Solutrean points + Siberian dogs = Clovis?
I have had several long half-written draft posts languishing, some for months, others years, but it seems the thing that’s going to actually move me towards publishing is the urgency of the spinning wheel of speculation.
This morning I woke to find the science section of Google News lit up with a story about the original American dogs which seem to have had different genetics that Old World dogs, with the split occurring perhaps 16,000 years ago.
To me this seems to fit well with my arm-chair hypothesis outlined in an earlier post.
As I see it, the first humans to reach North America may have been a genetically “Siberian” group coming from what is now Spain via the nutrient-rich margins of Atlantic sea ice. They may have been moderately successful, and their lithic technology was already beginning to resemble Clovis technology, but total domination of the continent was held in check by the formidable short-faced bear, which may have been able to chase humans off of larger kills. Humans may have been wily, but they were not yet the apex predator. The next group of genetically “Siberian” humans to arrive (this time from Siberia!) came with dogs, but had a different lithic technology. One group borrowed the others technology – lithic or canine – and the new, improved group went on to dominate the continent.
We’ll see if emerging science continues to favor this hypothesis…