Across Atlantic Ice

The Origin of America's Clovis Culture

By: Bruce A. Bruce A. Bradley, Denis J. Stanford

Narrated by: Christopher Prince

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

A major, groundbreaking work on early European migration to North America.

Who were the first humans to inhabit North America? According to the now familiar story, mammal hunters entered the continent some 12,000 years ago via a land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea. The presence of these early New World people was established by distinctive stone tools belonging to the Clovis culture. But are the Clovis tools Asian in origin? Drawing from original archaeological analysis, paleoclimatic research, and genetic studies, noted archaeologists Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley challenge the old narrative and, in the process, counter traditional - and often subjective - approaches to archaeological testing for historical relatedness.

The authors apply rigorous scholarship to a hypothesis that places the technological antecedents of Clovis in Europe and posits that the first Americans crossed the Atlantic by boat and arrived earlier than previously thought. Supplying archaeological and oceanographic evidence to support this assertion, the book dismantles the old paradigm while persuasively linking Clovis technology with the culture of the Solutrean people who occupied France and Spain more than 20,000 years ago.

©2012 The Regents of the University of California (P)2012 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

" Across Atlantic Ice is brilliant and groundbreaking. As fascinating as it is controversial, this book brings together decades of research from diverse areas into a single volume that is well argued, factually rich, elegantly written, and absolutely riveting. I could not put it down." (Douglas Preston, author of Cities of Gold, Thunderhead, and former archaeology correspondent for the New Yorker)

"North America's first peoples were long thought to be Asians who migrated over the Bering land bridge some 12,000 years ago, bringing with them the tools of the Clovis culture. Now archaeologists Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley have radically recast the story. Drawing on climatic, genetic and archaeological evidence, they argue that the roots of Clovis culture rest in the Solutrean people of Spain and France, who sent some of their number across the Atlantic in boats 18,000 years ago." ( Nature)

"This carefully crafted, well-researched book aims to change our thinking of who the first Americans were and where they came from...will affect the way the larger narrative of the first chapter of human history in the New World is written." (Tom D. Dillehay, author of The Settlement of the Americas)

A Convincing Theoretical Proof

This book is meant as an theoretical proof to academic peers and not a history for an amateur. Excessive details and probable what-if’s distract from an amazing theory and story.

Science in progress...

Science is a messy process. That being said, this is not just the story of the populating of the Americas, this is the story of science itself. This is a story of new ideas challenging the old, new evidence, and the search for a better understanding of the facts. Many of the chapters can get bogged down with excessive detail about flintknapping but it definitely adds to the understanding and evidence for much bigger points. The way the Americas were populated is obviously complex with many subtleties. This book does not declare and defend one position only, it shows more complexity and brings more understanding to this most interesting subject.

A groundbreaking book I can listen to

Any additional comments?

For anyone interested in the subject, this is a must book and audiobook. I’m glad it’s on audio. The authors back up their theory with solid evidence, and the prehistorical narrative they tell is fascinating. The writing is clear and informative, despite being technical at times. I bought this audiobook because the reviews on Amazon are excellent. I agree with the vast majority of the reviewers that this is an exciting, groundbreaking book. I think the narrator does a very good job with the material, and makes Across Atlantic Ice easy to listen to.

The most informative book on Clovis peoples

This is the most informative book on Clovis peoples I have ever read. It was very well researched and meticulously written. I enjoyed it thoroughly!!!!

pics

Any additional comments?

It was a great book, but it would have been better to have the illustrations/photographs in front of me. This is why I have it 3 stars as an overall rating. Had nothing to do with the book or narrator.

A beautiful blend of archeology and science.

I really enjoyed this work. Archeologists and scientists must never stop asking questions even if they are not main stream. This work asks the reader to listen to the data, imagine the lives of humans 20k years ago, and rethink the stuff we were taught in schools.

I love the Solutrean theories

This is such a wonderful compilation of
Ancient archaeology and trying to make sense of the findings
At this point in human history
We need to embrace that there always was climate change and learn how to adapt- with lower cost ways.

Fantastic

if you are into prehistoric North America this the book. it turns the populating of the Americas on its ear. This truly great study on Pre-clovis. Should be required reading for all students in the studies of archeological paths.

Intriguing

The theory is presented well and provides valuable insights into the Mesolithic. The authors cite a large array of supporting material. And while the authors admit their argument is theory and speculation based on available evidence, there are a number of speculations which I found unsatisfactory. I still like the book but am not convinced the ideas will hold up.

You WILL be reading this MANY TIMES !

GREAT read !

GREATER AUDIO BOOK - because you're going to find yourself listening to this book over & over & over, each time absorbing different thoughts, even as the authors (credible and card-carrying SCIENTISTS themselves) must have gradually "absorbed" each minor revelation and epiphany from their independent decades-long field work. And even as these scientists-authors gradually found each epiphany either pushing them AWAY from the Beringea-First Theory or pulling the TOWARD their own fledgling-but-inconceivable SOLUTREANS-FIRST Theory, they do a masterful job of taking you the Reader on that same journey !

It's REFRESHING to have a book authored by writers who treat their audience, their readers as PEERS; and not even "like-minded" peers, but simply "open-minded" peers, each possessing a reasonable level of intelligence and common sense.

I'm 60 years old and a professional Data Scientist/AI Solution Architect.
I've long thought that there was "something missing" in the Beringea-First Theory. It simply doesn't seem complete.

The authors Bradley and Stanford do a masterful, comfortable, peer-level job of offering objectively examining ALL of the FACTS currently available in North America, in Northeast Asia (Beringea) and in Northwest Europe (Solutrea), and ALLOWING themselves to FOLLOW these facts toward what SIMPLE MAKES SENSE given ALL the current data: Solutreans ARE Clovis and WERE the EARLIEST peoples in North America.

For this northern Minnesotan who learned to build "quanchees" (igloos built in MINUTES from simply shoveling snow into a pile and then digging it out) even when he was a young boy, actually living and THRIVING outside in the cold & snow is no big deal, so it WOULDN'T have been a big deal to the Solutreans any more than today's INUITS. The authors do an excellent job of DRIVING THAT POINT HOME - that the Solutreans WEREN'T "fighting the elements, hoping desperately for LAND", but rather quite the OPPOSITE: the Solutreans were AT HOME on the edge of the ice and water, because THAT'S WHERE THEIR FOOD SUPPLY WAS.

HERE'S a final note I jotted down in my audiobook in the final chapter:
The "universe" of the Solutreans DIDN'T include the (silly) rule "Stay close to LAND";
The "universe" of the Solutreans DID include the (intelligent) rule "Stay close to your FOOD SUPPLY"
The "universe" of the Solutions ALSO included the (intelligent) rule "If it's safe for your FOOD SUPPLY, it's safe for YOU"
The Solutreans food supply was (likely) SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS and WHALES
We already know from research in antarctica that KRILL actually THRIVE in the waters off the ICE EDGE;

SO...
The KRILL lived and thrived at the EDGE of the ICE...
The FISH (and BALEEN WHALES too I suppose) followed the KRILL...
The SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS followed the FISH...
The SOLUTREANS followed the SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS and WHALES...

NO BIG DEAL.

The KRILL "MIGRATED" along the Labrador Current from EAST to WEST...
The FISH "MIGRATED" with the KRILL...
The SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS and WHALES "MIGRATED" with the FISH...
The SOLUTREANS "MIGRATED" with the SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS and WHALES.

Only NO ONE was thinking "hey I'm MIGRATING"
- NOT the KRILL
- NOT the FISH
- NOT the SEAL or AUKS or PENGUINS or WHALES
- NOT the SOLUTREANS

Instead their "universe" was much SMALLER and more FOCUSED than that: "I'm going where there's FOOD"

Eventually the SEALS and AUKS and PENGUINS arrived on the SHORE of a distance land.
The SOLUTREANS were right on their heels.
THAT land is now under 300+ feet of melted iced (seawater).
BUT...
There were almost certainly myriad EGG-LAYING LAND BIRDS LAYING EGGS IN CLIFFS up there in eastern North America.
The SOLUTREANS would have SEEN these populations, and went after their EGGS.
Eggs up in the CLIFFs.
Cliffs which were present during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Cliffs which are STILL AROUND TODAY.
The Solutreans - be COMPLETE & UTTER NOMADS capable of traveling and living ANYWHERE - would almost certainly have SET UP CAMPS near the EGGS in the CLIFFS; I mean WHY WOULDN'T THEY?
Cliffs that were above ground 30,000 YEARS ago...
Cliffs that are above ground EVEN TODAY.

Perhaps we're TRYING TOO HARD seeking for evidence of Solutreans UNDER WATER that was shoreline 30 millenia ago.
Perhaps we SHOULD be seeking for evidence of Solutreans IN THE CLIFFS that are STILL "CLIFFS" even today.

What we should find are STONE TOOLS, quite alright...
... AND remnants of SLEDS that were easily transformed into BOATS which were just-as-easily-transformed into SHELTERS and maybe even SLEDS again, because that's what the INUITS can do TODAY, and it only makes sense that the SOLUTREANS were equal as "TRANSFORMERS" living in between worlds of land and ice and water.

HOW WE'LL KNOW WE'VE FOUND WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR...
- we'll see SLED remnants with HOLES that DON'T NEED TO BE THERE
- holes hinting that the PARTS of the SLEDS were at one time SOMETHING ELSE - like an UMIAK portable/flexible/EDIBLE boat !
- we'll see SHELTER remnants with PARTS and HOLES that DON'T NEED TO BE THERE
- holes and parts hinting that the SHELTER was at one time SOMETHING ELSE - a SLED. a BOAT. a TOOL.

WHAT WE WON'T FIND:
- a HEARTH or signs of PERMANENT dwelling and WOOD BURNING, because Solutreans DIDN'T BURN wood, but OIL.

WHAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND:
- We have to look for what the Solutreans actually USED and actually DISCARDED and actually LEFT;
- We have to STOP looking for what Solutreans DIDN'T use and DIDN'T discard and DIDN'T leave.


Enjoyed the HECK out of this book !
-Mark Vogt, North Aurora IL USA