Debate over a European connection has dogged anthropology in recent months, though until now no one of Stanford’s stature had stated it so un-equivocally and publicly. But the similarities between the oddly shaped stone points of Clovis and the European culture called Solutrean strongly suggest this conclusion, say Stanford and colleague Bruce Bradley. Moreover, tools recently found beneath Clovis-era layers at a dig in Cactus Hill, Va.–about where European itinerants could have first landed–also resemble Solutrean artifacts. The Solutrean theory poses similar questions to those raised by Kennewick Man, the 8,400-year-old skeleton found in Washington state in 1996 and initially called European by an anthropologist. A new federal study to help determine whether K-Man’s remains should be turned over to local tribes just concluded that the body looked more Asian than European, though not Siberian. But it didn’t match any modern Indian tribe, a finding that Indians see as the latest scheme to deny tribes the right to repatriate and rebury such remains.
Native Americans aren’t the only ones dismayed by the Euro theory. Solutrean expert Lawrence Straus, an anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico, dismisses the resemblance between the spear points as an instance of two cultures’ arriving at a similar idea independently. “This is a classic case of convergence,” says Straus. “And it’s not even a tricky case.” Moreover, Solutrean culture ended 17,000 years ago, at least 5,000 years before the first evidence of Clovis culture. And there is no evidence that Solutreans had the requisite boats to paddle across the North Atlantic. Many scientists grumble that Stanford should publish his findings in peer-reviewed journals be-fore talking in public. Stanford promises to publish soon, but in the meantime, he says, “I’m trying to get people to think more broadly.” No argument there.
