An "Idiot's Guide" to the American Upper Paleolithic

I was stationed in Barstow, CA, Mojave Deseert at the USMC Supply Center in 1971 and would ride my motorbike in the desert every couple of weekends. On one expedition I stumbled upon Leaky's dig near Yermo, CA. It consisted of a trench cut into an alluvial fan above a dry lake bed. The trench ran into the slanting alluvium for about 50', then took a dog leg left for about 20'. The archaeologist working there was generous with her time and showed me their operation, collection of tool artifacts and what they thought was a fire pit, a small circle of stones with fire evidence on their inside faces at the far end of the trench. Leaky himself had directed the dig into the dogleg left. Who knows what prompted the change in trench direction, but it landed them on a camp fire that they dated at 26,000 years. The lady archaeologist said that this was a heresy, that the evidence showed humans in North America before the so-called Bering Straight migration route had swung into action. I'm wondering how Richard Firestone's Younger Dryas meteor impact theory plays into evidence for the disappearance of Clovis cultures and North American megafauna. Do any of the sites mentioned in the video have a "black mat" layer above the Clovis and megafauna layers?

Cool to hear a story even older than the Klamath’s. Our Osage tribe has one of those tantalizing hints, too. When circus elephants were first brought to our reservation, the people recognized them as the animals in our history known as Ni-ta, which literally means Water Meat, just like deer = Ta and bison is Ta Tonga, Big Meat. Fascinating stuff to think about.

One important quibble: J. D. Figgins didn't "find" the Folsom site in 1927. George McJunkin, a black cowboy, found the site in 1908. He recognized that the bison bones there were not from an extant species and spent years trying to convince scientists and experts to come check it out. Figgins only learned of the site in 1926, and it was because a friend of a friend of McJunkin approached him at the Colorado Museum of Natural History and actually brought him some of the bones from the Folsom Site. Then Figgins realized it was an important find and went to excavate it. But credit where credit is due, Figgins did put the site on the international stage.

Excellent! The weasel-alert at 53 minutes should be part of every middle-school science class.

Give neolithic peoples credit for having boats and drop sea levels by 400 feet and it changes a lot.

I'm one of those idiots researching the Solutrean Hypothesis and i like hearing from other idiots! Thank you very much 😅

Thanks for your skepticism and translation of academic phrases. And your overall view that hypotheses are made to be disproved. I appreciate your being a generalist. Knowing something about a lot of things allows for a broader view.

In the beginning this gentleman described himself as an idiot. This man would need an airplane, a train, a bus and a taxi just to get near the city limits of idiocy. He is very humble. Also, those "clovis points and fishtail points" look more like art than everyday tools. The symmetry was amazing. I mean if i was an early human living in a cave and had not eaten in a couple of days, i do not think i would have paid as much attention to detail in the tools i used. I use hand tools to make my living. Also i live in a constructed habitat. A manufactured cave. If i wake up in the morning and my tools are not optimal i will improvise. Perhaps i have a unique perspective. I wonder if their is any money in that? That is how you can tell i am a modern human. Excellent video

This presenter was first rate. Immensely enjoyable. Packed with clear information. Thank you.

Bravo! I am so sick of archaeologists and their egos and I am so blessed to see somebody just using scientific proof! This was a fantastic video! Once again Bravo

Finally!! Someone with a lot of education and common sense. How doesn’t this video have more likes or shares?Thank you for your vast knowledge and effort. I have to get your video to Jimmy Corsetti of Bright Insight. I think he’d love it

Really enjoyed this. Glad to see the migration to America going in a direction that includes different cultures. RIP Clovis first.

Also consider that 20,000 years ago, when the ice stood high, the seas stood very low. There were a lot more islands above the water -- in both the Pacific and the Atlantic -- than there are today. Humans could have used simple dugout canoes to island-hop (or coast-hug) from Europe or Asia to the Americas. And, once here, they could have wandered anywhere in a few thousand years.

I've watched this video 3 times and it really opens my eyes realizing there's lots of possibilities

This is first rate science. Absolutely first rate. I had to watch it twice. Would like to watch it again sometime. Thanks for sharing your research and conclusions.

The reason 12,500 BC is so key and throughout the video is because all the large mega fauna, everything over the size of a groundhog died off, in one strike, about 14,500 years ago when a cataclysmic event took place during what is called the Younger Dryas. It seems the north American ice age was letting up and the ice was starting to recede, when either a comet or an asteroid came in and air burst, likely over the northwestern US/Canadian border, give or take. The asteroid (if that's what it was) broke up and hit the ice in different places, causing massive ice breaks that literally slid down the northwest of the US, carving out Utah and the ravaged canyons and causes floods, fires, and most likely blew over trees for 1000 miles. Whatever the exact details, it happened at at once, and there is evidence of the destruction in many sites all over. Before that point, there were fossils of mammoths, saber tooth tigers, ect. After: NOTHING. NADA. Never again. Gone. So ANY culture that was there, even villages of 1000's, (think native Americans in teepees or long houses) if they ever existed, would have been completely wiped out. During the resulting famine, almost without exception, humans would have died out in North America, Canada, and most everything except the higher elevations. So they were not covered by sand, mud or dirt, but completely destroyed by ravaging ice and timber flows as the land was completely ravaged. We all know that ANY fossils are rare, but people and whatever they owned would have been crushed and ground to gravel and burning under landslides and completely lost. But, due to the ice sheet, there is no crater to point to. It's not thought that parts of the asteroid also hit the ocean, including the Atlantic, causing massive floods that inundated coastlines all over. The dates would line up with global histories talking about a flood that wiped out all but a few people. Humm, a great flood? That sounds familiar. It's hard for archaeologists and even harder for geologists to change, but the evidence is starting to add up.

Just found your channel and your organization. Excellent presentation, I look forward to watching more of your content.

I appreciate the desire to seek knowledge and understand the human story. So many of us do! Thank you 🙏 Love, and light!

Very contextual and well done also extremely informative

What a great, clearly understandable lecture! Very much appreciate your intellectual insight on currently "developing" sciences like DNA relationships among various human groups. Most of all, I appreciate your intellectual honesty! Your humor and enthusiasm about the Gault site are noted, and it's ok to be "biased", as long as we acknowledge it! Thanks for putting this lecture on You Tube!