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Seafaring as a Key Element in the First Peopling of the Americas: A Perspective from the Southern Cone

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Abstract

The Americas were the last continental areas to be inhabited by modern human beings. The Jesuit Father de Acosta had already proposed in 1590 that the first peopling might have involved the use of watercraft through the north Pacific. Still today researchers are debating whether the first inhabitants of the continent arrived from the northwest or the northeast and when this occurred. What may help solve these questions is the great amount of indirect evidence suggesting the first settlers had already developed a maritime culture and very likely a seafaring technology. Implications of considering this statement as valid are that it can shed new light on old problems related to the high mobility of groups, the use of maritime and riverine resources, the location of the first settlement camps near the coast, the transportation of raw materials from very long distances, and different aspects of social organization related to technological development. Bearing these ideas in mind, watercourses should not be considered as obstacles, but on the contrary, as elements of connection.

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Notes

  1. Fragments quoted are translated from the original version in Spanish by the author.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was produced in the context of a master’s research thesis developed in the School of Humanities and Educational Sciences of the University of the Republic (Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de la República, FCHE-UDELAR) entitled “Indigenous navigation in the River Plate Basin and adjacent Atlantic littoral”. The project was funded both by the Research and Innovation National Board (Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación -ANII) from Uruguay and the Scientific Research Commission of the University of the Republic of Uruguay (Comisión Sectorial de Investigación Científica – CSIC – UdelaR). The research project is carried out with the support of the Laboratory of Landscape Archaeology and Heritage of Uruguay (Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio del Uruguay - LAPPU) and the Program of Underwater Archaeology – Research Center for Coastal Heritage (Programa de Arqueología Subacuática – Centro de Investigación del Patrimonio Costero PAS-CIPAC) both research groups from the University of the Republic.

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  1. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad de la República de Uruguay, Ibiray 2313 apt.102, 11300, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Elena Saccone

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Saccone, E. Seafaring as a Key Element in the First Peopling of the Americas: A Perspective from the Southern Cone. J Mari Arch 15, 41–56 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-019-09238-9

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