Some Prehistoric Connections between Siberia and America

Abstract

The prehistory of the American Indian in the eastern United States, in spite of an impressive amount of excavation and study, is still in an unsatisfactory state, even though the major outline of cultural change and development is known. The earliest food collectors of the area, the Paleo-Indians, possessed a culture type more or less close connection to the Siberian Advanced Paleolithic groups. During the long Archaic period from 8000 to 1500B. C. avariety of minor culture changes and adaptations take place which are primarily developments of the native American populations. There may well be significant increments from Asia during the Late Archaic, as has been postulated for the heavy woodworking tools such as the gouge and adze, but to establish such influences definitely, their manner of spread needs to be adequately documented. There are a number of cultural traits which appear in the eastern United States between 1500 to 500 B. C. which are best explained as the result either of diffusion from Asia or to some degree also by population movement. These are added to the resident culture and this merger, along with agriculture and influences from Mexico, produced the developed Woodland cultures of eastern America from 500 B. C. to A. D. 500. Following this period, Mexican influences, but not a migration, shaped the dominantly agricultural societies of the Mississippi Valley in the early historic period.