Science: Hints from Asia

The big question among Americanists (experts on New World anthropology) is: How original were the American Indians? The orthodox theory is that the first Indians immigrated from Asia (via Alaska) in the cultural nude and built the civilizations of Mexico and Peru without outside help. A minority theory agrees that the original immigrants were pretty bare of culture, but insists that Indian civilization got plenty of helpful hints from across the Pacific.

Last week the 29th International Congress of Americanists, meeting in New York's American Museum of Natural History, was confronted by a striking exhibit of New World cultural elements which look...

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