Coastal Heritage, Spring 2005

COASTAL HERITAGE VOLUME 19, NUMBER 4 SPRING 2005

Ancient Tools? Searching for the First Americans

SPRING 2005 • 1 CONTENTS

3 ANCIENT TOOLS? SEARCHING FOR THE FIRST AMERICANS Small stone pieces excavated at the Topper site in Allendale County could be central to the story of Homo sapiens. Coastal Heritage is a quarterly publication 11 of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, a university- CHAIN REACTION based network supporting research, education, The Earth’s climate is naturally volatile. Now humans are and outreach to conserve coastal resources and enhance economic opportunity for the people tampering with its intricate mechanisms. of South Carolina. Comments regarding this or future issues of Coastal Heritage are welcomed. 13 Subscriptions are free upon request COASTS INSPIRE MODERN HUMANITY by contacting: Modern human behavior could have been stimulated by climate change, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium burgeoning human population, and competition for rich resources of the coast. 287 Meeting Street Charleston, S.C. 29401 phone: (843) 727-2078 14 e-mail: [email protected] EBBS AND FLOWS Executive Director M. Richard DeVoe ON THE COVER: Some archaeologists argue that these stone fragments excavated at the Director of Communications Topper site in South Carolina are ancient tools crafted by humans Linda Blackwell 16,000 to 20,000 years ago. If these experts are correct, it would push back the date Editor of the first Americans’ arrival in the New World. INSET PHOTO/WADE SPEES John H. Tibbetts BACKGROUND PHOTO/COURTESY OF SOUTH16 CAROLINA INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY Art Director AND ANTHROPOLOGY Patty Snow

Contributing Writer Susan Ferris � Board of Directors The Consortium’s Board of Directors is composed of the chief executive officers of its member institutions:

Dr. Andrew A. Sorensen, Chair President, University of South Carolina James F. Barker POWER TOOL. President, Clemson University Clovis tools have been found John E. Frampton Executive Director in every state in the nation. S.C. Department of Natural Resources For decades, archaeologists Dr. Raymond S. Greenberg thought that the Clovis President, Medical University of South Carolina people were the first Major General John S. Grinalds migrants to the Americas. President, The Citadel Now most experts believe Leo I. Higdon, Jr. that people arrived in the President, College of Charleston Americas before Clovis. Dr. Andrew H. Hugine, Jr. PHOTO/COURTESY OF SOUTH CAROLINA INSTITUTE OF President, S.C. State University ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY Dr. Ronald R. Ingle COPYRIGHT © 2005 by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. All rights reserved. President, Coastal Carolina University

2 • COASTAL HERITAGE TOOL KIT. Albert Goodyear, a University of South Carolina archaeologist, holds a piece of chert, a type of rock broken open by prehistoric Americans. This chert, used to make tools, was found at the Topper site near the Savannah River. PHOTO/WADE SPEES

Ancient Tools? Searching for the First Americans By John H. Tibbetts

ome ancient Americans migrated to coastal South Early hunter-gatherers who used Topper were Carolina for the same reasons that many likely coast-dwellers, says Goodyear. Ancient people S northerners still relocate here today. They preferred may have lived in settlements along the South living near water and the seashore in a warm climate. Carolina shoreline most of the year, harvesting That’s an educated guess by Albert Goodyear, a shellfish and fishing and perhaps hunting marine University of South Carolina archaeologist who has drawn mammals. international headlines for excavating and interpreting In the spring, they likely traveled inland along artifacts at an archaeological site named Topper located the Savannah River, a major artery linking the along the Savannah River in Allendale County. In May Atlantic Ocean to the interior. They might have 2005, the USC archaeology team will continue excavating netted migratory fish swimming upstream to spawn. at Topper, named for a local man who first showed On a river bluff at the Topper site in Allendale Goodyear the site. County, early Americans broke open cream-colored Goodyear’s findings at Topper have placed South rock called chert. Chert is a glassy, flint-like stone Carolina in the middle of a fierce debate about the origins used to carve tools from antler, wood, and bone. of the first Americans. Now South Carolina could become The Topper site was one of the best sources of central to the changing story of Homo sapiens. chert in the region. People from across eastern North Thousands of years ago, when the area now known as America probably came to the Topper chert quarry to South Carolina was colder and dryer than today but more make tools. pleasant than farther north, ancient Americans migrated Scientists agree that early Americans used Topper to Topper, Goodyear says. “Topper may have drawn people as an important tool-making site at least 13,000 years from all over the hemisphere simply because they were ago. But, in November 2004, Goodyear, an expert on looking to relocate in warmer climes.” ancient tool-making, announced that testing appar-

SPRING 2005 • 3 ently showed that people were visiting every county in South Carolina. Topper at least 50,000 years ago. For decades, virtually every Goodyear’s team had found knowledgeable scientist accepted the prehistoric burnt plant material from a Clovis-first theory—that Clovis charcoal fire buried deep under layers people were the first Americans. of sediment. The burnt material was year date at Topper shoots off the Goodyear himself believed it until the sent to a laboratory in California, charts to most experts, Goodyear late 1990s. Only apparent fools where its age was determined by state- acknowledges. thought otherwise. “If you were an of-the-art radiocarbon techniques. “Until we dig (more artifacts) archaeologist who claimed to find a Small stone tools and flakes— and publish (results), I doubt you’ll pre-Clovis site,” says Goodyear, “it was tool-making byproducts—were found get many people to comment tantamount to saying you just saw in the same geological level as the positively on that,” says Goodyear. Elvis leave Burger King.” burnt material. Scientists cannot “I’m sitting out there on a limb, and But this theory is wrong and date chert; instead, they rely on we have a lot of work to do.” should be abandoned, says Michael B. testing adjacent organic material or Nevertheless, Goodyear’s team Collins, an archaeologist at the sediments. at Topper has also unearthed University of Texas. “We’ve demon- Goodyear’s 50,000-year announce- numerous small tools in sediment strated fatal flaws in Clovis-first. ment startled his colleagues because it dated by optically stimulated We’ve got to come up with a replace- does not jibe with current scientific luminescence at an age of 16,000 to ment theory.” understanding of when the earliest 20,000 years old. In recent years, archaeologists Americans arrived on this continent. Although also controversial, have excavated human artifacts that Today’s archaeological evidence these ancient tools could fit neatly are older than Clovis, or are the same strongly indicates an arrival after about into a new model of the first age but reflect a different way of life. 18,000 years ago, at the earliest. Even Americans’ migration to this Various sites, in both North and South so, the first Americans’ arrival date is a continent. If eventually accepted by America, prove that Clovis were not moving target. Just a decade ago, the research community, the tools the first Americans. scientists argued adamantly that would help further undermine a Now Goodyear says he also has Americans did not migrate to the scientific consensus that lasted for strong evidence proving that people Western Hemisphere until 13,500 generations. were visiting at Topper 16,000 to years ago. From the 1930s to the late 20,000 years ago, working with small American archaeology is changing 1990s, archaeologists believed that chert tools such as chisels and quickly because researchers are finding the first Americans were big-game scrapers. Microscopic evidence, he new evidence of earlier explorers of the hunters who arrived in the New argues, shows signs of purposeful New World. Nevertheless, a 50,000- World from the Bering land bridge scratching and polishing—indications that connected Siberia and Alaska that the artifacts were manmade. about 13,500 years ago. Ancient A skeptical colleague, however, TOPPER MAP. hunters followed mammoths and says that Goodyear has jumped to Excavations at the Topper site have other big game into Canada south conclusions. Stone pieces older than placed South Carolina in the middle of a along the eastern slope of the about 13,500 years old at Topper are fierce debate about the origins of the first Rocky Mountains and then quickly not tools, says Collins. Instead, natural Americans. spread across the Great Plains, processes fractured them. “Many of us according to traditional archaeo- have looked at these ‘tools,’ and logical theory. everything I’ve seen is absolutely a Archaeologists called them natural fracture.” Clovis people for their beautiful, Most archaeological sites in sophisticated, and distinctively North America claiming pre-Clovis sculpted spear points first discov- tools have failed to gain scientific ered near Clovis, New Mexico, in acceptance. Researchers decided that 1932. Numerous spear points were freezing and thawing, fires, or other located near mammoth bones, natural events fractured stone pieces suggesting that the weapons were that only looked to some like tools. used to kill the animal. Clovis Nevertheless, two pre-Clovis points have since been found in sites in North America—one in every state in the lower 48 and Pennsylvania called Meadowcroft

4 • COASTAL HERITAGE HAND MADE. The earliest Americans could have used stone- and-wood tools like this one to score, groove, and engrave bone as they crafted various implements. Albert Goodyear, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina, modified a pointed piece of chert, a flint-like rock, and attached it to a wood handle. Goodyear’s tool illustrates how ancient Americans could have employed small stone pieces recently excavated from archaeological layers dated 16,000 to 20,000 years old at the Topper site in Allendale County. PHOTO/WADE SPEES

SPRING 2005 • 5 Rockshelter and another in Virginia sediment layers. Moreover, several From East Asia they could have called Cactus Hill—have gained feet of sediment distinctly separate walked north along ancient significant scientific acceptance in newer Clovis layers from older pre- coastlines or rowed small canoes recent years. Both sites indicate human Clovis ones, says Lepper. As a result, made of sealskin. Reaching the occupation before 13,500 years ago. mixing was not possible. southern coast of the Bering land Now Goodyear wants Topper So while many skeptics accept bridge, they could have migrated added to this short list of solid pre- Goodyear’s analysis of Topper’s eastward until they reached North Clovis candidates. geology and dating, their doubts America. Then they could have Topper tools dated 16,000 to focus on the question of whether traveled south along the Northwest 20,000 years old have stood up to humans crafted the stone pieces. Coast of Alaska, British Columbia, scrutiny by some experts. “I’ve had Goodyear argues the tools are and Washington state, down to people who are really expert at human artifacts; some skeptics say California and Mexico, and then analysis come to look at (the stone they are not. Central America and South pieces), and most of them agree that Only a decade ago, archaeolo- America. they are tools,” says Goodyear. “Not gists thought they knew when and Small bands of humans all archaeologists are adept at looking how the first Americans arrived exploring and colonizing unknown at some of the subtle features” of here. Today, that’s no longer true; continents, says Goodyear, probably artifacts. there seem to be more questions would have used seashores and Joel Gunn, an archaeological than answers. The story that once major rivers to move around and consultant based in Chapel Hill, North was so clear and simple could have a harvest resources. They would have Carolina, says Topper’s pre-Clovis complex new beginning. known how to find shellfish, finfish, stones were apparently shaped by Researchers are working toward and marine mammals along the human hands. “Probability favors that a new multi-entry model to explain coast. “I think the coast had to play they are tools. Al has a convincing the migration of the first Ameri- an important role in transcontinen- model for how pre-Clovis people cans. Now it seems likely that the tal migrations,” says Goodyear. would have used a tool kit.” first Americans were coastal people, Could the first Americans have Bradley Lepper, an archaeologist not inland big-game hunters. arrived here from Europe or Africa? with the Ohio Historical Society, also The earliest backs up Goodyear’s claim. “There are Americans were prob- repetitive patterns of industry. They ably fishermen, shellfish were systematically reproducing harvesters, and hunters repeated forms, these little bladelets. I of marine mammals, who don’t know of any natural mechanisms migrated in numerous that would systematically form so waves. many (pieces) in the number and consistency that he is finding them. If nature were incidentally making these things, you would expect (their forms) to look more random. Al is persuading TIME TRAVEL. many of us that, yes, they are tools, and At the Topper site in Allendale that people were in America at a County, Albert Goodyear, an surprisingly early date.” archaeologist with the Another problem with many pre- University of South Carolina, Clovis sites, critics say, is that natural excavates white Pleistocene items (such as burnt plant material) sand dated 16,000 to 20,000 dated by radiocarbon techniques do years ago. Goodyear’s team not accurately reflect their real age. has found numerous stone Natural processes—floods for ex- fragments, which he says are ample—could have mixed up loose human-made tools, in this materials from various eras, so that sandy geological level. The newer tools could have pushed into archaeologists also found older sediments. Clovis tools in the darker Topper’s geology, however, has sediments above. remained intact throughout its PHOTO/WADE SPEES

6 • COASTAL HERITAGE No. Genetic evidence proves that Asia to colonize Australia about East Asians populated the Americas 50,000 years ago. At that time, sea before Europeans began arriving in levels were much lower, so coastlines the sixteenth century. of the two continents were closer than Linguistic evidence also shows they are today. But people did need that the first Americans came from leaving Africa. Some populations boats or rafts to reach Australia. East Asia. “There are structural moved into Central Asia about At Lake Mungo in southeastern properties that are common in 50,000 years ago and into Europe Australia, University of Melbourne (language) in the Americas that are about 40,000 years ago. geomorphologist Jim Bowler and his common in Asia, and rare elsewhere,” But if fully modern people colleagues have dated remains of an says Johanna Nichols, a linguist and were just beginning to reach anatomically modern man and a professor of Slavic languages at the Central Asia about 50,000 years woman at about 40,000 years old. University of California at Berkeley. ago, how could they have arrived Humans had been living at Lake The timing and the routes to at Topper at about the same time? Mungo at least 6,000 years previously. America, however, remain a mystery. One possible answer is that they These early Australians were “We don’t know how the Americans moved with blazing speed along probably coastal people who moved were peopled,” says University of coastlines across southern and seasonally inland following a prehis- Oregon archaeologist Jon Erlandson. eastern Asia to the New World. toric river to Lake Mungo, now a “We don’t know when the Americas Fully modern people appar- semi-arid landscape. Ancient artifacts were first colonized. Ten years ago, ently did migrate swiftly eastward found there indicate that the first many people thought it was all figured about 50,000 years ago from Africa Australians hunted small game, out. Now we find ourselves in a along the southern shoreline of gathered mussels and other shellfish completely different scenario, with Asia, the “coastal superhighway,” from the lake, and fished for cod and multiple different hypotheses calling writes population geneticist perch, possibly using nets. for attention. It’s a much more wide- Spencer Wells in his 2002 book From Southeast Asia, people also open field, which is really exciting.” The Journey of Man. began exploring by boat offshore It’s common for hunter- islands in the far western Pacific. THE COASTAL-MIGRATION gatherer bands to move several About 35,000 years ago, ancient MODEL miles a year, following animals, mariners rowed or sailed across 100 searching for water or plants, or miles of ocean to settle islands that are People physically like us evolved getting stones for tool-making. In now part of Papua New Guinea. in Africa perhaps as early as 160,000 this fashion, people could have The earliest maritime cultures years ago. Still, there was another traversed the southern Asian therefore got established in warm- evolutionary stage yet to come. coastline in a few thousand years. climate regions offshore from South- About 80,000 to 50,000 years Coastal migration along the east Asia. “There is considerable ago, Homo sapiens began developing southern Asian coast would have evidence for maritime activity on the radically improved technologies, been much faster than traveling western side of the Pacific,” says making more diverse tools, which inland to Central Asia. Coastal Erlandson. allowed them to hunt more effi- hunter-gatherers did not have to But if the first Americans arrived ciently. Scholars believe that these climb mountains or adjust to here via a coastal route, they must technologies were combined with dramatically different weather and have been adapted to a temperate or more sophisticated art forms and food sources. Searching for food arctic maritime climate, which would language, which spawned a genetic and water along a shoreline would have been much more challenging and cultural revolution in human have required the same tools and than the climate of Southeast Asia consciousness that geographer Jared techniques in coastal Africa, India, and Australia. That’s because the first Diamond has called “The Great Leap or East Asia. Americans almost certainly traveled Forward.” When hunter-gatherers across the northern Pacific region Suddenly, people who looked like reached the southeastern corner of during an era much colder us began to think like us, too. They Asia, they apparently looked to than today. became innovators and explorers on the sea. Recent discoveries prove an unprecedented scale. that Homo sapiens built some kind Armed with new cognitive and of watercraft—probably logs lashed To volunteer at the Topper site, e-mail [email protected] or visit social capabilities, fully modern together—to sail or row across 60 www.allendale-expedition.net/ humans for the first time began miles of ocean from Southeast

SPRING 2005 • 7 THE MIGRA HOM

8 • COASTAL HERITAGE THE MIGRATION OF MODERN HOMO SAPIENS. The scheme outlined here begins with a migration from Africa to Australia by 50,000 years ago, and to Europe and Central Asia by 40,000 years ago. Modern humans arrived in northeastern Siberia by 23,000 years ago. One controversy ATION OF MODERN is how long ago East Asians first arrived in the New World. The earliest widely MO SAPIENS accepted settlement in the Americas is located at Monte Verde, dated to 14,500 years ago, on the west coast of South America. But now some archaeologists in the eastern United States say they have evidence of human habitation earlier than Monte Verde.

SPRING 2005 • 9 GLACIER MELTING CLUES through this ice-free corridor any The discovery at Monte Verde earlier than 13,500 years ago; meant that humans were living in the The likeliest period when the glaciers blocked their way. southern cone of South America at first Americans arrived in the The Clovis-first theory least a thousand years before the Western Hemisphere was not long remained dominant until a Clovis people could have traveled after the last glacial maximum when scientific breakthrough suddenly south through the ice-free corridor in continental glaciers were beginning damaged its credibility and Canada. Many archaeologists had to to melt. changed the direction of Ameri- drop their pet theory and acknowl- Glaciers at their greatest extent can archaeology. edge that Clovis people were not first covered nearly a third of the world’s In 1997, Thomas D. Dillehay, in the Americas. landmass 20,000 years ago, reaching an archaeologist at Vanderbilt When the Clovis-first orthodoxy as far south as New York City. University, and his colleagues fell apart, some scholars who had Following this deep freeze, the Earth’s distributed a site report on their believed in it began re-examining why climate saw extreme variations, but its excavation of an ancient settle- ice-age hunters would have pursued overall trend was warmer for the next ment called Monte Verde about big game for some two thousand miles 12,000 years. 40 miles from the Pacific Ocean south through a narrow gap between About 15,000 years ago, ancestors in Chile. Dillehay’s team had giant ice sheets in Canada about of the Clovis people were probably excavated the remains of several 13,500 years ago. living on the Bering land bridge ancient structures, stone and “The corridor was an unbeliev- between Siberia and Alaska. But two wood implements, and clay-lined ably hostile environment for hu- continental glaciers in Canada hearths that contained charcoal mans,” says Collins, who before blocked their entry to the Americas. and burned plant foods. All were Monte Verde accepted Clovis-first As warming accelerated 13,500 years buried in the same geological orthodoxy. “What would pull people ago, the glaciers began to melt and layer under a muddy bog. into that? What were they chasing? separate in northwestern Canada. Radiocarbon testing, adjusted The biggest megafauna there were Subsequently, the Clovis people to calendar years, showed that probably mosquitoes.” traveled south through an ice-free Monte Verde materials were more corridor to the eastern foothills of the than 14,500 years old. A commit- EARLY BOATS Rocky Mountains, according to tee of experts visited the site in traditional archaeological theory. 1997 and verified Monte Verde’s Archaeologists cast around for They could not have migrated south authenticity. another possible route into the Americas—and a coastal pathway Reading and Web sites made sense. Scientists are now testing the Adovasio, J.M. with Jake Page. The First Americans: In Pursuit of coastal-entry theory of migration first Archaeology’s Greatest Mystery. New York: Random House, 2002. proposed by Knut Fladmark of Simon Blombos Cave Project. www.svf.uib.no/sfu/blombos/The_ Site.html Fraser University almost 30 years ago. In recent years, increasing numbers of Center for the Study of the First Americans www.centerfirstamericans.com archaeologists have become supporters Climate Timeline Information Tool www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/index.html of the theory. Calvin, William H. A Brief History of the Mind: From Apes to Intellect and The theory is based on the fact Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. that coasts usually have milder climates than inland places at the Dillehay, Thomas D. The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory. New York: Basic Books, 2000. same latitude. As the ice age wound down, glaciers melted and withdrew Fagan, Brian M. The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America. (Up­ sooner along most coastlines than dated Edition). Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003. inland areas. Maritime warming Jablonski, Nina, Ed. The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the would have allowed an earlier New World. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 2002. migration of animals and people Madsen, D.B., Ed. Entering America: Northeast Asia and Beringia Before the along coastlines into the Americas. Last Glacial Maximum. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2004. There were only two methods NOAA Paleoclimatology Program www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ with which coastal people from Asia primer_histor_ y.html could have migrated along shorelines to North America. They could have

10 • COASTAL HERITAGE walked the entire distance. Or they have shaped driftwood with stone could have used boats. axes and scrapers. Bearded seal or Many recent studies on the glacial split walrus hides could have been history, climatic history, sea-level sewn together and stretched over changes, and archaeology and paleo- the frame. These boats would have ecology of the Northwest Coast show been tough, light, flexible, and CHAIN REACTION that a coastal route was open before an capable of carrying heavy loads. inland corridor, says Carole Mandryk, a Ancient Asian migrants on Our ancient ancestors coped with geoarchaeologist at Harvard University. their route to America could have dramatic climate fluctuations, but now “The Northwest Coast was available lived in caves in coastal refuges or for the first time humans are contribut­ (for migration) at least two thousand built dugout shelters covered with ing significantly to global climate change, which could cause a violent, years earlier than the (ice-free inland) mammal skins. Perhaps they abrupt climate disruption. corridor.” burned driftwood or downed trees Over hundreds of thousands of By 16,000 years ago, glaciers along for fuel. They could have dug for years, intense cold periods called the shoreline route from Asia to clams, gathered and dried seaweed, glacials—popularly known as ice America had retreated inland. The and hunted seals and sea lions. ages—have been interspersed with coasts by then were covered in grass Maritime people did have briefer, much warmer periods called and trees and rich in wildlife. As a boats off the North American West interglacials. Glacial ages usually last about 90,000 years followed by result, people could have walked from Coast at least 13,000 years ago—or interglacials that average about northeastern Asia to North America about the same time as Clovis 10,000 years. Some warm periods last and farther south to Monte Verde on people arrived. Archaeologists have 5,000 years, others 20,000. the west coast of South America by excavated shell middens dated to The Earth’s natural state is very 14,500 years ago. 12,000 to 13,000 years old in the cold; its most common age is ice. But Or perhaps people built small boats Channel Islands off California, even the last glacial age was not uniformly cold; there were many tens of thousands of years ago in East which could have only been extreme, sudden temperature Asia and used them to travel to the reached by boat from the mainland. changes. New World. Glacier-free refuges began The oldest human bones—a The current interglacial has lasted to appear as early as 18,000 years ago woman’s—found in North America, about 12,000 years, and it has been along northern Pacific coastlines. excavated in the Channel Islands, an unusually stable period of warmth. Migrants could have rowed boats from are about 13,000 years old. Eventually the Earth will cool down again into another ice age. island to island, refuge to refuge, to “Paleoindians on the Channel Changes in the Earth’s orbit trigger America. Islands needed seaworthy boats to abrupt but long-term shifts in climate. In fact, an ancient Japanese get there,” says Erlandson. “They Wobbles in the Earth’s orbit alter the maritime culture did exist at least were on the Channel Islands about amount and distribution of solar 21,000 years ago. Seeking obsidian (a the same time as Clovis, so this radiation on the planet’s surface, volcanic rock) for toolmaking, showed that paleoindians had boats which strongly reshapes atmospheric Japanese at that time traveled by boat that were cruising about off the and ocean currents. Such currents are great movers of heat around the world, across open water about 35 miles to an Pacific.” particularly from the equator to the island in the Pacific Ocean east of The problem with the boat- temperate regions. When these present-day Tokyo. Ancient Japanese migration model, says David currents are altered, the Ear th can were adapted to a climate resembling Meltzer, an anthropologist at turn much warmer or much colder. that of the far northern Pacific, which Southern Methodist University, is Such natural disruptions have was warmed by an ocean current from that boats do not exist in the altered global climate many times in the geological record, sending the the south. Could early Japanese have archaeological record that far planet from warm-and-wet periods to traveled along the coastline to the back. “We lack any evidence of very cold-and-dry periods. Extreme land bridge connecting Asia and boats until the mid-Holocene changes in global climate have North America? times (5,000 to 6,000 years ago) occurred over periods as brief as 20 to Traditional Inuit technology along the Northwest Coast and 50 years. might provide an answer. Among some along the coast of Alaska. In the Today’s problem, many scientists native communities in Alaska, hunters absence of any evidence of boats say, is that no one knows whether human activities—such as burning still build large skin-on-frame canoes, whatsoever, you probably have fossil fuels—could set off a similar or umiaks, to catch sea mammals. them walking along coastlines. chain reaction in the Earth’s climate, Instead of using sawn lumber for The idea that people would be spawning another extreme swing in the umiak frame, ancient people could crossing entire oceans in the global temperature.

SPRING 2005 • 11 rafting technology that would have modern humans had the skills and been available in those days doesn’t tools enabling them to survive on the make a lot of sense to me.” land bridge in Arctic conditions However, northern maritime between Asia and North America Asians were probably notprovided crossing rootsearlier of than 30,000 years ago. large stretches of open water but University. If there are any ancient “It’s incomprehensible to me instead following theAmerican coastline, says gospelremains songs. of villages off the South that anything (human-made) at Mandryk. They could have traveled Carolina shoreline, they are buried Topper could be 50,000 years old,” by watercraft over short distances, under 300 to 400 feet of seawater. says Mandryk. “You can’t have people stopping at glacier-free islands and With current technology, it’s migrating to North America before coastal refuges along the way. They almost impossible to find where the they exist anywhere to migrate from.” were coastal people who could have earliest communities were located American archaeology, though, lived off marine resources but also along the ice-age coastlines of the is changing fast. There are untold hunted and fished inland along the Americas. The best ice-age coastal mysteries about the first Americans; banks of river valleys. sites exist in places like Monte facts are still buried underground and About 18,000 years ago, coastal Verde that were lifted by tectonic underwater. “We’re never arguing hunter-gatherers could have used activity above rising seas. from complete knowledge,” says Brad boats to migrate across the land’s edge Lepper of the Ohio Historical in the northern Pacific to reach A NEW CONSENSUS? Society. “Whenever someone reports California. Then, in a matter of ‘the oldest date site in Siberia,’ you centuries, hunter-gatherers could Today, scholars are increas- can bet that within a decade, another have moved south to Panama and ingly building a rough new consen- site will be found that’s earlier.” crossed the isthmus and then followed sus—that numerous small-scale A scientific consensus, moreover, the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico to groups arrived in the Americas at can be mistaken, Goodyear points the East Coast of North America. It various times. They probably out. Not long ago, scholars supported seems likely that they could have thus included hunter-gatherer bands the Clovis-first orthodoxy, which arrived at Topper perhaps by 16,000 that traveled through an ice-free many now say was dead wrong. to 17,000 years ago. corridor, people who walked here “The Western Hemisphere is a Many questions remain, how- along coastlines, perhaps in vast place,” says Goodyear, “and to ever. If the first Americans did arrive tandem with seal-boat groups over think that human beings, as clever as several thousand years before Clovis, many centuries, all from East Asia. they are, with the technologies they why haven’t archaeologists found The Clovis people could have knew how to create, couldn’t more evidence of them in North arrived in North America through somehow leak into this hemisphere America? Only a small number of an ice-free corridor following a (thousands of years before Clovis) genuine pre-Clovis sites exist in the coastal migration. “There is a seems the height of hubris to me Americas—and no human skeletons. striking correlation between the now. You have to leave all of these One reason may be that global opening of the ice-free corridor and hypotheses on the table. It’s not good warming following the last glacial the appearance of Clovis” artifacts enough anymore to say, ‘That’s maximum 20,000 years ago drowned in the archaeological record, says impossible.’ We have to leave our the evidence of coastal settlements. Meltzer. Or perhaps there was a minds open.” When glaciers shrank in response to near-simultaneous Clovis-first One hypothesis about the first rising temperatures, huge amounts of migration and a coastal migration. Americans, though, is gaining freshwater were released into the “You can have your cake and eat it, particularly strong support. The first oceans. Sea levels rose and swamped too.” explorers of the Americas followed river valleys and coastal plains. But East Asians could not have shorelines to arrive here. Tens of Coastlines moved steadily landward. migrated to North America as early thousands of years ago, people in East The Bering land bridge between Asia as 50,000 years ago, as Goodyear’s Asia were already living off the and North America disappeared “out-on-a-limb” preliminary resources of the littoral edge. And under water. findings at Topper suggest, many some hunter-gatherers were heading The shoreline off Charleston experts say. across open water in small vessels, 13,000 to 18,000 years ago was about The earliest archaeological site rowing into the unknown. Near the 60 to 70 miles farther east than it is where modern humans lived in beginnings of modern human history, today, according to Paul Gayes, a northeastern Siberia is only 29,000 we were already a coastal species, marine scientist at Coastal Carolina years old. There is no evidence that drawn to the sea.

12 • COASTAL HERITAGE COASTS INSPIRE MODERN HUMANITY

he first flowering of modern What stimulated the human complex language to share cultural intelligence might have been mind? William H. Calvin, a neurobi- meaning of beadworks and etchings. T stimulated along the edge of ologist at the University of Washing- The first behaviorally modern the ocean by our ancestors’ use of ton, argues that a new mental humans, Calvin writes, began to show coastal resources. operating system abruptly appeared the “cognitive ability to reduce the Our distant ancestors evolved on in humans—a “software upgrade” world around them to symbols Earth for about seven million years, that enhanced our ancestors’ ability expressed in words and art.” over which time some 20 different to anticipate and plan. So when did these symbols first known hominid species thrived and Did this revolution result from a occur? The oldest documented then disappeared. All are extinct now genetically based change in the modern human behavior has been but one—our species, Homo sapiens. wiring of our brains? Or did it emerge found in a cave on the southern Homo sapiens—anatomically from cultural adaptation—the innate Cape shore of the Indian Ocean in modern people who look like us— creativity of humans flowering to a South Africa. In Blombos Cave, evolved in Africa perhaps as early as higher potential? Or both? archaeologists excavated sophisti- 160,000 years ago. Although modern- When humans experienced this cated hunting and fishing tools, style humans were physically less robust burst of creativity, they also necklace beads, and engraved ochre than any of their predecessors, early probably began creating complex pieces, dating from about 75,000 Homo sapiens were blessed with the sentences that made sense to other years ago, according to studies by large brain that we have today. humans. People developed language archaeologist Christopher S. Even so, early anatomically syntax—the logical patterns within Henshilwood and his colleagues. modern humans strings of About 80,000 years ago, the lacked our capacity for words—to world was growing much colder as complex thought. communi- the ice age accelerated to a deep They continued to use cate. Such freeze. In East Africa, the changing relatively primitive innovations climate made water and prey scarcer; stone tools for allowed our savannah was turning to steppe and thousands of years. ancestors to desert. Some populations began But about 80,000 play games moving to ribbons of coast where to 50,000 years ago that had they could exploit food resources Homo sapiens began a intricate from the sea but also hunt land remarkably rapid rules, to animals nearby. intellectual transfor- break down The southern Cape about mation. and under- 75,000 years ago had a moderate During this period stand how climate and more consistently available resources than inland areas. people began fashion- The oldest documented modern human things work, Archaeologists suggest that ing more sophisticated behavior has been found in Blombos Cave and to inland people migrating to the coast tools—buttons, on the South African coast. experiment needles, and har- and pass on competed for resources with people poons—from a variety what they already living there. Both popula- of materials: ivory, antler, and shell. had learned through stories and tions could have created more They also started creating art in the intergenerational lessons. complex social relations to share form of carvings, engravings, orna- Researchers point to two those resources, which spawned the ments, and cave paintings; keeping behaviors that especially indicate world’s first known art forms. records on bone and stone plaques; modern behavior and both involve Temperate weather and a more making music on wind instruments; art forms: people intentionally diverse food supply near the sea in a and organizing increasingly complex drawing or carving images on cave time of rapid climate change could hunting and fishing practices. walls or other materials; and people have encouraged cooperation among This burst of creativity is what we using ornaments such as beads. various populations, which pushed associate today with modern human Art is interwoven with higher Homo sapiens on the path to modern intelligence and behavior. language skills. Humans need human consciousness.

SPRING 2005 • 13 Solutions to Coastal Clovis in the Southeast 3rd International Disasters Conference Conference Symposium on Deep- 2005 Columbia, South Carolina Sea Corals Charleston, South Carolina Oct. 26–29, 2005 Miami, Florida May 8–11, 2005 Nov. 28–Dec. 2, 2005 This conference will consist of This is a conference for coastal programs, exhibits, and traditional Understanding the ecosystem planners, managers, scientists, scientific presentations, concluding role, function, and value of deep-sea engineers, geologists, economists, with a tour of South Carolina’s Big Pine corals and associated fauna has oceanographers, meteorologists, Tree and Topper sites. Presenting a become a priority topic for many property owners, elected officials, scientific summary of Clovis in the national governments and interna- and others interested in the coast. Southeast, the conference will address tional regional resource management Conference topics will focus on the issues such as Clovis origins, dating, bodies. This international symposium science and management of erosion, geoarchaeological issues, Clovis will facilitate global exchange of hurricanes, coastal storms, tsunamis, technology, and site variation. For more current scientific knowledge on deep- seismic events, climate change, sea information, visit www.allendale- sea corals and associated fauna and to level rise, and wind hazards. For expedition.net/csc.html discuss possible statutory means more information, visit available to conserve and protect www.asce.org/conferences/cd05/ deep-sea habitat. For more informa- tion, visit conference.ifas.ufl.edu/coral

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14 • COASTAL HERITAGE