Breaking the Clovis glass ceiling: Native American oral history of the Pleistocene

Richard W. Stoffle; Kathleen A. Van Vlack; Heather H. Lim; Alannah Bell; Landon Yarrington; Richard W. Stoffle; Kathleen A. Van Vlack; Heather H. Lim; Alannah Bell; Landon Yarrington

doi:10.3934/geosci.2024023

AIMS Geosciences

2024, Volume 10, Issue 3: 436-459. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2024023

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Breaking the Clovis glass ceiling: Native American oral history of the Pleistocene

1.
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
2.
Department of Applied Indigenous Studies, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
3.
Living Heritage Research Council, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
4.
Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Received: 07 November 2023 Revised: 17 May 2024 Accepted: 03 June 2024 Published: 18 June 2024

This is a data-based analysis of how Native American interpretations of their distant past are being considered reflecting new science findings. A key science understanding developed over the past 75 years has been that Native people did not occupy North America (or any place in the so-called New World) longer than 12,000 years before present (BP), thus they could neither have experienced nor understood any event in the late Pleistocene interglacial period (128,000 BP to 11,700 BP). As called in this analysis, the Clovis glass ceiling references the popular use of Clovis spear points to represent the earliest signs of humans in North America with dates generally later than 12,000 BP. This analysis engaged with recent science findings that Native people were present in North America up to 40,000 years ago. Opening the science limits of Native presence affords a reinterpretation of the past using extant Native interpretations. As an example, Salt Spring near Death Valley is a component of an ancient Pleistocene heritage landscape that can be reconstructed using geology and Native American interpretations. Native American perspectives were derived from 404 ethnographic interviews with Numic speaking peoples, focused on 24 ancient springs near Death Valley, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Native Americans,
- Clovis,
- Pleistocene,
- Mojave Desert,
- cultural landscapes,
- heritage,
- Death Valley,
- Amargosa River
Citation: Richard W. Stoffle, Kathleen A. Van Vlack, Heather H. Lim, Alannah Bell, Landon Yarrington. Breaking the Clovis glass ceiling: Native American oral history of the Pleistocene[J]. AIMS Geosciences, 2024, 10(3): 436-459. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2024023

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Abstract

This is a data-based analysis of how Native American interpretations of their distant past are being considered reflecting new science findings. A key science understanding developed over the past 75 years has been that Native people did not occupy North America (or any place in the so-called New World) longer than 12,000 years before present (BP), thus they could neither have experienced nor understood any event in the late Pleistocene interglacial period (128,000 BP to 11,700 BP). As called in this analysis, the Clovis glass ceiling references the popular use of Clovis spear points to represent the earliest signs of humans in North America with dates generally later than 12,000 BP. This analysis engaged with recent science findings that Native people were present in North America up to 40,000 years ago. Opening the science limits of Native presence affords a reinterpretation of the past using extant Native interpretations. As an example, Salt Spring near Death Valley is a component of an ancient Pleistocene heritage landscape that can be reconstructed using geology and Native American interpretations. Native American perspectives were derived from 404 ethnographic interviews with Numic speaking peoples, focused on 24 ancient springs near Death Valley, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

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