Early Americans Went Coastal

Digs & Discoveries July 1, 2011

Stone tools found at three sites in California's Channel Islands show that a group of people adapted to coastal living had moved into North America by about 12,200 years ago.
SHARE:

Stone tools found at three sites in California's Channel Islands show that a group of people adapted to coastal living had moved into North America by about 12,200 years ago. Archaeologists previously thought that the continent was inhabited only by the big-game-hunting Clovis culture at that time.

A team of archaeologists led by Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon and Torben Rick of the Smithsonian Institution uncovered stemmed as well as crescent-shaped projectile points that are similar to tools found throughout the Great Basin (an area that covers parts of Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and California). In both places they were used to hunt birds and aquatic life as well as some medium- and small-sized game.

Erlandson believes the discovery shows that the settlement of the Americas was more complicated than the old view that big-game hunters came through an inland ice-free corridor and then spread gradually to the sea. "It suggests that people may have migrated down the coast, and taken left turns inland up the major river valleys," he says. "It would have been a relatively easy transition from the coast to the interior lakes."

  • Features May/June 2025

    A Passion for Fruit

    Exploring the surprisingly rich archaeological record of berries, melons…and more

    Read Article
    © BnF, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY
  • Features March/April 2025

    An Egyptian Temple Reborn

    By removing centuries of soot, researchers have uncovered the stunning decoration of a sanctuary dedicated to the heavens

    Read Article
    Painted lotus-leaf capitals after cleaning in the entrance hall of the temple of Khnum, Esna, Egypt
    Ahmed Emam/© Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
  • Features January/February 2025

    Top 10 Discoveries of 2024

    ARCHAEOLOGY magazine reveals the year’s most exciting finds

    Read Article
    Courtesy the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
  • Features January/February 2025

    Dancing Days of the Maya

    In the mountains of Guatemala, murals depict elaborate performances combining Catholic and Indigenous traditions

    Read Article
    Photograph by R. Słaboński