Sometime before the end of the Pleistocene, people living in Siberia or along the Pacific Coast of Asia traveled east and found an hemisphere of arctic, temperate, and tropical climates uninhabited by other humans. Over the next 12,000 years or more, populations diversified into, and thrived in, a range of environments--the last great experiment in human adaptation. This course will follow that process as it unfolded across the continent of North America, from the earliest Paleoindians through 1491. Particular emphasis will be on the nature and timing of the colonization(s) of North America from Asia, the impact of environmental diversity across the continent, and the rise of complex societies. |