The great Journey : the peopling of ancient America / Brian M. Fagan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fagan, Brian M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians--Origin.

Indians.

Paleo-Indians--Migrations.

Paleo-Indians.

Human beings--Bering Land Bridge--Migrations.

Human beings.

America--Antiquities.

America.

Antiquities.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 288 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Edition:

Updated edition, second paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2004.

Summary:

Widely regarded as a classic, The Great Journey tells the story of one of archaeology's great controversies: How, where, when, and why did human beings take the first steps in their journey to populate North America? In this new edition updating the debates and discoveries that have occurred since the late 1980s, internationally renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan fills us in on the latest archaeological findings on both sides of the Bering Strait. Fagan sets forth different scenarios for first settlement, the controversies over the extinction of large Ice Age animals, and a brief overview of cultural developments since the time of the Paleo-Indians. He includes new genetic and linguistic research that amplifies earlier theories, assesses the importance of global warming to first settlement, and evaluates the various routes that brought Stone Age hunter-gatherers from Siberia into North America and beyond. Illustrated with 126 photographs, line drawings, and maps, Fagan's account provides an entertaining and thorough assessment of what we know about the first Americans.

Contents:

Introduction: An Archaeological Drama 7

Part 1 Ideas

1. Friars, Antiquarians, and Moundbuilders 15

2. Palaeoliths and Extinct Animals 35

Part 2 Ancestry

3. In the Beginning 59

Act 1, scene 1 Africa, Europe, and Asia from about 2 million to 35,000 years ago

4. Modern Humans Take the Stage 73

Act 1, scene 2 Europe and Asia 35,000 to 15,000 years ago

Part 3 The Crossing

5. Beringia 101

Act 2, scene 1 The Bering Strait 35,000 to 15,000 years ago

6. Alaska and the Yukon Territory 119

Act 2, scene 2 The northwestern reaches of the New World

Part 4 The First Americans

7. The Ice-Free Corridor? 137

Interlude

8. On the Track of the Earliest Settlers 145

Act 3, scene 1 The Americas before 11,500 years ago

9. The Clovis People and their Forebears 177

Act 3, scene 2 North America at the end of the Ice Age

Part 5 The Great Diversity

10. The Bison Hunters 199

11. The Northern World 221.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-276) and index.

ISBN:

081302756X

OCLC:

54611275