Their cheekbones are almost invariably wide, giving the eyes a somewhat elongated look. Perhaps the most striking similarity between Indians and East Asians is a curious trait called shovel incisor, in which the inner surfaces of the upper front teeth are concave, as though scooped out. Among both Indians and East Asians the incidence of this trait is 90% or more.

No scientist today doubts that American Indians are genetically most akin to the present people of East Asia.

The most obvious difference is as plain as the nose on Sitting Bull’s face: the Indians’ characteristic ‘hawk’ nose. Although by no means universal among Indians, it is fairly common; by contrast it is virtually unknown among the East Asians

Because the ancient Indians were so completely dependent on the land around them, their surroundings shaped their lives. Environment determined culture more than location, chronology or even tradition. Tribes may be widely separated by time; geography and genetic relationship yet share similar cultures if the ecologies of their homelands were similar. But of course this environmental influence was affected by the gradually developing sophistication of these early Americans. In the beginning they lived primarily by hunting large mammals; following this hunting, or ‘Palaeo-Indian’, period came a time when a greater variety of resources, both plant and animal, were exploited. In this ‘Foraging’ or ‘Archaic’ period, man’s increasingly intensive and efficient exploitation of relatively restricted regions made possible the first semi permanent settlements. Finally, in the ‘Formative’ period, the beginning of agriculture turned some settlements into more or less year-round villages and eventually cities.

Corn is exuberantly cross-pollinated. The male flowers are in the tassel at the tip of the stalk-they produce great quantity of pollen, which are carried long distances by the wind. The female flowers appear on the same plant but the receptive parts are the silks that protrude from the young ears growing part way down the stalks. They are open to fertilization by any suitable pollen that hits them whether it comes from their own plant another corn plant or from a closely related grass. This explains why, around 1550 BC, corn changed radically and suddenly became the leading crop of the Tehuacan valley and the other parts of Mexico. Botanical evidences indicate that the improved variety was the result of hybridization between the wild-type corn and a near relative, a grass called Teosinte. With the new, more productive corn, population increased, large villages appeared; the cultural level rose towards what can be described as incipient civilization.

A 19th century Argentine professor turned up a skull that he claimed was one million years old-proving that Homo sapiens had actually originated in America (in Argentina, naturally). This and other notions, only somewhat less dubious, aroused a 20th century backlash, which led to the opinion that New World man was a relatively newcomer.

Some topics in this essay:
North America, Indians England, Middle East, Cahokia Illinois, Central America, AD Mexico, Pacific Peruvians, Mexico Peru, Chilli-cothe Ohio, East Asians, middle east, north america, ice age, south america, east asians, farming middle east, central america, valley mexico, mound builders, 8000 bc, mexican corn, indians east asians, people east asia, ice age land, age land bridge,