Scientific Reconstruction of Ancient Woman Found in Mexico Suggests Diverse Migration

[Judi Lynn]

Saturday, July 24, 2010
Scientific Reconstruction of Ancient Woman Found in Mexico Suggests Diverse Migration

MEXICO CITY (AP).- A scientific reconstruction of one of the oldest sets of human remains found in the Americas appears to support theories that the first people who came to the hemisphere migrated from a broader area than once thought, researchers say.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History on Thursday released photos of the reconstructed image of a woman who probably lived on Mexico's Caribbean coast 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. She peeks out of the picture as a short, spry-looking woman with slightly graying hair.

Anthropologists had long believed humans migrated to the Americas in a relatively short period from a limited area in northeast Asia across a temporary land corridor that opened across the Bering Strait during an ice age.

But government archaeologist Alejandro Terrazas says the picture has now become more complicated, because the reconstruction more resembles people from southeastern Asian areas like Indonesia.

"History isn't that simple," Terrazas said. "This indicates that the Americas were populated by several migratory movements, not just one or two waves from northern Asia across the Bering Strait."

Some outside experts caution that the evidence is not conclusive.

More:
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=39450

[Lithos]

1. Sounds like agreement with previous theories

Either that or they are projecting seriously....


L-

[aquart]

3. We already have linguistic proof of at least FOUR waves of migration.

Then there's the prevalence of Raven/Trickster myths from the entire Arctic Circle on down.

Anyone with an indoEuropean glossary can figure out an Aztec calendar.

Oh, and then there was the little scandal about cocaine residue in an Egyptian mummy.

People were a whole lot busier way back when then we've ever given them credit.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Same with genomic studies

I have to agree -- I think human culture was far more advanced than we give our ancestors for. The difference we see between "civilized" and pre-civilized early cultures are probably indicators that human culture was far differently organized before the Ice Age ended than after.

There's also evidence -- controversial, but it does have some support -- that Aurignacian and Clovis were the same culture. Later on, there's evidence of occasional (proto-)Basque trade with American Indians. But I hadn't been aware of the cultural and linguistic links were so close, even having read Ruhlen and the proto-World scholars.

The next big horizon will probably be the differentiations among Sapients/Neandertalers/Heidelbergians/Floresenes/Erects/etc. If my intuition is correct, improvements in our ability to dig deeper with less damage will reveal more than we can imagine.

--d!
And when is Cavalli-Sforza going to get his Nobel Prize?

[aquart]

5. Well, we finally admitted they were weaving in the dawn of time.

The Venus of Willendorf is dressed to the nines. The ladies knew how to make nets to catch food. The mighty hunters were having bunny for din din.

[Warpy]

2. The land bridge theory is slowly being discredited

and more credence given to seafaring, island hopping cultures taking advantage of first lower sea level and then the melted ice cap to make their way around both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The "land bridge" idea never made a lot of sense to me since it would have been covered by a thick layer of ice year round. They'd have had to be close to the ocean to find anything to eat.