kennewick man
A person with a similar face can be found in any Russian city. And for no one this type will cause either surprise or memories of overseas countries. Nevertheless, before us is a reconstruction of the face of one of the first Americans, the so-called Kennewick man.
When on July 28, 1996, James Chatters, an independent forensic archaeologist, was invited to examine a human skeleton found in the shallows of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, USA, he did not expect that he would become the author of a sensational discovery. At first, Chatters thought it was the remains of a 19th-century European hunter, because the skull clearly did not belong to a Native American. However, with the help of radiocarbon analysis, it was possible to establish the age of the remains - 9000 years! Who was the Kennewick man with distinctly European features, and how did he get to the New World? Archaeologists in many countries are still scratching their heads over these questions.
If such a find were the only one, one could consider it anomalous and forget about it, as scientists often do with strange artifacts that do not fit into their schemes. But skeletons of people, strikingly different from the remains of American Indians, began to come across more and more often. Suffice it to say that in an analysis of nearly a dozen skulls of early Americans, anthropologists found only two that showed features characteristic of North Asians or Native American Indians.
Everything was much earlier!
The old scheme of colonization of the New World by mammoth hunters from Asia, who moved to North America via a land bridge, which, due to low sea levels (glaciers were just beginning to melt) existed in the Bering Strait, began to burst at the seams. This was facilitated by more accurate methods for determining the age of archaeological finds.
The study of ancient remains continues
Previously, conservative archaeologists did not want to hear about such finds, whose age exceeded 12 thousand years. The fact is that during the ice age, the New World was fenced off from Asia for a long time by huge masses of ice that blocked Alaska and northern Canada. It is unlikely that ancient people would have ventured on a long journey through the glaciers, where there was neither food nor the opportunity for at least a short rest. In this icy desert, inevitable death awaited anyone. Only about 12 thousand years ago, according to scientists, the glaciers retreated, making it possible for people to move from Asia to the New World. However, archaeologist R. McNash from Boston University back in the 1980s said: the hypothesis that a person crossed the Bering Strait only 12 thousand years ago should be recognized as untenable, since there are traces of much more ancient migrations in South America. Even then, in the cave of Piaui (Brazil), stone tools aged 18 thousand years were discovered, and in Venezuela they found a spearhead stuck in the bone of a mastodon 16 thousand years ago. 
In the cave of Piaui
The finds of recent years have confirmed R. McNash's seditious statement at the time. Modern methods of radiocarbon determination of the age of artifacts made it possible in some cases to correct the previously stated figures for many ancient settlements. Southern Chile is the most interesting place, which makes scientists think about correcting the old hypothesis.
Here, in Monte Verde, a real camp of ancient Americans was discovered. Hundreds of stone and bone tools, remains of grain, nuts, fruits, crayfish, bones of birds and animals, fragments of huts and hearths - all this is 12.5 thousand years old. Monte Verde is located at a great distance from the Bering Strait, and it is unlikely that people could have reached here so quickly, based on the old scheme for colonizing the New World. Archaeologist Dillihey, who is excavating in Monte Verde, believes that this settlement may be much older. He recently discovered charcoal and stone tools in a 30,000-year-old layer.
Some intrepid archaeologists, putting their reputation on the line, claim to have discovered much older settlements of the early Americans than Clovis in New Mexico, which is still considered the oldest. In the mid-1980s, archaeologist N. Gidon published his evidence that the drawings in the cave of Pedra Furada (Brazil) are 17 thousand years old, and stone tools - up to 32 thousand years.
Mysteries of ancient skulls
The latest researches of anthropologists are also interesting, which can be translated into the language of mathematics with the help of special computer programs. This applies to differences in the forms of skulls of literally all peoples of the world. Comparison of skulls, known as craniometric analysis, can now be used to trace the ancestry of a particular population group. Anthropologist Doug Ouseley and his colleague Richard Jantz have devoted 20 years to craniometric studies of modern American Indians. But when they examined a number of skulls of the most ancient North Americans, they, to their considerable surprise, did not find the similarity that they expected. Anthropologists have been struck by how many ancient skulls differed from any modern Native American groups. Reconstructions of the appearance of the ancient Americans more resembled the inhabitants of, say, Indonesia or even Europe. Some of the skulls could be "attributed" to people from South Asia and Australia, and a 9400-year-old caveman skull, recovered from a cave in Western Nevada, most of all resembled the skull of the ancient Ainu (Japan).
Where did these people with elongated heads and narrow faces come from? After all, they are not the ancestors of modern Indians. These questions are now worrying many scientists.
Why did they disappear?
Perhaps representatives of different peoples colonized America, and this process stretched out in time. In the end, in the "battle" for the New World, one ethnic group survived or won, which became the progenitor of modern Indians. The first Americans with elongated skulls may have been exterminated or assimilated with other waves of migrants, or they may have died out from famine or epidemics.
A curious hypothesis is that even Europeans could have been the first Americans. While this assumption is supported by weak evidence, but still they are. Firstly, this is the completely European appearance of some ancient Americans, secondly, the features found in their DNA that are characteristic only of Europeans, and thirdly ... Archaeologist Dennis Stanford, who studied the technology of making stone tools in the ancient Clovis site, decided look for a similar one in other parts of the world. In Siberia, Canada and Alaska, he found nothing of the kind. But he found similar stone tools in... Spain. Especially the spearheads resembled the tools of the Solutrean culture, which was common in Western Europe in the period of 24-16.5 thousand years ago. 
The path by which mammoth hunters came to the Americas is still unknown.
In the 1970s, a maritime hypothesis for the colonization of the New World was proposed. Archaeological finds in Australia, Melanesia and Japan indicate that people in coastal areas used boats as early as 25,000 to 40,000 years ago. D. Stanford believes that the currents in the ancient ocean could significantly speed up the transatlantic voyage. Perhaps some of the first Americans came to the continent by accident. They, for example, could be carried away by storms. It is also assumed that Europeans were quite capable of rowing along the edge of the ice bridge that connected England, Iceland, Greenland and North America during the Ice Age. True, it is not yet clear how successful such a trip could be without suitable sites on the coast for stops and rest.
It is possible that the New World was colonized a very long time ago, but in what way, scientists have yet to establish. Perhaps the previously proposed scheme for settling the New World through the Bering Strait 12 thousand years ago corresponded to the second most massive wave of migration, which, having swept across the continent, “left overboard” the very first conquerors of America.
The history of the country is inextricably linked with its literature. And, thus, studying, it is impossible not to touch on American history. Each work belongs to a particular historical period. So, in his Washington, Irving talks about the Dutch pioneers who settled along the Hudson River, mentions the seven-year war for independence, the English king George III and the first president of the country, George Washington. Setting as my goal to draw parallel connections between literature and history, in this introductory article I want to say a few words about how it all began, because those historical moments that will be discussed are not reflected in any works.
Colonization of America 15th - 18th century (brief summary)
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
An American philosopher, George SantayanaIf you are asking yourself why you need to know history, then know that those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
So, the history of America began relatively recently, when in the 16th century people arrived on the new continent discovered by Columbus. These people were of different skin colors and different incomes, and the reasons that prompted them to come to the New World were also different. Some were attracted by the desire to start a new life, others sought to get rich, others fled from the persecution of the authorities or religious persecution. However, all these people, representing different cultures and nationalities, were united by the desire to change something in their lives and, most importantly, they were ready to take risks.
Inspired by the idea of creating a new world from scratch, the first settlers succeeded in this. Fantasy and dream become reality; they, like Julius Caesar, they came, they saw and they conquered.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Julius Caesar
Back then, America was an abundance of natural resources and a vast expanse of uncultivated land inhabited by a friendly local population.
If you look a little more back in time, then, presumably, the first people who appeared on the American continent were from Asia. According to Steve Wingand, this happened about 14 thousand years ago.
The first Americans probably wandered over from Asia about 14,000 years ago.
Steve Wiengand
Over the next 5 centuries, these tribes settled on two continents and, depending on the natural landscape and climate, began to engage in hunting, cattle breeding or agriculture.
In 985 AD, the warlike Vikings arrived on the continent. For about 40 years they tried to gain a foothold in this country, but yielding to the superiority of the indigenous people, in the end, they abandoned their attempts.
Then, in 1492, Columbus appeared, followed by other Europeans, who were attracted to the continent by greed and simple adventurism.
Columbus Day is celebrated on October 12 in America in 34 states. Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.
Of the Europeans, the Spaniards were the first to arrive on the continent. Christopher Columbus, being an Italian by birth, having received a refusal from his king, turned to the Spanish king Ferdinand with a request to finance his expedition to Asia. It is not surprising that when, instead of Asia, Columbus discovered America, all of Spain rushed to this outlandish country. France and England followed the Spaniards. Thus began the colonization of America.
Spain got a head start in the Americas, mainly because the aforementioned Italian named Columbus was working for the Spanish and got them enthusiastic about it early on. But while the Spanish had a head start, other European countries eagerly sought to catch up.
(Source: U.S. history for dummies by S. Wiegand)
At first, meeting no resistance from the local population, the Europeans behaved like aggressors, killing and enslaving the Indians. The Spanish conquerors, who plundered and burned Indian villages and killed their inhabitants, were especially cruel. Following the Europeans, diseases also came to the continent. So the measles and smallpox epidemics gave the process of extermination of the local population a stunning speed.
But from the end of the 16th century, powerful Spain began to lose its influence on the continent, which was greatly facilitated by the weakening of its power, both on land and at sea. And the dominant position in the American colonies passed to England, Holland and France.
Henry Hudson founded the first Dutch settlement in 1613 on Manhattan Island. This colony, located along the Hudson River, was called New Netherland, and its center was the city of New Amsterdam. However, later this colony was captured by the British and transferred to the Duke of York. Accordingly, the city was renamed New York. The population of this colony was mixed, but although the British prevailed, the influence of the Dutch remained quite strong. Dutch words have entered the American language, and the appearance of some places reflects the "Dutch architectural style" - tall houses with sloping roofs.
The colonialists managed to gain a foothold on the continent, for which they thank God every fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is a holiday to celebrate their first year in a new place.
If the first settlers chose the north of the country mainly for religious reasons, then the south for economic reasons. Without ceremony with the local population, the Europeans quickly pushed him to unsuitable lands for life or simply killed them.
The practical English were especially firmly established. Quickly realizing what rich resources this continent conceals, they began to grow tobacco in the southern part of the country, and then cotton. And to get even more profit, the British brought slaves from Africa to cultivate plantations.
Summing up, I will say that in the 15th century Spanish, English, French and other settlements appeared on the American continent, which began to be called colonies, and their inhabitants became colonists. At the same time, a struggle for territories began between the invaders, and especially strong hostilities were fought between the French and English colonists.
Anglo-French wars were also going on in Europe. But that is another story …
Having won on all fronts, the British finally established their superiority on the continent and began to call themselves Americans. Moreover, in 1776, 13 British colonies declared their independence from the English monarchy, which was then headed by George III.
July 4 - Americans celebrate Independence Day. On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, adopted the United States Declaration of Independence.
The war lasted 7 years (1775 - 1783) and after the victory, the English pioneers, having managed to unite all the colonies, founded a state with a completely new political system, whose president was the brilliant politician and commander George Washington. This state was called the United States of America.
George Washington (1789-1797) - the first president of the United States.
It is this transitional period in American history that Washington Irving describes in his work
And we will continue the topic Colonization of America" in the next article. Stay with us!
According to the genetic studies of the University of Michigan, the ancestors of the Indians and Eskimos moved to America from northeast Asia through the "Bering Bridge" - a wide isthmus on the site of the current Bering Strait between America and Asia, which disappeared more than 12 thousand years ago.
Migration continued between 70 thousand years BC. e. and 12 thousand years BC and had several independent waves. One of them was a wave 32 thousand years ago, the other - to Alaska - 18 thousand years ago (at this time the first settlers had already reached South America).
The level of culture of the first settlers corresponded to the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures of the Old World.
We can assume [some news contradicts] the following flows of settlement in America (according to racial types - approximately, and chronologically - more likely):
50,000 years ago - the arrival of the Australoids (or Ainoids) through the Aleutian Islands (10,000 years after the Ainu ancestors settled Australia), and their spread over 10,000 years along the western (Pacific coast) to the south (settlement of South America in 40,000 BC) . From them - the active structure of the sentence and the open syllable in many (especially South American) Indian languages?
25,000 years ago - the arrival of the Americanoids (ketoids) - the ancestors of the Athabaskans (Na-Dene Indians). From them - incorporation and ergative system?
13,000 years ago - the arrival of the Eskimos - the ancestors of the Escaleus. Did they pour a nominative jet into the languages of the Indians?
9000 years ago - the arrival of Caucasians (the legendary Dinlin, Nivkhs?). Have you also made your nominative contribution to Native American language structures?
Settlement and ancient cultures of North America
Clovis hunters of mammoths and mastodons, supposedly exterminating many species of large mammals in the Americas in just a few centuries, turned out to be the ancestors of the indigenous population of the New World south of the United States.
In total, about 400 tribes of Indians lived in North America.
2.
3.
Ancient cultures and anthropological populations of North America (articles)
Settlement of North America at the Anishinabemovin site.
Ancient cultures of North America. S.A. Vasiliev.
. (18.03.2008)
The genome of the prehistoric boy showed that modern Indians are the direct descendants of the Clovis mammoth hunters. (22.02.2014)
Beringian Standstill and Spread of Native American Founders.
S.A. Vasiliev. Ancient cultures of North America. St. Petersburg, 2004. 140 p. Institute of the History of Material Culture RAS. Proceedings, vol. 12.
Monograph S.A. Vasiliev is an important event in Russian science of the past. Not only our understanding of the development of the culture of America before Columbus depends on the solution of the question of the time and ways of the initial settlement of the New World, but also the disclosure of the mechanisms of social evolution in general. From the time of Julian Steward, if not earlier, it was the basic similarity of the ancient civilizations of Western Asia, Mexico and Peru that served as the main argument in favor of the existence of the main path of evolution. The weight of this argument largely depends on how early the Indians were cut off from their Asian ancestors and what cultural baggage they brought from their Asian ancestral home. Determination of the dating of the initial settlement of the New World and identification of the appearance of the earliest local cultures is extremely important. Until now, the Russian reader had nowhere to get reliable information about the oldest human traces in America. The ideas on this subject not only of the humanities in general, but also of many ethnographers and even archaeologists are borrowed from academic publications of the middle of the last century, and sometimes even from irresponsible popular publications. Now this information gap is closed. S.A. Vasiliev perfectly knows both the Paleolithic of Eurasia, primarily Siberia, and the most ancient monuments of North America, which are familiar to him not only from literature, but also de visu. The book is distinguished by the completeness of the coverage of the material, the use of reliable primary sources, terminological accuracy, clarity of presentation.
On two dozen pages of the Introduction and Chapter 1, the author managed to tell about the history of the study of the Paleolithic of North America, its chronological framework, dating problems, research methods, strengths and weaknesses of American and Russian archeology, the infrastructure of Paleolithic studies in the USA and Canada (research centers and their hierarchy, publications, priority areas, interaction with other disciplines). In Chapter 2, the paleogeography and fauna of the North American continent in the final Pleistocene are described in the same compact and succinct way, with reference to this picture of the main Paleo-Indian traditions. Dating, as is customary in Paleolithic studies, is given in conventional radiocarbon years, which for the final Paleolithic is younger than the calendar years by about 2 thousand years. Chapters 3 - 6 contain an analytical description of the most ancient American Clovis culture (including its eastern one - from New England to the middle Mississippi - a variant of the Heiney) and the cultures of the final Paleolithic that arose immediately after the Late Clovis - Goshen, Folsom and Egate Basin on the Great Plains and in Rocky Mountains, parkhill and crowfield in the Great Lakes region, debert vale in the Northeast. The worse known monuments of the South-East and the Far West are also characterized. Most of these regional traditions (except goshen and parkhill) continue into the early Holocene. In general, the period of radical changes in culture in North America falls not at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene, but at the beginning of the Altitermal (ca. 6000 BC in calendar years), so it would be interesting to trace the fate of the cultures of ancient hunter-gatherers just before that time. Of course, this is a special task that goes beyond the professional interests of the author of the monograph. In chapter 7, Vasiliev considers the Paleolithic traditions of American Beringia - Nenanu, Denali and Northern Paleo-Indian. Throughout the book, the presentation is based on the most representative monuments, illustrated with site plans, stratigraphic sections, and drawings of typical finds. Complete lists of radiocarbon dates and summary tables of faunistic material characteristic of individual traditions are given.
Alaska was part of the land bridge from Siberia to America, and therefore its Paleolithic sites are of particular interest. Most of them are concentrated in a small area in the valleys of the Tanana River and its tributaries, the Nenana and Teklanika (west of Fairbanks). Geological conditions make it extremely difficult to find sites in other places. A characteristic type of tools of the Nenana complex (11-12 thousand years ago) are bilaterally processed tear-shaped tips of the chindadn type. It is important to note products made from mammoth tusk. The Denali complex (10-11 thousand years ago) is considered to be an offshoot of the Dyuktai tradition in Siberia. His characteristic technique is the chipping of microblades from wedge-shaped cores. Although the difference in time between Nenana and Denali is confirmed by the stratigraphy of a number of sites, there is no complete certainty here. The radiocarbon dates of both complexes overlap, and the opinion about the functional rather than cultural reasons for the differences in the lithic inventory of the sites cannot yet be discounted.
The most mysterious is the northern Paleo-Indian tradition (NPT). It is mainly localized in the extreme northwest of Alaska (Arctic slopes of the Brooks Range), although one site (Spain Mountain) was found 1000 km south of this zone, near the mouth of the river. Kuskokwim. Most of the radiocarbon dates according to the MPT (mainly from the Meise site) fall within the range of 9.7–11.7 thousand years ago. This pushes the beginning of the SPT at least by the time of the appearance of Clovis, although the earliest dates may be erroneous (in this case, the SPT is dated within 9.6–10.4 thousand years ago). SPT, in contrast to Nena and Denali, is characterized by elongated bilaterally processed arrowheads, which in general contours resemble Clovis and the arrowheads of post-Clovis Paleo-Indian cultures in the mainland of the United States. The greatest similarity is seen with the Agate Basin tips in the north of the Great Plains, so archaeologists believe that either a reverse migration from the Plains to Alaska took place in the final Pleistocene, or the creators of the SPT left Alaska to the south and became the ancestors of the creators of the Aegate Basin tradition. Approximately the same is assumed with regard to undated finds of points with a groove in central Alaska (the locality of Batza Tena1), resembling folsom points.
The problem, however, does not end there. All monuments of the SPT are extremely specialized hunting camps on mountain ledges and plateaus, from where it was convenient to follow herds of animals. For most other cultures of the Late Paleolithic of America and Siberia, there is no such category of monuments. Archaeologists have found appropriate tools only because the Northern Paleo-Indians resorted to this particular hunting tactic. We do not know where and how people lived, who briefly climbed the viewing platforms to watch the bison. Apparently, the sites were used only during the era of the so-called Young Dryas, a sharp cooling period that was preceded by a warm period when temperatures in northern Alaska were higher than today. During warm periods, the tundra-steppe was covered with woody vegetation and large herds of animals disappeared, although this does not mean that people could not use other sources of food at that time. Most likely, the creators of the SPT lived in Alaska before the time that Meiza and similar monuments date from, and after that, but their traces elude us. It is possible that SPT did not come to Alaska from the south, but goes back to the same root as clovis, and this root should be looked for in Beringia. Unfortunately, most of the territory that this hypothetical proto-Clovis cultural community could have occupied is now flooded with the sea2.
The vast majority of the dating of the Clovis culture falls within the interval of 10.9 - 11.6 thousand years ago, which, with the introduction of an amendment, allows us to attribute the beginning of this culture to the time of 13.5 thousand years ago, or to the 12th millennium BC. This is synchronous with the rise of the Natuf culture in the Middle East and the emergence of pottery in East Asia. Here I see the answer to the question posed at the beginning of the review. Although the Clovisans did not make pottery or harvest barley, “the early Paleo-Indian cultures of North America exhibit the full range of cultural achievements characteristic of the Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia. These include the developed technology of processing stone, bone and tusk, the presence of traces of house-building, treasures of tools, the use of ocher, jewelry, ornament, burial practice. In other words, the people who settled America had a long path of development behind them, marked by many discoveries and achievements. Under the new conditions, their culture continued to change, and their social organization continued to become more complex, which by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. led to the emergence of medium-sized societies in the New World, and by the turn of the new era - states. America is not a separate world that initially developed independently, but a relatively late offshoot of the Eurasian world.
As it was said, the oldest Alaskan tradition of nenana dates back to 11-12 thousand years ago, which is half a thousand years earlier than Clovis. It is therefore likely that the Nenan people living in central Alaska, or, as suggested above, not yet discovered common ancestors of Clovis and the Northern Paleo-Indian Tradition, traveled up the Yukon Valley, and then migrated south along the so-called "Mackenzie Corridor" between the Laurentian and Cordillera ice sheets. There they created the clovis culture. The absence of human traces within the Mackenzie Corridor earlier than 10.5 thousand years ago prevents us from accepting this hypothesis as final. In addition, the Nenana industry does not have the technique of grooved chipping, which is so characteristic of the Clovis industry.
Concerning the issue of pre-Clovis colonization, Vasiliev does not deny its possibility, but rightly emphasizes that the list of sites on which this hypothesis is based has been changing for half a century as the age or reliability of some sites is refuted and new ones are discovered. Indirect considerations also indicate that the creators of the Clovis culture, wherever they came from, developed previously uninhabited territories. Being unfamiliar with local conditions, they transported raw materials for many hundreds of kilometers (without resorting to closer sources of flint) and almost did not use rocky shelters convenient for habitation (but also probably unknown to them). The latter, however, may also be due to cultural tradition, because in Siberia, people of the late Pleistocene also only temporarily visited rock shelters, “which contrasts sharply with the data on the Paleolithic of Europe and the Near East” (p. 118). Given the diversity of languages and appearance of the Indians, geneticists and linguists have always tended to the hypothesis of the initial settlement of America before the peak of the last glaciation3. However, the estimates of these experts concern only the estimated time of divergence between populations, but not the place where this divergence occurred, so the corresponding arguments do not carry much weight (already the very first groups of people who reached the areas of the New World located south of the glaciers could speak unrelated languages and racial diversity).
Vasiliev does not consider materials on the Paleolithic of Latin America, but only mentions the recognition by most archaeologists of the authenticity of the Monte Verde site in southern Chile with dates of about 15.5 - 14.5 thousand years ago. It should be noted that the expressed doubts about the synchronism of the images of coal, mastodon bones and artifacts discovered in Monte Verde are so serious4 that they do not allow us to see in this monument an indisputable proof of the appearance of man in America as early as the 14th millennium BC. It is likely that the personal ambitions of the researchers gave the discussion an unnecessary edge,5 but this does not change the essence of the matter. At the same time, the early dating of Monte Verde is not beyond the possibility if the first people who entered the New World moved by boat along southern Alaska and further spread along the coasts.
Relying primarily on the reader-archaeologist, Vasiliev, both in the course of his work and especially in the final chapter 8, proceeds to generalizations of a higher level, allowing also non-specialists to visualize the features of the life of the population of Siberia and North America at the end of the Paleolithic. Typical was a seasonal change of habitat depending on the movement of herds of ungulates and resettlement for the summer on the sandy banks of rivers. As for the manufacture of stone tools, in Southern Siberia people were more often engaged in such activities in settlements, and in the south of the Far East in special workshops near the exit of raw materials (p. 118).
The shortcomings of Vasiliev's book are minor and purely technical. The author follows the phonetic transcription of English names, which sometimes differs sharply from the graphic one. If parkhill and denali are quite transparent, then in the case of Mesa or Agate Basin, it would be desirable to put English in brackets next to the Russian version. The maps showing the distribution of the monuments are made with too little resolution in relation to their linear dimensions, leaving the impression of some negligence, especially in comparison with the well-detailed plans of individual sites.
1 Clark D.W., Clark A.M. Batza Tyna: Trail to obsidian. Hull (Quebec): Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1993; Kunz M., Bever M., Adkins C. The Mesa Site” Paleoindians above the Arctic Circle. Anchorage: U.S. Department of the Interior, 2003. P. 56.
2 Kunz M., Bever M., Adkins. Op. cit, p. 62.
3 For recent work, see Oppenheimer S. The Real Eve. Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa. N.Y.: Carrol & Graf, 2003. P. 284-300. Justifying the possibility of pre-Clovisian migration, Oppenheimer, like many of his predecessors, relies on the early dating of the Meadowcroft site, but Vasiliev convincingly shows that this dating is erroneous.
4 Special Report: Monte Verde Revisited. Scientific American Discovery Archaeology. 1999 Vol. 1. No. 6.
5 Oppenheimer S. Op.cit., p. 287-290.
New data from genetics and archeology shed light on the history of the settlement of America
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Science news printable version
New data from genetics and archeology shed light on the history of the settlement of America
18.03.08 | Anthropology, Genetics, Archeology, Paleontology, Alexander Markov | comment
Excavation of one of the "mammoth kill sites" where the bones of killed mammoths and mastodons are found in association with numerous stone tools of the Clovis culture (Colby, central Wyoming). Photo from lithiccastinglab.com
The first people settled on the northeastern outskirts of the North American continent between 22 and 16 thousand years ago. The latest genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that the inhabitants of Alaska managed to penetrate south and quickly populate the Americas about 15 thousand years ago, when a passage opened in the ice sheet that covered most of North America. The Clovis culture, which made a significant contribution to the extermination of the American megafauna, originated about 13.1 thousand years ago, almost two millennia after the settlement of both Americas.
As you know, the first people entered America from Asia, using the land bridge - Beringia, which during the glaciation period connected Chukotka with Alaska. Until recently, it was believed that about 13.5 thousand years ago, settlers first passed through a narrow corridor between glaciers in western Canada and very quickly - in just a few centuries - settled throughout the New World up to the southern tip of South America. They soon developed extremely effective hunting weapons (the Clovis culture; see also Clovis culture) and killed most of the megafauna (large animals) on both continents (see: Mass extinction of large animals at the end of the Pleistocene).
However, new facts obtained by geneticists and archaeologists show that in reality the history of the settlement of America was somewhat more complex. Consideration of these facts is devoted to a review article by American anthropologists, published in the journal Science.
genetic data. The Asian origin of the Native Americans is now beyond doubt. Five variants (haplotypes) of mitochondrial DNA (A, B, C, D, X) are common in America, and all of them are also characteristic of the indigenous population of Southern Siberia from Altai to the Amur (see: I. A. Zakharov. Central Asian origin of the ancestors of the first Americans). Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones of ancient Americans is also clearly Asian in origin. This contradicts the recently expressed assumption about the connection of the Paleo-Indians with the Western European Paleolithic Solutrean culture (see also: Solutrean hypothesis).
Attempts to establish, based on the analysis of mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplotypes, the time of divergence (separation) of Asian and American populations so far give rather contradictory results (the resulting dates vary from 25 to 15 thousand years). Estimates of the time of the beginning of the settlement of the Paleo-Indians south of the ice sheet are considered somewhat more reliable: 16.6–11.2 thousand years. These estimates are based on the analysis of three clades, or evolutionary lines, of the C1 subhaplogroup, widely distributed among the Indians, but not found in Asia. Apparently, these mtDNA variants arose already in the New World. Moreover, an analysis of the geographic distribution of various mtDNA haplotypes among modern Indians showed that the observed pattern is much easier to explain based on the assumption that the settlement began closer to the beginning, and not to the end of the specified time interval (i.e., rather 15–16, rather than 11– 12 thousand years ago).
Some anthropologists have suggested "two waves" of American settlement. This hypothesis was based on the fact that the oldest human skulls found in the New World (including the skull of the Kennewick Man, see links below) differ markedly in a number of dimensional indicators from the skulls of modern Indians. But the genetic data does not support the idea of "two waves". On the contrary, the observed distribution of genetic variations strongly suggests that the entire genetic diversity of Native Americans comes from a single ancestral Asian gene pool, and that there was only one widespread human settlement in the Americas. So, in all studied populations of Indians from Alaska to Brazil, the same allele (variant) of one of the microsatellite loci (see: Microsatellite) is found, which is not found anywhere outside the New World, with the exception of the Chukchi and Koryaks (this indicates that that all Indians descended from a single ancestral population). The ancient Americans, judging by the data of paleogenomics, had the same haplogroups as the modern Indians.
archeological data. Already 32 thousand years ago, people - carriers of the Upper Paleolithic culture - settled in Northeast Asia up to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. This is evidenced, in particular, by archaeological finds made in the lower reaches of the Yana River, where items made of mammoth bone and woolly rhinoceros horns were found. The settlement of the Arctic occurred during a period of relatively warm climate before the onset of the last glacial maximum. It is possible that already in this distant era, the inhabitants of the Asian northeast penetrated into Alaska. Several mammoth bones were found there, about 28 thousand years old, possibly processed. However, the artificial origin of these objects is debatable, and no stone tools or other clear signs of human presence have been found in the vicinity.
The oldest indisputable traces of human presence in Alaska - stone tools, very similar to those produced by the Upper Paleolithic population of Siberia - are 14 thousand years old. The subsequent archaeological history of Alaska is quite complex. Many sites aged 12–13 thousand years with different types of stone industry have been found here. Perhaps this indicates the adaptation of the local population to a rapidly changing climate, but it may also reflect the migration of tribes.
40 thousand years ago, most of North America was covered with an ice sheet, which blocked the path from Alaska to the south. Alaska itself was not covered with ice. During periods of warming, two corridors opened in the ice sheet - along the Pacific coast and east of the Rocky Mountains - through which the ancient inhabitants of Alaska could pass to the south. The corridors were opened 32 thousand years ago, when people appeared in the lower reaches of the Yana, but 24 thousand years ago they closed again. People, apparently, did not have time to use them.
The coastal corridor reopened about 15 thousand years ago, and the eastern one somewhat later, 13–13.5 thousand years ago. However, the ancient hunters could theoretically bypass the obstacle by sea. On the island of Santa Rosa (Santa Rosa) off the coast of California, traces of the presence of a person aged 13.0-13.1 thousand years were found. This means that the population of America at that time already knew well what a boat or raft was.
The well-documented archaeological history of the Americas south of the glacier begins with the Clovis culture. The heyday of this culture of big game hunters was swift and fleeting. According to the latest updated radiocarbon dates, the oldest material traces of the Clovis culture are 13.2–13.1 thousand years old, and the youngest are 12.9–12.8 thousand years old. The Clovis culture spread so quickly across vast areas of North America that archaeologists cannot yet determine the area in which it first appeared: the accuracy of dating methods is insufficient for this. Just 2-4 centuries after its appearance, the Clovis culture disappeared just as rapidly.
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5.
Typical tools of the Clovis culture and the stages of their manufacture: A - points, B - blades. Image from the article in question in Science
Typical tools of the Clovis culture and the stages of their manufacture: A - points, B - blades. Image from the article in question in Science
Typical tools of the Clovis culture and the stages of their manufacture: A - points, B - blades. Image from the article in question in Science
The Clovis people were traditionally thought to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers capable of moving quickly over long distances. Their stone and bone tools were very perfect, multifunctional, made using original techniques and highly valued by their owners. Stone tools were made from high-quality flint and obsidian - materials that are far from being found everywhere, so people took care of them and carried them with them, sometimes taking them hundreds of kilometers from the place of manufacture. Clovis culture sites are small temporary camps where people did not live long, but stopped only to eat the next killed large animal, most often a mammoth or mastodon. In addition, huge accumulations of Clovis artifacts have been found in the southeastern United States and Texas - up to 650,000 pieces in one place. Basically it is a waste of the stone industry. It is possible that the Clovis people had their main "stone quarries" and "weapons workshops" here.
Apparently, the favorite prey of the Clovis people were proboscis - mammoths and mastodons. There are at least 12 undisputed Clovis proboscidean kill and butchery sites found in North America. This is a lot, given the short duration of the existence of the Clovis culture. For comparison, in the entire Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia (corresponding to a time period of about 30,000 years), only six such sites have been found. It is possible that the Clovis people contributed in no small way to the extinction of the American proboscis. They did not disdain even smaller prey: bison, deer, hares, and even reptiles and amphibians.
6.
"Fish-shaped" tip found in Belize. Photo from lithiccastinglab.com
The Clovis culture penetrated into Central and South America, but here it did not become as widespread as in North (only a small number of typical Clovis artifacts were found). On the other hand, Paleolithic sites with other types of stone tools have been found in South America, including those with characteristic tips resembling fish in shape (“fishtail points”). Some of these South American sites overlap in age with those of Clovis. It used to be thought that the culture of "fish" points descended from the Clovis, but recent clarification of dating has shown that it is possible that both cultures are descended from some common and as yet undiscovered "ancestor".
Bones of an extinct wild horse were found at one of the South American sites. This means that the first settlers of South America probably also contributed to the extermination of large animals.
7.
The white color indicates the ice sheet during the period of its greatest distribution 24 thousand years ago, the dotted line outlines the edge of the glacier during the period of warming 15–12.5 thousand years ago, when two “corridors” opened from Alaska to the south. The red dots show the sites of the most important archaeological finds, including those mentioned in the note: 12 - a site in the lower reaches of the Yana (32 thousand years); 19 - mammoth bones with possible traces of processing (28 thousand years); 20 - Kennewick; 28 is the largest "workshop" of the Clovis culture in Texas (650,000 artifacts); 29 - the oldest finds in the state of Wisconsin (14.2–14.8 thousand years); 39 - South American site with horse bones (13.1 thousand years); 40 - Monte Verde (14.6 thousand years); 41, 43 - “fish-shaped” arrowheads were found here, the age of which (12.9–13.1 thousand years) coincides with the time of the existence of the Clovis culture. Rice. from the article in question in Science
During the second half of the 20th century, archaeologists repeatedly reported finds of more ancient traces of human presence in America than the sites of the Clovis culture. Most of these finds, after careful checks, turned out to be younger. However, for several sites, the “Pre-Clovisian” age is now recognized by most experts. In South America, this is the Monte Verde site in Chile, whose age is 14.6 thousand years. In the state of Wisconsin, at the very edge of the ice sheet that existed at that time, two sites of ancient mammoth lovers were discovered - either hunters or scavengers. The age of the sites is from 14.2 to 14.8 thousand years. In the same area, bones of mammoth legs were found with scratches from stone tools; the age of the bones is 16 thousand years, though the tools themselves were never found nearby. Several more finds have been made in Pennsylvania, Florida, Oregon, and other regions of the United States, with varying degrees of certainty indicating the presence of people in these places 14–15 thousand years ago. A few finds, the age of which was determined as even more ancient (over 15 thousand years), cause great doubts among specialists.
Subtotals. Today it is considered firmly established that America was inhabited by the species Homo sapiens. There have never been any Pithecanthropes, Neanderthals, Australopithecus and other ancient hominids in America (for a refutation of one of these theories, see the interview with Alexander Kuznetsov: part 1 and part 2). Although some Paleo-Indian skulls differ from modern ones, genetic analysis has shown that the entire indigenous population of America - both ancient and modern - descended from the same population of immigrants from southern Siberia. The first people appeared on the northeastern edge of the North American continent no earlier than 30 and no later than 13 thousand years ago, most likely between 22 and 16 thousand years ago. Judging by molecular genetic data, the settlement from Beringia to the south began no earlier than 16.6 thousand years ago, and the size of the “founders” population, from which the entire population of both Americas south of the glacier originated, did not exceed 5000 people. The theory of multiple waves of settlement was not confirmed (with the exception of the Eskimos and Aleuts, who came from Asia much later, but settled only in the extreme north of the American continent). The theory about the participation of Europeans in the ancient colonization of America has also been refuted.
One of the most important achievements of recent years, according to the authors of the article, is that the Clovis people can no longer be considered the first settlers of both Americas south of the glacier. This theory (“Clovis-First model”) assumes that all the more ancient archaeological finds should be recognized as erroneous, and today it is impossible to agree with this. In addition, this theory is not supported by data on the geographical distribution of genetic variations among the Indian population, which indicate an earlier and less rapid settlement of the Americas.
The authors of the article propose the following model of the settlement of the New World, which, from their point of view, best explains the totality of the available facts - both genetic and archaeological. Both Americas were settled about 15 thousand years ago - almost immediately after the coastal "corridor" opened, allowing the inhabitants of Alaska to penetrate south by land. Finds in Wisconsin and Chile show that both Americas were already inhabited 14.6 thousand years ago. The first Americans probably had boats, which could have contributed to their rapid settlement along the Pacific coast. The second suggested route of early migrations is westward along the southern edge of the ice sheet to Wisconsin and beyond. There could be especially many mammoths near the glacier, which were followed by ancient hunters.
The emergence of the Clovis culture was the result of two thousand years of development of ancient American mankind. Perhaps the center of origin of this culture was the south of the United States, because it was here that their main "working workshops" were found.
Another option is not excluded. The Clovis culture could have been created by the second wave of migrants from Alaska, who passed through the eastern “corridor” that opened 13–13.5 thousand years ago. However, if this hypothetical "second wave" did take place, it is extremely difficult to identify it by genetic methods, since the source of both "waves" was the same ancestral population that lived in Alaska.
Since school years, everyone knows that America settled by the inhabitants of Asia, who moved there in small groups through the Bering Isthmus (at the site of the current strait). They settled in the New World after a huge glacier began to melt 14-15 thousand years ago.
However, recent discoveries by archaeologists and geneticists have shaken this coherent theory. It turns out that America was settled more than once, it was done by some strange peoples, related almost to the Australians, and besides, it is not clear on what transport the first "Indians" reached the extreme south of the New World.
First went
Until the end of the 20th century, the “Clovis first” hypothesis dominated American anthropology, according to which it was this culture of ancient mammoth hunters that appeared 12.5-13.5 thousand years ago that was the most ancient in the New World.
According to this hypothesis, people who got to Alaska could survive on ice-free land, because there was quite a bit of snow, but then the path to the south was blocked by glaciers until a period of 14-16 thousand years ago, due to which settlement in the Americas began only after the end of the last glaciation.
The hypothesis was coherent and logical, but in the second half of the 20th century some discoveries were made that were incompatible with it. In the 1980s, Tom Dillehay, during excavations in Monte Verde (southern Chile), found that people had been there at least 14.5 thousand years ago. This caused a strong reaction from the scientific community: it turned out that the discovered culture was 1.5 thousand years older than Clovis in North America.
Most American anthropologists simply denied the scientific credibility of the find. Already during the excavations, Delai faced a powerful attack on his professional reputation, it came to the closure of funding for excavations and attempts to declare Monte Verde a phenomenon that was not related to archeology.
Only in 1997 did he manage to confirm the dating at 14,000 years, which caused a deep crisis in understanding the ways of settling America. At that time, there were no places of such ancient settlement in North America, which raised the question of where exactly people could get to Chile.
Recently, the Chileans suggested that Delea continue excavations. Influenced by the sad experience of twenty years of excuses, he initially refused. “I was fed up,” the scientist explained his position. However, in the end he agreed and found tools at the MVI site, undoubtedly man-made, whose antiquity was 14.5-19 thousand years.
History repeated itself: archaeologist Michael Waters immediately questioned the findings. In his opinion, the finds can be simple stones, remotely similar to tools, which means that the traditional chronology of the settlement of America is still out of danger.
Delays found "guns"
Seaside nomads
To understand how justified the criticism of the new work, we turned to the anthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky (Moscow State University). According to him, the tools found are indeed very primitive (processed on one side), but made from materials that are not found in Monte Verde. Quartz for a significant part of them had to be brought from afar, that is, such items cannot be of natural origin.
The scientist noted that the systematic criticism of discoveries of this kind is quite understandable: "When you teach in school and university that America was inhabited in a certain way, it is not so easy to give up this point of view."
Mammoths in Beringia
The conservatism of American researchers is also understandable: in North America, the recognized finds date back thousands of years after the period indicated by Delea. And what about the theory that before the melting of the glacier, the ancestors of the Indians blocked by it could not settle south?
However, Drobyshevsky notes, there is nothing supernatural in the more ancient dates of the Chilean sites. The islands along Canada's present-day Pacific coast were not glaciated, and bear remains from the Ice Age have been found there. This means that people could well spread along the coast, swimming across in boats and not going deep into the then inhospitable North America.
Australian footprint
However, the fact that the first reliable finds of the ancestors of the Indians were made in Chile does not end with the oddities of the settlement of America. Not so long ago, it turned out that the genes of the Aleuts and groups of Brazilian Indians have features characteristic of the genes of the Papuans and Australian Aborigines.
As the Russian anthropologist emphasizes, the data of geneticists are well combined with the results of the analysis of skulls previously found in South America and having features close to Australian ones.
In his opinion, most likely, the Australian trace in South America is associated with a common ancestral group, part of which moved to Australia tens of thousands of years ago, while the other migrated along the coast of Asia to the north, up to Beringia, and from there reached the South American continent. .
The face of Luzia was the name given to a woman who lived 11,000 years ago and whose remains were discovered in a Brazilian cave.
As if that weren't enough, genetic studies in 2013 showed that Brazilian Botacudo Indians are close in mitochondrial DNA to Polynesians and part of the inhabitants of Madagascar. Unlike the Australoids, the Polynesians could well have reached South America by sea. At the same time, traces of their genes in eastern Brazil, and not on the Pacific coast, are not so easy to explain.
It turns out that a small group of Polynesian navigators, for some reason, did not return after landing, but overcame the Andean highlands, which were unusual for them, in order to settle in Brazil. One can only guess about the motives for such a long and difficult overland journey for typical sailors.
So, a small part of the American natives have traces of genes that are very far from the genome of the rest of the Indians, which contradicts the idea of a single group of ancestors from Beringia.
good old
However, there are more radical deviations from the idea of settling America in one wave and only after the melting of the glacier. In the 1970s, the Brazilian archaeologist Nieda Guidon discovered the Pedra Furada cave site (Brazil), where, in addition to primitive tools, there were many bonfires, the age of which was shown by radiocarbon analysis to be from 30 to 48 thousand years.
It is easy to understand that such figures caused great rejection by North American anthropologists. The same Deley criticized radiocarbon dating, noting that traces could remain after a fire of natural origin.
Gidon reacted sharply to such opinions of her colleagues from the United States in Latin American: “Fire of natural origin cannot arise deep in a cave. American archaeologists need to write less and dig more.”
Drobyshevsky emphasizes that although no one has yet been able to challenge the dating of the Brazilians, the doubts of the Americans are quite understandable. If people were in Brazil 40 thousand years ago, then where did they go then and where are the traces of their stay in other parts of the New World?
Toba volcano eruption
The history of mankind knows cases when the first colonizers of new lands almost completely died out, leaving no significant traces. This is what happened to Homo sapiens who settled in Asia. Their first traces there date back to the period up to 125 thousand years ago, however, genetic data say that all of humanity descended from a population that emerged from Africa, much later - only 60 thousand years ago.
There is a hypothesis that the reason for this could be the extinction of the then Asian part as a result of the eruption of the Toba volcano 70 thousand years ago. The energy of this event is considered to exceed the combined yield of all the combined nuclear weapons ever created by mankind.
However, even an event more powerful than a nuclear war is difficult to explain the disappearance of significant human populations. Some researchers note that neither Neanderthals, nor Denisovans, nor even Homo floresiensis, who lived relatively close to Toba, died out from the explosion.
And judging by individual finds in South India, local Homo sapiens did not die out at that time, traces of which are not observed in the genes of modern people for some reason. Thus, the question of where the people who settled 40 thousand years ago in South America could have gone remains open and to some extent casts doubt on the most ancient finds of the Pedra Furada type.
Genetics vs genetics
Not only archaeological data often come into conflict, but also such seemingly reliable evidence as genetic markers. This summer, Maanasa Raghavan's group at the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen announced that genetic data disproved the idea that more than one wave of ancient settlers participated in settling the Americas.
According to them, genes close to Australians and Papuans appeared in the New World later than 9,000 years ago, when America was already inhabited by immigrants from Asia.
At the same time, the work of another group of geneticists led by Pontus Skoglund came out, which, based on the same material, made the opposite statement: a certain ghost population appeared in the New World either 15 thousand years ago, or even earlier, and, perhaps, settled there before the Asian wave of migration, from which the ancestors of the vast majority of modern Indians originated.
According to them, relatives of the Australian Aborigines crossed the Bering Strait only to be forced out by the subsequent wave of "Indian" migration, whose representatives began to dominate the Americas, pushing the few descendants of the first wave into the Amazon jungle and the Aleutian Islands.
Ragnavan's reconstruction of the settlement of the Americas
Even if geneticists cannot agree among themselves on whether the “Indian” or “Australian” components became the first natives of America, it is even more difficult for everyone else to understand this issue. And yet, something can be said about this: skulls similar in shape to the Papuan ones have been found on the territory of modern Brazil for more than 10 thousand years.
The scientific picture of the settlement of the Americas is very complex, and at the present stage it is changing significantly. It is clear that groups of different origin participated in the settlement of the New World - at least two, not counting a small Polynesian component that appeared later than the rest.
It is also obvious that at least part of the settlers were able to colonize the continent despite the glacier - bypassing it in boats or on ice. At the same time, the pioneers subsequently moved along the coast, quite quickly reaching the south of modern Chile. The early Americans appear to have been highly mobile, expansive, and well versed in the use of water transport.
Alexander Berezin
abstract
on the topic: "North America"
Geographical position
From the history of the discovery and exploration of the mainland North America is the third mainland of our planet in terms of area, which is 20.4 million km2. It is similar in outline to South America, but the widest part of the continent lies in temperate latitudes, which has a significant impact on its nature.
Determine the features of the geographical location of North America yourself. Draw preliminary conclusions about the nature of the mainland based on geographical location data.
The coasts of North America are strongly dissected. The northern and eastern shores are especially indented, and the western and southern ones are much less. The different degree of indentation of the coasts is explained mainly by the movements of lithospheric plates. In the north of the mainland is the vast Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as if frozen into the ice of the Arctic. The Hudson Bay extends into the land, covered with ice for most of the year.
The Spanish conquistadors, as in South America, were the first Europeans to discover the southern territories of North America. In 1519, the campaign of E. Cortes began, which ended with the conquest of the Aztec state, located where modern Mexico is located. Following the discoveries of the Spaniards, expeditions of other European countries were equipped to the shores of the New World. At the end of the XV century. John Cabot, an Italian in English service, discovered the island of Newfoundland and the coast of the Labrador Peninsula. English navigators and travelers G. Hudson (XVII century), A. Mackenzie (XVIII century) and others explored the northern and eastern parts of the mainland. At the beginning of the twentieth century. Norwegian polar explorer R. Amundsen was the first to sail along the northern coast of the mainland, and established the geographic position of the Earth's North Magnetic Pole.
Russian exploration of Northwest America. Russian travelers made a great contribution to the study of the mainland. Independently of other Europeans, they discovered and mastered large expanses of the northwestern part of the continent. Then the map of this part of American soil was still being born. The first on it were the Russian names of the islands discovered in the middle of the 16th century. during the voyage of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov. On two sailing ships in 1741, these Russian navigators passed along the Aleutian Islands, approached the coast of Alaska, and landed on the islands.
Kupets G.I. Shelikhov, who was called the Russian Columbus, created the first Russian settlements in America. He founded a trading company, promoted the trade of fur and sea animals in the northern islands of the Pacific Ocean and Alaska G.I. Shelikhov conducted active trade with local residents and contributed to the exploration and development of Alaska - Russian America.
Russian settlements were established on most of the northwestern coast until 380 s. sh., where the fort was built - a Russian fortress on the Pacific coast. This fortress in the XIX century. they often visited expeditions that Russia equipped to study the World Ocean and hitherto unknown lands. The memory of Russian explorers of Northwest America is kept by the names of geographical objects on the map: Chirikov Island, Shelikhov Strait, Velyamnov Volcano, etc. Russian possessions in Alaska were sold to the United States of America in 1867.
Relief and minerals
In the structure of the surface of the mainland, plains predominate, mountains occupy a third. The relief of the eastern part of the mainland was formed on a platform, the surface of which was destroyed and leveled for a long time.
The relief of the northern part of the mainland is dominated by low and elevated plains composed of ancient crystalline rocks. Low hills overgrown with pines and spruces alternate here with narrow and long lake basins, some of which have bizarre coastline outlines. Many thousands of years ago, a huge glacier covered most of these plains. Traces of his activities are visible everywhere. These are smoothed rocks, flat tops of hills, heaps of boulders, hollows plowed by the glacier. Further south are the rolling Central Plains, covered with glacial deposits, and the flat Mississippi Lowland, most of which is formed by river sediment.
To the west lie the Great Plains, which rise like majestic steps of a gigantic staircase to the Cordillera.
These plains are composed of thick strata of sedimentary rocks of continental and marine origin. The rivers flowing down from the mountains cut deep into them and formed deep valleys.
In the east of the mainland are the low mountains of Appalachia. They are badly destroyed, crossed by the valleys of numerous rivers. The slopes of the mountains are gentle, the peaks are rounded, the height is a little over 2000 m. The Cordilleras stretch along the western coast. The mountains are extremely beautiful. They are dissected by deep river valleys, which are called canyons. Deep depressions are adjacent to mighty ridges and volcanoes. In the northern part of the Cordillera, their highest peak rises - Mount McKinley (6194 m), covered with snow and glaciers. Some glaciers in this part of the Cordillera slide down from the mountains into the sea. The Cordilleras were formed at the junction of two lithospheric plates, in a band of compression of the earth's crust, which is crossed here by many faults. They start at the ocean floor and end up on land. The movements of the earth's crust lead to strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which often bring a lot of grief and suffering to people.
Minerals in North America are found in almost all of its territory. Deposits of ores of metals predominate in the northern part of the plains: iron, copper, nickel, etc. The sedimentary rocks of the Central and Great Plains, as well as the Mississippi Lowland, contain a lot of oil, natural gas, and coal. Iron ores and coal occur in the Appalachians and their foothills. The Cordilleras are rich in both sedimentary (oil, natural gas, coal) and igneous minerals (non-ferrous metal ores, gold, uranium ores, etc.).
Climate
The position of North America in all climatic zones, except for the equatorial one, creates great differences in its climate. Other factors also have a significant impact on the climate.
The surface of the land and the ocean affects the properties of air masses, their humidity, direction of movement, temperature and other properties in different ways. The Hudsons and the Gulf of Mexico, which extend deep into the land, have a significant but different effect on the climate.
Affects the climate and the nature of the relief of the mainland. For example, in temperate latitudes, sea air coming from the west meets the Cordillera on its way. Rising up, it cools and gives a large amount of precipitation to the coast.
The absence of mountain ranges in the north creates conditions for the penetration of arctic air masses to the mainland. They can spread to the Gulf of Mexico, and tropical air masses sometimes freely penetrate far to the north of the mainland. Large differences in temperature and pressure between these masses create conditions for the formation of strong winds - hurricanes. Quite often vortices appear unexpectedly. These powerful atmospheric tornadoes bring a lot of trouble: they destroy buildings, break trees, lift and carry large objects. Natural disasters are also associated with other processes in the atmosphere.
In the central part of the mainland, droughts, dry winds, dust storms are frequent, carrying particles of fertile soil from the fields. There are intrusions into the subtropics of cold air from the Arctic, snow falls.
The northern part of the mainland lies in the arctic climate zone. Cold arctic air dominates here throughout the year. The lowest temperatures in winter are observed in Greenland (-44-50 ° C). Fog, heavy cloud cover, snow storms are frequent. Summer is cold, with negative temperatures. Under these conditions, glaciers form. The subarctic zone is characterized by severe winters, which are replaced by cool summers with cloudy, rainy weather.
Most of the mainland from 600 to 400 s.l. lies in the temperate zone. It has cold winters and relatively warm summers. It snows in winter, it rains in summer, but cloudy weather is quickly replaced by warm and sunny weather. Significant climatic differences are inherent in this belt, which is associated with the characteristics of the underlying surface. In the eastern part of the belt, winters are cold and snowy, and summers are warm; Fogs are frequent on the coast. In the central part of the belt, the weather conditions are different. In winter, snowfalls and snow storms are not uncommon, frosts are replaced by thaws. Summers are warm, with rare showers, droughts and dry winds. In the west of the temperate zone, the climate is maritime. The average temperature in winter is about 0°C, and in summer it rises only to +10-12°C. Wet, windy weather lasts almost the whole year, the wind carries sleet and rain from the ocean. The climate features of three more belts are already familiar to you.
Climatic conditions in most of the mainland are favorable for growing various crops: in the temperate zone - wheat, corn; in the subtropical - rice, cotton, citrus; in the tropics - coffee, sugar cane, bananas. Two, and sometimes three crops a year are harvested here.
Inland waters
Like South, North America is rich in water. You already know that their features depend on the relief and climate. To prove this dependence and to find out the differences between the waters of North America and the waters of South America, conduct another study using maps.
The largest river in North America is the Mississippi with a tributary of the Missouri, collecting water from the Appalachians, the Central and Great Plains. It is one of the longest rivers on Earth and the most water-bearing river on the continent. The main role in its nutrition is played by rains. Part of the water the river receives from the melting of snow on the plains and in the mountains. The Mississippi smoothly carries its waters across the plains. In the lower reaches, it winds, forms many islands in the channel. When snow melts in the Appalachians or rain falls on the Great Plains, the Mississippi overflows its banks, flooding fields and villages. Dams and diversion channels built on the river have greatly reduced flood damage. In terms of its role in the life of the American people, the Mississippi has the same significance as the Volga for the Russian people. No wonder the Indians who once lived on its banks called the Mississippi "the father of the waters."
The rivers flowing from the eastern slopes of the Appalachians are swift, full-flowing, and have large reserves of energy. Many hydroelectric stations have been built on them. At the mouths of many of them are large port cities.
A huge water system is formed by the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, which connects them to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Niagapa River "sawed through" the hilly limestone upland and connected the lakes of Zree and Ontario. Breaking off a steep ledge, it forms the world-famous Niagara Falls. As the water erodes the limestone, the waterfall slowly recedes towards Lake Erie. Human intervention is needed to preserve this unique object of nature.
In the north of the mainland flows the Mackenzie River, which the Indians call the "big river". This river receives most of its water from melting snow. Swamps and lakes give it a lot of water, so that in summer the river is full of water. For most of the year, Mackenzie is ice-bound.
There are many lakes in the northern part of the mainland. Their hollows were formed as a result of faults in the earth's crust, then they were deepened by a glacier. One of the large and beautiful lakes of this region is Winnipeg, which in the language of the Indians means "water".
Short, swift rivers flow from the Cordillera to the Pacific Ocean. The largest of them are Columbia and Colorado. They start in the eastern part of the mountains, flow through the inner plateaus, forming deep canyons, and, again cutting through the mountain ranges, give water to the ocean. The Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, which stretches for 320 km along the river, has become world famous. This huge valley has steep stepped slopes, composed of rocks of different ages and colors.
There are many lakes of volcanic and glacial origin in the Cordillera. On the inner plateaus there are shallow saline lakes. These are the remains of large reservoirs that existed here in a more humid climate. Many lakes are covered with a crust of salt. The largest of them is the Great Salt Lake.
Despite the richness of the mainland in waters, in some areas there is not enough fresh natural water. This is due to the uneven distribution of water, as well as their increasing use in industry, for irrigation, and for the domestic needs of large cities.
natural areas
In North America, natural areas are unusually located. In the north of the mainland, they, according to the law of zonality, are elongated in strips from west to east, and in the central and southern parts, the natural zones are located in the meridional direction. This distribution of natural zones is a feature of North America, which is mainly determined by its topography and prevailing winds.
In the zone of arctic deserts covered with snow and ice, in a short summer, in some places, sparse vegetation of mosses and lichens forms on the rocky surface.
The tundra zone occupies the northern coast of the mainland and the islands adjacent to it. Tundra is called treeless expanses of the subarctic belt, covered with moss-lichen and shrub vegetation on poor tundra-marsh soils. These soils are formed in a harsh climate and permafrost. The natural complexes of the tundra of North America have much in common with the complexes of the tundra of Eurasia. In addition to mosses and lichens, sedges grow in the tundra, and dwarf willows and birches grow in elevated areas, and there are many berry shrubs here. Tundra plants serve as food for many animals. A musk ox has been preserved here since the ice age - a large herbivore with thick and long hair that protects it from the cold. The musk ox is small and is under protection. Herds of caribou reindeer feed on lichen pastures. Of the predators in the tundra, arctic foxes and wolves live. Many birds nest on the islands and coast, on numerous lakes. Walruses and seals off the coast, caribou in the tundra attract many hunters. Excessive hunting causes great harm to the animal world of the tundra.
To the south, the tundra passes into light forest - forest tundra, which is replaced by taiga. The taiga is a zone of the temperate zone, the vegetation of which is dominated by coniferous trees with an admixture of small-leaved species. Soils in the taiga are formed in conditions of cold snowy winters and wet cool summers. The remains of plants in such conditions decompose slowly, little humus is formed. Under its thin layer lies a whitish layer, from which the humus has been washed out. The color of this layer is similar to the color of ash, and therefore such soils are called podzolic.
Black and white spruce, balsam fir, American larch, and various types of pine grow in the American taiga. Predators live: black bear, Canadian lynx, American marten, skunk; herbivores: elks, deer wapiti. The wood bison has been preserved in the national parks.
The zone of mixed forests has a transitional character from taiga to broad-leaved forests. This is how a European traveler describes the nature of these forests: “The great variety of species is striking ... I distinguish around more than ten species of deciduous and several coniferous. A wonderful company gathered: oaks, hazel, beeches, aspens, ash, linden, birch, spruce, fir, pine and some other species unknown to me. All of them are related to our European trees, but still somewhat different - in various small things, in the pattern of foliage, but above all in the pulse of life - some stronger, joyful, lush.
Soils under mixed and broad-leaved forests are gray forest and brown forest. They contain more humus than the podzolic soils of the taiga. It was their fertility that led to the reduction of these forests in most of the continent, to their replacement with artificial tree plantings. Only small forests in the Appalachians have survived.
Beeches, dozens of species of oaks, lindens, maples, deciduous magnolias, chestnuts and walnuts grow in broad-leaved forests. Wild apple, cherry and pear trees form an undergrowth in them.
The forest zone on the slopes of the Cordillera differs from the forest zone on the plains. Plant and animal species are different here. For example, in the subtropical mountain forests on the Pacific coast, sequoias grow - coniferous trees over 100 m high, up to 9 m in diameter.
The steppe zone stretched from north to south in the center of the mainland from the Canadian taiga to the Gulf of Mexico. Steppes are treeless spaces of the temperate and subtropical zones, covered with grassy vegetation on chernozem and chestnut soils. The abundance of heat here creates favorable conditions for the growth of herbs, among which cereals predominate (bearded vulture, bison grass, fescue). The transitional strip between the forests and steppes of North America is called the prairie. They are everywhere changed by man - plowed up or turned into pastures for livestock. The development of the prairies also affected their animal world. Bison almost disappeared, coyotes (steppe wolves) and foxes became less.
On the interior plateaus of the Cordillera lie the deserts of the temperate zone; the main plants here are black wormwood and quinoa. Cacti grow in the subtropical deserts of the Mexican Highlands.
Changing nature under the influence of human activities. Economic activity has affected all components of nature, and since they are closely interconnected, the natural complexes as a whole are changing. Especially great changes in nature in the United States. Soils, vegetation and wildlife were mostly affected. Cities, roads, strips of land along gas pipelines, power lines, around airfields take up more and more space.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the active impact of man on nature leads to an increase in the frequency of natural disasters. These include dust storms, floods, forest fires.
In North America, laws have been passed to protect and restore nature. The state of individual components of nature is being recorded, destroyed complexes are being restored (forests are being planted, lakes are being cleaned of pollution, etc.). In order to protect nature, nature reserves and several dozen national parks have been created on the continent. Millions of citizens flock to these wonderful corners of nature every year. The influx of tourists has set the task of creating new reserves in order to save rare species of plants and animals from extinction.
In North America, there is one of the most famous, the world's first national Yellowstone Park, founded in 1872. It is located in the Cordillera and is famous for its hot springs, geysers, petrified trees.
Population
The bulk of the population of North America is made up of immigrants from different countries of Europe, mainly from the UK. They are US Americans and Anglo-Canadians, they speak English. The descendants of the French who settled in Canada speak French.
The indigenous people of the mainland are Indians and Eskimos. They inhabited North America long before its discovery by Europeans. These peoples belong to the American branch of the Mongoloid race. Scientists have established that Indians and Eskimos come from Eurasia.
Indians are more numerous (about 15 million). The name "American Indians" has nothing to do with India, it is the result of a historical mistake by Columbus, who was convinced that he had discovered India. Before the arrival of Europeans, Indian tribes were engaged in hunting, fishing, and collecting wild fruits. The main part of the tribes was concentrated in southern Mexico (Aztecs, Maya), where they formed their own states, distinguished by a relatively developed economy and culture. They were engaged in agriculture - they grew corn, tomatoes and other cultivated plants, later brought to Europe.
On the map “population density and peoples”, determine where the Eskimos and Indians live, what part of the mainland is inhabited by Americans, Anglo- and French-Canadians, blacks.
With the advent of European colonizers, the fate of the Indians was tragic: they were exterminated, driven from fertile lands, they died from diseases introduced by Europeans.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Negroes were brought from Africa to work on plantations in North America. They were sold into slavery to planters. Now blacks live mostly in cities.
The population of North America is about 406 million people. Its location depends primarily on the history of the settlement of the mainland and natural conditions. The most populated southern half of the mainland. The population density is high in the eastern part, where the first settlers from European countries settled. The largest cities are located in this part of North America: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Montreal, etc.
The northern territories of the mainland, unsuitable for life and occupied by tundra and taiga forests, are rarely populated. The mountainous regions, with their arid climate and rugged terrain, are also sparsely populated. In the steppe zone, where there are fertile soils, a lot of heat and moisture, the population density is much higher.
North America is home to the most developed country in the world, the United States of America. Their territory consists of three parts far removed from each other. Two of them are located on the mainland - the main territory and in the northwest - Alaska. The Hawaiian Islands lie in the central Pacific Ocean. In addition, the United States owns a number of island possessions in the Pacific Ocean.
To the north of the mainland of the United States is another large country - Canada, and to the south - Mexico. There are several small states in Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, etc. The Republic of Cuba is located on the island of Cuba and the small islands adjacent to it.
List of used literature
1. “Geography of continents and oceans. Grade 7 ": textbook. for general education institutions / V.A. Korinskaya, I.V. Dushina, V.A. Shchenev. - 15th ed., stereotype. – M.: Bustard, 2008.
