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1. The Coastal Migration Theory: Formulation and Testable Hypotheses

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106605  

   Davis, Loren G.; Madsen, David B. (October 2020, Quaternary science reviews)

   null (Ed.)

   The presence of well-documented sites in the Americas predating and south of the opening of an ice-free corridor in the North American ice sheets lends credence to a Pacific coastal migration theory (CMT) explaining the route for the initial peopling of the Americas. This theory has been informally discussed for more than 50 years, but until recently, has been largely ignored and never properly defined as a result. We provide a formal definition of the CMT which, briefly stated, is that Upper Paleolithic populations moved from Asia to coastal regions along the northwestern Pacific Rim between ~45-30 ka. By ~30 ka these coastal populations developed a mixed maritime, nearshore, and terrestrial adaptation involving the use of boats, shell fishhooks for deep-water fishing, and a stemmed point and macroblade core technology. About 25-24 ka a subset of these coastal populations became isolated somewhere in the vicinity of the Japan/Paleo-Hokkaido, Sahkalin, Kuril (PSHK) region, developing genetically into the ancient Native American (ANA) populations that eventually settled the Americas. Between ~22-16 ka these ANA people began migrating by foot and boat along the southern Beringian coast and down the Alaskan and Canadian coastline into the Americas south of the continental ice sheets before eventually expanding inland. We develop a series of testable hypotheses through which the CMT can be examined. 

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2. Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, USA, ~16,000 years ago

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9830  

   Davis, Loren G.; Madsen, David B.; Becerra-Valdivia, Lorena; Higham, Thomas; Sisson, David A.; Skinner, Sarah M.; Stueber, Daniel; Nyers, Alexander J.; Keen-Zebert, Amanda; Neudorf, Christina; et al (August 2019, Science)

   Radiocarbon dating of the earliest occupational phases at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho indicates that people repeatedly occupied the Columbia River basin, starting between 16,560 and 15,280 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Artifacts from these early occupations indicate the use of unfluted stemmed projectile point technologies before the appearance of the Clovis Paleoindian tradition and support early cultural connections with northeastern Asian Upper Paleolithic archaeological traditions. The Cooper’s Ferry site was initially occupied during a time that predates the opening of an ice-free corridor (≤14,800 cal yr B.P.), which supports the hypothesis that initial human migration into the Americas occurred via a Pacific coastal route. 

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3. North American Clovis Point Form and Performance: An Experimental Assessment of Penetration Depth

   https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2020.1794358  

   Eren, Metin I.; Story, Brett; Perrone, Alyssa; Bebber, Michelle; Hamilton, Marcus; Walker, Robert; Buchanan, Briggs (July 2020, Lithic Technology)

   In Late Pleistocene North America colonizing hunter-gatherers knapped and used Clovis fluted projectile points. During their expansion the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Archaeologists know that cultural drift contributed to this variation, but is it possible that this single source could alone generate so much variation so quickly? We present the first of several experimental studies exploring whether Clovis size and shape variation results in performance differences, focusing here on how deeply different Clovis point forms penetrate a target. Our ballistics experiment demonstrates that seven different Clovis point forms penetrated the same target with different effectiveness. Even after tip cross-sectional perimeter is accounted for, there are significant differences in penetration depths between two of the point types. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that Clovis people in different times and places may have chosen specific attributes to provide them with a selective functional advantage. 

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4. Mammoth featured heavily in Western Clovis diet

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr3814  

   Chatters, James C; Potter, Ben A; Fiedel, Stuart J; Morrow, Juliet E; Jass, Christopher N; Wooller, Matthew J (December 2024, Science Advances)

   Ancient Native American ancestors (Clovis) have been interpreted as either specialized megafauna hunters or generalist foragers. Supporting data are typically indirect (toolkits, associated fauna) or speculative (models, actualistic experiments). Here, we present stable isotope analyses of the only known Clovis individual, the 18-month-old Anzick child, to directly infer maternal protein diet. Using comparative fauna from this region and period, we find that mammoth was the largest contributor to Clovis diet, followed by elk and bison/camel, while the contribution of small mammals was negligible, broadly consistent with the Clovis zooarchaeological record. When compared with second-order consumers, the Anzick-1 maternal diet is closest to that of scimitar cat, a mammoth specialist. Our findings are consistent with the Clovis megafaunal specialist model, using sophisticated technology and high residential mobility to subsist on the highest ranked prey, an adaptation allowing them to rapidly expand across the Americas south of the Pleistocene ice sheets. 

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5. Late Pleistocene onset of mutualistic human/canid ( Canis spp.) relationships in subarctic Alaska

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads1335  

   Lanoë, François; Reuther, Joshua; Fields, Stormy; Potter, Ben; Smith, Gerad; McKinney, Holly; Halffman, Carrin; Holmes, Charles; Mills, Robin; Crass, Barbara; et al (December 2024, Science Advances)

   Large canids (wolves, dogs, and coyote) and people form a close relationship in northern (subarctic and arctic) socioecological systems. Here, we document the antiquity of this bond and the multiple ways it manifested in interior Alaska, a region key to understanding the peopling of the Americas and early northern lifeways. We compile original and existing genomic, isotopic, and osteological canid data from archaeological, paleontological, and modern sites. Results show that in contrast to canids recovered in non-anthropic contexts, canids recovered in association with human occupations are markedly diverse. They include multiple species and intraspecific lineages, morphological variation, and diets ranging from terrestrial to marine. This variation is expressed along both geographic and temporal gradients, starting in the terminal Pleistocene with canids showing high marine dietary estimates. This paper provides evidence of the multiple ecological relationships between canids and people in the north—from predation, probable commensalism, and taming, to domestication—and of their early onset. 

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