Peopling of the Americas: Paleobiological Evidence

Document Type

Article

Authors

G Gentry Steele, Texas A&M
Joseph F. Powell, Texas A&M

Abstract

A subjective and bivariate analysis of 8500-10,000-year-old human fossil remains from North America substantiates that the fossils’ closest affinities are with Asian populations. Within North American prehistoric Indian populations, increasing brachycephalization and the possible development of a larger, broader face are two structural trends that can be identified. In those respects where Paleo-Indian specimens differ from modern northern Asians and North American Indians, they tend to resemble southern Asian and European populations. These assessments generally support the inference that populations entered the New World relatively recently but before the modern northern Asian and North American features were fully developed. Based on the data examined, no date can be specified for time of entrance of the first populations, nor can the number of founding populations be discerned.

Recommended Citation

Steele, G Gentry and Powell, Joseph F. (1992) "Peopling of the Americas: Paleobiological Evidence," Human Biology: Vol. 64: Iss. 3, Article 3.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol64/iss3/3