Modern man began his migration into Asia and the Middle East around 60,000 years ago. Some 30,000 years ago, a small group of Asians moved further north into Siberia and Beringia....
MEADOWCROFT ROCKSHELTER
Native Americans are relatively recent arrivals to the western hemisphere. Their physical resemblance to the people of East Asia has long been recognized. More specifically, based on similarities in language, teeth, and DNA, there is agreement that the ancestors of the Native Americans originated in Asia. It is also widely believed that they migrated to the New World along or through the Bering Strait Land Bridge. This land bridge known as Beringia connected Siberia with Alaska. Beringia is thought to have been some 1,000 miles wide. A moist and treeless tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals (megafauna),along with other animals, that early humans hunted for their survival. The first people to reach North America might have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian coast and then across the land bridge. These first Paleo-Indians may have come down from Alaska through Canada through an “ice free corridor” between the two glaciers. Another possibility is that they came down along the west coast of Canada by boat.
But determining the date of their earliest arrival is the subject of a heated debate. There are hundreds of well-dated sites in both North and South America that suggest an arrival date between 11,500 and 10,500 years ago. Most of these sites contain spear points with a flute, or channel along its length. These points are called Clovis points, named after a site in Clovis, NM.
This ‘Clovis First’ explanation has been widely held by many archeologist's and is the theory offered by the U.S. State Department- Early History of America. This would suggest the development of language, culture and vast migration of peoples across the North and South American continents in a short 1500 year span. Other archaeologists argue that humans entered much earlier, at 18,000 or 30,000 years ago, and slowly filled the western hemisphere. This is called the Pre-Clovis model.
Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Washington County has been at the center of this debate. In 1955 Albert Miller watched a groundhog excavate ancient artifacts from this site. He could not have known that he had stumbled on one of the most significant archaeological finds in the world. It was not until the mid 1970’s that the painstakingly meticulous excavation of Dr. J.M. Adovasio from the University of Pittsburgh was to chronicle 16,000 years of human habitation. Today, Meadowcroft Rockshelter is recognized as the oldest site of human habitation in North America. With other Pre-Clovis finds at Topper in South Carolina and Virginia’s Cactus Hill, Adovasio’s findings have been corroborated .The US Secretary of the Interior has named Meadowcroft a National Historic Landmark. With the construction of the new Meadowcroft Rockshelter enclosure, visitors can view the actual excavation and learn about the peopling of North America.
The cache is not on museum property and can be easily accessed without entering private property.
The Rockshelter site is easily seen and photographed from the public road so please respect the "no admittance" policy if you should visit when the museum is closed.
Meadowcroft operates in association with the Senator John Heinz History Center,an affiliate of the Smithsonian and Pennsylvania's largest history museum.Please take time to visit the Meadowcroft Village website. In addition to the Rockshelter the museum contains a recreated 19th century rural village and a recreated 17th century Indian village. This is an opportunity for the entire family to celebrate life on the land in Western Pennsylvania. Meadowcroft Rockshelter
For additional information on human migration National Geographic Genographic Atlas.