First Peoples

“Americas,” the opening episode of the five-part PBS-aired series First Peoples on the earliest human inhabitants around the globe, concentrates on North and South America, combining observations from researchers together with maps, drawings, and dramatic re-enactments. A team of archaeologists led by Arturo Gonzales explores underwater caves in the Yucatán Peninsula, discovering eight prehistoric skeletons dating back to the Ice Age when the caves were above water. The group estimates that Eva (the most notable find) is 13,600 years old, which means that she predates the Clovis people who crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska and then into Canada (and didn't migrate into the United States until years later). Eva, who belonged to a nomadic tribe, died in her 20s. Other speakers talk about weapons and speared animal bones that confirm the existence of people in the Americas earlier than previously believed. Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon suggests that humans may have colonized North America through its river system as early as 16,000 years ago, but less evidence exists to support this theory. The episode ends by looking at Kennewick Man, a skeleton of a man who died in his 40s some 8,500 years ago (Native Americans refer to him as “The Ancient One”). Kennewick Man shares physical similarities with Eva, although this coastal migrant would have spent much of his life in the Pacific Northwest (the University of Washington currently has legal possession of the remains, although the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation have tried to have them repatriated). First Peoples underscores the fact that advances in genomic research are changing everything we thought we knew about the past. The other episodes look at Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)