For many years, very little was known about the earliest inhabitants of the region, primarily because the archaeological evidence of their presence had been submerged by the rising waters that became the Great Lakes.
The article from which this quote was taken did not make any connection between present day Natives and the early inhabitants of the Great Lakes region, who left structural evidence of a complex society. That story, nevertheless, is consistent with my speculation that those ancient people were early progenitors of Algonkian people.
Close to 9,000 years ago, humans who once thrived on a land bridge that existed in a now submerged region deep within Lake Huron were assembling campsites, hunting pits, and “drive lanes” to aid in hunting caribou using the region’s local stone.
I have written extensively about this elsewhere (for example in this post about Populating the Americas). As the ice melted and exposed land in Beringia, plants and animals (including humans) began to occupy the land, moving eastward as the glaciers retreated. In the time period mentioned above, Algic-speaking people had settled in land that was later (after much more melting) to become the Great Lakes.
Although the recent archaeological evidence described in the article I cited was not much of a surprise, I do take it as further confirmation of my thesis that the Algonkian peoples were the last to come from Asia into the Americas. Most of the land to the south of the ice sheets had already been settled by earlier pioneers, so the Algonkians gradually moved into newly thawed grounds, eventually reaching the Eastern Seaboard.
My interest in history is focused on the history of ideas. The cultures of the Americas evolved on a very different path from the one taken in the Old World.
In the Americas, there are a few examples of Empires, or attempts at empire-building, such as the Mayans, the Triple Alliance, and the Inka. For the most part, however, New World peoples were peaceable, living in close harmony with the land. They did not develop market economies, penal systems, or private land ownership.
In Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa, by contrast, large armies were employed to extract tributes, metal coinage was often used to pay at least part of that tribute, and also as a store of value. In both parts of the world, as cultures emerged from ancient times, the differences became more stark.
For readers who wish to do a bit of advance reading, here are a few pieces if history I’m interested in discussing:
Actually, I’m sorta kidding about the third item. It’s a great book, and I highly recommend it. I’ve read all 246 pages of it. But perhaps you’d like to read my take on it first.
Another book relevant to the discussion is Simon Winchester’s Land.
But first, I’ll deliver on my promise to describe my reaction to The Man Who Broke Into Jail.
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