Clovis the First Americans? — Dan Gutman

Over 13,000 years ago ... those ancient people in North America at the end of the Ice Age were already using almost every source of good knapping stone which we know about today. How could the "Clovis" culture possibly be the first people on this continent? Traveling, hunting and exploring all of this vast land on foot ... discovering and making extensive use of virtually every known stone resource in every corner of the continent ... all in a period of just 300 or 400 years? How was it possible for a small, pioneering population to discover everything, everywhere, with no local inhabitants to guide their travels and discoveries, even as they spread their unique flint knapping technology from coast to coast in as few as 10 or 15 generations? Does it make practical sense to claim that no one else was here exploring before the "Clovis" culture arrived? Perhaps the very idea that any single pioneering group would be able to and then actually would almost immediately discover all of the existing lithic resources stretches credulity to the breaking point. That's the heart and core of my theory in "CLOVIS The First Americans?" ... and I'm stickin' to it. What do you think?