The Upper Paleolithic of the Americas

ABSTRACT

Substantial archaeological and genetic data suggest that the initial occupation of the Americas is more complex and diverse than previously thought. As evidence for multiple patterns and/or adaptive strategies in distinct areas of the western hemisphere emerge, the terminology remains incoherent. Most terms are applied arbitrarily, incorporate “Clovis,” or refer only to single populations and not the chronological period. We argue for inclusion of “Upper Paleolithic” to any reference terminology concerning the Last Glacial Maximum occupations of the Americas. Using archaeological and genetic data as a benchmark, we assess the current chronology of this period and discuss the parallels between Old and New World technologies. We argue that the patterns in the Americas are rooted in the Old World and this term provides a connection to global archaeological patterns. The term “Upper Paleolithic” should be adopted as a terminological and chronological marker for the earliest human occupation of the Americas.

KEYWORDS:

• Peopling of the Americas
• Last Glacial Maximum
• paleogenetics
• New World Upper Paleolithic

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Michael Collins, Bruce Bradley, D. Clark Wernecke, and Nancy Velchoff for comments and concerns raised during the early formation of this manuscript and to Evelyn Seelinger who carefully copy edited this manuscript. We sincerely thank Loren Davis, Jon Erlandson, and Ciprian Ardelean for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. TJW would like to thank C. Britt Bousman for his helpful discussions on genetics and dating which led, eventually, to this paper. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers who, while generally supportive of our ideas, provided a number of useful suggestions, and to Ted Goebel for his support. Finally, we would also like to thank the members, volunteers, and donors of The Gault School of Archaeological Research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Thomas J. Williams is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Prehistory Research Project in the Anthropology Department, Texas State University. His research focus is the Upper Paleolithic of the Americas and specifically the stone tool technology, manufacturing processes and the broader patterns in global human expansion. He is currently researching the earliest human occupations of the Gault Site in Central Texas, USA.

David B. Madsen, “The Supreme Wonder of the World”, is retired from the Utah Geological Society, where he was director of paleoenvironmental programs for 10 years, and from the Utah Division of State History, where he filled the position of State Archaeologist for 20 years. He currently holds adjunct positions at the University of Texas, Texas State University, Texas A&M University, and Lanzhou University in China. His research has focused on paleoenvironmental reconstruction and the study of hunter-gatherer archaeology in arid lands, including the Bonneville basin of western Utah and the deserts of north-central China and Tibet. In 2004, he edited the book Entering America: Northeast Asia and Beringia before the Last Glacial Maximum.

ORCID

Thomas J. Williams http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2945-6581