The Real Eve Page #7

we know that these founder types...

have been evolving for 20,000 years,

that's when they must have arrived.

In North America, the Laurentian ice

sheet smothered the central plains...

destroyed everything and forcing

our migrants down the west coast...

into South America.

As the ice retreated, we could

spread back into the liberated land.

There's evidence of a settlement of

a rock shelter on the Ohio River...

in Pennsylvania

called Meadowcroft.

Meadowcroft is very important

to the American story...

because it's dated at about 16,000

uncalibrated radiocarbon years...

and is one of the earliest native

American sites to be credited...

by archeologists. And this ties in

wonderfully with genetic estimates.

They must have come several thousand

years before that to get to here.

Dr. James Adavagio led the team of

scientists who excavated the shelter.

When we originally encountered it,

we assumed...

it would not contain

any cultural material whatsoever.

But, as it turned out, there were

an assortment of artifacts...

and other indications of the human

presence several thousands of years...

previous to what the estimate for the

arrival of people in America was.

Scattered across this surface

and deeper occupation surfaces...

in and around these fireplaces,

are a series of artifacts...

among the more notable of which

are blade core fragments...

like this, and the blades

that have been struck...

from these cores.

What's unique about these items is

not only they're not manufactured...

for the most part, by later Paleo

Indian groups in the Americas...

but they bear a striking resemblance

to blade cores from Northern China...

that are 28 or 29

thousand years old.

In fact, casts of these

materials could be lost...

in collections from North China and

you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

What the evidence from Meadowcroft

suggests to us is...

along with data from a series of

sites elsewhere in North America...

is that there was no single migration

of human beings to the new world...

as was recently postulated

in the last two decades.

But instead a series of

pulses or emanations.

Multiple entries are now established

as the pattern for American migration.

These early settlers carried

many different genetic lines.

They came from Siberia,

China, Central Asia...

as far south as

Malaysia and Japan.

In 1 996, a skeleton known

as Kennewick man...

was discovered along the

Columbia River, in Washington State.

When it was brought to Jim Chatters,

the forensic anthropologist...

he first believed the remains were

those of a 1 9th Century pioneer.

He was astonished when radio

carbon dating revealed it to be...

9,500 years old.

It was the oldest skeleton

ever found in North America.

But what really intrigued Chatters

was that despite his age...

Kennewick man did not resemble

modern Native Americans.

His skull was Caucasoid,

not Mongoloid...

and reconstruction of his face

showed distinct similarities...

with the Ainu who lived

in Northern Japan.

Kennewick man was an extremely

beaten up individual.

He had multiple broken ribs.

He had an injured left arm.

He had some injury to his skull.

Arthritis in his neck, knees, elbows.

Just, he'd certainly been

around the block a few times.

But, what was most distinctive about

him; the most interesting injury...

from a forensic standpoint, was a

spear point imbedded in his pelvis.

In fact, that's what caused us

to radio carbon date the bones.

All that can be seen is a little ovoid

window in each side of the bone.

But, when we cat scan it we can see

there's a 2 inch long, 1 inch wide...

quarter inch thick serrated

edge blade in there.

Now, what's interesting about this

spear point is that it's of a style...

that we only see after this man's

death, in eastern Washington.

We can see that style moving down

the coast of British Columbia...

around 10,000 years ago

and on to 9,000 years ago.

That's radiocarbon years. The

people who bring this spear point...

were the ones that we find with this

spear point a little later in time...

are very similar to modern

American Indians.

You can lose them in a crowd easily,

American Indian skulls.

So, a new population arrived with

northeast Siberian characteristics.

And it is beginning to replace

the earlier arriving immigrants.

This suggests in a broader way, that

some sort of conflict was going on.

In effect, it occurs that the time

of the new arriving populations...

the fact that Kennewick man

looks different...

both suggest that it's a competition

over territory that's at issue.

From the angle of entry,

from the velocity of entry...

it's fairly clear that this spear

was coming directly at him...

and that he could

see it coming.

Chatters believes that Kennewick man

died by hypothermia and drowning.

Since his death, human populations

swelled from thousands to millions.

We've advanced from

primitive hunter-gatherers...

to farmers and traders,

town's people and city folk.

And from tribal domains

to empires.

In 5,000 generations we have arrived

in the modern world we know today.

Since the 80's, DNA samples have

been taken from thousands of people...

all over the world.

From Alaska to New Zealand.

From the Inuit to Icelanders.

By analyzing it, scientists

can trace similarities between...

personal pin codes and see which

people are most closely related.

All individuals can check

their mitochondrial DNA...

and trace the routes their ancestors

took in the journey around the world...

from Africa to every

corner of the globe.

In Chicago, we sampled 5 people who

are tracing their mitochondrial tree.

After analyzing their DNA swabs,

scientists discovered...

a remarkable connection between

a Greek and a native American.

Angela Trakis is a Greek who came

to the United States from Europe.

Leonard Maliterri is a Native

American, full-blooded Cree.

They are both from the same

small and rare branch...

of our family tree and share a

common ancestor 30,000 years ago.

Maybe in southern Siberia.

As modern humans populated

the empty world...

after leaving Africa,

some went north to central Russia.

There, a daughter was born,

carrying a new marker, X.

Her children separated,

some going west into Europe...

and some east from Siberia

and on into America.

They arrived in America from

opposite ends of the earth...

and now meet for the first time

in Chicago.

Their first family reunion in 30,000

years of our evolutionary history.

It kind of blows...

it just blows me away.

I think it's really exciting that

we all come from the same line.

Maybe people will stop putting

so much emphasis on differences...

and talking about the common person,

maybe that will help people...

be more tolerant and loving,

and maybe that will...

progress and maybe in a more relevant

manner than just science...

maybe just humanity in general.

I think that's very relevant today.

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