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Early settlement of North America position paper

Many traditional theories developed to suggest the movement of many Paleoindian hunters from North Asia having crossed to America about 13,000 years ago. The arrival of these Paleoindian groups saw a retreated of the Pleistocene retreat to the north even though the environmental conditions in those days were way colder than the current conditions. The conditions during the glacial period have improved with modern environment existing. This essay North to compare and contrast the ways of life that the early Paleoindian groups had with those of the late Paleoindian group with a focus on their population distribution and density, their general practices, their environment, mobility, strategy in settlement and also their technologies. The archaeologist over the years North appreciated the enhanced technology and different methods developed to enhance the reconstruction of evolution and development.

The Clovis culture is recognized as one of the first group to enter the now Canada and North America during the glacier periods as Wisconsin is regarded as the latest glacial episode in North America ice sheet complex (Stanford, Dennis and Bradley). The Clovis cultures name was developed from Clovis town in New Mexico whereby the character of the traditional technology and evidence of subsistence was first recorded. Stone tools and sharp-edged blades in these sites for the Clovis culture. The late Paleoindian had more advanced technology with the invention of various modern era tools such as wheels that were used to make work easier. The Clovis group cultures subsistence practices mainly involved hunting whereby they are recorded to have a part in the extinction of animals such as the giant mammoths as their tools have been discovered in relation to bones of the ice age animals (Gates, Lawrence, 1138). The Clovis tools archaeologist of high-quality stone. The late paleo Indian groups relied on other means of subsistence practices as tools found depicting the incorporation of farming and reliance on animals (Stanford, Dennis and Bradley). The early paleoenvironmental conditions that the first settlement groups encountered was completely different from the experience of the late Paleoindian groups who in time had adapted as climate change had begun to take effect (Mosley-Thompson, Ellen, et al,200). With the ice age era that saw the ice age and North America have cooler temperatures that in the late Paleoindian groups saw the retreating of the ice sheets over time causing the global temperatures to increase rapidly as the coastline was moving inland. The interval saw a rapid extinction of animals and plants in the north that gave way to the modern plants and animals in the north.

The Clovis group and migrated as they hunted the now-extinct animals as compared to the late Paleoindian groups who had settled as a result of farming. The settlement of the Clovis group is rather scattered as their remains are found in Mexico and far south to Venezuela and most parts of North America (Stanford, Dennis and Bradley). Their settlement strategies included that of hunters and gathering as the late paleo Indian had embraced the industrialization and farming settling in a specific place and urban centers such as Kentucky localities. The Clovis group travelled in a group of many people and families as compared to the late Paleoindian group that settled with members of the family that were up to 10 in number. The cloves group established early regional population groups as the late Paleoindian groups adapted to this form of settlements (Stanford, Dennis and Bradley). The Clovis culture group mobility was often on foot in small bands of at least twenty people and they travelled over large distance areas. They stayed at camp over a certain length of time with their diet although not fully proven consisting game and other animal meat. The late Paleoindian groups rapidly moved as they exhausted food in a certain region with the use of tools assembled and discarded over time (Buchanan, Briggs, Collard, and Edenborough, pg. 11652)

The archaeological interpretation of the cultures especially of the late and early Clovis group has often been based on the cultural evidence recorded. The Clovis groups are developed the Clovis culture which is referred to as the Paleoamerican culture whereby these groups are said to be the ancestors of a number of cultures in America (Buchanan, Briggs, Collard, and Edenborough, 11652). The Clovis culture as interpreted from evidence is quite different from the early Paleoindian culture that archaeologists define as the ice age (Gates, Lawrence, pg. 1138). In which the first humans appeared in North America according to the archaeological record. In ecological study and development of late Paleoindian and early Clovis behavior, the recent excavation at Wisconsin suggests that the people from this era employed a generalized foraging strategy that in line with paleoenvironment data utilized the use of a range of animals for development of their subsistence arrays(Mosley-Thompson, Ellen, et al pg. 204).

Works cited

Buchanan, Briggs, Mark Collard, and Kevan Edinborough. “Paleoindian demography and the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.33 (2008): 11651-11654.

Gates, W. Lawrence. “Modeling the ice-age climate.” Science 191.4232 (1976): 1138-1144.

Mosley-Thompson, Ellen, et al. “Little ice age (neoglacial) paleoenvironmental conditions at siple station, Antarctica.” Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 199-204.

Stanford, Dennis J., and Bruce A. Bradley. Across Atlantic ice: the origin of America’s Clovis culture. Univ of California Press, 2012.