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On thin ice: problems with Stanford and Bradley's proposed Solutrean colonisation of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Michael J. O'Brien ,
Matthew T. Boulanger ,
Mark Collard ,
Briggs Buchanan ,
Lia Tarle ,
Lawrence G. Straus  and
Metin I. Eren
Michael J. O'Brien*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Matthew T. Boulanger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Mark Collard
Affiliation:
Human Evolutionary Studies Program & Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, St Mary's, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK
Briggs Buchanan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
Lia Tarle
Affiliation:
Human Evolutionary Studies Program & Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Lawrence G. Straus
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Metin I. Eren*
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle, Cleveland, OH 44106-1767, USA
*
*Authors for correspondence (Email: obrienm@missouri.edu; metin.i.eren@gmail.com)
*Authors for correspondence (Email: obrienm@missouri.edu; metin.i.eren@gmail.com)
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Extract

Across Atlantic ice: the origin of America's Clovis culture (Stanford & Bradley 2012) is the latest iteration of a controversial proposal that North America was first colonised by people from Europe rather than from East Asia, as most researchers accept. The authors, Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, argue that Solutrean groups from southern France and the Iberian Peninsula used watercraft to make their way across the North Atlantic and into North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). According to Stanford and Bradley, this 6000km journey was facilitated by a continuous ice shelf that provided fresh water and a food supply. Across Atlantic ice has received a number of positive reviews. Shea (2012: 294), for example, suggests that it is “an excellent example of hypothesis-building in the best tradition of processual archaeology. It challenges American archaeology in a way that will require serious research by its opponents”. Runnels (2012) is equally enthusiastic.

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 340 , 01 June 2014 , pp. 606 - 613
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014 

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