrived through similar circumstances. Continued excavations on Flores at the site of Liang Bua have stunned the scientific community with the discovery of tiny hominins so unique that they have been given their own species name: Homo floresiensis (Brown et al. 2004). The hominin remains date to the period between 38,000 and 18,000 years ago (Morwood et al 2004). The body of Homo floresiensis is quite small, and its brain is 380 cubic centimeters, about the size of a grapefruit, which is below the range of any other member of genus Homo. It appears likely that the unique characteristics of Homo floresiensis are the result of the long-term isolation of a population of Homo erectus on the island of Flores for hundreds of thousands of years. There is a general tendency for isolated island populations to evolve into species with reduced body size (Van den Bergh, de Vos, and Sondaar 2001). The discovery of Homo floresiensis raises many tantalizing issues, including the reasons for the eventual extinction of this species and the nature of their interactions with the first modern humans to arrive on the island. Some paleoanthropologists remain unconvinced that Homo floresiensis is a distinct species, arguing that the fossils discovered are modern humans with a pathology known as microcephaly, which results in a small brain (Martin et al. 2006). The stone tool industry from Liang Bua associated with Homo floresiensis is, like the human fossils themselves, somewhat odd and difficult to characterize (Moore et al. 2009). The methods of manufacture are very simple, and the retouched tools are not highly standardized. What is somewhat surprising is that there is a tendency to use flakes as cores. This is a technology used in the Acheulian of Africa to produce large bifacial tools, but on Flores, the flakes produced are quite small. The stone tools are associated with faunal remains dominated by the bones of pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons (see Figure 6.3). Figure 6.4 shows that there are clear cut marks on the elephant bones. It is likely that the Komodo dragons, fierce predators, were vulnerable to hunting when they were inactive due to either nighttime cold or high midday temperatures (Van den Bergh et al.

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