Monte Verde and the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas

Meltzer, David J.

doi:10.1126/science.276.5313.754

Cited by 87 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…For more than 40 y, it has stood as a caricature of not only the Clovis-first paradigm, but also the idea that human hunting was the primary driver of Pleistocene extinctions in the Western Hemisphere. In that regard, it has regularly served as a target of researchers who have proclaimed that both of these ideas have long since gone the way of the Columbian mammoth and Shasta ground sloth (47,48). It is indeed a rare phenomenon in science for such large-scale ideas to have lifespans of more than four decades.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test of Martin’s overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna

Surovell

Pelton

Anderson-Sprecher

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Following Martin [Martin PS (1973) Science 179:969–974], we propose the hypothesis that the timing of human arrival to the New World can be assessed by examining the ecological impacts of a small population of people on extinct Pleistocene megafauna. To that end, we compiled lists of direct radiocarbon dates on paleontological specimens of extinct genera from North and South America with the expectation that the initial decline of extinct megafauna should correspond in time with the initial evidence for human colonization and that those declines should occur first in eastern Beringia, next in the contiguous United States, and last in South America. Analyses of spacings and frequency distributions of radiocarbon dates for each region support the idea that the extinction event first commenced in Beringia, roughly 13,300–15,000 BP. For the United States and South America, extinctions commenced considerably later but were closely spaced in time. For the contiguous United States, extinction began at ca. 12,900–13,200 BP, and at ca. 12,600–13,900 BP in South America. For areas south of Beringia, these estimates correspond well with the first significant evidence for human presence and are consistent with the predictions of the overkill hypothesis.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test of Martin’s overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna

Surovell

Pelton

Anderson-Sprecher

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The observation that C. immitis is found highly concentrated in many ancient Amerindian middens shows that the disease was prevalent among these people (37). Archaeological remains from Monte Verde in southern Chile show that the arrival of Amerindians in South America occurred at least 12,500 years ago (38,39). This date falls within our time frame for the southward movement of C. immitis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeographic range expansion into South America byCoccidioides immitismirrors New World patterns of human migration

Fisher

Koenig

White

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

235

168

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Long-distance population dispersal leaves its characteristic signature in genomes, namely, reduced diversity and increased linkage between genetic markers. This signature enables historical patterns of range expansion to be traced. Herein, we use microsatellite loci from the human pathogen Coccidioides immitis to show that genetic diversity in this fungus is geographically partitioned throughout North America. In contrast, analyses of South American C. immitis show that this population is genetically depauperate and was founded from a single North American population centered in Texas. Variances of allele distributions show that South American C. immitis have undergone rapid population growth, consistent with an epidemic increase in postcolonization population size. Herein, we estimate the introduction into South America to have occurred within the last 9,000 -140,000 years. This range increase parallels that of Homo sapiens. Because of known associations between Amerindians and this fungus, we suggest that the colonization of South America by C. immitis represents a relatively recent and rapid codispersal of a host and its pathogen.

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“…Until recently, most archaeologists accepted Clovis as the archaeological manifestation of the first people to have occupied the Americas south of glacial ice. With the recent and fairly general acceptance of the validity of the 12,500-year-old human occupation at the southern Chilean site of Monte Verde, this view has largely crumbled [23,68,69]. Given that there is no reason to doubt that people entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, it follows that they must have been in North America long before they reached southern South America.…”

Section: Clovis Firstmentioning

confidence: 99%

A requiem for North American overkill

Grayson

Meltzer

2003

Journal of Archaeological Science

Self Cite

277

154

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The argument that human hunters were responsible for the extinction of a wide variety of large Pleistocene mammals emerged in western Europe during the 1860s, alongside the recognition that people had coexisted with those mammals. Today, the overkill position is rejected for western Europe but lives on in Australia and North America. The survival of this hypothesis is due almost entirely to Paul Martin, the architect of the first detailed version of it. In North America, archaeologists and paleontologists whose work focuses on the late Pleistocene routinely reject Martin's position for two prime reasons: there is virtually no evidence that supports it, and there is a remarkably broad set of evidence that strongly suggests that it is wrong. In response, Martin asserts that the overkill model predicts a lack of supporting evidence, thus turning the absence of empirical support into support for his beliefs. We suggest that this feature of the overkill position removes the hypothesis from the realm of science and places it squarely in the realm of faith. One may or may not believe in the overkill position, but one should not confuse it with a scientific hypothesis about the nature of the North American past.

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Monte Verde and the Pleistocene Peopling of the Americas

Cited by 87 publications

References 14 publications

Test of Martin’s overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna

Test of Martin’s overkill hypothesis using radiocarbon dates on extinct megafauna

Biogeographic range expansion into South America byCoccidioides immitismirrors New World patterns of human migration

A requiem for North American overkill

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