OK, I just finished Bones, Boats and Bison: Archeology and the First Colonization of Western North America by E. James Dixon. This is interesting - I now have a huge respect for my ancestors on the Choctaw side, if only for the accomplishments of their ancestors. Anyway, I got into this from reading 1491 and this covers a lot of the same ground of that book, but in much more detail about the archeology of the oldest sites (with provenance - no cranks need apply) in the Americas. First, I didn't realize there were as many as there were. Second, given the way everyone carried on about Kennewick man, I'd have thought he was the oldest. Not even by half, or even the best preserved. Third, and almost as an afterthought, Dixon does a pretty good job of putting paid to the ice free corridor theory of populating the Americas. Since it predates 1491 by six years, I'm pretty sure Mann stole from him.

Anyway, this is a great book for those interested in Paleoindians, the early settlement of the Americas and archeology (and its controversies and challenges). I like it and highly recommend it. It is more technical and specialized than 1491, but I don't think that's a problem really. It has a great focus and benefits from that.

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