First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America
Meltzer DJ. 2009. First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America. University of California Press. 446 pp. ISBN 978-0-520-25052-9.
Description:
This engaging read is written for a general audience, although it is by no means simple. Indeed, the book as a whole provides an excellent overview of current knowledge, and as such would be very beneficial for archaeology students and others in related disciplines. The text grew out of a major overhaul and expansion of a much earlier work by the author (Search for the First Americans, 1993), and incorporates both the current understanding of the peopling of the New World (here largely limited to North America – the author’s specialty) and thoughtful consideration of how scientists have come to that understanding. As such, it covers the historical, collective process of archaeological discovery, and also delves into many of the other disciplines (e.g. genetics, linguistics) that are increasingly contributing to studies of the past. Following an introductory chapter, the book begins with an overview of the landscape, climate and environment of North America during the Ice Age, discussed within the context of the causal forces driving climate fluctuations. The next two chapters give an overview of various historical and recent efforts (both scientific and not) to establish the origin and antiquity of the first Americans. This includes detailed coverage of the attempts to establish a pre-Clovis presence in the Americas, culminating with the finds at Monte Verde in 1997. In order to understand who these early American were, the next two chapters look at genetic, skeletal and linguistic evidence for clues, and discuss the various interpretations of these data. This is followed by three chapters focussing on the colonization process itself – what life was like for the early colonists, how they moved across the landscape so quickly, and their adaptive strategies for success. The book ends by relating the tragic story of contact between the indigenous Americans and the next wave of (much later) colonists – the Europeans – and especially the spread of disease that decimated these early inhabitants of the New World.
