The Settlement Of The Americas A New Prehistory [Hardcover]

Thomas D. Dillehay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000

Who were the first Americans? Where did they come from, when did they get here, and how did they settle the Americas? Until three years ago, the “Clovis” people were credited as the pioneers, arriving across the Bering land bridge at the end of the last Ice Age, no earlier than 12,000 B.C. Now that standard scientific account has been demolished.As the principal investigator since 1977 at Monte Verde, Chile, the most important site in overturning the old theories, Thomas Dillehay spent many years being dismissed for his insistence on the presence of “impossibly” ancient human artifacts dating back 20,000 years. In the past few years he has been soundly vindicated, and in this book he presents a highly readable account of who the earliest settlers are likely to have been, where they may have landed, and how they dispersed across two continents.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Archaeology is radically rewriting American prehistory. Since 1932, when exquisite stone points were first discovered at Clovis in New Mexico, accepted theory has asserted that humans did not begin to populate the New World until the retreat of glaciers that were blocking entry from Asia about 12,000 years ago. Then, in 1997, a group of archaeologists confirmed that objects found preserved in a peat bog in the far south of Chile--stone tools, bones, even chunks of mastodon meat--could securely be dated to at least 12,500 years ago. In The Settlement of the Americas, Thomas D. Dillehay--the archaeologist who excavated this material--gives his reasons for believing that people reached the Americas before the ice sheets moved south more than 20,000 years ago. It is a fascinating detective story based on tantalizingly meager data, one in which logic and a powerful imagination are required to fill vast blank areas in the geography and prehistory of two continents. The author sets the scene at a time when so much water was locked up in glaciers that coastlines were several hundred feet lower than they are now. Scientific studies such as stone-tool technology, linguistics, and genetics are used to build an overwhelming argument. Academic battles can be as bitter as any others, and the author is ruthless in his demolition of rival theories. Every scientist has his own bias, and this study is heavily weighted toward South American evidence, but Dillehay's interpretations appear to be objective and well-argued. The Settlement of the Americas answers basic questions, such as who were the first Americans and how did they colonize an empty land, in an exciting and readable way. --John Stevenson

From Publishers Weekly

In a gripping and groundbreaking new study, University of Kentucky anthropologist Dillehay (Monte Verde: A Late Pleistocene Settlement in Chile) pushes back by at least 1,000 years our estimates of when the New World was first settled. He challenges a long-held beliefAthat the first inhabitants of the Americas were the so-called Clovis people, a big-game-hunting culture who came through North America starting 11,200 years ago and reached South America even later. Drawing on his 20-plus years of research at Monte Verde, in Chile, he argues that South America was inhabited by 12,500 years ago. Indeed, he suggests, there were multiple pre-Clovis migrations to the Americas from several different points in Asia and possibly other parts of the world. Thus, the continent was a land of great cultural diversity at least 11,000 years ago. Dillehay also offers some evidence that these populations were physically as well as culturally diverse; he postulates that late Pleistocene America was the world's first real ethnic melting pot. The first Americans, he argues, do not fit into any of our contemporary categories of race or ethnicity. Writing in accessible but still scientifically rigorous prose, the anthropologist does a good job of supporting his controversial claims with solid radiocarbon dating and other evidence; his passion for and mastery of the topic make for an impressive narrative. Whether or not future scholarship confirms Dillehay's theories, this is a valuable book for anyone interested in archeology, early American settlements or the history of science. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465076688
• ISBN-13: 978-0465076680
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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104 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not without controversy, May 14, 2000

By 

Richard S. Sullivan (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Settlement Of The Americas A New Prehistory (Hardcover)

At first glance this book looks like popular account of the early peopleing of North and South America. It is instead a serious semi-scholarly work -- a polemic if you will -- challenging long held beliefs about the migration of people to the New World.

Dilleyhay is best known for his archeological work at a site in Monte Verde Chile. After nearly 25 years of hard work Dillehay has pushed back the time frame for the earliest migration to around 15000 B.P. and hints that it could be pushed back to 25000 B.P. or even further. Conventional wisdom has held the Clovis people, known by their unique projectile points, were the earliest migrants arriving here around 11000 B.P. Since 1930, says Dillehay, the archeology community has held tenaciously to the Clovis belief and often dismissing any contrary evidence, sometimes with great creativity. His work has now convinced all but the most dedicated Clovisites within the archeological community.

Falling along with the Clovis paradigm is the long held belief of the ethnic origins of the earliest migrants. Dillehay tiptoes about on these issues as they touch on sacred beliefs of current Native Americans and he only briefly discusses these issues at the summation of the book. You can almost hear the little voice inside him saying "Don't go there."

This is not a book for the casual reader. Two of the chapters are chock full of brief discussions on sites, dates, and the Who's Who of current archeology. In the appendix is 25 pages of radiocarbon dates for various sites. There are many arguments concerning bifacial vs unifacial stone tools and their implications. None of the book was over my head though he did expect us to know what obsidian hydration dating was.

Since this author stands out like an elk with a red bulls-eye painted on him during hunting season, I fully expect some flame reviews here in due time.

My interest is only slightly more than casual and I have no archeological expertise from which to judge his work in the total. I did find the book of interest though it was bit more than I was looking for. He is clearly arguing his point to his peers. It did however, whet my appetite for a more general survey of this fascinating topic.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Settlement of the Deep South., August 20, 2000

By 

Tony Harper (Lake Zurich, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Settlement Of The Americas A New Prehistory (Hardcover)

As a reader who is well outside any professional understanding of archeology but who is also very interested in the topic of the earliest Americans, I can strongly recommend Dillehay's, The Settlement of the Americas, although the title should perhaps be modified to reflect the emphasis on South America as the focus of study. This book is clearly written, well organized, and covers the length and breadth of the topic geographically, technically, and intellectually. Of particular interest are chapters 10 and 11 which offer creative insights into the mode, tempo, and motivation for the invasion-through-colonization process that must have happened on our side of the world. It is refreshing to have a researcher go beyond the mechanistic data of demography, technology, ecology, etc. and plumb the depths of the cognitive side of our prehistory. Dillehay does this well.

A word of caution though, the dating of many of the sites mentioned is still tentative, but at times the author gives the impression, at least to this reader, that the chronology is written in stone...no pun intended. One has only to read Anna Roosevelt's recent review in Scientific American, as unnecessarily acidic as it was, to get the idea that the branch of the archeological family dealing with the early prehistory of our hemisphere is an intemperate one, expecially concerning temporal matters! Also, a minor criticism could be raised about the quality of the illustrations.

Putting these two criticisms aside, Dillehay has written an exceptional book that is worth the read by anyone interested in the initial colonization of the Americas, and a book whose final chapter, Lingering Questions, will leave the reader pondering the colonization process for some time to come.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking., February 11, 2003

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Settlement Of The Americas A New Prehistory (Paperback)

While Dillehay's book The Settlement of the Americas refers to both the northern and southern continents, it is primarily concerned with the archaeological evidence from South America, giving a thorough assessment of data from several sites. I suspect that the middle chapters on lithic technology may be less than engrossing to the average reader, but there is still much of interest for anyone interested in the topic. The author discusses the current debate, and while he has his own opinion, his assessment of the data is not overly credulous. In particular the heated contentions over the date and significance of the Pedra Furada site of Brazil are evaluated with a balance and thoroughness that is open minded but professional. The author's attention to taphonomy, geological processes, and off site data in the interpretation of the significance of on site finds is very good. It certainly shows the reader how archaeological data are interpreted and what the problems in doing so are. It also highlights why there is still so much disagreement between researchers.

The author, Thomas Dillehay is a professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky and has conducted extensive research into the subject of early American origins. He has done research at Monte Verde in Chile, in Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay. The Monte Verde site, discussed at some length in the book, is particularly significant as it preserved many usually perishable artifacts that encapsulate a much fuller understanding of the lifestyle of the people living there than is usually the case with sites that preserve mostly only lithic cultural materials.

Of interest to me, if for no other reason that it had not occurred to me, is the author's note that some of the confusion over the first peopling of the Americas may be due to the fact that our information may be confusing itself. The author looks at things such as the possible back flow from the Americas to Siberia and Asia which may have mixed the genetics of the populations under study. While he notes that it is currently not provable, the fact that it might have been possible cannot be neglected. He also notes that skeletal material from the earliest period is conspicuously absent and that this may represent a paradigm shift necessitated by survival in new territories by the immigrants or a research bias based upon expectations drawn from research conducted in the Old World environment. He notes that until we are ready to shake free of preconceptions, we will probably not make much real headway.

The greatest contribution of the book to my own stock pile of information is the concept that the major factor affecting the survival and spread of modern humans in any environment may have been a change in the mental equipment of the human being. This may have been the ultimate change that divides the anatomically human from the intellectually human being. In particular the author speaks of cognitive maps involved with an exploring skill. Here too might reside the social skills required to roam into unknown territory , a willingness to take environmental risks based upon an effective evaluation of the costs and benefits of such a move and an ability to fall back on long range social contacts that spread out risk. Much has been written about the possible insurance activities in which Southwestern pueblo groups may have participated in a climatically unstable environment, but little-to my knowledge-has been made of the importance of these same risk-reducing social paradigms among even earlier human groups. Perhaps the reason that modern humans were able to spread as successfully as they did to every inhabitable environment on earth has to do with this capacity to maintain social links over long ranges. By these links, however great the temporal or spacial distance, early people could exchange information, mates, and help. Perhaps even shared links of tradition, remembered by elders much as they were and are among Arab groups, provided a measure of long term connection even after long separations. If one can recount ones linage back to a common ancestral root one can make claims of charity.

An intriguing book.