First American (United States)

University-community engagement is more critical than ever in order to address society’s most pressing issues, such as climate change, health and economic disparities, and racial justice. In particular, public land-grant institutions and their faculty can harness their unique roles as teachers, researchers, and Extension educators who use science-based knowledge to meet the needs of communities. The founding principle of service to the common person is embedded in the land-grant mission, yet that tradition is being tested by external forces that are pushing land-grants toward greater selectivity in whom they serve and how they engage. Reimagining university-community engagement will require innovative thinking and new models of engagement. Tribal land-grant colleges and universities offer a unique approach to community engagement that may provide ways for universities to regain their footing as the “people’s universities.” This article will explore university-community engagement from a tribal perspective and provide an example of how one tribal land-grant college maintains strong connections with its community. A tribal model of community engagement may offer important lessons for public land-grant institutions and other organizations that seek to serve their communities in a more authentic way.

By 13,000 BP human populations were present across North America, but the exact date of arrival to the continent, especially areas south of the continental ice sheets, remains unclear. Here we examine patterns in the stratigraphic integrity of early North American sites to gain insight into the timing of first colonization. We begin by modeling stratigraphic mixing of multicomponent archaeological sites to identify signatures of stratigraphic integrity in vertical artifact distributions. From those simulations, we develop a statistic we call the Apparent Stratigraphic Integrity Index (ASI), which we apply to pre- and post-13,000 BP archaeological sites north and south of the continental ice sheets. We find that multiple early Beringian sites dating between 13,000 and 14,200 BP show excellent stratigraphic integrity. Clear signs of discrete and minimally disturbed archaeological components do not appear south of the ice sheets until the Clovis period. These results provide support for a relatively late date of human arrival to the Americas.

ABSTRACT In Beringia, as in many other parts of the world, stone tools are the main diagnostic cultural artifact for understanding prehistoric societies. The analysis of lithic assemblages is the basis for establishing connections between sites and techno-complexes. Through highlighting major technological trends, archaeologists are able to interpret processes such as cultural continuity and migrations. Here we present a fine-grained analysis of two assemblages to perceive in detail the individuals behind the lithic productions, more specifically apprentice knappers. Although recognition of apprenticeship in a prehistoric context is not new, this is the first such study for Alaska and Beringia. We focus on two distinct assemblages with microblade technology: the late Pleistocene component of Swan Point CZ4b (Tanana valley) and the early Holocene component of Little Panguingue Creek C2 (Nenana valley), both in central Alaska.

North and South America were the last continents to be explored and settled by modern humans at the end of the Pleistocene. Genetic data, derived from contemporary populations and ancient individuals, show that the first Americans originated from Asia and after several population splits moved south of the continental ice sheets that covered Canada sometime between ~17.5 and ~14.6 thousand years (ka) ago. Archaeological evidence shows that geographically dispersed populations lived successfully, using biface, blade, and osseous technologies, in multiple places in North and South America between ~15.5 and ~14 ka ago. Regional archaeological complexes emerged by at least ~13 ka ago in North America and ~12.9 ka ago in South America. Current genetic and archaeological data do not support an earlier (pre-17.5 ka ago) occupation of the Americas.

In the Great Basin of western North America, studies of prehistoric human technology have long been conducted in an ecological, evolutionary context. Here we review evidence of long-term environmental and technological change at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, western Bonneville basin, Nevada. In this region 15,000–8000 calendar years ago, climate became increasingly warm and arid, leading to the drying of an extensive pluvial lake system and radical changes in vegetation and mammal communities. Paleoindians, of course, responded to these changes, and their adjustments are recorded in the lithic technological record. For the occupants of Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, adaptation included (1) more use of poor-quality, local tool stones at the expense of high-quality, nonlocal obsidians, (2) an increase in primary-reduction activities (including early-stage biface reduction), (3) a decrease in the versatility of hafted bifacial tools, and (4) an expansion of technology to include the use of ground-stone tools. These adjustments in technological organization reflect related modifications in settlement and subsistence behavior, for example, lengthier occupations of the rockshelter and reduced mobility, as well as more intensive artiodactyl hunting and a concomitant broadening of the diet to include hard-to-process seeds from a variety of plants.

Abstract Humans first left Siberia and colonized the Americas perhaps around 16,000 years ago, and the Clovis archaeological complex in North America has traditionally been linked to this migratory pulse. Archaeologists searching for evidence of Clovis technological antecedents have focused their attention on the Beringian and Siberian archaeological records. Growing evidence for the pre-Clovis occupation of North America provides a possible alternative source for the origins of Clovis. In this paper, we present new data on the pre-Clovis lithic assemblage from the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas, and compare Clovis and pre-Clovis lithic technological signatures. We show that while Clovis and pre-Clovis share some important technological traits, they also differ in important ways. We conclude that the pre-Clovis assemblage from Debra L. Friedkin cannot be called “Clovis,” but it could represent a technological antecedent of Clovis.