Paulette Steeves, The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (294 pp., 2021)
I understand that to this day, traditional archaeology insists on the correctness of the Clovis First theory – that Indigenous people arrived in the Western Hemisphere around 10-12,000 years ago. The book provides ample proof that this theory is dead wrong. Many archaeological sites demonstrate that Indigenous people were here 130,000 years ago or perhaps even earlier.
Given this continuing misconception, Steeves' book has to be called revolutionary and eye-opening. (It provides context with discussion and mapping of archaeological sites in the Eastern Hemisphere.)
It was also of interest to see how Indigenous scholarship has come into its own – with its deeply rooted perspective and respect for Indigenous values and procedures.
Unfortunately, the book is also extremely repetitive and full of rancour about the evil, colonial ways of traditional archaeology.
Postscript:
From Wikipedia:
“Historically, many authors argued for a "Clovis first" paradigm, where Clovis, which represents the earliest recognisable archaeological culture in North America,[14] were suggested to represent the earliest inhabitants of the Americas south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, this hypothesis has been abandoned by most researchers,[63] as several widely accepted sites, notably Monte Verde II in Chile (c. 14,500 years BP)[68] as well as Paisley Caves in Oregon (c. 14,200 years BP)[69] and Cooper's Ferry in Idaho (c. 15,800 years BP)[70] are suggested to be considerably older than the oldest Clovis sites. Historically, it was suggested that the ancestors of the people who produced the Clovis culture migrated into North America along the "ice-free corridor", but many later scholars have suggested that a migration along the Pacific coast is more likely,[71] and that the fluted projectile point style of the Clovis culture originated in temperate North America south of the ice sheet and was later transported northwards along the expanding ice-free corridor.[72]“
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternatives_to_the_Clovis_First_theory, where I found this image:
Clearly, Steeves’ argument (and proof) is more radical than that. One of her most convincing arguments to me is the length of time it takes to arrive at distinct languages: More than a few thousand years!