john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Mailbag: Boas and "unconventional models" of American prehistory

Tue, 2012-03-06 11:30 -- John Hawks

Re: Solutrean publicity blitz:

Dear John,

I normally have a soft spot for unconventional models of
American prehistory. Boas's speculations about the Iroquois
representing a northward back migration from South America always
fascinated me as did his idea that Raven myths found there way from
North America to Siberia. In contrast the thinking behind the
Solutreah hypothesis strikes even me as unimpressive.

It helps that Boas had some observations to go on!

Hrdlicka impresses me, how he traveled around to investigate claims of Pleistocene man in the Americas. That's the spirit I like -- take the claims seriously, go there and investigate, and report whether the evidence is good or not. We have too much arm waving today.

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.