Native Americans Call For Rethink of Bering Strait Theory

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: June 19, 2017 9:17 AM
Cecily Hilleary

It’s one of the most contentious debates in anthropology today: Where did America’s first peoples come from — and when? The general scientific consensus is that a single wave of people crossed a long-vanished land bridge from Siberia into Alaska around 13,000 years ago. But some Native Americans are irked by the theory, which they say is simplistic and culturally biased.

The first European explorers to reach the Americas looked to the Bible to explain the origins of the people they encountered and misnamed “Indians.” Biblical tradition holds that humans were created some 4,000 years ago and that all men descend from Adam — including indigenous peoples whom Europeans regarded as primitive.

“Dominant science believed in a concept of superiority,” said Alexander Ewen, a member of the Purepecha Nation and author of the “Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century.”

“And that created an idea that either people were genetically inferior or that there were stages of civilization, and Indians were at a lower stage,” he said.

More:
https://www.voanews.com/a/native-americans-call-for-rethink-of-bering-strait-theory/3901792.html

[Towlie]

1. "The universe is the way it is, whether we like it or not." -- Lawrence Krauss

That goes for anthropology, as well as all other branches of science. Science is evidence-based and it doesn't matter who's irked by what scientists find. Protests of scientific findings by ethnic groups are not useful scientific data.

[Me.]

2. Had A Crazy Thought Years Back

Years ago we attended a performance of The American Indian Dance Theatre at The Joyce Theatre in NYC. It was both marvelously exciting and interesting. Interesting because we couldn’t help noting, what looked to our eyes, a Japanese influence on their traditional costumes. But how could that be, we asked. Was it at all possible that the two peoples had crossed an ocean to influence each other’s culture? We didn’t know and still don’t. Never heard anything like this crazy theory/question. But given this article…I wonder.

[longship]

3. Well, the genetic evidence pretty much settles this.

Native Americans came from Asia, likely over a Bering Sea bridge, or by boat.

Pretty simple actually.

[RegexReader]

4. Some of the people in Siberia have clothing

that is almost identical to the Sioux. Had to do a double take to realize that the narration was in Russian.