Invisible Natives and Fossilized Ideas in Peopling of the Americas Research

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For more than a century, archaeologists have debated when and how the first people arrived in the Americas. Yet the voices and perspectives of Indigenous descendants have too often been absent from the research and from the stories told about this deep human history.

Indigenous archaeologist Edward Jolie (Lakota/Muscogee) considers how our understanding of the past evolves as new evidence emerges and as different sources of knowledge and perspectives become part of the conversation. Drawing on his participation in research on the human and megafauna trackways at White Sands, New Mexico, some of which have been dated to approximately 21,000 years ago, Jolie presents how discoveries like these are expanding the conversation about the earliest human presence in the Americas.

The footprints at White Sands are a powerful reminder that this history is still being written and that some of the most consequential evidence for understanding the human history of the Americas is emerging here in New Mexico.

Edward A. Jolie (Lakota/Muscogee) is an anthropological archaeologist interested broadly in the Indigenous archaeology and ethnology of the Americas. His research focuses on the study of organic material culture such as textiles, baskets, footwear, and related crafts to address a wide range of anthropological questions. His applied scholarship focuses on hands-on work with fiber plant collection, processing, and weaving as part of an effort to find solutions to problems posed by landscape change and raw material inaccessibility among contemporary Indigenous makers and scholars.