SOLUTREAN SETTLEMENT OF NORTH AMERICA?

A REVIEW OF REALITY
LawrenceGuy Straus

The Solutrean techno-complexof southern France and the Iberian Peninsula is an impossible candidate as the "source"for either pre-Clovis or Clovis traditions in North America. Primarily this is because the Solutreanended ca. 16,500-18,000 B.P. (at least 5,000 years before Clovis appeared) and was separatedfrom the U.S. eastern seaboard by 5,000 km of ocean. In addition, there are major differencesbetween the Solutreanand Clovis (and even more between it and "pre-Clovis")in terms of the composition of lithic and osseous technologies and with regard to evidence of artistic activity. Nor is there any evidence that Solutreanpeople had navigation, deep-sea fishing, or marine mammal hunting capacities which could have made a transatlantic crossing even conceivable. Furthermore,there is no evidence that people lived above about 48" N latitude in western Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum,making a "jumping-off" point from the (then largely glaciated) area of the current British Isles unlikely.Thepeopling of the Americas, even if the result of several "migrations,"was from Asia. El complejoSolutrensedel sur de Franciay de la PeninsulaIberica es un candidato imposiblecomo 'fuente" de las tradiciones Clovis o pre-Clovis en Americadel Norte. Este es el caso especialmentedado que los hechos de que el Solutrensetermin6hacia los 16.5 a 18 mil aniosantes del presente (al menos 5,000 anos antes de la aparicion de Clovis) y esturoseparado de la costa este de los EE.UU.por unos 5,000 kmde oceano. Adema's, entreel Solutrensey Clovis (y mds auin existendiferenciasmuy importantes entreaquella culturay el supuestopre-Clovis) en cuanto a la composici6nde sus tecnologias liticas y 6seas y en relaci6n con la evidenciade actividadartistica. Tampoco evidenciade que las gentes del Solutrensetuvieronconcocimientode la navegacion, hay la pesca en alta mar,o la caza de mamiferosmarinos, lo cual habria concebible una travesia del Atldntico.Finalmente,tampoco hay evidenciade que hubo humanosviviendoal norte de los 49?de latituden Europaoccidentalduranteel u'ltimo madximo glacial, lo cual hace altamenteinverosimilunpunto de partida desde el drea de las actuales Islas Brita'nicas (que entonces estuvieronen gran parte bajo el hielo). La primera colonizaci6n de las Ame'ricas, aunquefuera el resultadode varias olas de migraci6n,fue desde Asia.

ecent popular-albeit influential-writings (e.g., Preston 1997-in The New Yorker; Begley & Muff 1999-in Newsweek)on the peopling of the New World in the wake of Kennewick Man, cite some prominent Paleoindian authorities (notably Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley)as suggestinga European originfor at least one episode of settlementof NorthAmericaduring the late UpperPleistocene.Unfortunately, although this hypothesishas now been widely disseminated and is playing a partin public debateover the relationshipbetween living NativeAmericansand prehistoricpopulationsof the New World,the ideas of theseprehistoric archeologists the subjectare(at on
R

the time of my writingandas far as I know) unpublished(exceptforStanford's highlynon-specific Web page: "www://mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/dennis stanford.html").Even Michael Collins' new study of Clovis bladetechnology(1999:179) has to cite Preston's articleto referenceBradley'sidea that overshot flakingmay link the SolutreanandClovis. Although I have tried to set the factual record straight, attempts publishlettersto the editors my to of The New Yorker and Newsweek have been rebuffed. anOldWorld As prehistorian lives and who teachesin the United States,I feel an obligationto clarify the factual archeologicalrecord,especially since the issue has been overtly linked to the sup-

Lawrence Guy Straus * Department of Anthropology,Universityof New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 AmericanAntiquity,65(2), 2000, pp. 219-226 Copyright( 2000 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology 219

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appearanceof certainPaleoinposed "caucasoid" dian skeletalremains,with all the implicationsthat would carry for public policy and the practice of in and bothbiologicalanthropology archaeology the UnitedStates (andpresumablyCanada).I am concernedthatscientificdebatemust not be conducted primarily in the news media, where standardsof and argument proof arevery differentthanin acadmay be emic discourse,butwherethe ramifications most serious, given mass disseminationand easy misunderstanding. hypothesisas Accordingto the Stanford-Bradley interpretedby reporters,a Europeanpeopling of America would supposedly have taken place by Atlanticon foot crossingthe ice-ladennorthernmost or by boat. Specifically, similarities are claimed between certainlithic and osseous artifactsof the and "culture" southern of France Iberia and Solutrean in some items typical of the Clovis "tradition" the of easternthree-quarters the United States. These putativeresemblancesare then translatedinto an Clovis with hypothesisof migration,"explaining" This is in fact an old thereferenceto the Solutrean. ory, having been proposedby EmersonGreenman in 1960 (1960, 1963; see Sellet 1998). Seductive ideas still thoughsuchhyper-migrationist apparently seem to be in the archaeologyof 2000, they are no more based in realitythanthey were 40 years ago. As a specialistin the UpperPaleolithicof western in Europein generalandin the Solutrean particular (e.g., Straus 1975, 1983, 1990a, 1990b, 1991a, 1991b, 1992, 1995, 2000; Straus& Clark 1986), I proposeto set the recordstraighton the Solutrean and to show that the appearance bifacial foliate of "points"and bone "rods"in Clovis is merely one more instanceof widespreadtechnologicalconverin Rather requirthan genceorparallelism prehistory. paleo-European ing the presenceof "sophisticated" to immigrants developthe Clovis technology,it was theworkof NativeAmericans, of undoubtedly transBeringianAsian origin. Chronology in is Stanford, his Webpage,statesthatthe Solutrean eventhe "notthatmucholder" thanClovis.However, oldest bifacial foliate point (unflutedand straightcontext in based) from the supposed "pre-Clovis" Rockshelter bracketed radiocaris Meadowcroft by bon dates of 11,300 and 18,800 B.P.I (Adavasio datesat 1993)-andthatis takingthese controversial face value(butsee Haynes 1980).The Clovis techo-

complex has now been carefully dated between 11,200-10,900B.P.(Haynes1993;Taylor al. 1996). et The Solutreanof France,Spain, and Portugalis nowdated over80 credible by radiocarbon dates(both conventionaland AMS). In France,the distinctive Solutreanlithic technology(i.e., bifacialand unifacial leaf-shaped, shoulderedand stemmed points madeon flakesandblades)lasteda shorttime, from about20,500 B.P.to about18,500 B.P.,when it was replacedby the flake-based Badegoulian(akaMagin dalenian 0+1) technology thesouthwest (e.g.,Geneste & Plisson 1986; Lavilleet al. 1980) andby the derivative Salpetrian industryin the southeast(e.g., Bazile 1990).InCantabrian (Atlantic) Spain,thedates for the Solutrean rangefromabout20,500 to 17,000 B.P.,afterwhichit was gradually replaced backed by bladelet-rich assemblageslabeled"earlyMagdalenian"(e.g.,Rasilla 1994;Straus1995; Straus& Clark 1986). In Mediterranean Spain (Catalonia, Levante and Andalusia),the Solutreandates between about 21,000 and 16,500 B.P. and is followed by an early Magdalenianor "Badegoulian"(e.g., Aura 1997; Ripoll& Cacho1990;Villaverde Fullola1990).In & Portugal,recent research,principallyby J. Zilhao (e.g., 1990, 1996), shows thatSolutrean technology developedas early as 21,000 B.P. and was replaced at some time between 17,000-16,500 B.P. by a In bladelet-rich "earlyMagdalenian." short,the latest Solutrean stonepointsaremorethan5,000 radibcarbonyears older thanthe oldest Clovis points. Geographic Distribution The Solutrean coincidedwith (and techno-complex a clearly represented behavioraladaptation the to) Last Glacial Maximum, centered on 18,000 B.P. Prior ca.25,000-22,000 B.P.,northwestern to Europe (i.e., northern France,southern EnglandandWales, Belgium and Germany)was occupied by humans makingbackedand/ortangedlithicprojectilepoints associatedwith the Gravettian technologicaltradition (e.g., Otte 1990; Straus1991b).Withthe onset of the extremecold and,especially,the aridityof the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the human geographicrangegraduallycontracted, resultingin the of total(ornear-total) abandonment thesepreviously occupied regions. They were not to be reoccupied until the Late Glacial. Specifically,althoughthere "visits" or "exploto mayhavebeensomeephemeral rations"of northern France,Belgium and southern Germanyby around16,000 B.P. or slightly earlier, actualresettlementof the ParisBasin, the Belgian

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only Meuse Basin, southern England,andGermany occurred between13,000-12,500 B.P.(e.g., Charles 1996; Fagnart1997; Housley 1991; Housley et al. 1997; Otte & Straus 1997; Rensink 1993; Smith 1992; Streetet al. 1994; Taborin1994). This recolonization came duringthe distinct warmingtrend
(Bolling sensu lato) that was well underway by ca.

this to 13,000B.P.Culturally, periodcorresponds the lateMagdalenian, materially definedby thefrequent Late presenceof antler harpoons, whereastheearlier
Glacial (Oldest Dryas sensu lato) corresponds to the

often "early Magdalenian," richin antlerspearpoints and backedbladelets,but with no foliate or tanged lithic projectiles. But duringthe LGM (i.e., duringthe Solutrean), the human occupation in western Europe was restricted severalrefugiain southwestand southto east Franceand (mainly)to the lowlandperipheries of the Iberian Peninsula(Vasco-Cantabrian, eastern and southernMediterranean Spain, and Portugal) (e.g., Gamble1986;Jochim1987;Rigaud& Simek 1990;Straus1990a, 1991a, 1991b).The very northernmost Solutreansite, Saint-Sulpice-de-Favieres (Sacchiet al. 1996), is southof Parisat ca. 4830' N. Althoughthis site is undated,the absenceof shoulderedpointsandthe presenceof manylargebifacial laurelleaf pointsandblanksat this specializedlithic brief quarry-workshop campmightsuggestrepeated visits at a relativelyearlySolutrean date,beforethe frontier heightof the LGM.Otherwise, northern the of Solutrean settlementseems to have corresponded to theLoireRivervalley,at ca. 47O30' wherethere N, is a clusterof sites, notablyFritsch,Fressignes,and Tannerie, with radiocarbon dates between 19,000-18,000 B.P. (e.g., Schmider1990). In sum,
there were simply no people living in (or even visit-

ing with any degreeof frequency)the regionsnorth of Parisduringtheperiodfromabout22,000-16,000 B.P.,which is when the peoplingof the New World nowseemsto haveoccurred. therewerecertainly And no people even in the southern of Englanduntil part ca. 12,500B.P.(Tolan-Smith could 1998),so humans nothavecrossedon packice betweentheBritishIsles andthe Maritime Provinces.On the otherhand,the
distance from Portugalto Virginia is 5, 000 km straight

AtlanticOcean. acrossthe open mid-North Technology Despite a few superficialsimilarities-which can to invention-there easily be attributed independent arevast differencesbetweenthe Solutrean Cloand

vis technologies. The technologicaltraditions the Franco-Iberof ian Solutreanwere firmly rooted in those of the Gravettian(middle Upper Paleolithic) of western Europe. Depending thelocalavailability qualon and ity of lithicrawmaterials, well as on site function, as blanks used for making stone implements were flakes, blades, and bladelets ("micro-blades"in American terminology), although Solutrean the leaf, and shouldered, stemmedpointswere usuallymade on bladesoftenproduced fromdiversespecificforms of prismaticcores. The hallmark Solutrean of lithic technologyis indeedits projectilecomponent,consisting of both a varietyof single-elementtips (of widely varyingsizes and weights, includingmany "laurelleaves"thatmay actuallyhave been used as knives) and (especiallyin laterSolutreancontexts) backed bladeletsthat were used multiply as barbs whose otherelementswere and/ortipsof projectiles, basally beveled antler points. Modern-quality Solutreanexcavations (using fine-screeningtechniques) are yielding backedbladeletsin quantities up to 40 percentof the totalretouchedtool fraction, although5-20 percentis a more commonrangeof proportions (e.g., GenesteandPlisson 1986; Straus and Clark1986). The classic Solutrean stonepointsincludeunifacial andbifacialpieces,oftenworked invasive by percussion (and sometimes pressure) flaking, with occasional evidence of heat treatment.The finest pieces arefinishedwith ribbonremovalsthatsometimes overshootthe oppositeedge. But most pieces arefarless sophisticated. flakes arecom(Overshot mon whenever facially working techniques were used, as they were in many times and places in the of bifacescome prehistory theworld.)The Solutrean in a varietyof forms:long, narrow"willowleaves," classic bipointed, convex-sided "laurel leaves," rhomboidally shaped pieces, different classes of asymmetricalbifaces, pieces with a slight central tang,ones witha rounded base,otherswitha straight base, and bifaces (and some unifaces) with a concave base. Bases are neverfluted.Therealso exist a comvarietyof shouldered points,whichareintegral these includeboth arsenal: ponentsof the Solutrean fully andpartially invasivelyretouched (mostlyunifacial) pieces in a varietyof standardized forms, as well as pieces whose tanghasbeenformedby abrupt retouch and which are otherwise (marginally) retouched.Finallythereare truestemmedpoints in variousformsandsizes thatresemble(andmayactu-

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ally have been) "arrowheads" (e.g., Muiioz 1999). One of the most distinctiveaspects of this wide is array Solutrean of projectiles theirregionally-specific character; while standard"laurelleaves" are fairlyubiquitous, manyothershaveverylimitedgeographic distributions(Smith 1973; Straus 1977a, 1977b,1990b).Notably,the truestemmedpointsare found in Mediterranean Spain (from Cataloniato Cadiz) and in southernPortugal.The basally concave points are mainly found in the easternhalf of with a handfulof outliers Asturiasandin Cantabria, (exchangeitems, curiosities?)thathave been found in theadjacent BasqueCountry French and Pyrenean foreland.(The concavitiesareslight-rarelydeep, as in many Clovis points. According to Collins [1999:46], "complete,pristine[Clovis]points generallyexceed 100 mm in length,"whereasthe average lengthof whole Solutreanconcave base points is 634 mm [Straus1990b:438].)Therearedifferent shouldered point types peculiar respectively to Asturias-Cantabria, Dordogne-Charentes, the Gascogne,Girona, and,moregenerally, Mediterraneanregions.This regionalpoint style phenomenon is suggestive of an increase in territorialism associatedwitha compressed, circumscribed of area human occupationduring the Last Glacial Maximum in southwestern Europe. But Solutreanlithic technologyis far more than just projectileelements. There are many different kinds of endscrapers, perforators, knives, and true burins(i.e., pieces from which one or more lateral spallshavebeen struck theburination by technique). This diversityof lithic tools and productionstrategies is accompanied an organictechnologythat by the includesa coupleof majorSolutrean innovations: eyed bone needle andthe antlerspearthrower (Geneste and Plisson 1993)-in additionto a wealth of beveledantler pointsandpossibleforeshafts even (or self-barbed point [Pokines& Krupa1997]). Antler and bone artifacts,while not as common as in the subsequentMagdalenian,are not at all rare in the Solutrean. They arein Clovis. Most significantly,Solutreantechnologyis thus very differentfromboththe well-knownClovis and of muchless-understood pre-Clovisindustries North forms(e.g., true America,bothin its specificartifact burins,backedbladelets)andin its diversityof projectiletypes,as well as otherlithicandorganic implementsandfabrication techniques. Insofaras it is formallydescribed(e.g., Bradley 1993;Collins 1999;Dincauze1993;Stanford 1991),

Clovis technologycan be characterized follows: as bifaces(some of whichareconcavebase,flutedprojectile points,othersprobably knives) andunifaces, both made eitheron flakes or blades dependingon local raw materialavailability; limited varietyof a other lithic tools including end- and sidescrapers, gravers, veryfew trueburins; ivoryandbone but rare points or foreshafts(e.g., Lahrenand Bonnichsen 1974);one exampleof a bone shaftwrench(Haynes and Hemmings 1968). Microblades, tanged and shouldered points-all commonin variousSolutrean assemblages-are absentin thefarmorelimitedtechnologicalrepertoire Clovis.Whiletherearesuperof ficial similarities(e.g., some concave base foliate projectilepoints, some organicpoints or foreshafts with anti-skidengravedlines on basalbevels), these aremostparsimoniously as explainable independent developments-similar solutions to similar functional problems,given limited availablelithic and osseous materials and manufacturing techniques. The fact thatred ochre was used by people in both techno-complexes-as citedby Stanford-is meaningless, as such pigment use is virtuallya cultural universal amongHomosapiensforagersworldwide. Subsistence: Marine Resource Exploitation? The transatlantic migration hypothesis would that require peoplein westernEurope during Last the Glacial Maximumhave a highly specialized maritime adaptation. At La Riera Cave, a two-hour walk from the Sea pleniglacialshore of the Cantabrian duringthe Solutrean,we documentedevidence of significant marine mollusc collection and minor fishing (of salmonandtrout,which are anadromous varying to degreesandcould havebeen takenat the shoreor in & nearby estuaries or freshwaterstreams)(Straus Clark 1986). Similar evidence exists at other Solutrean sites in the region (e.g., Cova Rosa, Altamira),and presages a major boom in aquatic resourceexploitationduringthe Magdalenian (e.g., Freeman 1973). However,there is no evidence in Cantabrian Spain (or elsewhere)for Solutreanpredationon deep sea fish or marinemammals.(There is one rear first phalanx of a common seal in the fromObermaier's Solutrean collection 1924-25 excavationsatAltamira could well represent scavthat a engedanimal[Altuna& Straus1976].No additional excasealremainswerefoundin therecentAltamira and vationsof Gonzdlez Echegaray Freeman [1996].) Humans werecertainly with acquainted theseacoast,

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and as attested thepenguindrawings seal engravby ings of possible Solutrean age in Cosquer Cave, coastal southeastFrance, as well as fish and seal imagesin a number othercaves,suchas Candamo of inAsturias, LaPiletaandArdales inAndalusia, attributablefor stylisticandarchaeological reasonsto the Solutrean (Clottes& Courtin1994). However,there areno representations boatsandno evidencewhatof soevereitherof seafaring of the abilityto make a or living mainly or solely from the ocean duringthe and Solutrean.For Vasco-Cantabria Aquitaine, at least,thisis notsurprising, theBay of Biscay,with as its very steep thermalgradient,due to the clash of GulfStream waters polarandlatitudinally depressed off the coast of Galicia, was a cold, windy and intenselystormysea duringthe Last GlacialMaximum(Butzer1986;CLIMAP1976).In sum,thereis simply no empirical support for assertions that Solutrean peoplecouldhave survivedon packice or navigatedacross the open Atlantic.The Solutrean was essentiallya terrestrial adaptation, despite the distribution manyof its Iberian of sites. peri-coastal Dependingon the region, hunter-gatherers during the Solutrean subsistedin largelytreelessgrasslands and heaths,mainly huntingmediumto large terrestrial ungulategame: principallyreindeerand horse in France,red deer and ibex in Iberia,with smallernumbersof bison, chamoisandothermammals in all regions (Delpech 1983; Straus 1977c). Therearetracequantities mammoth of remainsin a few Solutrean sites of southwest France and Cantabrian Spain, but these are mainly pieces of workedivory thatcould have been scavenged.The mammothwas alreadya rarecreatureon the landscapeby this time in southwestEurope.Thereis no mammoth huntevidenceforanydegreeof Solutrean to ing (specializedor not),in contrast at least several classic Clovis sites. Whereas Clovis pyrotechnologyis said not to have includedthe use of stones to bank heat or to roast (Collins 1999:44), such techniquesare common in the Solutrean. Art & Ornamentation A majordistinction betweenthe Solutrean Cloand vis lies in the areaof artisticanddecorative activity. for Althoughnot as reknowned worksof portable or rock art and ornamentation its successor the as the is Magdalenian, Solutrean in factbetterendowed with suchimagesandartifacts thanhadbeen widely untilrecently. DirectAMSdatingof some recognized

in of the charcoaldrawings CosquerCaveprovethat theywereexecutedabout18,000-19,000 B.P.(Bahn andVertut1997), andnew datesfromLa Piletaand Nerja in Andalusia yield ages of ca. 20,000 B.P. (Sanchidrian 2000). There are strong stratigraphic and/orindirect(butclosely associated)radiocarbon cave art in a numberof argumentsfor attributing other sites in France and Spain (e.g., Le Placard, Cougnac, Tete de Lion, Les Escabasses, Pefla de El Candamo, Buxu)to theSolutrean summaries (see in of arguments Straus1987andBahn&Vertut 1997, Evensome of the spectacular withreferences). limestonebas relief or deeply engravedfriezesin Southwest France(e.g., Roc de Sers,Fourneau Diable, du to Isturitz)are be attributable this period (Lejeune 1990; Smith 1966). Of theover5,000 engraved paintedlimestone and or slabs from ParpalloCave in Valencia,more than half arefromSolutrean levels (Villaverde1994). By comparisonwith the Parpalloportableart objects, otherrock art sites (notablythe open-airfigures of the Coa Valley in northeast Portugal,togetherwith in similarmanifestations nearbyareasof Spain, as well as Portugal's only cave artsite, Escoural)have been attributed the Solutrean(e.g., Balbin and to Alcolea 1994;Lejeune1997;Ripoll & Zilhao 1996; Zilhao 1997).Engraved stoneslabshavebeen found in otherSolutrean deposits,andengravedand"tickanimarked" bones and ivory lamellae,perforated mal teethandshellsarecommon(see Corchon1994; Gonzalez Morales 1986; Menendez& Ocio 1997; Strausand GonzalezMorales 1999). In short,one of the definingcultural characteristics of theSolutrean, alongwiththefoliateandtanged points,is a wealthof both wall andportableartand ornamentation Clovisnor"pre-Clotypicalof neither in vis."Thefactsthatbonesare well-preserved many rockartincludesopenClovissitesandthatSolutrean air examples(notjust caves), arearguments against thisdistinction beingmerelyone of differential preservationbetweenthe two cultural phenomena. Discussion and Conclusions the TheSolutrean evidenceof the represents material culturaladaptations humangroups survivingin of the refugia of southwest Europe during the Last GlacialMaximum.This was a time of inventiveness and ingenuity under environmentaland resource stress. The creativity of the Solutrean extended race" is attested theplethora that beyondthe"arms by of lithic and antlerpoint sizes and types (and even

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backedmicro-blade elements)andby the invention It of the spearthrower. includednew strategiesfor specialized,land-based, herdgamehunting(including the swift, wary, cliff-dwelling ibex), supplementedby the use of littoraland riverine(but not oceanic)food resources. also was characterized It by and no a wealthof artistic "marking" activities, doubt relatedto social and ideological developmentsthat helpedhumansto cope with hardtimes. did Solutrean Significantly, hunter-gatherers not far extendtheirrangeanywhere enoughnorthto put themin a geographic positionto evercrosstheNorth Atlanticto America(eitheron ice floes or in boats). Nor is thereany evidencethatthey were skilledseafarersor marinemammalhunters. Located5,000 kmfromtheU.S. eastern seaboard, ended5,000 radiocarthe Solutrean technocomplex bon years(over200 humangenerations!) beforethe appearance Clovis. Farmore diversein its lithic of and organictechnologies than Clovis, and characterized by an artistictraditionthat is absent from Clovis, what the Solutreanwould mainly seem to "share"with Clovis are concave base, bifaciallyworkedpoints.Yet such pieces in the Solutreanare found only at a handfulof sites in a small area of northern Spain-not in Franceorin therestof Iberia. Nor arethe Solutrean pointsfluted,a featurewhich is absolutelydiagnosticof Clovispoints.Shouldered and stemmedpoints, as well as micro-blades, so all common in the Solutrean,are completely absent fromthe Clovis lithic repertory. And beveled antler are points(orforeshafts),commonin the Solutrean, very rarein Clovis. for Thus,the most parsimonious explanation the (superficial)similaritiesbetween the Solutreanand Clovis is the well-known(butunder-acknowledged) phenomenonof technologicalconvergenceor parallelism.In short,thereareonly a limitednumberof ways in which to make a projectilepoint (or knife) out of stone. Invasiveretouch(by pressureflaking or by hard or soft, direct or indirect percussion), including ribbon removals with overshooting for bifacialthinning,is amongthem.As has long been known, the prehistoryof the world is replete with examples of bifacial foliate points. Just within Europe(notto mentionAfricaandSiberia),bifacial in foliates reoccurred the Middle and Upper Paleolithic(aswell as in theChalcolithic BronzeAge) and in differentregions(e.g., Freund1952). It is a technological practicethathas been inventedand reinventedtime andtime againto fulfill a set of specific

butchering aniof purposes, namelythekillingand/or mals. Such convergence is recognized today in Europe, since bifaces span such vast distances of space and time that the search for "genetic"relationships is now seen to be a futile exercise (see papersin Kozlowski1990). Similarlythereareonly poslimitednumbers effectivehaftingtreatments of sibleforlargelithicpoints;thebasalconcavityis one of them, independently inventednot only in Clovis and in the Cantabro-Asturian Solutrean, also in but otherprehistoric traditions (e.g., in Russia). One or are two technicalattributes insufficientto establish a culturallink or long-distanceinterconnection. While basal thinninghas been used in various regions since Middle Paleolithic times, fluting is a apparently peculiar,specific and difficult-to-master techniquefor basal thinningthat seems to have been a genuinelyNativeAmericaninvention.There is simply nothing like this form of basal thinning among the concave base Solutrean points made 9,000-5,000 years earlier.Credit should be given where creditis due: Native Americans,descended were the makersof fromdiverseAsian populations, Clovis and "pre-Clovis"lithics. The Solutreanof southwestern Europewas anotherstory altogether. It seems to me particularlyirresponsible-in the absenceof any crediblescientificevidence for presettlementof the New World-for historicEuropean to that someprofessional archeologists be suggesting of NativeAmericansarenotthe descendents thefirst colonizersof this land.
Acknowledgments.I wish to thank Bruce Huckell and David Meltzer for providing me informationon Clovis and for comments on this paper, for whose contents they are, however, totally blameless. I also thank the other reviewers, Dena Dincauze and Marcia-Anne Dobres, as well as editor Lynne Goldstein, for their constructive suggestions. My researchon the Solutrean(and other Upper Paleolithic periods in western Europe) has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the University of New Mexico, to all of whom I am most grateful.

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Notes
1. All dates given here are approximationsbased on generally large numbers of uncalibratedradiocarbondeterminations. See the cited publications for exact dates. Received May 20, 1999; accepted September16, 1999; revised October 7, 1999.