World Report: May 10, 1996 Vol.1 No.25
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
Clues From An Ancient Civilization
The cave must have been a cool place to rest after a hot day of gathering food in the Amazon rain forest. At dusk, children may have finger-painted with mineral ores on the damp rocky walls as their parents cracked Brazil nuts and sharpened their hunting tools.
Thousands of years later, archaeologists have uncovered this ancient campsite in a Brazilian cave. The paintings on the walls, including kids' handprints and nutshells, are clues that people lived here 11,000 years ago. These clues from a dark cave, first described in Science magazine last month, are shedding new light on the history of the first Americans.
An Important Discovery
Archaeologist Anna Roosevelt and other scientists began exploring the Cave of the Painted Rock in 1990. They had learned about the cave from local people. Scraping gently at the walls and floor, the team uncovered traces of prehistoric life: painted stick figures and animals, handprints, fish bones and tools. They soon realized who had left these things behind: some of the earliest Americans, called Paleoindians
(Pay-lee-oh-in-dee-ans).
The walls of the cave seemed to speak to the scientists--and what they said was full of surprises. Cave paintings suggested an artistic, fun side to the Paleoindians. Charred wood and palm seeds showed that they had settled down in the rain forest and used the cave as a place to eat, cook and work. Scientific tests on spearpoints and other objects revealed that the cave people had been there at least 11,000 years ago.
There Goes The Clovis Theory
Why was all this so surprising? Because it didn't fit with scientists' ideas on how humans first came to America. Researchers have long believed that people first arrived from Asia about 11,500 years ago, crossing the Bering land bridge. Hunting mastodons and bison, they swept quickly through North America and later trickled down into South America.
The main evidence for this idea is ancient spearpoints found throughout North America, all about 11,500 years old. The idea is called the Clovis theory, because the spearpoints were first found in Clovis, New Mexico, in 1932.
But if humans didn't reach North America until 11,500 years ago, how could they be living at Painted Rock at around the same time? And if the first Americans were hunters on the move, why do the people of Painted Rock seem to have been so settled? Roosevelt admits, "We don't know where they came from or how they got to the Amazon."
The Clovis theory has always presented problems. Many scientists don't believe that early immigrants could have moved so swiftly through North America. Says archaeologist James Adovasio: "Humans don't sprint through their environment."
A bigger problem is the discovery of very old tools and fire pits in South America. Painted Rock is not the only example. Archaeologist Tom Dillehay has found traces of human life in Chile that are 12,000 years old. Other sites seem to date back 20,000 years! "The Clovis theory does not work for South America," says Dillehay.
New Explanations
Many archaeologists now believe that the first Americans came well before 11,500 years ago. One far-out idea is that immigrants may have island-hopped across the Pacific Ocean.
The Cave of the Painted Rock has made scientists more determined to dig up the truth about the first settlers. They want to paint a complete picture of the life and adventurous journeys of these ancient people.
The First Americans
Scientists believe the first people to reach America came from Asia. They crossed at the Bering land bridge, which once connected the areas that are now Russia and Alaska. Spearpoints found at Clovis, New Mexico, show that some settlers came about 11,500 years ago and moved rapidly southward. But new discoveries in South America, including the Cave of the Painted Rock, hint that some people may have come as early as 30,000 years ago. They may have traveled by sea or crossed giant ice sheets that covered much of Canada.
