ABSTRACT
Zoological and paleontological evidence conclusively eliminate the Americas as a possible setting either for human evolution or for the earliest stages of cultural development. At the upper end of the time range, there is proof that man had penetrated to the extremes of the hemisphere by 9000 b.c. While many archeologists consider the Paleo-Indians to be the first Americans, others find support for the existence of earlier immigrants in the numerous sites that lack projectile points but produce large heavy choppers, knives, and hammerstones, often in remarkable abundance. Both the location of the archeological sites and the types of tools they contain imply exploitation of a variety of foods, some available throughout the year and others seasonally. Lanceolate points are even more common and predominate in South American Paleo-Indian complexes. South American sites of the desert culture are poorly known, but excavations at Intihuasi cave in northwestern Argentina attest to the presence of a similar subsistence adaptation by 6000 b.c.
