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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 |
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How And When The Americas Were Peopled
We quote from R. Gruhn's abstract in the journal Man.
"A study of aboriginal language distributions supports Knut Fladmark's hypothesis that the initial source of entry of peoples into the New World was along the Pacific Coast rather than through the interior ice-free corridor. The greatest diversification of aboriginal languages, as indicated by the number of language isolates and major subdivisions of language phyla, is observed on the Pacific Northwest Coast, in California, on the northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, in Middle America, and in South America. Following a conventional principle of historical linguistics, it is assumed that the development of language diversification is proportional to time depth of human occupation of an area. A review of the archeological evidence from the areas of greatest language diversification indicates a time depth of at least 35,000 years for human occupation of most of the Americas."
(Gruhn, Ruth; "Linguistic Evidence in Support of the Coastal Route of Earliest Entry into the New World," Man, 23:77, 1988. Cr. E. Ferget.)
Comment. Did that last sentence say "35,000 years"? Surely this cannot be an American archeological publication. It isn't? Man is produced by the Royal Anthropological Institute in London. In the States, 12,000 years remains the maximum age of entry of humans into the New World. While the above article focuses on the analysis of languages, many radiocarbon dates greater than 12,000 years are to be found in both North and South America.
Reference. For more on archeological anomalies, see our Handbook Ancient Man. Ordering details here.