McDaniel on Dillehay

Few topics raise such passion among New World prehistoric archaeologists as the debate over the first Americans — the original colonizers of the New World. In his most recent work, Dillehay demonstrates that new discoveries and analyses of previously excavated sites suggest that the traditional Clovis-first model for peopling of the Americas is in need of considerable revision. The broader implications of an earlier-than-previously-thought period of human occupation are discussed, such as why some in the archaeological community are resistant to a paradigmatic change and what new evidence points to an earlier migration. Dillehay effectively summarizes the current issues that surround the first American debate in terms of archaeological, linguistic, osteological, and genetic data. In addition to physical evidence, original human colonization of the New World is considered in terms of necessary social and cognitive cultural features.

The book is organized into 11 chapters and is roughly divided into three topical areas. The first four chapters provide a background review of theories of migration, late Pleistocene environmental conditions, and major stone tool traditions. This section is followed by two chapters concerned with specific details of South American archaeology: early prehistoric sites, seminal figures, chronologies, methodological problems, and proposals for future avenues of research as they relate to migration theories. The final chapters of the book review evidence that complements the archaeological record such as DNA and linguistic data, and the social needs of the early settlers. Dillehay concludes by summarizing the importance of New World prehistory on a global scale, and by offering directions for future research.

Pivotal to the reevaluation of settlement patterns is the Monte Verde site in Chile, researched by Dillehay and generally accepted by numerous critics to be the most sound evidence for a pre-Clovis culture: dated at 12,500 B.P., it is problematically “too early” for a South American late Pleistocene settlement. Furthermore, artifacts recovered from Monte Verde demonstrate that people had a radically different technology and subsistence strategy than their North American counterparts. All of these inconsistencies point to a need for revision of migration and colonization theories, an obstacle for researchers like Dillehay who are literally rewriting prehistory.

Although the presentation of material is as concise as possible, the middle section of the book is filled with a mass of names, dates, and places that tends to overwhelm the reader who is not familiar with South American archaeology. This segment is indispensable, however, because it provides context for the ensuing and more interesting concluding discussions of social and cognitive aspects of the culture of the first colonizers. Dillehay goes beyond basic ecologically deterministic causes of migration and delves into possible ideas regarding social structure, adaptive mobility, cognitive needs, and core institutions that are associated with exploration and eventual colonization by hunter-gatherer populations. Many early prehistorians have shied away from these sorts of projections; the fact that the author dares to hypothesize about such intangible concepts is a credit to his name and a refreshing turn for New World archaeology.

While not the first person to suggest some of the ideas in the book, Dillehay builds upon a foundation laid by other anthropologists who have worked in South America, and is arguably the first to synthesize the material into such a readable text. It is, overall, a well-presented synthesis of information appropriate for both amateur and professional archaeologists alike. Much of the technological jargon found in academic writing is omitted or clarified, so that the book is capable of reaching a broad audience. In this reviewer's opinion, it would make a welcome supplemental text to any upper or lower-division anthropology class with a topical interest in early prehistory of the Americas and migration theories.

Perhaps most thought provoking are the concluding remarks on the importance of the New World prehistory in terms of a global scale; the Americas are unique because the rapid period between settlement and the development of civilization was unprecedented in world history. A rare opportunity is provided to examine rapid culture change...