The problem of the settlement of the Americas: Old and new objectives and approaches

Abstract

The “Great Migration” to the Americas was an important step in the peopling of the globe. This planetary process of human (and earlier hominin) expansion began in ancient times, following the inevitable logic: population growth requires continuous increase of energy consumption and/or continuous improvement of technology. However, the earliest material traces of the first human presence on Earth are extremely scarce. Judging by the limited material evidence, it would seem that groups of early gatherers and hunters were moving to the Americas despite the availability of rather extensive Eurasian territories free from any human population. What would be the reason for this great migration, carried out in quite uncomfortable climatic conditions in high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere? The piecemeal material vestiges of human presence in the Americas do not allow us to explain the general dynamics of this peopling process. Additionally, the problem of a temporal correlation between the development of civilizations in the New and the Old World is of particular interest. A coordinated interdisciplinary anthroposystemic study, covering all aspects of the problem, can approach the objective.