Finding
Cross-cousin marriage kin systems, such as Subarctic Dene, Subarctic Algonquian, and Great Basin Numic, may provide a useful analogy to late Pleistocene kin systems, and are visually explained in Figures 10.2 and 10.3.
Paper
Works in stone: contemporary perspectives on lithic analysis
Abstract
uses case studies outside of the Americas to calculate speeds of linguistic diversification related to migration. Based on those calculations, the author suggests that the initial entry into the Americas occurred 20,000–25,000 years ago. Chapters 10 and 11 provide novel conceptual frameworks that may help to explain late Pleistocene migration into and throughout the Americas. Ives (Chapter 10) provides a particularly thought-provoking approach to understanding cultural processes related to human migration into a previously unoccupied landscape. Ives uses kinship patterns and demography to construct a model of early human occupation. While the discussion of hunter–gatherer population dynamics is often focused on microband/macroband structures, Ives argues that we should also be asking how bands form in the first place. Cross-cousin marriage kin systems, such as Subarctic Dene, Subarctic Algonquian, and Great Basin Numic, may provide a useful analogy to late Pleistocene kin systems, and are visually explained in Figures 10.2 and 10.3. Ives links these kin systems to archaeologically visible subsistence strategies, lithic conveyance zones, and fluted point distributions throughout North America. Essentially, Ives works to facilitate discussions of Paleoindian social landscapes that may be used to understand site distributions across the continent. Ershova (Chapter 11) argues for a holistic, integrated approach to studying human migrations. To address the current gaps in our understanding of late Pleistocene population histories, Ershova proposes the theory of autoorganization of the anthroposystem, which aims to understand the history of humanity as a whole. This model is based on a multi-level approach linking an individual’s actions to family unit activities, which are in turn linked to social group behaviors, and finally to humanity as a whole. By taking such an approach to studying human migrations, we can establish greater context for the archaeological record. Thus, in turn, we can develop a greater understanding of the motivations for migration and the processes driving local adaptations. Olzhas Suleimenov (Chapter 13), the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and a published poet, provides the concluding chapter and discusses the significance of the first two international meetings on Great Migrations. The first conference in 2008 focused on understanding the origin of modern humans and the timing of their migrations from equatorial East Africa. The second conference in 2011 focused on migrations from Asia into and throughout the Americas. Suleimenov then hypothesizes about another significant wave of human migration that occurred simultaneously in the Mediterranean and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Third Wave of migration, as Suleimenov describes the Sumerian cultural expansion, may be understood by focusing on the evolution of languages around the world. Semantic elements of languages may provide vital clues to explain past religious activities and cultural adaptations to local conditions. By mapping similarities in ideological symbols, Suleimenov finds potential cultural links between populations in the South Pacific Ocean and South America, and suggests this may indicate transPacific population movement.
Authors
Shane Miller
Journal
Lithic Technology