How long ago was it that the Native Americans are known to have inhabeted the USA? Are the people of Canada, & Alaska part of the same peoples as the people who were here in the USA first?

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Some estimates go back as far as 35,000 years but most think it was much later then that. More like 17,000 years or so.


No they came at a much later date. Most likely around 10,000 years ago and perhaps even later depending on how they got here.

As far as the lost tribes of Israel go, I would say no, there is no connection. The dates don't add up, nor do the languages, nor does the DNA evidence.

Theory has it that the peoples that became the Native Americans crossed a land bridge between Russia and Alaska and populated the new world that way.

The thought that Natives came from the Middle East is not supported anywhere but in the book of Mormons.

In general, the trek would've taken the would be Native Americans months if not longer to migrate either by water or land to the New world, thusly other nations would have intermingled and members of the original band of people would have dropped off either due to death, pillage, marriage, birth, illness, and what not. Resulting in the final group being a muddled mass of ethnicities.

If this were so, then a mitochondrial genetic marker wouldn't be available to identify those peoples that truly are of Native descent. Also, this said genetic marker would be similar to ones found in the middle east as opposed to a distinct genome of its own.

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Good point. When it comes to the comparisons of dna, Indians most closely match those who currently live in s.e. Asia, whereas Inuit ("Eskimos") mostly match those in Mongolia and Siberia. We're not exactly certain when the Indians came across, but it is most probable by or around 25,000 b.p., whereas the Inuit only appear to have come around 4000 b.p. Matter of fact, the study of the evolution of language (glottochronology) shows a relatively short period of time has elapsed since the Inuit came across. And today, Siberian Inuit can easily speak with Alaskan Inuit, which they do on a fairly regular basis.

One final point. Even though most of us believe that most Indians came across the Bering Straits, there are some who believe it may be possible that some small boats from eastern Asia may have also made it across. However, I don't have any recent information on the status of that hypothesis.

Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Someone once said, "We all are from the lost tribes of Israel". There have always been groups who declare that one of the lost tribes are where they came from, etc, USA, Great Britain, via the royal throne, France, India, Ethiopia, and I can't think of anymore! A lot would also depend on how one understands Gen 1! We all are from the lost tribes of Israel, literally, or, figuratively.

Essentially everything interconnects by all indications. However, the events that created the "lost tribes" was the Babylonian exile and destruction of eretz Israel that took place a bit over 2500 years ago, which is long after what's depicted in Genesis.

Most historians believe that the remnants of these tribes eventually intermarried with each other whereas the separate lineages got lost, which is described in the book of Isaiah. However, we also know that some of these people never returned back to eretz Israel but moved to different locations, but probably not as unified groups ("tribes").

Since Amerindians came over tens of thousands of years ago, they logically could not be from the "lost tribes".

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

IMO all these ideas are a waste of time as we are all one species and that is the only important fact.
They just cause further division when we need unity and racism when we should be blind to such divisions.

My apologies for being slightly off-topic, but this post reminds me of something I would like to share:

When we decided to let our kids go back into school for one year (they had been home schooled prior to that) they wanted us to check off a box indicating their race. We checked the "Other" box and wrote in "human" on the space provided. The school board would not at first accept it but after much discussion (and threats of keeping them out of school), it was allowed. Our kids were the only "humans" in the school district! LOL!

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That's funny, good for you sticking to your guns. Asinine that they considered keeping your children out of school (that would have been discriminatory had you put Alaskan Native or Afro-American).

As for the ancestry of NAs, it is a matter of pride, much like pride in being Irish or Italian. Being a Native American is about pride. Yes, it is crap that you have to prove you are one via documentation and blood samples (and no you are not the great great great gran of an Indian Princess, there are no such things except in India).

I will have to agree with shaw-n that discussions like this may further separation amongst already volatile tension between some ethnic groups, but there are people who just want to know. Anthropology is a fascinating topic; more so to some than others.

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First of all, let me start off with that I agree with the above.

Back into the 1960's especially, there was the concept absorbed by so many here in the west that there were not any differences between male and female except for that which was enculturated in us, and many people swallowed this hook, line, and sinker. Scientific research, however, does point out some significant differences when it comes to how our brains function. For example, if I talk to you, a man will "listen" with just one of his two hemispheres, whereas a woman will typically "listen" with both (a point confirmed by a GREAT many women).

When we look at cultures, even though we are all human, there are some significant differences and these should not be ignored. For example, the level of violence that I see regularly here on American t.v. is generally not seen by my relatives in Sweden. Burping at the dinner table shows appreciation of a good meal in Germany, but I don't suggest you do that here in the States when having dinner at someone's home.

Where the danger comes in, of course, is when these differences are interpreted by some in a racist or oppressively nationalistic manner. There's a big difference between saying "I appreciate our differences" versus "You're weird!". In my anthropology classes, it was very interesting to see the students change as the course went on. They became far more curious in attempting to understanding different cultures and far less judgemental.

When I taught comparative religions, I found the same to be true with that as well. My first objective, as I found out in a hurry, was to try to keep the Catholics and Baptists from killing each other. But as we "church hopped" and had various speakers in, along with other information of course, the students became much more curious and far less judgemental.

My point is that we need not sweep our differences under the table but, instead, to acknowledge the obvious and encourage understanding and appreciation, along with a large dose of tolerance.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein