Abstract
Human beings had to have come from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western, since Homo sapiens sapiens originated in the Eastern Hemisphere. We ask: from where in the Eastern Hemisphere did the Amerindians come? How did they reach the New World? When did this happen? We summarize the available literature insofar as possible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
There are many routes for traveling from one place to another. The old Santa Fe Trail is a good example. Wagon trains took many different routes, but they all ended in Santa Fe, New Mexico, supposedly at the La Fonda Hotel. Ancient people probably were no different. We cannot visualize the Ancestors lining up in Asia, one behind the other, and all following an identical route to the Western Hemisphere.
Because Homo sapiens has been in Australia for many millennia and because there does not appear to have been a land connection to the Asian mainland, it is thought that he/she must have come by water sometime in the remote past.
Morison (1971). By about 800 A.D. the Scandinavians were roaming the North Atlantic Ocean. There are stories about Irish religious earlier sailing over the North Atlantic to North America, but these earlier voyages, if there were such, have not been verified (see also Sauer 1968).
Language and blood tests have been studied in an effort to determine relationships between the Siberians and the Amerindians. But the results are too inconclusive to be more than suggestive. For additional information about Indian languages, see Austerlitz (1980). See also Ruhlen (1987) on languages and Zegura (1987) on blood.
The problem of dating these ancient findings is discussed in some detail in conjunction with each early man finding. Apparently dating to within 100,000 years or so, during the Pleistocene may be the best that can be done with present technologies.
Stringer (1988). His article is based on a more technical article by Valladas et al. (1988).
Many of these sites are described by Shutler (1983), and in many journal articles by Childers and Marshall (e.g., Bordon 1979 and others).
Following are some of the many reports that describe these measures of time past. A general review is that of Berger (1983). Some technical articles on carbon-14 or radiocarbon dating are Hogg (1982), Stuiver and Polach (1977), and Olson (1963). Marshall (1990) reviews some recent developments.
See Moore, A. M. T.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jaffe, A.J. (1992). Origins and Entry into the New World. In: The First Immigrants from Asia. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27570-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27570-3_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6988-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27570-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive