Clovis Peoples Not First in N. America

via National Geographic.

New and more accurate radiocarbon dating of previously dated Clovis culture artifacts leads scientists to believe that the Clovis peoples were not the first humans in Norht America, as had been previously believed. The new results show that the Clovis period was both later in time and of far shorter duration (200 years) than thought, which would not give that culture time to travel all the way to South America.

Finds in South America dating to the same time have been found without the distinctive Clovis features, leading to the conclusion that the Americas were already peopled when the Clovis culture arrived. The existing population did probably adapt Clovis technology when it appeared, however. The theories about the human migration of the Americas are probably far more complicated than we ever believed. With new findings regarding the peopling of Australia by sea as early as 40,000 years ago, the technology certainly existed for people to arrive in the Western hemisphere much earlier than Clovis.