Fagan, Brian M. 2004. The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America, Updated Edition. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. ISBN 0-8130-2756-X.
A Classic Puzzle
Archaeologists have been wondering how the people who lived in the Americas prior to the European invasion got there since there has been a discipline of archaeology. The search itself for the American ancestors is a long, interesting story, both from a political standpoint and from a scientific one, but the fact of the matter is--we still don't know when, or from where the people came. Archaeologists have always been interested in this classic puzzle--but the idea never really fired the imagination of the general public until 1995, when the Kennewick Man story broke.The Kennewick Man is the name given to ancient skeletal remains recovered from near Kennewick, Washington and radiocarbon dated to about 9000 years ago. Facial reconstructions of the Kennewick Man's skull made him out to look like the actor who played Jean Luc Picard in the Star Trek series; and a debate raged, still is raging, as to the proper dispensation of the fellow's remains.
Kennewick Man and the New World Entrada
What Kennewick Man did was put a face on the explorers who came into the new world from the old, some 15,000 or 20,000 years ago. You could argue, if you were a cynical sort, that the fact that the reconstructions of Kennewick Man made him appear caucasian-like, certainly had a great deal to do with the public interest from the Americans of European descent. Nonetheless, it is undoubtedly true that several very interesting and useful books about the peopling of the Americas have made their way into the broader press as a result.Brian Fagan's book, The Great Journey, is not one of those. It was written in 1987, before Kennewick, and the book has a reflective quality to it that you don't find in the more recent texts, a deeper background, a longer view. Well, after all, it's written by Brian Fagan.
A New Introduction
With a view toward bringing us up-to-date, Fagan provides a brief introductory chapter to the new revised version, including the latest findings; but interestingly enough, it is clear from the discussion that not a lot has been resolved since 1987, and in fact, in some cases more questions have been posed. Better questions, maybe, but questions nonetheless.The Great Journey is a classic book on a classic problem; and the depth of field seen in this text makes it one that should sit on everyone's bookshelf.
