Un-erasing the Indigenous Paleolithic: Rewriting the Ancient Past of the Western Hemisphere (the Americas)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Beyond Pre-Clovis: Human Occupations in the Americas during the Last Glacial Maximum and the Perpetual Debate" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the Americas, human occupation prior to 14,000 years ago has historically been denied by archaeologists. The traditional Western archaeological story argues that Indigenous people have been in the Western Hemisphere for 12–15 kya. Archaeologists’ denial of the deep Indigenous past of the Americas has cleaved Indigenous people’s links to their homeland and created them as recent immigrants to the Americas. In studying paleo-environmental evidence, paleo-mammalian migrations, and oral histories and weaving them through archaeological evidence of Pleistocene-aged archaeological sites, I argue that Indigenous people were present in the Western Hemisphere before the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum of 24,000 kya. It is clear that many archaeologists now accept an earlier time frame for initial human occupations in the Western Hemisphere. However, it remains to be discussed how racism and bias have impacted the field of archaeology in the Americas, Indigenous communities, and the general population. Reclaiming and rewriting Indigenous histories and relinking Indigenous people to their ancient homelands is a path to healing for Indigenous people. Understanding Indigenous people’s links to homelands in the deep past leads to decolonizing minds and hearts and informs and addresses racism and discrimination in contemporary populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Pre-Clovis: Human Occupations in the Americas during the Last Glacial Maximum and the Perpetual Debate   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51418