 Clovis people were hunter-gatherers who are known to have colonised North America around 12,000 years ago. These are considered to be the first people to live on this continent, and helped to seed all of the eventual native American races and tribes who lived there since. This is however in contention as various evidence points to people living there before this period of time. The debate is still ongoing, and it seems that despite the clues, those who make the difference are still unable to piece them together. What about you? People have been drawing images on stones for a long time, and as reported in the Indian Petroglyphs article last week, it shows us what the people were thinking about at the time. It gives us a good impression of what was important culturally to the individuals who made them. When we see creatures like elephants and monkeys on the petroglyphs in North America, we know that only a human could have made them. We know that these creatures did migrate over the arctic circle to these lands, however there was a mass extinction event during the last ice-age. Partially caused by lack of ecosystem and partially caused by hunting, we lost many of our giant animals at this time. The Clovis hunter-gatherers lived after the ice-age, when these animals had already gone. So we know that these people could not have produced this art. That is unless they found skeletons and made an artist's representation, or copied described images from passed down tales. It's much more plausible that these carvings were made at the time these beasts were alive by people who lived beside them. Humans would naturally follow the migration paths of animal herds, so why not across into North America? Perhaps there was a period in time when there was an annual migration from Europe to America, especially knowing that the two countries have been gradually moving apart meaning they would have been closer at the time. Why does it take so long for consensus to even consider an idea that clearly carries weight? Perhaps the cost of reprinting textbooks for every institution out there would be too much to think about, and perhaps the many tenured professors who've made their livelihoods on the back of previous data have other motives at heart. We can only keep considering all the evidence and making our own choices about what it all points to. One thing is for certain, we still love making petroglyphs. Just a quick browse on eBay will uncover loads of them, new and old. Via Ancient Origins also see, Museum of Portable Rock Art, Canada  Images from the Museum Of Portable Rock Art, Canada. |
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