My Unessay. With Focus on the Solutrean Hypothesis

A blog dedictaed to the understanding of the Solutrean Hypothesis, how it came to be, why it took hold, and what that means for Indigenous North Americans as the hypothesis gains traction. 

[babyllamaexpert]

The best part of the Solutrean Hypothesis? They only ever found the points and made their entire case off of that. Due to the change in coast lines since the Last Glacial Maximum, there is a good chance a lot of the evidence has been eroded, washed away, or sank. They never found skeletons, or evidence of villages, or cave paintings (the Solutrean culture used a lot of cave paintings in Europe, so it would be unlikely they wouldn’t paint in North America). And to top it off, there is evidence that points against the Solutreans being good at seafaring, so where the heck did the point come from? 

[babyllamaexpert]

Pseudoarchaeology

Pseudoarchaeology is like any pseudoscience, it uses alternative, cherry-picked facts or fringe theories and attempts to build off of them, even without much evidence. This becomes especially dangerous when it is picked up by the public and mistaken for well-researched, well-backed theories as misinformation can spread very quickly. It is important when looking at these theories to understand who they might benefit/harm when compared to who founded/researched/discovered them. The Solutrean Hypothesis falls into this category because many groups have taken it out-of-context to “prove” that white people are the true first people of North America, all while ignoring and abusing the facts. 

Really, most times it’s just bad archaeology being used to further a bad idea.

Click here for a quick read about pseudoarchaeology

[babyllamaexpert]

How did the Solutrean Hypothesis come to be you ask? Well, a point form (a spear point) was found in Maryland that resembled the points made by a group of people from 21,000-17,000 years ago who lived in present-day France, Spain, and Portugal: the Solutreans. When dated using the surrounding soil, the point was found to be 22,000 years old. This contradicted the notion that the first people to inhabit North America arrived 15,000 years ago, and from then it has been a search for clues about the “first” colonizers of the Americas. Of course, this has opened up a barrel of monkeys as this hypothesis was taken by white supremacy groups to prove that white people have a claim to the land, and not Indigenous people as we all know. But, there is one thing that also seems to be left out: recent studies show that Ice Age Europeans (including Solutreans) had dark skin, not white. So even if the made it from Europe to North America against the odds, the Solutreans would not resemble the Europeans we know today.

[babyllamaexpert]

it’s interesting to think about how people made it from Africa/Eurasia to the Americas. While I believe humans traveled from Asia to North America by the large bridge or along the coast line, it is possible we came another way, just kind of unlikely seeing as we would have had to do it mostly by accident, like by the currents sweeping our boats to sea and landing on Eastern North America

[babyllamaexpert]

On the surface, the Solutrean Hypothesis is an interesting take on how people came to the Americas. The belief that people 21,000 years ago could have made a journey across the Atlantic from present-day France/Spain/Portugal is not too far off if you remember how good our ancestors were in Oceania at building boats. I think it discredits the Ice Age people a little to think they could not have survived the trip, however, I really don’t think they did it on purpose. Leaving their home on land for a trip across an ocean when they aren’t seafaring people seems ill advised at best, and definitely like a death sentence at worst

[babyllamaexpert]

CBC under fire for documentary that says first humans to colonize New World sailed from Europe

Critics say it is ‘extremely irresponsible’ of The Nature of Things to promote the Solutrean Hypothesis, a favourite piece of propaganda among white supremacists

The author of this article reviews the negative side effects of CBC’s “Ice Bridge” documentary. The director is quoted in the article saying that it is not her job to “address the issue of racism” when it comes to the “first inhabitants of North America” as they’re “not saying anything about race in their theory” which completely ignores how the public may interpret this video and the repercussions primarily Indigenous people will face due to their ignorance. Archaeology (and all sciences, really) needs to be done in a way the respects both past and present cultures. All this video is doing by ignoring how it can be used to bolster something like white supremacy is creating a larger platform for white supremacists. By not addressing race, but using white people as standard for Ice Age people, they made a very loud statement.

[babyllamaexpert]

You have to be careful when you consume history/archaeology, most of it was written by people who didn’t think everyone deserved equal and basic human rights. It is so important to think, when watching a show or video or even a documentary (think of Ancient Aliens), about who they are interviewing, what choices in casting they made, and what type of images they are using to distract from inconsistent narratives or poorly backed theories. 

Sometimes these types of things can be fun (one of my favourite Disney movies is Atlantis), but other times the outcome is much more serious. The use of white characters to show the first inhabitants of America can undermine Indigenous claims to land and rights by playing into the White Supremacist’s ideas that white people came first and therefore the genocide of Indigenous people in North America was justified (which is just sick). Or the notion that ancient POC could not and were not responsible for the amazing monuments we have today (Machu Picu, the pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun) which tries to down play the achievements of these people and instead attempts to argue it is more likely aliens built these structures, because how could these independent societies ever think to use a triangle in their buildings, must have been aliens. 

[queen-of-dirt]

I (foolishly) looked at the comments on a Kennewick Man youtube video awhile ago and I saw a lot of comments like these:

And it’s been bugging me for awhile because I know that mindset extends into the general public with this case and I just don’t get it. For one, obviously if no-one inherently owns him than what right does that give scientists to keep him? It’s just assumed that being “for science” makes everything justified and moral.

Also, if the argument is that he’s too old to be directly connected to any modern tribe, then he’s still 100% more related to modern tribes than anyone that came over after Columbus!

And it’s not ever like Kennewick man was going to unlock the cure to cancer or something, wanting to study him comes from an entirely selfish desire to know more about our general human ancestry. If this was some ancient mammoth bones people would be much less upset. So to claim that your desire to understand the human past is more important than that same desire of the people who are more directly related to that past is just absurd.

[babyllamaexpert]

And also just super ignorant to other cultures and their burial practices or treatment of their dead. The entire time the Ancient One was above ground, the 5 Indigenous tribes were dismissed to allow of further studies. Like OP said, the Ancient One would only give us a glimpse of the past, not a ground breaking cure, but really, if these people were so interested in what the skeleton had to offer, why didn’t they treat it and the people descended from it with more respect? I can imagine that if from the start we valued the Umatilla and their culture we could have had the Ancient One for longer before he was reburied, we could have worked along side them and paired cultural histories/stories and anecdotal evidence with physical artifacts and created an amazing view into life 9,000 years ago. I don’t blame the Umatilla for wanting to protect the Ancient One, especially after their treatment thus far and how many people are saying they do not care about him for more than research.

[babyllamaexpert]

While i’m not against researching new theories regarding how/when humans came to the Americas, would it kill people to stop casting the actors in their TV dramas as white? The Solutrean hypothesis could have been a really interesting view point on how people moved in prehistoric/ice age times, but now it’s just a white supremacist’s day dream: the idea that white people lived in North America and were wiped out by Indigenous people.

[babyllamaexpert]

For immediate release: February 19, 2017 Contact: Chuck Sams, Communications Director [phone] Mission, OR – The Ancient One has been reburied after twenty years of court challenges and scientific study. In 1996, two young men inadvertently di

After learning about the Ancient One in class, and seeing the struggle the Umatilla had to go through to have their ancestor returned to them, it is so nice to see he has been reburied. At first when I learned about find, I was confused about why they would want to rebury him, but quickly I realized, it was so much more than that (and even if it wasn’t, the tribes wishes should have been honoured sooner). This was about the treatment of Indigenous tribes in the US and how they are seen in the eyes of the law and public. This is about the respect we need to give other cultures and their burial practices. This was a fight to decide what was more important: people with a living culture and their rights or science. Perhaps if it had been done more respectfully, the Umatilla would have allowed for more testing, but we will never know due to their unjust treatment. 

[npr]

Last week, there was a big development in the long-running, bitter, complicated battle over a 9,000-year-old set of bones known variously as “Kennewick Man” or “The Ancient One,” depending on whom you ask.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the ancient bearer of the bones is genetically linked to modern-day Native Americans. Now, under federal law, a group of tribes that has been fighting to rebury him will almost certainly get to do so.

It also means that scientists will probably never get another chance to study him, though ancient human remains from North America are incredibly rare, and forensic technology gets better all the time.

“It’s the chafe between science and spirituality,” writes Kevin Taylor at Indian Country Today, “between people who say the remains have so much to tell us about the ancient human past that they should remain available for research, versus people who feel a kinship with the ancient bones and say they should be reburied to show proper reverence for the dead.”

A Long, Complicated Battle Over 9,000-Year-Old Bones Is Finally Over

Photo: Brittney Tatchell/Smithsonian Institute

[shameatawheel]

it's hardly surprising but the more you know: richard dawkins reduced native american repatriation requests to 'religion versus science' arguments,

thereby completely ignoring the colonial and often genocidal context of the collection and display of indigenous remains, and presenting science as apolitical and universally beneficial, all the while playing on existing stereotypes of native americans as ‘anti-intellectual’ and ‘backward’..