Assessing the proposed pre-last glacial maximum human occupation of North America at Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, and other sites Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2018 Elsevier Ltd Genomic studies indicate that the first Pleistocene foragers who entered North America diverged from ancestral populations in Beringia sometime after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM); however, several archaeological sites in North America have been proposed to predate the LGM. We present the results of our excavation and analysis of one such site, Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, which show that this site is a paleontological locality containing a geofact assemblage that pre-dates the LGM. Other sites in North America that purportedly predate the LGM occur in geomorphic contexts that are also conducive to the formation of geofact assemblages. As such, we propose that the reported artifacts from these sites were created by natural processes. No sites in North America currently provide credible evidence of a pre-LGM occupation.

published proceedings

  • QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

altmetric score

  • 2.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Tune, J. W., Waters, M. R., Schmalle, K. A., DeSantis, L., & Kamenov, G. D.

citation count

  • 5

complete list of authors

  • Tune, Jesse W||Waters, Michael R||Schmalle, Kayla A||DeSantis, Larisa RG||Kamenov, George D

publication date

  • January 2018