ABSTRACT
The latest understanding of what is known about the earliest inhabitants of North America and the principal controversies surrounding their archaeological interpretation are presented. Clovis was the first widespread Paleoindian culture, most readily identifiable by fluted spearpoints. A major archaeological challenge today is clarifying the origins of Paleoindians and assessing sites that appear to predate Clovis. Some evidence suggests that people may have expanded rapidly along the West Coast, adapting to the rich resources of the Pacific maritime environment and reaching South America by 10,500 bce. Other groups traveled into the interior and across the continent, while others moved southeastward after major ice sheets melted sufficiently thereby opening a broad corridor for human, plant, and animal expansion from Beringia. The establishment of human populations south of the retreating ice sheets coincided with the extinction of numerous Pleistocene animal species that previously had dominated North America. With the Holocene, scattered Paleoindian bands adapted to warmer conditions and emerging diverse regional environments.
