Who were the earliest Americans?

Were the first Americans coastal sailors or speedy bands of landbound hunters? Once, most archaeologists agreed that ancient hunters moved southward over the Bering Land Bridge into Alaska, onto the southern plains of Texas and finally to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America, completing this enormous journey in about 1,300 years.

Now, in response to discoveries of what seem to be older human artifacts in South America, the archaeology profession prematurely has jettisoned this theory for an alternative view based on theoretical sea travel, maintains Anthony Ranere, professor of anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. "Mine is a somewhat unpopular position, but I think the bulk of the evidence still supports the late entry, fast movement model. According to the model that I prefer, people first crossed the Bering Strait Land Bridge into North America about 12,000 years ago."

However, older artifacts thought to date to 12,500 years ago have been found in Monte Verde, Chile. Archaeologists could explain these finds by proposing that ancient travelers boated down the North American West Coast 25,000 or more years ago. "They could hardly have left Alaska any other way during the period from 25,000 to 12,000 years ago since a massive continental ice cap covered the entire upper half of North America, forming a barrier to overland movement."

Ranere points out that many other sites, once thought to be much older than 12,000 years, have been discredited one by one due to errors in dating. Only Monte Verde stands unchallenged. "If some flaw in the dating of Monte Verde is eventually...