American Archaeologist

This site is new and is dedicated to the study of American Archaeology, New World Prehistory and the origin of the First Americans. This site will be updated often with news as it pertains to these issues.

Living History

A living history interpreter does the daily chores of a mid-18th century frontier woman at Prickett's Fort, Fairmont, WV. The original fort was built at the confluence of Pricketts Creek and the Monongahela River in 1774, to protect settlers from Indian raids. More information at
prickettsfort.org

Two U.S. scientists have published a radical new theory about when, where and how humans migrated to the New World, arguing that the peopling of the Americas may have begun via Canada's High Arctic islands and the Northwest Passage -- much farther north and at least 10,000 years earlier than generally believed. when, where and how humans migrated to the New World, arguing that the peopling of the Americas may have begun via Canada's High Arctic islands and the Northwest Passage -- much farther north and at least 10,000 years earlier than generally believed.
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Meet the real-life version of Robert Langdon, the professorial mystery-solving hero of Dan Brown's blockbuster novels such as The Da Vinci Code.

He's a retired professor of Latin American history at UC Davis, a white-haired, scholarly gent who grows a couple of varieties of grapes in his personal vineyard in rural Yolo County. No one has ever threatened his life or attempted to murder him, and he's never been pursued through the narrow streets of an ancient city by thuggish fanatics bent on stopping his pursuit of knowledge. But he's been on the case of the Codex Cardona, a manuscript that contains information about Mexico in the period before and immediately after the European invasion, for the last 25 years.
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About 800 years ago, in a large room lit by a wood fire, fierce-looking men bedecked in bright feathers and polished copper ornaments gathered to smoke and talk.

Their intricate jewelry -- fanciful objects hammered from chunks of naturally occurring raw copper -- reflected the firelight. A variety of these ancient Mississippian-era copper decorations have turned up throughout Illinois and the Southeast United States, including triangular, 8-inch long-earrings embossed at the ends with a human face, headdress ornaments depicting stylized birds, even diminutive but carefully crafted copper ovals that may have been applied to a ritualistic leather belt or cape. When they are unearthed, these antiquities are covered with a green or gray patina.

Monk's Mound
A copper workshop has been found near Monk's Mound, at the prehistoric site of Cahokia, near Collinsville, Illinois. It is the first of its kind to be found.
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