Prehistoric Indians of the SouthwestWormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
History
Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest
Wormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Antiquities; Southwest, New -- Antiquities
As may be imagined, we know comparatively little about the most ancient
inhabitants of this continent. However, when one considers the thousands
of years which have elapsed and how little of their material culture
could be preserved since they had neither pottery nor metals, it is
rather remarkable that we know as much as we do. At least we know
something of the tools and weapons which they used, the animals which
they hunted, and the conditions under which they lived.
Apparently the earliest Americans had a rather simple culture and did
not practice agriculture nor have fixed habitations. Little is known of
their physical appearance since only two skeletons have been found in
this country which are accepted as being of relatively great antiquity
by any considerable number of competent scientists.[69][70] What
evidence we have suggests that the first men to enter the new world were
sufficiently modern in morphological type to differ very little in
appearance from many present day Indians.
The question naturally arises: Where did the aboriginal inhabitants of
America come from? Man did not evolve on this continent; therefore he
must have come to this hemisphere from the Old World where he had
existed for many thousands of years. All evidence points to migrations
from Asia and the logical route is by way of Bering Strait where the two
continents are separated by only fifty-six miles of water broken by
three islands. Later migrants may also have arrived from Asia following
a route through the Aleutian Islands. It must be emphasized that it is
not believed that there was only one immigration. Actually there must
have been many and they apparently continued into relatively recent
times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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