The Early Americans - Essay Example

This paper evaluates several primary sources that accrue to the history of the First Americans while relating the sources in terms of their contributions to the current written history.   In 1926, George McJunkin, an African-American cowboy, made a discovery that hugely changed the perception of North America’s first natives (Johnson, 31). He spotted bleached bones while tracking lost cattle near Folsom, New Mexico but the bones were later found to belong to a bison species extinct for more than 10,000 years (Johnson, 33). The talking point of the discovery was the spearheads made of stone by humans found mixed with the bones, which meant that Indian ancestry could be traced back thousands of years before the time thought by most of the 20th-century authorities. As Johnson (48) asserts, the first Europeans who inhabited America in the 15th century believed that this was the new world but this discovery disapproved them as it was established that more than 20,000 years before, there were inhabitants in the area.    There exist no documented records to affirm that the diversity of societies in early America thrived, although the differences in cultural practices and languages were enough proof. To reshape this history, Johnson (66) believes that one has to look at the various primary sources of information, mainly archeological artifacts, which record the past behaviors of humans. A wide range of artifacts that includes basket snippets, pottery fragments, oral traditions, discarded tools/ equipment, and food remains have been used by archeologists, anthropologists, and historians to put together relevant pieces of information about the social organization, diet, and technology of these people and the changes they have gone through over time.   In the 16th century, Chrestien (105) argues that Europeans believed that Indians originated from the Lost Tribes of Israel concerning the Bible, while others associated their ancestry with the myth of the lost continent of Atlantis while another suggestion came from a Spanish missionary (Jose de Acosta) that the Indians are part of the small group of hunters that were driven away from their Asian homes by starvation and other hardships. The notion that America’s first habitats came from Asia is supported by physical anthropology. American natives and people of northeast Asia have common physical traits that form a strong line of evidence that North America was inhabited by Indians. These physical traits include (Johnson, 101);   i. Straight black hair. ii. Wide cheekbones. iii. Shovel-shaped incisors. iv. Dark brown eyes. Bering Strait, which currently separates Siberia and Alaska, has been believed to be the area used by America’s pioneers to cross into North America (Johnson, 121). According to Johnson (122), this took place around 25,000 to 70,000 years ago during one of the ice ages where large volumes of water froze into glaciers creating a land bridge between Alaska and Siberia. The land bridge is believed to have appeared twice; between 26,000 and 28, 000 years ago, and between 10,000-12,000 and 20,000 years ago (Johnson, 145). It is during this period that authorities believe Indians came to America as they followed the migratory patterns of animals which were their major source of food with the aid of the Beringia (the land bridge formed from the frozen waters) (Chrestien, 105). According to Chrestien (106), the original habitats of North America could survive subfreezing conditions in the tundra for they were capable of building fires, making clothes from hides and skins/furs, and construction of very heavy housing.   Even though there were no vehicles, the first American settlers spread out very fast across the North and eventually to the South (Johnson, 222). This was due to population increase as many of them continued with interactions and since they were hunters and gatherers; they needed a very large hunting and gathering territory to sustain them (Johnson, 223). Archaeological evidence implies that they moved in three directions; southward along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, eastward across the northern coast of Canada, and the eastern Rocky Mountains (Johnson, 152). These movements made sure that the Asian inhabitants spread across America with a few of them splitting from the major groups toward the Ohio Valley, the eastern seaboard, and the Mississippi Valley (Johnson, 177).      Many secondary sources exist that try to document the history of the first American settlers but all of it is credited to the primary sources which point to the exact evidence that proves the existence of the Indians. These artifacts serve as a point of reference for most modern historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists who keep digging for more information to help them shape and rectify some major misunderstandings and misconceptions of the various myths about Indians' entry into North America.   Read More