[PEN-L:2267] Re: Re: : Alan Sokal

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

     I am not aware of any reputable anthropologist or 
scientist who claims that the original Native American 
Indians did not cross the Bering Strait, although there may 
have been scattered crossings from various directions at 
various other times.  The problem is that there is great 
debate as to when the first crossing was and how many there 
were across the Bering Strait.  At a minimum there are 
three broadly distinct groups based on languages, which 
almost certainly came at different times.
     Much of the more recent controversy has arisen because 
of claims that some of the oldest known skulls appear to be 
somewhat more "Caucasoid" than more modern skulls, 
suggesting that some of the earliest groups might have been 
more "Caucasoid" than "Asiatic" or whatever terms one wants 
to use here.  
     This has created a lot of huffing and 
puffing, but frankly I don't see why.  The question of the 
"race" of Native American Indians is one that properly 
considered raises questions about the whole category of 
"race" as a scientific category anyway.  In many older 
lists they are assigned as their own race, which neatly 
sidesteps the issue.  If one insists on their being at most 
three "races" into which everybody must be fit, then there 
becomes the question whether they are more "European" or 
"Asiatic" or whatever, with most saying "more Asiatic".  
But the argument of some "Caucasoid" element is not at all 
unlikely for an earlier wave as we see groups in parts of 
Northeast Asia who are identified as being 
"semi-Caucasoid," i.e. the "hairy" Ainu of Hokkaido in 
Japan, the aboriginal group of Japan.  Going the other way 
there are groups in Northern Europe who are "semi-Asiatic," 
i.e. the Laplanders.  In Central Asia there are 
"Eurasiatics" who are not easily categorized, all of which 
simply points out that there are not neat boundaries 
between these groups.  That the ancestors of the modern 
Native American Indians might have elements of both 
"Caucasians" and "East Asians" thus is not at all 
surprising and should not be viewed as a big deal.
Barkley Rosser
On Mon, 18 Jan 1999 11:16:16 -0500 Doug Henwood 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Louis Proyect wrote:
> 
> >This is just Wall Street Journal crap.
> 
> So Indians didn't walk across the Bering Straits, but they've been in North
> America since Day 1?
> 
> Doug
> 

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]