Mysterious origins of the first inhabitants of the Americas

Within the last few years an array of new research and data has begun to completely revolutionized the anthropological study of human migration into the Americas. My book, The Ancients: Investigations into the Lost Civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis, after only a few short years after its publication, has already reached a point of much needed revisal. As the evidence begins solidify, new and previously unforeseen genetic research begins to shake the foundation of previous theories, thus, enabling a new reexamination. By exploring in depth both physical remains and ethnographic records we can begin to shed light into the historical timeline and put together previously unforeseen connections between science and oral tradition. As been long underestimated, the oral tradition among Native Americans is one of detailed experiences that piece together historical events that have taken place in the past. Because many of these stories are seen as merely allegorical, and sometimes interwoven with mythological characteristics, they have long been ignored by those in the scientific community. The significance and overall importance of these oral traditions should not be ignored, but rather reexamined as a supplemental perspective to the scientific record. As objective as the sciences are, it can be easily understood as to the controversial nature and often overlooked perspectives that might be excluded from further evaluative analysis. Therefore, for the purpose of this article I hope to bridge both new and old perspectives in order to address a new perspective in examining the possible migrations of people into the Americas.  

Reexamining the Clovis-First Theory

It seems that every time researchers believe they are well on their way in understanding the waves of migration out of Africa and across the globe that something new arises that challenges all previous migratory models. When it comes to the first inhabitants of the Americas it was first believed that humans migrated in a wave across the Bering Strait through ice-free corridors from Russia into present-day Alaska in pursuit of megafauna during the last ice age. This theory is commonly referred to as the Clovis-First theory, which is based on the distribution of ancient Clovis spearheads dating back to the end of the last glacial period. Once archaeologists established a rough time frame, new archaeological sites were discovered that challenged the Clovis-First theory, most importantly in Monte Verde, in southern Chile, which completely threw a wrench into the theoretical model. Monte Verde dates back to 14,800 years before present, placing it roughly 3,000 years prior to the Clovis-First model, and to make it stranger, it was found not in North America, but near the southernmost tip of the Americas. This led to the creation of an additional theory, that perhaps the first Americans also came along a coastal route around the Pacific rim and down into the Americas. This made the most sense to anthropologists seeing as the oldest archaeological sites were found along the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Prior to these two major theories, a majority of research was based on the radiocarbon dating of remains. The ice-free corridor theory was based solely on the migratory distribution of Clovis spear points which are presumed to be among the first used among the earliest Americans. Once DNA sequencing came into its own in the 1990’s they then began looking and mapping out the various movements of people on a genetic level. Using the Mitochondrial DNA (which are the genes passed from mother to offspring) they were able to narrow down four major haplogroups (which are genetic markers found within the Mitochondrial DNA) found across the Americas. The main four haplogroups found were A, B, C, and D and could be found within all Native American mtDNA. These haplogroups could also be traced back to the first inhabitants of the Americas. Based on the evidence they then concluded that perhaps there were small waves of migration into the Americas leading to the spread of these four haplogroups. However, despite the genetic evidence researchers began noticing something new and once again all the previous attempts in explaining early migrations came under fire and things really began to take a turn into the unknown.

‘Caucasian’ remains and Haplogroup X

Over the years several remains found around North America began to stand out to researchers. And it wasn’t until 1996 that one of these skeletal remains became highly publicized and due to its controversial nature, ended in a high-profile legal battle.  In Kennewick, Washington skeletal remains were found along the Columbia River dating back roughly 9,000 years. The controversy sparked an uproar when some researchers claimed that it had  ‘Caucasian-like’ features and thus, wanted to conduct further testing and analysis. This is when things began to get a little more complicated. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) states that all such remains should be handed over to tribal members for reburial (or for them to decide what would be best). Native Americans believe skeletal remains are sacred and thus, should not be exhumed or in any way desecrated Court proceedings  began as several tribes claimed legal rights to the remains for reburial, preventing further genetic testing. However, due to the age of the skeleton, it was clear that no genetic affiliation to any modern day tribe could be established.

It is important to note that it wasn’t until 2015 that genetic testing of Kennewick Man was finalized and determined that he was, in fact, of Native American origin. Several other remains found in North America have fallen under the same legal battles of Kennewick Man. In Nevada, after the legal battle of Kennewick Man, the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony made a similar NAGPRA claim towards the Spirit Cave Mummy, the oldest mummy found in North America. Investigations led by the Bureau of Land Management concluded that the “cranium [resembled] closest to ‘Norse’ and ‘Ainu.’” However, Norse probability was 0.00084 and Ainu was even lower. The closest resemblance of the mummy being that of Polynesian and Australians (important to keep in mind). Forensic cranial analysis for the use of determining race has been negatively criticized in recent years. And understandably so, they have yielded unwarranted controversy and  speculation. The idea that Europeans/Caucasian people were here first has always been around since the ‘lost tribe of Israel’ notion dating back to Columbus. Seemingly like somehow the eurocentric notion would almost justify the onslaught genocide of the American indigenous population. That is why, among Native Americans, it is seen as a dangerous means justify the caucasian presence over their own.

As genetic mapping became more solidified within the anthropological field researchers began noticing a new pattern emerging. They began noticing yet a fifth haplogroup found among Native American populations. Haplogroup X is one of the ten haplogroups found in Europe (at a rate of 3%) and is found nowhere in Asia leading to much speculation as to how it first arrived into the Americas. First they needed to test whether or not this was before or after European contact and secondly, what was the wave of migration that this haplogroup spread across the Americas. The genetic markers of the haplogroup X found among the Nuu-Chah-Nulth natives (near Vancouver, Canada) shows no relation with any other Native American population with Haplogroup X. This was an important finding seeing as the first waves of migration took place over the Bering Strait and came down into the rest of the Americas. The researchers then concluded the following based on years of genetic mapping:

• Haplogroup X is found only in isolated populations in western Eurasians and Native Americans. (Reidla, Maere; et al. Origin and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X American Journal of Human Genetics 2003 Nov; 73(5): 1178-1190)
• The original population with Haplogroup X were among the first people to inhabit the Americas (12,000-36,000 BP). (Smith DG; et al. Distribution of mtDNA haplogroup X among Native North Americans American Journal of Physical Anthropology Volume 110 Issue 3, pp. 271-284)
• No trace of migration of Haplogroup X in Siberia/Asia or in the Americas, suggesting a pre-existing population at time of Native American migration. (Ibid.)

How could that be,a previously unforeseen population existing in the Americas years prior to Native American arrival?  The research was clear cut. If haplogroup X made its way across the Americas roughly the same time as the other four main haplogroups then there should have been genetic traces showing mutations within the genes.  However, there were no genetic mutations to be found leading to the groundbreaking assertion that this population existed in isolation (or pockets) in the Americas and were later integrated with the incoming influx of populations down into continent.

Every attempt to explain the presence of haplogroup X failed. Failed hypothesis, such as Solutrean hypothesis that suggested perhaps Europeans made their way over into the Americas prior to Native Americans. Once again, the age-old Eurocentric notions began to reappear and academic scientists needed to be clear about what their findings actually meant.

“Our results strongly support the hypothesis that haplogroup X, together with the other four main mtDNA haplogroups, was part of the gene pool of a single Native American founding population; therefore they do not support models that propose haplogroup-independent migrations, such as the migration from Europe posed by the Solutrean hypothesis.” (Fagundes, Nelson J. R.; et al. Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 82, Issue 3, 583-592, 28 February 2008)

Based on these traces they began to understand that perhaps other genetic traces were included within the mtDNA of the founding populations, and perhaps it consisted of waves of migration. This would be the only way to account for these genetic variations in the haplogroups. However, the objective nature of science can only go so far in explaining the presence and evolution of these genetic traces, what if there was something else they were missing? a new, or should I say, ancient perspective that has not been taken into account as of yet? Let’s hear what the indigenous populations have to say.

Brief Ethnographic Accounts

“After we left the beautiful valley of Cheek-cheek-alth, for years we wandered down a European land, always moving toward the south, having our origin in the far north. Over this land we wandered having our origin in the far north. Over this land we wandered like exiles, we know not how long, as it might have been centuries until we reached the rolling waves of the ocean. Upon reaching this salt water we made boats or canoes, and paddled over the waves until we reached the opposite shore, having crossed the straits in safety…

When The Indians first made their appearance on the Klamath River it was already inhabited by a white race of people known among us as the Wa-gas. These white people were found to inhabit the whole continent, and were a highly moral and civilized race. [And] after a time there were intermarriages between the two races, but these were never promiscuous.” (Thompson, Lucy To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman, p. 76 & 81)

It was believed that the Wa-gas, according to by Lucy Thompson, also had originated in this mysterious land called Cheek-cheek-alth.  This Yurok legend supports the genetic findings that concludes haplogroup X already inhabited the Americas at the time of later indigenous migration. Waves of migratory populations had to have taken place at different periods in time. The destruction of Beringia could in fact account with the land of  Cheek-cheek-alth. 

“Genetic and environmental evidence indicates that after the ancestors of Native Americans left Asia, they spent 10,000 years in shrubby lowlands on a broad land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska. Archaeological evidence is lacking because it drowned beneath the Bering Sea when sea levels rose.” (University of Utah. “10,000 years on the Bering Land Bridge: Ancestors of Native Americans paused en route from Asia.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 February 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140227141854.htm>)

At the time the oceans were much lower than they are today, exposing land mass that would otherwise be under water. The latest genetic research proposes a possible origin for all Native American people; Beringia. Could this be the mysterious landmass described by so many Native American tribes? Could there have been a distant memory or lore that was passed down regarding its existence or destruction?

Upon the Spanish arrival into North America they heard legends of Aztlán, the Aztec homeland, and the Straits of Anian, which they believed could possibly be a passage to take them back to Europe. At the time of exploration the indigenous populations knew of the existence of a strait existing to the far north and to the west. Likewise, they were told of a mysterious land existing past this strait that was the origin/homeland for their people. If perhaps some remnant distant memory of a strait did in fact still survive among indigenous lore then it would lend credence to the scientific conclusions.

“passed the strait of Anián, and that the province of Aztatlán [Aztlán] lies on the other side of the strait.” (Anaya, Rudolfo A. and Lomelí, Francisco A. Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland, p. 62)

The remembrance of Beringia would account for the existance of legends and genetic findings. The Straits of Anian being the Bering Strait,  and Aztlán or Cheek-cheek-alth, being Beringia during its submergence. Just as widespread flood myths being found among all indigenous populations, perhaps there is a small grain of truth behind it. Perhaps at one point in time the receding glaciers of the northern hemisphere (which reached a mile in height) during the Late Pleistocene melted in a rapid pace causing widespread flooding. The glacier melting sure did account for the rise in sea-levels which ended up completely reshaping the western coastline. Villages that once existed along the coastline, among the most ancient in north america, were destroyed in this sea-level rise, and could account for lack of more conclusive migrational evidence that would have been.

“A characteristic feature of Hupa mythology is the virtual lack of any true creation myth or creator. Yimantuwinayai, ‘the one lost across the ocean,’ together with the Kixunai, or first people, come into being spontaneously, and the former merely finds and frees the various foods for the use of mankind, who are to come after the ‘first people’ shall have disappeared from this world. Before these ancestors of the Hupa appear on the scene, Yimantuywinayai and the Kixunai leave for the world beyond the ocean or above the sky, and with the coming of man the mythical times abruptly end.” (American Anthropologist. 1904, Vol. 6, pg. 715)

‘Population Y’

In 1576 respected explorer Juan Fernandez described coming across a large land mass off the coast of present day Chile in South America. To this day, it has been a highly disputed case regarding the exact location of his sighting. He claims to have come across a vast continent inhabited by ‘pale-skinned’ people. He described geographical features such as waterfalls and mountainous regions. Though no evidence exists to support any landmass existing in the Pacific Ocean, many speculate that he perhaps reached Eastern Island or even New Zealand. The exact location of his discovery still remains a mystery. Many within various pseudoscientific fields believe that he may have reached a remnant of Lemuria, a continent thought having once existed in the Pacific (or Indian) Ocean.

Several endemic plants discovered on islands off the coast of Chile today bear no resemblance to other plants in the surrounding area. It has been suggested that such plants may have over time evolved and adapted to their respective climates and that perhaps, just perhaps, they were once a part of an ancient distant flora that might have once existed in the Pacific Ocean.

Recent bizarre findings, at first thought to be just a fluke, added a new level of mystery to the understanding of migrations into the Americas. ‘Population Y’, as it has been dubbed, was a newly genetically discovered link between tribes in the Amazon with those in Australia, New Guinea and the Andaman Islands halfway around the world. This population has no modern existing links connecting the two, in other words, they are found only in isolation showing no pattern or genetic movement that can establish a route of migration. It certainly adds a curiously familiar scenario of previously existing people at the time of later migrations of people with haplogroups A, B,C, and D. What exactly happen to ‘Population Y’? there are no ancient visible genetic traces remaining, it was as if the entire original population faded out of existence. Some populations in the Amazon maintain these genetic traces today, but it is still uncertain at what point these people may have entered into the Americas originally.

Some research shows that this Australasian DNA was found on islands off the coast of Alaska dating back only less than 9,000 years ago. For a recent population to leave Australia, travel up to Alaska, and then make their way down into the Amazon without leaving any traces in between certainly perplexes scientists. More skeletal samples are needed before assessing further migratory distribution. The Amazon in itself is one of the hardest environments to obtain DNA from skeletal remains due to the climate leaving researchers with more problems than answers.

Modern Lore of another ‘Homeland’ and Speculation

In 1868, James Churchward, a British soldier stationed in central India, gained access to a vault containing ancient tablets which mentioned an ancient civilization called Mu. Churchward spent the next 12 years studying with a high priest (or Rishi) learning the symbols and language written on the tablets. He later extensively travelled the world in search of proof of this mysterious continent and concluded two things:

1.) Proof of this ancient cradle civilization could be found all over the world (from Egypt to Australia).
2.) The continent of Mu was violently destroyed (after the people had become immoral).

In the 1930’s a book entitled ‘Lemuria: the lost continent of the Pacific‘ speculated that there once was a continent existing in the Pacific Ocean and built upon Churchward’s first inquiries into a ‘homeland’. The name Lemuria originated from Philip Sclater’s 1864 theory of a lost landmass that could explain the distribution of ancient lemur fossils in India and Madagascar. This theory further was elaborated upon by none other than occultist and theosophist founder Helena Blavatsky, who in the late 1800’s claimed a race of lizard people once occupied this landmass and who were later wiped out by a cataclysm. The name Lemuria stuck around and was later expanded upon in the book ‘Lemuria: the lost continent of the Pacific’. The author claimed to have received secret manuscripts chronically this ancient continent from Buddhists in Tibet and China. Furthermore the book claims that these ancient ‘white-skinned’ people escaped prior to a great cataclysm that destroyed their civilization and continent. Prior to the cataclysm these people sought refuge in the Americas where they lived as reclusive mystical beings for countless years. There they began to form small communities and lived fairly peaceful lives, similar to what the Yurok and Hoopa legends describe. Other parallels can be drawn from these indigenous accounts along with later modern descriptions of a landmass, fictional or not. Nonetheless, the true location of this ‘homeland’ is still yet very much a debatable issue.

As previously mentioned, during the Late Pleistocene the oceans were much lower than they are today, exposing land mass that would otherwise be under water. Could it be that there were once a continent that once existed in the Pacific Ocean? very doubtful. Several variations of the Mu legend as well as the interchangeable legend of Lemuria bare no scientific credibility. The bottom of the Pacific Ocean shows no evidence of a large-landmass once existing, but who’s to say for certain that maybe there is something being overlooked. Some barren islands in the Pacific Ocean have evidence to suggest populations existing or visiting at some point in time. The Ring of Fire, as it is well known, shows continuous movement of volcanic and seismic activity that could be subject to land emergence and submergence as with Sabrina Island near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. This landmass could also easily account for the mysterious ‘Population Y’ of which no modern connection or distribution could be attributed.

Speculative theories in support of the modern myth of Mu and Lemuria most closely resembles that of Beringia. It is difficult to prove that the Pacific Ocean could have maintained a large landmass at some point in time as there has never been any geological evidence in support of this. Further speculative analysis indicates that the indigenous lore referred to their lost homeland as a beautiful paradise, and indeed, fossil deposits and geological remains in the north Arctic Ocean does clearly show a lush warmer ecological environment once existing in Beringia. Could the lost homeland of all indigenous people perhaps be located somewhere in the Bering Sea? or have we yet to find the true homeland of these ancient people in the Pacific Ocean as others claim? The debate falls solely on the genetic and geological evidence that is still being collected and reevaluated today. Maybe within the next few years a new discovery would yield another piece of the puzzle that science has yet to fully reconstruct.  Only time will tell.