The American Indian: Part 3:Origins
Thomas Allen
Several hypotheses have been proposed for the origins of the American Indians. These hypotheses consist of five groups: Asiatic, Asiatic-Oceanic, Asiatic-European, autochthonous, and mythical.
According to the Asiatic hypothesis, all the Indians of America are descended from various Turanian racial types or peoples who crossed from Siberia to Alaska in several waves of migration. This hypothesis is the most widely held hypothesis.
According to the Asiatic hypothesis, all the Indians of America are descended from various Turanian racial types or peoples who crossed from Siberia to Alaska in several waves of migration. This hypothesis is the most widely held hypothesis.
According to the Asiatic-Oceanic hypothesis, most Indians are descended from various Turanians crossing from Siberia to Alaska. However, some Indians are descended from Australians (Indo-Australian). This hypothesis has several variants. Some have the Australians entering South America by a southern route. Others have them entered America by crossing from Siberia to Alaska. Still others claim that in addition to Australians entering through Alaska, Melanesians also came to South America. Another variant is that while some of the ancestors of the American Indian came through Alaska, others cross the equatorial Pacific to settle in Central and South America. This hypothesis is second only to the Asiatic hypothesis in popularity.
According to the Asiatic-European hypothesis, some American Indians are descended from Turanian immigrants from Asia. The others are descended from immigrants from Europe — probably Cro-Magnards or people related to Cro-Magnards. (Cro-Magnards were of the Melanochroi species.) The European immigrants most likely came across the North Atlantic although some hold that they came through Alaska. A variant of this hypothesis substitutes North Africa for Europe. This hypothesis has few followers.
According to the autochthonous hypothesis, American Indians originated in America. Autochthonous creationists hold that the original ancestors of the American Indian were created in America. Autochthonous evolutionists hold that the American Indian evolved from a pre-Homo sapiens humanoid or from a very primitive Homo sapiens who had not yet evolved into races. Not many people hold this view. This hypothesis is perhaps the lease favored one.
According to the mythical hypothesis, at least some Indians are descendants of people from Atlantis or Mu who fled to America when Atlantis or Mu sank. Although this hypothesis is popular in some circles, it currently has little to support it.
Several other hypothesis, which are not discussed in this article in any detail, have been proposed. They included:
1. The Lost-Tribe-of-Israel Hypothesis: The lost tribes of Israel came to America and created the civilization of Mexico and Central America. Some maintain that they were the progenitors of all Indians. They probably came by way of the Bering Straight although they might have come across the Atlantic.[72]
2. The Malay Hypothesis: The Malays came to Mexico and Central America and established the civilizations there.[73]
3. The Phoenician Hypothesis: The Phoenicians are the originators of the Mexican and Central American civilizations.[74]
Asiatic Hypothesis
The Asiatic Hypothesis is perhaps the most widely accepted hypothesis for explaining the origins of the American Indians. According to this hypothesis the original ancestors of the American Indian is found in Asia.
Edward Brerewood (1622)[75] was perhaps the first to identify the American Indians with Turanians. He concluded that they were related to the Tatars.
George Louis Leclerc, Conte de Buffon (1749)[76] is among the earliest advocate of the Asian origins of the American Indians. He bases his conclusion on the morphological resembles that he recognizes between Indians and Turanians, such as Japanese, Chinese, and Turks.
Johann F. Blumenbach (1775)[77] is another early supporter of the Asian origin theory. He believes that the American Indians originated in northeastern Asia as Mongoloids (Turanians). These Asians came to America in several migrations and at different times. Eskimos are the most recent arrivals and resemble the Asian Mongoloids the most.
Oscar Peschel (1885)[78] maintains that ancestors of the American Indians entered America by crossing the Bering Strait. At the time of the crossing, mostly an isthmus occupied what is now the Bering Strait. The Arctic Ocean did not connect with the North Pacific; thus, the climate was much milder then than now. However, even if the geography of this region was in ancient times as it is now, early man could have crossed the strait in boats. As land in America could be seen from Asia, the voyage was not a leap into the dark, but a journey to visible land. The greatest proof that the ancestors of the Indians originated in Asia, the land of the Turanian species, is the Mongoloid characteristics of the present Indians.
O. T. Mason (1894)[79] believes that the American Indian is the progeny of Indo-Malaysians. People from Indo-Malaysia skirted the East Asiatic and American Northwest coast until they reached the Columbia River or some adjacent area. From this region, these people spread across the Americas to become the American Indians. These voyages from Indo-Malaysia continued for thousands of years until the Chinese and other civilized people settled along the Asiatic coasts and halted them. To support his theory, he notes the physical similarities between Malayans and Indians and possible linguistic affinities along the primeval route, and similarity of social institutions, arts, and industries.
Ales Hrdlička (1917)[80] maintains that the American Indians are of northeast Asian origin and that they are exclusively Mongolian immigrants, who came in successive waves. He links various Neolithic men from eastern Siberia to tribes of America. The southern Eneolithics resemble the high-vaulted Algonkin type. Contemporary Chukchi are related to the Bering Sea Eskimo. The Aleuts descended from the round-headed Tungus. Their path of migration was across the Bering Straight. They came by water, not by land. He supports the late arrival of man in America. The arrival of the first wave was after the Wisconsin glaciation, the last North American glaciation, which is approximately 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, and most likely no earlier than 3000 years ago.
A.C. Haddon (1925)[81] supports, like Hrdlička, the north Asiatic route for the progenitors of the American Indian and holds that they are all Turanians. He eliminates Europe as the home of any of their ancestors.
Haddon identifies several migrations of people from Asia. First the pre-glacial people are the paleo-ethnic inhabitants of America. They are the Lagoa-Santa type of South America, who are short in stature with a high and narrow head. They are found in eastern Brazil, in southern Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego, on the islands of western and southern Chile, on the Ecuador coast, and in southern California. He identifies the descendants of these people as the Paleo-Amerinds.
The second pre-glacial people are the inhabitants between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. They are tall in stature with a head that varies about the lower limit of bracycephaly. They probably migrated to North America by the north Pacific bridge before the last glacial period. They are the ancestors of the North American Indians.
Later came a more brachycephalic (i.e., round-headed or broad-headed) people from Asia. These immigrants moved down the Pacific Ocean and settled in Central and South American and the southwestern United States. The Neo-Amerind descended from them.
Robert B. Bean (1932)[82] identifies four basic migrations to or invasions of America. These migrations to America began during the Paleolithic era and continued into the Neolithic era. During the Paleolithic era, man began migrating from the Iranian Plateau and across the plateaus of Turkestan and Siberia. From these plateaus, the population gradually spread over northern Asia and then into America. Part of these people crossed into Alaska and spread over the Americas. These early Paleolithic immigrants were followed by Neolithic immigrants.
The first people to enter America were long-headed (dolichephic). Their descendants include the Algonquin, Iroquois, Shoshonean, and Prman Aztec tribes. The Lagoa Santa race were part of this first invasion.
Next came a brachycephalic type from whom came the Toltecs. People of this second invasion settled along the northwest coast and in the Gulf States, Mexico, Central America, and Peru.
The third invaders were the Athapascan. They spread across Alaska and northwest Canada. They were also brachycephalic people. Although most remained in Alaska and Canada, some migrated south. The Hupa, Navaho, and Apache are descendants of these southern migrants.
Finally came the Eskimo. They came from the extreme northeast corner of Asia and adjacent Alaska. They spread across the northern part of North America to Greenland.
Christy Turner (1985)[83] uses dental studies to support the Mongoloid Asiatic origins of American Indians. Turner’s studies show that the teeth of ancient Americans closely resemble the teeth of northeastern Asians. The teeth of these Mongoloids distinctly differ from the teeth of other races of men.
The ancestors of the American Indians originated in northern China. From here they spread into eastern Mongolia. Then they migrated northward through the Vitim and Lena river basins until they reached the Laptev Sea, which would have been the western edge of Beringia. At this time Beringia was an extremely cold tundra steppe. They then turned east and traveled across Beringia to Alaska where they arrived about 10,000 to 13,000 B.C. From here they eventually spread across North and South America. These first arrivals were the Paleo-Indians. From them all other Indians descended except the Aleuts and Eskimos and the Greater Northwest Coastal Indians.
Next to arrive were the Aleuts and Eskimos. Their ancestors also originate in northern China. They cross Manchuria and traveled down the Amur river basin to the Sea of Okhotsk. From here they gradually migrated around the Kamchatka Peninsula and finally crossed into Alaska before 3000 B.C.
The third and final group of Asiatics to enter America were the Athapaskans (Na-Dene), the Greater Northwest Coast Indians. They came from eastern Siberia.
Stephen Zegura (1985)[84] believes that the ancestors of the American Indians crossed Beringia into Alaska sometime between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. Their descendants spread across North and South America. The ancestors of the Athapaskans and the Aleuts and Eskimos arrived at a much later date. As no Aleut or Eskimo skeletal remains dating before 2000 B.C. have been found, the arrival of their ancestors was probably not much before then.
Dumond (1987)[85] dates the movement of the Athapaskans southward to the northwest coast to be about 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. About 4,500 years ago, the Aleuts and Eskimos appeared in Alaska.
M.S. Schanfield (1990)[86] uses genetic evidence (immunoglobulin variations in Siberian, Eskimo, and American Indian populations) to identify four migrations from Asia. The earliest group is the ancestor of the South American Indians. The third group is the Athapaskans. Last are the Aleuts and Eskimos.
R.A. Roger and E.C. Pielou (1991)[86] argue that the Asians entered by coastal routes. Coastal routes had to be used because the ice-free corridor would not have provided adequate food, clothing, or firewood.
Crawford (1998)[88] hypothesizes that the ancestors of the American Indians came from Asia and were Mongoloids. He bases his conclusion on genetic similarities, morphological resemblance in contemporary populations, craniometric affinities, and cultural similarities.
In kind and frequency of genetic markers of the blood, Indians resemble Mongoloids of northeast Asia. Several genetic makers occur only in American and Asian populations. These makers includes Diego allele, DI*A; gamma globulin allotypes, GM*A T; Factor 13B*3; transferrin, TF*C4; and complement, C6*B2 alleles. (These makers do not occur in every individuals or population group; however, they do occur in a high frequency in both Turanians of Asia and Indians of America.) Crawford identifies several other genetic markers that these two populations have in common.
Another genetic trait that American Indians share with Asian Mongoloids is a high frequency of dry or brittle earwax. In the other species of men, sticky or wet earwax is the type most common.
Among the morphological characteristics that American Indians generally share with Asian Mongoloids are straight black hair, sparse beards and body hair, and Mongoloid sacral spot. The face of both is relatively flat with small brow ridges and broad zygomatic arches, which gives a high-cheekbone appearance. The epicanthic fold is common in Asian Mongoloids and some American Indians. Shovel shape incisors is common in both populations, but occurs at a much lower frequency in Aryans and Negroes.
Cultural similarities exist between northeastern Siberians and Americans. Both hold a belief in spirits who must be placated with ritual. Both have shamans or medicine men, who have visionary power given to them by direct contact with the supernatural. Their primary function is curing disease. The Plains Indians and Taiga of Siberia have a similar type of dwelling. Both use calendar sticks.
Crawford identifies two times that a land bridge occurred between Siberia and Alaska. They were between 45,000 and 70,000 years ago and between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago. The absent of a land bridge, however, would not necessarily deter human migration. During severe winters the sea between Asia and Alaska freezes sufficiently to allow human migration.
Once man crossed the land bridge, he needed the opportunity to migrate southward. The glaciation that lowered the sea level to create the land bridge also resulted in glaciers covering much of Canada into the northern part of the United States. During the Wisconsin glaciation, which occurred between 12,000 and 70,000 years ago, two great ice sheets covered much of northern North America. The smaller one covered the central mountains of British Columbia and stretched from the Aleutian Islands to the Columbian River valley. The larger one extended from the Arctic Ocean to the Ohio River valley and from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. At peak periods of glacial expansion, the two sheets most likely meet. These peak periods occurred between 15,000 to 18,000 years ago and 62,000 and 65,000 years ago. During these periods, human migration southward would have been blocked. (Even when the corridor was open, Fladmark questions whether it was used. He doubts that the corridor was large enough to support the herds necessary to sustain hunters as they migrated from Alaska to the central plains.) Crawford concludes that Asian Mongoloids entered America between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago in a minimum of three or four migrations.
A major problem with the Asiatic Hypothesis is the total lack of interchange of useful commodities between the Old World and the New World. The people of the Americas did not receive from Asia silk, iron, cereals, such as wheat, rice, and millet, from Asia, or beasts of burden, such as the horse, donkey, and camel. The people of Asia did not receive from the Americas such useful foods as maize, potatoes, and tomatoes or such desirable products like tobacco. This criticism is especially true for theorists who have large scale migrations to America of the Neolithic era. Of coarse, if man came from Asia during the Paleolithic era or early to mid Neolithic era as many of the Asiatic theorists hold, they can rightly claim that these useful items had not yet been discovered or developed in the Old World. However, why should man cease coming from the Old World to the New World during the Neolithic era? After all, as time past, man’s ability to navigate both on water and land increased. Furthermore, why were the migrations essentially one direction, from Asia to America?
A significant problem with Hrdlička’s hypothesis, and those who have followed him, is that it is based on the hypothetical existence of an average American Indian type. He compared this representative type to Turanians of northeast Asia. He relies primarily on tegumentary characteristics (external appearances) and generalizations, many of which have not been proven statistically. He also fails to consider essential points of differences pertaining to the skeleton and skull, such as height and orbital, cormic, and facial indices. His major flaw is that he lumps all American Indians together as one racial type. He ignores the great somatic variation displayed in American Indians.
A problem with Mason and many other Asiatic theorists is either the inability or failure to account for the presence of two types of primitive man in southern South America.
Furthermore, except for the Eskimos and Aleuts, the languages of the American Indians do not resemble any of the languages of the Old World.
Asiatic-Oceanic Hypothesis
Although not as popular as the Asiatic hypothesis, the Asiatic-Oceanic hypothesis does a better job of explaining the racial differences of the American Indian. According to this hypothesis, most Indians are of Turanian origin. However, the ancestry of some important racial types among the American Indian seems to come from Australians or Melanesians of Oceania..
Paul Rivet’s (1925)[89] maintains that the Indians of America are the result of migrations of four racial types. The Mongolian and Eskimo elements migrated across the Bering Straight. The Australian and Melanesian (Malayan-Polynesian) elements entered the southern part of South America via a southern route. He dates the Australian arrival to have occurred about 4000 B.C. The Mongolian type represents the preponderance of the immigrating groups who arrived in several waves over an extended period, usually via the Bering Straight.
To support his thesis, Rivet uses osteometric and somatometric characteristics of various tribes who inhabit the southern extremes of South America. He compares these characteristics to Australians. He also compares languages of South American tribes to those of the Australians.
Besides Australian elements in South America, Rivet also identifies a Melanesian element. This element is identified with Paleo-Amerindian or Lagoa-Santa type. This race has been formerly found from Lower California through the southwest United States and as far as Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. Skulls of these Indians clearly resemble those of Melanesia. He also uses linguistic and ethnographic data to support his thesis.
Unlike the Australians, the Melanesians were excellent navigators and skilled boatmen. They could have reached South America — especially since currents and winds are favorable for such a trip.
A. Mendes Corrêa (1925)[90] suggests the possibility of Australian Tasmanians migrating across Antarctica to South America. If in an earlier epoch, the climate of Antarctica was more favorable than now, which it probably was, the journey could be made following the then existing string of islands, straights, peninsulas, and channels. This route eliminates the need for long transoceanic voyages. This explanation of the route taken by the Australians eliminates a major difficulty with Rivet’s thesis. (Rivet believes that Mendes Corrêa adequately explains how the Australians traveled to South America.)
G. Montandon (1933)[91] provides a different explanation of how Australians came to South America. Polynesians enslaved Australians to build megalithic monuments like those on Easter Island. Perhaps Polynesians brought Australians to South American to procure raw materials. On one of these voyages, some of the Australian slaves escaped. From these escaped slaves came the Indian tribes descended from the Australians.
J. Imbelloni (1938)[92] identifies seven waves of immigration. First came the Tasmanian Australian. Imbelloni believes that the Australians migrated northward along the Asiatic coast, crossed the Bering Strait, and then migrated down the American coast to the southern part of South America. They were dolichocephalic (i.e., long-headed or narrow-headed) and short. From these people came the Fuegians — the extant Yamana, Alakaluf, and Chono, and extinct tribes who lived on the coast of Chile and northern California.
Melanesians, who came by land, comprised the second wave. They were short with an exceptionally high cranial vault and pronouncedly narrow temples and ultradolichocephalic. The ancient skulls found in Lagoa Santa, Punin, Texas, and Lower California are theirs. Culturally, these people were seed gathers. They were the ancestors of the Laguian racial type of Brazil.
The third wave was a very tall, dolichocephalic people similar in part to the Australian type. They also entered by land. Culturally they were nomadic hunters. They were the progenitors of the Dakota (Plains Indians) of North American and Pampeans of South American.
The fourth group were a Proto-Malayan (or Proto-Indonesian) people, who were of medium height and dolichocephalic. These people arrived by sea. Their culture ranged from head-hunters like that of Borneo to agriculturalists like that Indonesia. Settling in South America, they became the progenitors of the Amazonians of South America.
The fifth contingent was predominately Mongoloid, probably Tungus or Paleo- Siberians. They were the ancestors of the Pueblo-Andeans. Culturally, they practiced intensive agriculture and had patrilineal institutions.
The sixth component resembled the most civilized people of Indonesia, the Deutro-Malayans. Their characteristics were identical with the Pueblo-Andeans, but they were more intensive. That is, they were of lower height and greater brachyskelia (short legs and a long trunk) and were ultrabrachycephalic. They arrived in the first century A.D. and created the Middle American Civilization. They were the progenitors of the Isthmians.
The seventh wave consisted of the Aleutians (or Columbians) and Eskimos.
Thus, Imbelloni identifies seven waves as constituting 10 racial types of American Indians. These waves consisted of at least six racial types of two different species of men entering America. They are the Tasmanian and Melanesian types of the Australian (Indo-Australian) species and the Proto-Malayan, Deutro-Malayan, Tungus, Paleo-Siberian, Eskimo, and perhaps other types of the Turanian species. Based on his thesis, the Fuegians and Laguians are Australians, and the remainder are Turanians.
Harold S. Gladwin (1947)[93] offers an interesting and unusual Asiatic-Oceanic hypothesis. He identifies six migrations consisting of several races. These migrations began around 25,000 years ago and ended about 500 A.D.
The first migration to America began about 25,000 years ago, plus or minus 5000 years, and continued for several thousand years. These first immigrants were Australoids. Physically, they were dolichocephalic with long, narrow faces, broad flat noses, prominent overhanging brow ridge, and protruding muzzles. They came out of eastern Asia, crossed into North America via the Bering Isthmus, and migrated southward along the Pacific coast to southern California. From here some spread eastward into Texas and eventually scattered over much of the United States. Others continued into Central and South America and eventually scattered over much of South America. Most of these immigrants settled in the southwest United States, northern and eastern Mexico, eastern Central American, Ecuador, northern South America, and eastern Brazil.
The second migration began about 15,000 B.C. These immigrants were Negroids. These Negroids, who were related to the Negritos and Melanesians, came from southeast Asia. They crossed the Beringia into Alaska, migrated through the Yukon and Mackenzie valleys into the western plains, and scattered over much of the United States. Folsom man and related people descended from these Negroids.
The third immigrants were the Algonquins. Beginning around 1000 B.C., the Algonquins started migrating from Siberia to Alaska. This migration lasted until about 500 B.C. The Algonquins followed the route used by the Negroids into the western plains. From here they spread across the northern United States and southern Canada. From these immigrants descended the Mohican, Delaware, Shawnee, Sauk, Fox, Menominee, Ojibway, Cree, Blackfoot, Kootenay, and Salish.
The fourth immigrants were the Eskimos. About 500 B.C., at the end of the Algonquin migration, came the Eskimos. They came from Siberia and spread across Alaska and northern Canada into Greenland. This migration lasted about 200 or 300 years. These people had an unusually long and high skull, a broad flat face with prominent cheekbones, a very narrow nose, and an epicanthic eye fold. They were the first true Mongoloid people to enter North America. The Eskimos were the first people to arrive in the Americas who possessed truly Mongoloid physical features or any evidence of Mongoloid culture.
The fifth migration to America began about 300 B.C. and lasted until around 600 A.D. These immigrants were Mongoloids. Physically these people were brachycephalic broad-headed with brown eyes, slanted eyelids, prominent cheekbones, straight black hair, scant facial hair, and yellowish-brown skin. Although some may have come from southeast Asia, most probably came from northern China. They crossed into Alaska, traveled through the Yukon and Mackenzie river basins into the plains east of the Rocky Mountains. Then they spread southward and eastward. (The Uto-Aztecans followed a different route. They came down the western side of the Rockies.) Some migrated into Mexico; a few continued farther south into Columbia and down the Pacific coast of South America. From these Mongoloids came the Penutian, Uto-Aztecan, and Athabascan tribes. The fifth wave of immigrants were probably the progenitors of the people whom Haddon describes as Neo-Amerinds, and Dixon, as Paleo-Alpines.
The sixth migration began about 300 B.C. and lasted until about 500 A.D. These immigrants were Polynesians and Melanesians, both of whom Gladwin considers a polyglot of Greeks, and various people of the Middle East, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. From these people descended the Arawaks, who were more closely related to the Polynesians, and the Caribs, who were more closely related to the Melanesians. These immigrants crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed along the coast of Central and South America. Some of these Polynesians also settled along the coast of British Columbia.
Calvin Kephart (1960)[94] also presents an Asiatic-Oceanic hypothesis. He believes that perhaps the earliest people to arrive in America were Pre-Dravidians (i.e., people of the Australian species). These people originated in India and migrated through Farther India and across Indonesia to Australia. From here they moved to South America across the South Pacific during the height of the glacial period when mountain peaks projected above the water. This migration probably occurred during the Buhl glacial advance about 10,000 years ago.
They were the ancestors of the Aymara and other Quichua-speaking people, including the Incas. These people have quite a broad nose and appear intermediate between the Veddas and Papuans (two racial types of Australians). At one time the descendants of these Pre-Dravidians spread over much of South American. They may have ranged as far north as southern California.
They were also the ancestors of other tribes in the eastern Brazil highlands, Ecuador, and Peru, who show an affinity to the Veddas. These people are short. They are dolichocephalic with a small and very high skull. Their face is short and wide with a concave nose of medium width and prognathic profile. They have yellowish-brown skin and long black wavy or curly hair. These non-Turanian Indians of South America constitute Haddon’s Paleo-Amerinds.
The first Turanian immigration to American occurred about 20,000 years ago across the Bering Sea. The earlier immigrants were tall to medium height and dolichocephalic. Most of the later arrivals were short and brachycephalic.
With the exception of the Eskimos, most of the dolichocephalic Turanians were of the Min racial type. Mins are a racial type of the Turanian species who originated in Szechwan province of China. This is the predominate racial type of this province today. While most Turanians are brachycephalic, Mins are dolichocephalic.
Over the centuries various tribes of Mins from Szechwan spread across much of China and into eastern Siberia. Some of these tribes continued northeastward. About 20,000 years ago some of these Mins crossed the Bering Straight, traveled through the Yukon and Mackenzie River valleys, and eventually settled in Colorado and New Mexico along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Other tribes of Mins continued to arrive in North American until about 6500 B.C. After the initial contingency of Mins arrive, the second contingency came in several waves between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago. Perhaps the most significant contingency came around 8000 B.C. As these various waves of Mins came, they spread over the central plains of Canada and the United States, the Mississippi valley, and the northern and eastern woodlands. Among the descendants of the Mins are the Indians of New England, Lenni-Lenape, Iroquois, Chippewa, Blackfoot, Kootenai, Apaches, and probably the Pimas, and Otomi. Most, if not all, tribes of eastern and central North America are their descendants. These Indians constitute Haddon’s Northern Amerinds.
The later Min tribes to arrive were a mix of Mins and Ugrians. Unlike the Mins, who were dolichocephalic, the Ugrians were brachycephalic. They were also shorter. These people migrated southward into Central and South American. They were the progenitors of the Patagonians (Tehuelche), Pampeans, and Borroro tribes of Matto Grosso, Brazil.
The second distinct Turanian migration was more purely Ugrian in racial type although some tribes may have been mixed with Tunguses. These Ugrians entered North America via the Aleutian Islands and migrated southward along the Pacific coast to Central and South America. Among their descendants are the Papago, Maya, Toltec, Aztec, Huaxteca, and Totonac of Mexico and Central America. They were also the progenitors of the Indians of Guiana and the Arawaks of the West Indies. These Ugrians constituted part of Haddon’s Neo-Amerinds.
The third distinctive Turanian migration to North American was the Tunguses. The Tunguses were primarily brachycephalic. They came from Mongolia. The earlier arriving Tunguses probably included the most brachycephalic of Haddon’s Neo-Amerinds. They settled on the American plateau and in Mexico and Central and South America. The later arriving Tunguses settled along the Pacific coast from
60̊ north latitude southward to the United States border. These later arriving Tunguses constitute Haddon’s Northwest Coast Amerinds.
The fourth and final distinctive migration was that of the Eskimos. About 3000 B.C. Eskimos were driven from the Khingan Mountains to northeast Asia. From here they later crossed into North America and spread across the northern Alaska and Canada to Greenland. Their arrival in the Arctic may not have occurred until after the first century A.D.
A major difficulty with the Australians is explaining how they arrived. Arrival by way of the Bering Straight is highly unlikely. These primitive people would have had to travel tens of thousands of miles through hostile environments and hostile people. They had little or no knowledge of navigation. Without such knowledge, it is inconceivable that they could have crossed the Pacific Ocean on their own.
Another problem with Rivet’s hypothesis is that he dates the arrival of the Australians at about 4000 B.C. Yet evidence shows humans inhabiting Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego before 8700 B.C. A major short-coming of hypothesis like Mendes Corrêa’s that have an Antarctic migration route is that it lacks archeological proof to support the Antarctic route.
A major problem with the Polynesian slave theory is that Polynesians do not appear to have reached Easter Island until about 400 A.D. Moreover, evidence that man occupied islands of the southeastern Pacific early enough to serve as a staging point for colonization of the Americas is lacking. The distances from the islands of the south Pacific to South America are great (Easter Island, one of the closest, is about 2000 miles from Chile). Although evidence has been found indicating that people from the South Pacific did land in South America, they arrived long after others had inhabited the continent.
Endnotes ‒ Continued
72. John D. Baldwin, Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology (New York, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1872), pp. 166-167. Brinton, American Race, p. 18. Wauchope, pp. 50ff.
73. Ibid., pp. 167-171.
74. Ibid., pp. 171-174.
75. Kenneth MacGowan, Early Man in the New World (New York, New York: The Macmillian Company, 1950), p. 12.
76. Michael H. Crawford, The Origins of Native Americans: Evidence from Anthropological Genetics (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 3.
77. Ibid., p. 3.
78. Oscar Peschel, The Races of Man, and Their Geographical Distribution (New York, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885), pp. 400-401.
79. Keane, Ethnology, p. 365.
80.Comas, pp. 625-628. Crawford, pp. 27-28. Jeffrey Goodman, American Genesis: The American Indians and the Origins of Modern Man (New York, New York: Summit Books, 1981), pp. 43-44;
MacGowan, pp. 15-17.
MacGowan, pp. 15-17.
81. A.C. Haddon, The Wandering of Peoples, 1912; reprint. (Washington, D. C.: The Cliveden Press, 1984), pp. 74-114.
82. Bean, pp. 62, 66, 81.
83. Crawford, pp. 221-223. Christy G. Turner II, “The Dental Search for Native American Origins,” Out of Asia: Peopling of the Americas and the Pacific, Editors Robert Kirk and Emöke Szathmary (Canberra, Australia: The Journal of Pacific History, Inc., 1985), pp. 30-58.
84. Stephen Zegura, “The Initial Peopling of the Americas: An Overview,” Out of Asia: Peopling of the Americas and the Pacific, Editors Robert Kirk and Emöke Szathmary (Canberra, Australia: The Journal of Pacific History, Inc., 1985), p. 13.
85. Crawford, p. 30.
86. Ibid., p. 22.
87. Ibid., p. 13.
88. Ibid., pp. 4ff.
89. Comas, pp. 628-629. MacGowan, p. 169.
90.Comas, pp. 629-632. MacGowan, p. 169.
91. Comas, pp. 632-633.
92. Comas, pp. 633, 635-637. MacGowan, p. 170.
93. Harold S. Gladwin, Man Out of Asia (New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1947), pp. 65-69, 87, 93, 95, 97-100, 136-139, 148, 150, 158-162, 164-166, 172-175, 226, 245, 252, 261, 335, 349. MacGown, pp. 170-174.
94. Calvin Kephart, Races of Mankind: Their Origin and Migration (New York, New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1960) pp. 93-97, 99, 103-114.
