by Dorthea Calverley
Several readers of this division have pointed out that I approached this subject of Indian origins in a somewhat illogical and contradictory fashion. I would like to make it clear that that is precisely what I intended to do because it is a reflection of the most learned thinking on the subject. The question of the origin of the Indian peoples and of their sojourn on these American continents is not solved, even though the Bering Sea approach has enough coincidental evidence to warrant its being set down as fact in many books. Actually it was a well-supported hypothesis until some recent events and discoveries disclosed that it may be no more the complete truth than the statement that all native Indians before or after the white man arrived had straight black hair, coppery skins, and brown eyes.
Thinking on the subject ranges through many phases. For some reason, the white man assumed that the Indian must have come from somewhere else. Many educated Indians believe, through oral tradition, that “they were always here” and did not come from some other place. Therefore I have selected articles representative of various views. If as reported in 1974, Clovis points have been found in the Peace River bed, and just possibly a Sandia or Sandia-like point on the shore of Moberly Lake, then another element of timing will modify thinking.
My purpose is quite simple, in this, as in succeeding topics. I draw no hard-and-fast conclusions. If I appear to do so, I am sorry. I am leaving it to the reader to take what to him becomes his “truth,” while being aware that the last word has not been said.
Also one must accept the fact that the findings of modern archeologists may upset any theory. For example are these totally insignificant facts? Indians of unmixed lineage do not have B-type blood. Most Indians have dry, flaky earwax instead of the white man’s moist, sticky kind. Such discoveries open up new approaches. Much new information has been brought to light since these articles were first written, and that fact should be taken into account by anyone beginning a study of the origins of the first humans in North America. This and following apparently contradictory articles are intended as material for a start on independent research, and not as the final word.
In fact, I have, on occasion, deliberately introduced controversial material, not because of personal opinion or conviction, but to develop the idea that there are, frequently, if not always, two sides to any situation.