Who’s on First?
In December’s “The Hidden History of Men” by Robert Kunzig, anthropological geneticist Spencer Wells claims that “we can definitely rule out a date prior to 20,000 years ago” for the arrival of the first humans in the Americas. Yet archaeologist Albert Goodyear of the University of South Carolina has recently claimed to have found evidence that humans were in North America 50,000 years ago. Goodyear bases his conclusions on radiocarbon dating, whereas Wells uses genetic markers for his conclusions. What should we make of this?
Eric Peters
Ashland, Oregon
